Onslow Community Outreach Saturday Blessings

G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune has been participating in a program run by Onslow Community Outreach called Saturday Blessings. Here's how it works:

The Soup Kitchen that runs along with the Homless Shelter only operates from during the work-week, leaving the residents of the shelter without food throughout the weekends. Saturday Blessings allows individuals, groups and organizations like G.L.A.S.S. Of Camp Lejeune to deliver and serve food to the residents (if you're wondering what happens on Sunday, that particular gap is filled by a local church).

On our initial visit August 3rd, we were told that there wasn't anyone coming that following Saturday, August 10th. It didn't take much discussion to return. While talking to the residents and the shelter manager, Al, we learned that though many people donate food, that most times it isn't healthy... or even edible at times. Al mentioned that he's had to refuse food from donors because it was spoiled or near spoiling. The residents also told us that some donors weren't very kind towards them-some didn't speak to them at all. Even more surprising to them was how young we are. "Usually, you don't see young people coming in without someone older bringing them in", Al mentioned. All things considered, G.L.A.S.S' presence was greatly appreciated.

1st in the Military, 1st in the Navy... 1st in the USMC!

This past Thursday, I walked into the Command Suite of Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune with SPART*A Deputy Communications Director Mark Mazzone and our Community Involvement Coordinator (CIC) Brannon Lawson to seek Command Endorsement. Personally, I'd had meetings before with members of the command seeking support leading up to this meeting and they hadn't ended positively. As we sat down in a small room, we were all ready for battle, prepared for any negative argument there may be... but it wasn't needed. The Executive Officer, CAPT Kurt J. Houser, spoke on his beliefs of equality and expressed his empathy for fellow sailors who had to deal with the hardships of serving under DADT. He gave me time to speak about G.L.A.S.S. and I took the opportunity to talk about why I thought it was needed. The XO agreed and at that point said "Whatever you need, if its within reason, you got it. I don't know exactly how it will happen, but it will happen." At the end of the meeting we had a tentative agreement to recieve Command Endorsement and support from Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune. 11 months later, G.L.A.S.S. Of Camp Lejeune is the 1st Gay-Straight Alliance recognized on a United States Marine Corps Installation. You'd think we'd stop to take a victory lap, but no such thing happened... We went right back to work.
Ibi Iugiter-Always There
HN Peete, R.D.
G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune
President & Co-Founder

Donna R. Johnson Memorial Highway Cleanup

Yesterday, the Camp Lejeune Chapter of G.L.A.S.S. honored the memory of a fallen LGBT Servicemember by helping to make the community a bit more beautiful by collecting trash from the side of a 2 mi stretch of Highway 17 in Jacksonville, NC. Tracy Johnson, Donna's widow was in attendance along with Donna's parents. G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune will continue to do cleanups on a monthly basis.

Reflections In Polished GLASS: Why I Started G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune

One August evening, sitting all alone on duty and depressed in a tiny shack that was Camp Devil Dog Battalion Aid Station (BAS), I would've elicited reactions of shock from someone who'd just met me. They'd probably say "...but you just got engaged!" They would be right I'd just gotten engaged to the woman who is now my wife. The previous weekend, I'd told my mother the news. She was worried, we'd know each other 6 months... any mother would be worried if their child called and told them they were getting married after that amount of time should be worried. There was also some words that would hurt more than any physical injury I'd ever sustain... or as a Navy Hospital Corpsman, treated. I was asked what I'd do if hit on by a man; my response being "The same thing you do when you're not interested, Ma. I'll politely turn him down and move on." That was succinctly responded to with "That's not how it works for you people." I then sat through a slightly less brief explanation of how I would be incapable of being faithful because I am a Bisexual Man. I told my mother that her explanation was the most ignorant thing I'd ever heard her say... and politely ended the call. A week later (2 days before my duty), she doubled down on her statements. While I'd been simmering in my own heartache, I'd also come across news stories about Gay-Straight Alliances at the Service Academies. I thought to myself "There's no way there isn't at least one in the Fleet!" My search only took one try to find G.L.A.S.S. I then realized what I was doing: allowing myself to fall in to a deep, dark hole that I'd fallen into many times before, climbing up only to fall back in. At the bottom of that hole were many things I wanted no part of anymore: depression, self-loathing, destructive behavior... a suicide attempt. It was at that moment that I resolved to use my pain as fuel to do good; to be a positive impact for someone who may still be in their hole. That night, I contacted G.L.A.S.S. Great Lakes and 11 months later G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune is doing things that even I didn't envision that night that now seems so long ago. With the help of some amazing people like Co-Founder Benjamin Becker, G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune has become a beacon of support.  If you're reading this and you're in your deep dark hole of despair... start climbing. You've got friends at the top... and we've got a rope ladder and flashlights.

HN Peete, R.D.

G.L.A.S.S. of Camp Lejeune Co-Founder & President