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The Sault Sainte Marie

Community Center

“The community center will be a huge positive boost for the active duty members and dependents’ overall well-being. Having this facility available for social functions, members’ physical

wellness and educational activities in addition to the close proximity to the Coast Guard housing will ensure its use.”

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Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan is home to eight Coast Guard units with /00 active duty, reserve and civilian employees and their families. The town is located in the far northern reaches of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the majority of the active duty members stationed in Sault Sainte Marie live in a /0-unit Coast Guard housing area that was built 12 years ago.

The original plans for that project contained a pavilion and picnic area that was scrapped due to budgetary concerns. Since then, the Coast Guard has drawn up plans for an all-inclusive indoor community area that will serve as a safe place for families there to enjoy themselves and build a community during the long Michigan winters. The plans call for a 3,000 square-foot building with a kitchen, a workout room, an activities room and an outdoor deck.

The community center at Sault Sainte Marie will help instill a strong feeling of community, as well as build esprit-de-corps among the units based there. Coast Guard civil engineers have construction drawings finished, and the Coast Guard Foundation is working with its loyal and supportive donor base to raise the needed funds.

The Coast Guard Foundation has a long history of funding major capital projects in Coast Guard communities throughout the country. The Foundation has funded family recreation centers in Dauphin Island, Alabama and Valdez, Alaska, as well as a swimming pool in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and a state-of-the-art athletic track at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. These major projects serve as permanent reminders to the men and women of the Coast Guard that there is a community of people who value their work and support their mission. Supporting capital projects is a way for donors to be part of a lasting effort to improve the lives of Coast Guard personnel.

The community center has strong support among personnel in Sault Sainte Marie. “I believe a community center out in housing would be a great thing for the enlisted members and their families. It would give them places to host events and birthdays and would also give us a new place to work out with newer equipment. I truly believe that if we had one it would be a great thing and put to great use,” said one enlisted Coast Guard member stationed in Sault Sainte Marie.

The Community Center in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan

The Coast Guard Foundation Capital Project Fund’s top priority is constructing a family community center for Coast Guard members and their families stationed in and around Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

“ A new community and fitness center would be a welcome addition out at housing, especially during the extended winter months here in the upper peninsula.” !"#$ 4'((5 +66&#'. 1"( #%*""

The Proposed Sault Sainte Marie Community Center

The Proposed Community Center Floor Plan

Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie, Guardians of the Northern Lakes Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie is responsible for all Coast Guard missions on Lake Superior and Northern Lakes Michigan and Huron, including surrounding navigable waterways, search and rescue, law enforcement, aids to navigation, marine safety, and homeland security.

Located on the St. Mary’s River in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, the Sector is the operational and administrative commander of 12 subordinate field units, which include eight multi-mission small boat stations, one marine safety unit, two aids to navigation teams, and four Coast Guard cutters.

Sector Sault Sainte Marie’s missions are accomplished by a dedicated workforce of active duty and civilian personnel. The all-volunteer Coast Guard Auxiliary, 7th Central Region, supports Sector Sault Sainte Marie performing a wide variety of operational, educational, support and training missions with personnel throughout the region.

“Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie is a family; our community center represents that family as our collective home.” !"#$ 5'+,*) #8&'6 4'((5 +66&#'.

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!"#$%: Seamen inspect a navigational aid prior to setting it in the water in the Great Lakes river

system. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!2 2!%%105 $"1#*,0.). &'($ 2: Coasties in Michigan learn techniques

for rescuing people on ice-covered bodies of water. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!2 .!'(0+ /#(&0+$0+.

&'($ 3: CGC Mackinaw and CGC Neah Bay break track lines for commercial vessels in Lake St. Clair.

'$"& -1#%# 43 0+$ &',..0(2# "#.#2. Brash ice builds around White Shoal Light in Northern Lake

Michigan. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!" /0** 1!... CGC Mackinaw breaks ice in Whitefish Bay to facilitate

the spring shipping season in the Great lakes. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!3 ".!$$ &0#(&0 )0&0+0(.

&'($ 6: Three crewmembers from Station Sault Sainte Marie. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!3 !++,0 (. 40(.,+.

&'($ 7: Two members of an ice survey team take core samples of ice in Green Bay while

CGC Mackinaw conducts ice trials. '$"& -1#%# 43 !0%2 !)!2 2#(01#'$0. A technician from Station

Sault Sainte Marie offloads the faithful friend of a woman rescued from her flooded home.

'$"& -1#%# 43 -! 4,.. "#.".#'&1. The crew of CGC Mackinaw tends to a winter buoy channel marker

that was pushed off station by thick ice along the shipping lane in Sault Sainte Marie. '$"& -1#%#

43 -!1 !)!2 0&&0($. A crewman from Station Sault Sainte Marie. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!3 !++,0 (. 40(.,+.

)'!* !"#$%: CGC Katmai Bay transits the Sault Sainte Marie locks. '$"& -1#%# 43 -!" /0** 1!...

394 +',(-".* %"'/, 0+".1.(+"., !"..$!+1!,+ 06378+: 860-535-0786 2: 860-535-0944 CoastGuardFoundation.org