COMMUNITY SERVICE:

One of the major goals of the USS Ticonderoga is to help our friends, family and our community in order to make our world a better place.  On every crewmember’s orders from the Seventh Fleet it lists community service as  one of our primary duties.   If you would like to propose a way that we can help our neighbors and community, fill out a Proposal Form and submit it to your Department Chief.  To find out when the next community service project will be check out our Events page.  We have participated in some of the following  projects:

Adopt-A-Highway-

We started picking up trash in our Adopt-A-Highway project in April 2002.  Our designated zone is between Kaysville and Layton on I-15 in Davis County.  We’ve had people stop while we were picking up trash just to find out more about the club.  Members who have participated in the past have earned Adopt-A-Highway Chapter Recognition Pins.  Currently our section of the freeway is under construction with the new south Layton interchange.  However we plan to resume this project in 2011.  You can learn more about the Adopt-A-Highway program here: http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:28,

Operation Paperback-

One of our official charities that the crew has elected to participate in is Operation Paperback.  This non-profit organization sends paperback books to the brave men and women serving our country overseas.   We have collected books for this service since 2005.  If you would like to participate in this project please contact your Department Chief.    More information about Operation Paperback can be found here:  http://www.operationpaperback.org/

KUED Ch 7 Pledge Drives-

The USS Ticonderoga has had several opportunities to participate in KUED pledge drives over the years.  We are proud supporters of public television.  Plus we wanted to thank KUED for bringing us great science fiction shows like Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and more.  We are looking forward to our next pledge drive at the television station.  More information about KUED can be found here:  http://www.kued.org

Blood Drives-

Utah has had it’s share of SF related blood drives.  When Robert Heinlein held a blood drive at Salt Con in the 1970’s (George Takei and Susan Sackett were also in attendance) it started a trend.  SMOF David Powell started running Heinlein Memorial Blood Drives in the 1990’s and KPNZ held Enterprise blood drives in the 2000’s.   Members of the USS Ticonderoga have been there donating blood and support when they can.  We hope to participate in a new blood drive soon.

MDA Shamrock Drive-

Every Feb/March the stores start collecting donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.  A simple way to have members participate in this community service is to purchase a shamrock and post on it “From the crew of the USS Ticonderoga” for service points.  They could only purchase one shamrock per store/location.  This became a competition between crewmembers just to see who could pick up the most shamrocks.  You can learn more about this at http://www.mdausa.org/

The Stamp Project-

In the spirit of the Seventh Fleet motto, “We Do Not Stand Alone”, the USS Ticonderoga is supporting two of our fellow chapters with their community service projects, the USS Kelly and the USS Ursa Major.  Both chapters are collecting stamps for The Stamp Project and members of the Ticonderoga can turn in canceled stamps towards this project.  The stamps are collected and cut.  They are then sold to collectors.  The money raised is then used to buy medicines, teachers and pack animals for the poorest areas of Nepal and India.  To participate, just collect the stamps from the mail into a bag.  When you have a certain amount bring them to a member of the Command Staff.  We will then get them over to the other chapters.  Don’t forget to put these on your duty report.