 CATONSVILLE, Md – On Saturday, 21 August 2010, eight members from the Fort McHenry Composite Squadron sponsored the unit’s 21st quarterly blood drive at the Maryland National Guard Armory located in Catonsville, Maryland. The event, which was organized by Major Doug Barth and coordinated by the American Red Cross, produced 14 pints of life-saving blood for the local community for a total of 489 pints since the squadron’s quarterly program was initiated by Maj Barth.
Among those who donated blood were Sergeant First Class David DuBois, the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the Armory, and his wife, Jenn, who leads the MDNG Family Support Group. Additionally, Senior Member Shawn Nunley, Cadet/Senior Master Sergeant Gregory Gleichauf and Cadet/Master Sergeant Alexandra Green lent their arm to donate the “gift of life” for the benefit of Maryland residents. Fort McHenry volunteers included Captain Tim Fennema, the blood drive Project Officer, Senior Members Jake Kellogg, Pingwah Lai, and Shawn Nunley, C/SMSgt Gregory Gleichauf, Cadet/Airman Bronte Goldsmith, and Cadet/Airmen Basic Darrell Nunely and Sarah Cohen. Each of these members, along with the American Red Cross staff, MDNG Armory personnel, and the donors helped make this yet another successful blood drive for the local community. Behind every pint of blood donated as a result of these activities is a success story which may never be known by those involved. Thanks to the volunteers of the Fort McHenry Composite Squadron, the gift of life will continue to save countless, untold lives. Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years. More than 1,500 members of CAP serve in Maryland. Last fiscal year wing members flew 42 search and rescue missions and were credited with 31 finds. For more information, visit www.mdcap.org. The Fort McHenry Composite Squadron meets weekly on Tuesday evenings at the Catonsville Armory, 130 Mellor Avenue in Catonsville, Md. Prospective members are always welcome. For more information or directions, visit the squadron website at www.ftmchenrycap.org. |
