To All - Being a retired Coastie for 20 years I was very interested in looking into the Coast Guard Foundation and what it stood for. I have been unable to load up that website so I still cannnot find an answer to my question. I have to assume that it is a relatively new organization as I was not aware of it during my active duty time. I'm sure it is an organization that does fantastic things but I am not familiar with it and do not want to take anything away from it. I just want to give you information about a fund all Coasties are familiar with and that is the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance Fund.

During my time in the Coast Guard, prior to my active duty time and even now the organization that we Coasties supported was the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance Fund. You can access this wesite at http://www.cgmahq.org/ for additional information on what it is, what it does, how it is run, etc. It is run by the Coast Guard to provide direct aid to all Coasties. I knew many people during my 23 years that got aid from this fund when they needed it. Please access this site and read up on it. I know that this is where my money will be going because of my knowing that all funds go directly to the Coasties that need it without any of the funds being used to run it. This fund is administered through CG Headquarters and has military representatives thoughout the U.S and anywhere Coasties may be. It can be claimed for income tax purposes and you can make donations using many methods. Just thought that I would give you this information also.