What does it mean to be a Coast Guard Community?
The U.S. Coast Guard defines a Coast Guard Community as a city, municipality or county that makes special efforts to acknowledge the professional work of the Coast Guard men and women assigned to its area. Coast Guard Communities regularly reach out to Coast Guard personnel and their families and make them feel “at home at their home away from home.” The community’s efforts illustrate a longstanding and enduring relationship, with an emphasis on considerations the community has made for the members of the Coast Guard family.
Although the community members of Cape May County have always supported, welcomed and honored our Coast Guard families since their first appearance here in1918, in 2015, Cape May County was officially designated a Coast Guard Community, along with only one other county and fifteen cities in the nation. This designation was sought by the community through a rigorous application process, and was awarded after approval from the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Congress.
Aside from textbook definitions, there is a much deeper meaning behind being a Coast Guard Community.
Being a Coast Guard Community means picking up the bill for Coast Guard men and women when we see them standing in line for coffee, just as a small “thank you” gesture. It means inviting Coast Guard recruits into our homes during the holiday season and sharing our holiday traditions as a part of Operation Fireside. It means flying Coast Guard flags on flag poles at businesses throughout Cape May County. It means welcoming new Coast Guard families with open arms, and giving Coast Guard spouses and children a community to lean on when duty calls.
For recruits, it means going out into the community in uniform on their first day of liberty and hearing, “Thank you for your service,” for the first time ever. It means weaving the culture of the Coast Guard into Cape May County, and taking the culture and hospitality of South Jersey with them for the rest of their career.
Coast Guard families live their daily lives among us, and being a Coast Guard Community means more than just acknowledging their presence. It means building and maintaining a special relationship with those who work to make our community a better place to live, a relationship some communities will never be fortunate enough to know.
Gerald M. Thornton, Freeholder Director of Cape May County and one of many people who helped the designation become a reality, shares his thoughts on being a Coast Guard Community. “We as a county have always been very supportive of our members who presently serve our nation, and those past military personnel who have served to protect our nation and our nation’s long held tradition of honoring the democratic values of our country. Generations of young men and women have sacrificed to protect us from the threat of tyrants and now today, terrorists who threaten us and the world. I am very proud to have served and will always recognize the sacrifice that the military and their families experience. It is a distinct honor for Cape May County to be recognized as a community that supports our Coast Guard personnel.”
“The Coast Guard Community designation belongs to all of us in Cape May County, because Coast Guard families live as our neighbors and friends in every town,” says Nina Ranalli, Executive Director of the Cape May County Coast Guard Community Foundation (CMCCGCF).
CMCCGCF was formed in 2015 with a mission to honor Coast Guard personnel and their families for the extraordinary role they play in our nation and our community, and to celebrate and educate regarding the many deep connections that exist between the Coast Guard and Cape May County.
CMCCGCF works to sustain the deep meaning behind being a Coast Guard Community, and support the designation through its activities, including the annual Coast Guard Community Festival, held Friday, May 6 through Sunday, May 8 this year.
“We’re excited to honor the Coast Guard families and celebrate our connection at the upcoming Coast Guard Community Festival,” says Ranalli.
The Festival kicks off with a “Farewell to Capt. Prestidge” BBQ dinner. Prestidge, who is moving from U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May (TRACEN) to a new duty station, will be honored for his outstanding services to TRACEN and Cape May County.
During his time in Cape May, Prestidge has developed his own view on what it means to be a Coast Guard Community.
“It’s like hearing ‘I love you’ for the first time. It’s one thing to say you care about each other behind closed doors, but it’s another thing to say, ‘Let me introduce you to my family as the person I love.’ Cape May County going through process to earn the designation of a Coast Guard Community means that we’re standing arm in arm for everyone to see. It says that we are linked, and that we represent and recognize each other’s actions for mutual benefit. The Coast Guard recognizes Cape May County as a place that is supportive of its Coast Guard, and it’s important to express this support publicly and often. It can’t just be side bar; it has to be something that’s done with pride from everybody here.”
Prestidge can proudly say that he isn’t just leaving the Cape May County community – he is leaving a Coast Guard Community. A community that respects and embraces its Coast Guard personnel and their families, one that will continue to grow and develop the bond between the Coast Guard and Cape May County for years to come.
What Cape May County knows now is only the beginning of what it means to be a Coast Guard Community.
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