Fort Lauderdale Sea Cadets Get Headquarters Repaired, Council to Help With Insurance

Sea Power, Feb 2004

The Spruance Division U.S. Naval Sea Cadets, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., got an early Christmas gift with the rededication of its headquarters Dec. 20, just three months after the building suffered serious water damage when heavy rains brought the ceiling down.

The Cadets, their parents, division commanders, representatives from the Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, and others gathered before the division's holiday party for a flag-raising ceremony outside the building to mark its restoration. In the true spirit of the season, the $13,000 estimated cost of repairs was raised through community donations and the volunteer work of the division's dedicated parents, with the Home Depot kicking in a new refrigerator, paneling, ceiling tile, paint, and moldings, according to Lt. Cmdr Alan Starr, USNSC, commanding officer of Spruance Division, which is sponsored by the Fort Lauderdale Council.

The entire ceiling and its insulation came down during a Sept. 27-28 rainstorm, damaging electrical work, desks, and furniture, and rendering the building unsafe for occupancy. Following the accident, however, the division's Parent Support Group, headed by Jeffrey Yager, a former Marine with three daughters in the division, rose to the occasion, pooling their resources, bonding together and providing the elbow grease to restore the headquarters building, Starr said.

In the interim, VFW Post 1966 allowed the division to use its hall as a temporary headquarters, and business largely was able to go on as usual, he reported. The Cadets took advantage of the situation to do some off-base training during the restoration period.

"We used this as a learning experience for our Cadets, in how to deal with, and overcome, adversity," Starr said.

With the headquarters back up and running, the focus now turns to replacing historical items and other equipment destroyed in the ceiling collapse. The division lost most of its pictures, its lending library of historical naval books, its videotape library, and a big screen TV. "The council will go to bat for us with the insurance company, as they had denied our original damage claim," Starr said.