Sailors from Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG) Chief Petty Officers Association and First Class Petty Officers Association volunteered their time and donated school supplies to Bright Beginnings in Yorktown, Virginia, Aug. 31.

Bright Beginnings, sponsored by the Victory YMCA in Yorktown, provides funding for struggling families with children in the Yorktown and Poquoson areas to purchase back-to-school clothes, backpacks and other school supplies.

"Bright Beginnings was an awesome opportunity to share time with really amazing children," said Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Bradley Delano. "It was surprising to see how much you can learn about a child while simply helping them pick out clothes for the upcoming school year."

In 2015, NAVELSG Sailors collected donations and joined Bright Beginnings volunteers to help children shop for back-to-school clothes. Additionally, NAVELSG Sailors donated backpacks and school supplies, enabling an additional 75 children to start the school year.

This year will be NAVELSG's fourth consecutive year participating in the event since the FCPOA began participation in 2013, and the first year the NAVELSG CPOA volunteered their time.

"I find it very rewarding to be part of a program that is so helpful to disadvantaged children," said Yeoman 1st Class Elena Collins, who participated in the volunteer event with her husband, National Guardsman Master Sgt. Warren Collins Jr.

"I enjoyed seeing the smiles on the children's faces when they got to pick out some new clothes for school," said Collins Jr.

NAVELSG is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, with an active battalion located at Cheatham Annex and forward-deployed detachments and Reserve battalions located across the United States. NAVELSG provides Sailors with the knowledge and skills needed to support the fleet's surface and air-handling mission. More than 100 Sailors and civilians work hand-in-hand with the fleet and are dedicated to ensuring training is current and well executed on behalf of 2,800 active-duty and Reserve Sailors in the administration, logistics and training of their active and Reserve components.

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