The detachment for the past 21 years has had a very active program collecting and distributing toys through out Collier County. Nationally Toys for Tots has been a huge success and we the E. T. Brisson Detachment are proud to participate in this great program. The 2006 campaign enabled us to distribute 26332 toys to 4966 needy children through out Collier County, as well as toys donated to other service organization. It was indeed a banner year for the detachment in reaching out to those less fortunate than us. Our detachment logged several thousand hours during the 2006 campaign, in collection, sorting and distributing these toys, in return received broad smiles and grateful "thank yous'" from parents and kids from all over Collier County. Our efforts extended to Immokalee and Everglades City.
The NCOIC of the Toys for Tots 2006 campaign is Bob Kearns. Bob was ably assisted by our stalwart transportation NCO Andy Stewart, our Mall coordinator John Urquhart and several squads of MCL members who step in as needed. Absolutely a great job by Bob and his crew. Frankly speaking you would expect nothing less from a Marine.
In recognition of their ongoing support, special thanks to our Commandant, Nick Marsit, Sr. Vice Commandant, Jerry Van Hecke and Andy Stewart for their leadership, long hours and hard work.
This year as in the past Marines and their wives are involved in the 2006 campaign.
Special thanks to Ave Maria University and to Marine
Thomas Monaghan, founder and chairman of AMU for donating the space for toy
storage and distribution for the third consecutive year.
Adopt-a-Road
The detachment musters a detail of volunteers under the direction of
Marine Jerry Van Hecke one Saturday each month for "road clean-up duty". The detachment has adopted "Bayshore Drive" in East Naples, the work detail is to be commended for an outstanding job.
In January 2001 the "crew" received a second commendation from the Collier County Road and Highway Department for an outstanding effort and results achieved.
High School Scholarships
In 1998 the Detachment instituted a program to recognize one college bound graduate from each of the Collier County High Schools. Our intent is to recognize the child or grandchild of an active duty Marine or a former Marine having honorable served while meeting the following criteria; college enrollment, academic achievement, demonstrated leadership abilities, financial need and if applicable ROTC membership. The award recipient receives a cash award and a Marine Corps League Scholarship Certificate. The check is deposited with the bursar of the recipient's college of choice crediting his / her account. The E. T. Brisson Detachment Scholarship Program is now functional in nine Collier County High Schools.
Supporter New Beginnings SchoolThe Collier County Public School system has established the New Beginnings School for children with special needs. Conceived and developed by Captain John May, USMC retired, the school stresses Honor, Integrity, Discipline, Organization and Self Motivation in addition to academic achievement. Tried and true principles of the USMC's training programs are the foundation of this education program. The E. T. Brisson Detachment of The Marine Corps League applauds efforts of the New Beginnings School and is proud to be a supporter.
In 2002 the detachment
imitated a tutoring program with 2 Marines, the initial results were encouraging so the detachment looked to expand the program. At the start of the 2003 fall
semester the number of tutors grew to 12 (Marines and wives) and stands at 20. Recent testing results show great improvement in academic achievement.
Way to go Marines! Make a difference!
Our detachment is constantly looking for ways to be of assistance to the community. To this end we contacted the VA Hospital at Bay Pines, FL to determine how we could help. Since Bay Pines is 160 plus miles from Naples we looked at how we could help remotely and in discussions with the hospital the topic of books came up. As reading helps brighten a hospitalized veterans day we started a program to collect used but good paper back books which are shipped to the hospital. We also looked for other ways to help and are sending personal toilet articles and pre paid phone cards for needy veterans. This program has been in effect for just over four years and we have sent Bay Pines over4,200 books and a large quantity of personal care items.
Disaster Relief ResponseFlorida and Hurricanes are synonymous, when disaster knocks at our door this Marine Corps League detachment is no different than our active duty brothers. We muster the troops and turn to.
Hurricane Katrina
When Katrina struck New Orleans, the detachment reacted to help those in need, just like our response to Charley the detachment set up shop outside Costco, collected food, water and supplies and shipped them off to those in need.
30 League members responded and 10 tractor trailer loads of food water and supplies were shipped to those in need. The value of collected items was $44,000.00
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