By Julia Train
Living by the shore, Atlantic and Cape May counties are directly influenced by the Coast Guard. The community often forgets that.
In 2017, the Coast Guard’s 154-foot cutter, the Lawrence Lawson, was commissioned after the U.S. Coast Guard decided to replace the 85-foot boats with larger ones. For those unaware of what a “cutter” is, it’s the term used for ships that the Coast Guard uses.
According to Professional Mariner, the vessel is named after Lawrence O. Lawson, who led the rescue of 18 crewmembers from the vessel Calumet in November 1889 in icy conditions after two prior failed attempts. The rescue led him to receive the Gold Lifesaving Medal on Oct. 17, 1890 for his leadership.
The Lawrence Lawson is the 20th Sentinel-class cutter to be delivered to the United States Coast Guard. It was built at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana.
In 2018, community members wanted to give back to the crew. A resolution was passed in a city council meeting for Lawson’s Pride to become a registered nonprofit. It now has a 10-member committee that meets once a month.
“A lot of [the members] have small children, and they’re away from their support systems,” said Janice Johnston, the organization’s chair, at a July fundraiser. “So we just try and kind of supplement a little bit wherever we can.”
Janice Johnston and Greg Sykora, the vice chair, founded Lawson’s Pride of Somers Point, a 501(c)(3) that aims to help the crew on the ship in whatever way they can.
Lawson’s Pride provides in a variety of ways for the Coast Guard and their families. They hold food drives to deliver food to families. Around Christmas, they arrange dinners for the families. The nonprofit also holds baby showers for Coast Guard members and their families when needed. The organization also helps with household repair costs for crewmembers’ families as well.
The vessel contains around 28 members, is stationed in Cape May and travels along the east coast providing aid to search-and-rescue missions. The crew’s families sometimes don’t live where they’re stationed. They may also need an extra hand with meals or clothes.
On Nov. 30, the nonprofit catered brunch at the base with live music. Lawson’s Pride members got to know the crew, gave them gifts and received a tour of the ship.
On Dec. 20, the charity made meals for the members and their families. Each crew member wound up having two shopping bags of food.
In July, they hosted a fundraiser at the Somers Point American Legion that included a meal and live music from the SSP’s. Attendees were able to purchase raffle tickets.
In addition to all these singular events, they sell Lawson’s Pride merch at city events, like beach concerts and car shows, to raise money to donate to the crew.
“It just feels so good when you see these young men be so happy and appreciative,” said Sykora. “It’s a great relationship. During a time where there’s not a lot of happy stuff going on, it’s really a good thing.”
Julia is a student at Rider University, majoring in multiplatform journalism with a minor in social media strategies. At school, she writes and copy edits for The Rider News and is the News Director for the radio station, producing news updates. She’ll be graduating in the spring. Connect with her on Instagram @juliatrain
