Tampa Council Uses Surplus Lassen Donations to Benefit ROTC, JROTC, Sea Cadets

Sea Power, Apr 2004

The Tampa Council has donated surplus funds from its USS Lassen commissioning activities to a group of Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), junior ROTC and Sea Cadet programs in the area.

The council and its Lassen Finance Committee in January handed out more than $ 10,000 to 11 different programs. The money will be used to pay for everyday expenses not ordinarily covered by the programs' operating budgets. Recipients included: the Navy ROTC program at the University of South Florida; Navy junior ROTC programs at Gaither, Leto, King, Riverview, Robinson, Tampa Bay Technical, Wharton and Freedom high schools; the Chamberlain High School Marine junior ROTC program; and the Tampa Bay Division 06 Naval Sea Cadets.

The committee made several previous donations for Sea Cadet and ROTC programs, Robert Silah, Navy League Florida region president, said.

The Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer, was commissioned in April 2001. The Tampa Council coordinated the fund-raising efforts to support all of the commissioning events. When the events were completed, the council found itself with $ 12,000 left over. The Navy recommended the funds be donated to worthy causes, and the council formed the Lassen Finance Committee to decide how the money would be distributed.

"We decided we wanted it to benefit the youth," Silah said. "So it all went to youth programs. Now all the bills are paid, the donations have been made and we can dissolve the committee."

Committee members include Silah, Treasurer Gerald Jacobs, Anne Childers, Laura Merciez, William P. Whalen, Robert F. Sawallesh and James E. Berth.