MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- The Tri-Command Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society will be holding its annual fund drive March 1 - April 2.
The fundraiser is being held to promote awareness and raise funds for the society, with events like a golf tournament on Mar. 26 at the Legends of Parris Island.
"The Secretary of the Navy tells the active duty community to conduct a fund drive in support of the NMCRS," said Ron Grindle, director of the NMCRS. "The annual event is two-fold. First of all, we want to raise base awareness and make sure that service members know we are here and they have some place to go when they have a problem. Second is to raise funds to help support our relief services."
With goals set, the NMCRS heads into this fundraiser with high expectations.
They anticipate contacting each person in the Tri-Command area, gaining 100 percent awareness.
"We determine the number of service personnel in each unit and we establish a goal of $3 a month, or $36 a year," he said. "Our end goal will be $36 multiplied by the number of active duty on hand."
Those goals are Tri-Command-wide with the Naval Hospital Beaufort and the Air Station aiming for the same target area.
"We are hoping for $3 dollars a month direct deposit, but most people will pay cash," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Karen A. Lloyd senior enlisted advisor for the director of health services. "We are hoping it will raise awareness towards what [the society] has done in the past. Plus, the money raised in this area stays in this area."
The society uses all of the funds raised to help the service members in need.
This is a no overhead fund, meaning that when a donation is received all of the money goes to the fund, not to pay employees.
"When a service member gives us a dollar, all of that dollar goes back into relief services," said Grindle. "Last year we gave more than $450,000 in financial assistance to the Tri-Command area. At Parris Island alone, we gave more than $200,000."
The donations made to the society and the recent celebrations of its 100th birthday are both testaments to the society's resourcefulness and longevity in helping service members, said Grindle.
"[The NMCRS turning 100] may not have a big imprint on the Tri-Command area but on the major bases it will have a lasting affect," said Capt. Melanie R. Hudson, Depot Adjutant and Tri-Command coordinator of the fund drive.
That 100-year history started in 1820 when Commodore Isaac Hull, commander of the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, proposed the formation of "A society, to be composed of the Navy and Marine Corps, for the relief and support of the widows
and families of officers who may be killed in battle or die while in service."
According to the NMCRS's history, the idea was not acted on until 1903 when Dr. J. William White of the University of Pennsylvania suggested sharing the funds from the Army-Navy game.
With the approval of President Theodore Roosevelt, the proceeds were split between the university, as hosts of the game, the Army Relief Society and the Navy for the purpose of establishing their relief society.
"One hundred years later, we still do the same thing, but we do a whole lot more," said Grindle. "Our express goal is to provide emergency assistance for Navy and Marine Corps personnel."
For more information, contact the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society on Parris Island at 228-3512.