Skip to main content Skip to footer site map
USNA News Center
USNA News Center

Midshipman Action Group Contributes 24,500 Community Service Hours … and Then Some

  POSTED ON: Friday, May 23, 2014 8:00 AM by NAVAL ACADEMY PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Not content with the 24,500 hours of service they’ve already contributed to the local community and beyond, the Naval Academy’s Midshipman Action Group has been hard at work at the tail end of the academic year.

As the 4,500 midshipmen in the brigade vacated Bancroft Hall, Midshipman 2nd Class Caroline Evans and her team collected 160 boxes of gently-used clothing to donate to Linda’s Legacy, a nonprofit organization that provides clothing to the homeless.

In the wake of the Class of 2017 Herndon climb, a group of mids led by Midshipman 1st Class Emily Hughes gathered 566 pairs of athletic shoes for Planet Aid, which collects and recycles used clothing and shoes and supports projects that improve communities world-wide.

MAG was officially recognized during the Naval Academy’s Community Service Awards Ceremony May 19 when Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides declared the day Midshipmen Appreciation Day.

They were also recognized in February by the Maryland General Assembly for their contributions to the community.

MAG manages more than 50 projects and 500 midshipman volunteers throughout the year, including a new project led by Midshipman 2nd Class Jake Williams in which midshipmen provide companionship and support to people in the local community suffering from disabilities. The program is in partnership with Best Buddies of Maryland.

Midshipman 1st Class Kimberly Bernardy was recognized in April for leading the "Final Salute" program where USNA midshipmen travel to homes and hospice centers in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County to visit and assist veterans in hospice care, and deliver to them their final salute.

The Final Salute initiative began during Bernardy's freshman (plebe) year at USNA with the assistance of Hospice of the Chesapeake's former director of Volunteer Services. Bernardy became a project leader at the hospice program her sophomore year and rapidly increased the program's visibility and participation level.

MAG has also done its part in fighting hunger in the local community. In the months leading up to Thanksgiving, they collected more than 54,000 pounds of food to donate to the Anne Arundel County Food and Resource Bank.

This spring, 500 midshipman volunteers helped host the 2014 Special Olympics on the Naval Academy Yard.

And as if they didn’t have enough regularly scheduled projects to manage, midshipmen eagerly took to the streets of Annapolis after the many winter storms this year to help citizens shovel snow.

While much of MAG’s work was done in the local area, many projects extended deeper into the national and global community as well. 

Midshipmen traveled to Georgia during Spring Break to help build homes and plant gardens for Habitat for Humanity. They volunteered with the Books for International Goodwill project, packaging books to send to communities in need both in the U.S. and overseas.

And, through the midshipmen’s work with the Honor Flight Program, World War II veterans from all over the country have been welcomed to the capital region by large groups of midshipmen cheering them on at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.


Category: General Interest