The Long Blue Line (Fall 2020)
Quarterly magazine for retirees of the Coast Guard, Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
Quarterly magazine for retirees of the Coast Guard, Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
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TO OUR RETIREE COMMUNITY,<br />
Thank You!<br />
It's Safe to say this year’s Coast Guard Day did not look like any other in my<br />
lifetime! I’m sure that many of you, like me, grieved the loss of the ability to celebrate our<br />
Service in person on its 230th Birthday. Whether you typically mark the day at your local<br />
unit station or travel to Grand Haven for the Coast Guard Festival as I have done in the past,<br />
this year was quite different.<br />
However, we still have much to celebrate. At the Museum Association, we asked ourselves how we could<br />
commemorate the 230 years of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty exhibited by Coast Guard men and<br />
women when it wasn’t possible to do so in person. We set an ambitious goal to add 230 new Plankowners to<br />
the future National Coast Guard Museum. <strong>The</strong>se monthly donors are a truly valuable aspect of our effort to raise<br />
a total of $150 million in public and private funding to make the Museum a reality.<br />
<strong>The</strong> incredible news is that with the help of our Coast Guard Retiree Community, we smashed our goal and<br />
added nearly 400 New Plankowners. If you’re one of our new plankowners, Welcome Aboard! We couldn’t<br />
have done it without you.<br />
Our development team and our dedicated volunteer Board of Directors and Capital Campaign Committee are<br />
hard at work helping us to connect with donors who can give six-, seven- and eight-figure gifts. That may not<br />
be you as a Coast Guard Retiree and that’s alright. What I love about the Plankowner Program is how easy it<br />
is to join, and a great oppurtunity for anyone to participate. All you have to do is select a dollar amount, as little<br />
as $5 per month, it’s tax deductible and now, you can even sign up to give using your allotment!<br />
In less time then it takes you to read this column, you can sign up at coastguardmuseum.org/Plankowner.<br />
We’d love to hear from you about how you did celebrate Coast Guard Day this year in our “new normal.” Send<br />
your stories and pictures to info@coastguardmuseum.org and you might see them on our social media<br />
channels. Find us at @USCGMuseum on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!<br />
Stay safe and healthy!<br />
Semper Paratus!<br />
Vincent W. Patton, Ed.D.,<br />
MCPOCG, USCG (Ret.)<br />
Board Member and Chief<br />
of the Mess, National Coast<br />
Guard Museum<br />
THE LONG BLUE LINE FALL <strong>2020</strong><br />
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