NEWS: Volunteers make first aid kits for MLK Day

WASHINGTON — In partnership with Greater DC Cares, volunteers from around the region came together for the Martin Luther King Day of Service Jan. 18. More than 250 people came out to support the Civil Air Patrol, DC Central Kitchen and other nonprofits for kit making.

Volunteers assembled approximately 900 personal first aid kits for use by CAP’s National Capital Wing. The kits used the standard items required for CAP Ground Teams – search and rescue teams. Kit inserts were printed and donated by The UPS Store in Del Ray (Alexandria). NatCap Wing and Greater DC Cares purchased the supplies.

	Cadet Airman Malik Cochran of Andrews Composite Squadron distributes bags to volunteers for packing with select first aid items.
	Maj. John La Jeunesse (left), National Capital Wing counterdrug officer, and Col. Richard Cooper (right), NatCap commander, inspect completed first aid kits. Photos by Maj. Paul Cianciolo

Other kits were also made at this event, which was held at The Washington Post building and sponsored by Target and Fannie Mae. Greater DC Cares organized more than 3,000 volunteers in total for projects around the metro region.

National Capital Wing encompasses the greater Washington, D.C., metro area and has approximately 222 volunteer officers and senior members and 123 cadets. Federal employees and military personnel can support the wing through the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area – CFC charity number 26757.

Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with 58,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to more than 23,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years. For more information about CAP, visit www.GoCivilAirPatrol.com.

Additional photos online at: http://www.natcapwg.cap.gov/gallery/v/2010_mlk_day/


By Maj. Paul Cianciolo
National Capital Wing director of public affairs