United States Coast Guard Academy Parents Association

Delaware Valley Chapter

    The United States Coast Guard Academy Parents Association has many chapters across the US. We are the Delaware Valley Chapter, comprising parents living in New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. We get together as a chapter twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. Meetings are usually kindly hosted by US Coast Guard facilities in the area. Recent meetings have been held at the Philadelphia Coast Guard Station, at the Cape May Training Center and at the Atlantic City Air Station.
    At the Spring meeting we invite potential cadets who've been awarded an appointment to come with their parents or guardians to meet us, to ask questions, and hopefully to join us. We can usually pursuade some of our cadets to come down from New London to talk.
    Our main mission is to support our cadets at the Academy, and to support each other. Here are some of the things we do:

Fundraising - through our Ways and Means comittee and through direct donations. Ways and Means mission is to raise money, which they achieve primarily through selling Coast Guard and Academy merchandise at meetings and at Academy events such as Parents Weekend and Reporting -In Day. We typically vote to send funds each year to the Parents Association, ear-marked for various projects. In recent years the National Association has purchased several passenger vans for the cadets to use for local liberty (you'll soon hear about the "Libo Vans"), has replaced the furniture in all 8 company day rooms (the Delaware Valley Chapter sponsored one of the eight day rooms), and has bought appliances such as TVs, DVDs, microwaves and refrigerators for cadet use.
Hosting cadet groups when they visit our area - last year we provided pizza and soda when the Glee Club sang the National Anthem at Dover Downs NASCAR racing (standing behind then Homeland Security Advisor Governor Tom Ridge on TV!) and provided lunch for the Windjammers (Cadet Marching Band) when they visited Somerset, NJ. Each year in the past we have provided home cooking and a refuge for the Crew team at the Dad Vail Regatta; this year the crew teams are aiming for the ECAC Regatta in Camden.
Other chapters provide the same hospitality when cadet groups visit their local areas.
Events - The chapter's big event is Pre-Reporting-In Day Reception which we sponsor together with the Chesapeake and Potomac Chapter. This is held the night before Reporting-In Day each year. All incoming swabs and their parents, siblings and loved ones are invited to mingle and meet each other before the big day. In 2002 we had all 291 swabs except one sign in at the reception.
We have also been asked to help out when the US Coast Guard Cutter Eagle visits Philadelphia during its summer cruise this year.
Distribute information - we are often asked to pass on news and announcements by the Academy or the National Association