Naval District Washington's (NDW) 2017 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) representatives are encouraging personnel to consider donating their time to charity during International Volunteer Day, Dec. 5.

NDW's campaign managers for the annual fundraiser are making personnel aware of their opportunity to pledge volunteer hours to CFC charities of their choosing for International Volunteer Day.

"This year International Volunteer Day is especially important to the campaign because for the first time donors can contribute their volunteer hours to charities of their choosing," said Lt. Tamarah Grant, CFC campaign manager for NDW. "A lot of our personnel volunteer already and now they can go online to www.cfcnca.org, filter through the different charities and if they find one they're passionate about they can donate hours."

2017 is Grant's second consecutive year involved with the CFC on behalf of NDW and first as campaign manager. Grant is responsible for the CFC efforts of NDW, Naval Support Activities Washington and Bethesda, Naval Support Facility Indian Head, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Naval History and Heritage Command, the United States Navy Band, and U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard.

"I'm humbled by the opportunity to be able to do this. It's opened my eyes to the different types of charities that are out there and people seem to relate to the different causes. You meet different people who have their own stories about why they give to certain charities and how those particular causes impact their lives," said Grant.

NDW's co-campaign manager Sonya Motley's life was impacted by CFC charities last year after complications following the birth of her first child left her and her husband in need of kindness.

"I participated last year as a donor, but this year I decided to take a more active role because of my experience. My husband and I had a baby boy and at the time, my husband was deployed in Kuwait. He was away from us for about a year. It was a challenging pregnancy for me, not just being away from my husband, but physically as well. I ended up in the hospital and my son wound up in the neonatal intensive care unit for a full week. We were able to get my husband here and his expenses were paid by charities. My husband and I were also able to stay at a local hotel, with the expenses also paid by charities."

"People are really surprised to hear my story. I enjoy telling people my story and hope that personal testimony will give people incentive to let others know that these charities are out there and need help from people like them," said Motley.

Last NDW exceed its established goal of $40,000 and instead raised $51,000. This year, NDW has once again set its goal at $40,000 and have until Jan. 12 to reach or exceed that amount.

"A lot of charities depend on CFC money to run their operations. Many of them have participated in the CFC for a long time, so a lot of them look forward to this time of year. For some of them it's one of the larger donations they get throughout the year. All charities that participate in the CFC are vetted to make sure they do the right thing with whatever money they get. It's a good way to give and it actually makes a difference," said Grant.

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