Chief petty officers and petty officers first class assigned to aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) volunteered for a day at the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Feb. 13.

The Sailors spent the day cleaning around the facility, and also assisted the food bank by blowing up Valentine's Day balloons to donate to a dozen schools in the Hampton Roads, Suffolk, and Yorktown, Virginia, areas.

"This week, it just so happens that the food bank is having a big inspection," said Chief Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) Ben Dammann, who coordinated the event. "Our focus today was cleanliness of the grounds, cleaning up the parking lots, the outside, cleaning up the bathrooms, and getting those inspection-ready. So, hopefully we helped them pass their inspection."

Filling the balloons is not a normal occurrence at the food bank, but the Sailors welcomed the mission to provide assistance however possible.

"It was a demand that they had, so we helped fill up the balloons for Valentine's Day to make one day of a child's life better," said Dammann.

A few members of the group were assigned to make more than 1,000 balloons to give to kids of all ages.

"Overall, I really wouldn't care if people knew that we were here doing this or not," said Machinist's Mate 1st Class Darren Kovas, who helped fill balloons. "Knowing the kids will enjoy having their balloon is a bigger deal to me than anything else."

Their efforts were part of a CPO 365 Phase I community relations (COMREL) event. CPO 365 Phase I training helps prepare petty officers first class for their role as chiefs, and community service is part of the training.

"Part of the intent of this is to build camaraderie between the First Class Petty Officer Mess and the Chiefs Mess," said Dammann. "We want to have that relationship to build on prior to selection, that way when we do have our new chief selects, it's going to make that transition a lot smoother."

CPO 365 participants are required to participate in COMREL events throughout the year, and helping out at the food bank was the first scheduled event.

"The importance of this one was showing each member of the team how it's organized, what goes into a COMREL, and what the expectation is from them from this point on," said Dammann. "Every one of the chiefs here and the first classes seemed to be communicating well, talking, and telling sea stories. That's what it's meant for, and I think that occurred today."

George Washington's CPO 365 Phase I members plan to volunteer at local schools and soup kitchens, as well as help set up for community events like fun runs.

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