Staten Island Fleet Week was established in 1990 while the Stapleton Homeport was an active U.S. The organization was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1999. At it’s inception we started as a community based “Adopt-A-Sailor” program, which enabled local families to adopt crew-members for the day and treat them to either a home cooked meal, or visit the sites of New York City. An all vol
unteer board and staff enable the group to fulfill our mission to provide recreation, morale and support the welfare of the visiting crew-members to the New York City area. To date, more than 160 military ships have visited the Homeport site since 2000. Fleet Week ’06 brought in excess of 38,000 visitors to the event, not including the 1,500 crew-members and their families. Fleet Week is an annual event which takes place each year during the Memorial Day holiday. During the course of the last few years an educational component was added to the program. This allowed school age children to experience first hand the wonders of the ships and their crews. Each year since 2000, the program has flourished and expanded. In 2006 over 8,000 school children attended admission free activities during three designated days during the Fleet Week festivities. This year we expect a total of more than 10,000 school children from the tri-state area to visit the site and participate in various programs. New York City is the only Fleet Week event throughout the country that allows the ships to be open to the public, and sets aside specific times for students to visit. Staten Island Fleet Week events are accepted as “Community Service Projects” whereby the visiting crew members give back to the community. New York City Parks Department, Abandoned Cemeteries, pediatric units in local hospitals, senior citizen centers, and veterans’ organizations are just a few who have benefited from the fruits of their labor. In addition, all of Staten Island’s high schools accept community service credit from our organization for volunteering students. This gives the senior class students the opportunity to earn the mandatory requirement needed for graduation and provides then with a sense of community spirit. A scholarship is also awarded each year to a college bound senior based on the community service that he or she performs. Staten Islanders whole-heartedly anticipate the arrival of Fleet Week each year. It infuses a financial influx into the neighborhood. The crew-members, their families, and the general public who are visiting the site utilize the services of local merchants. Banks, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment establishments generally offer special discounts or courtesies to the military personnel. Veteran’s organizations open their hearts to the crew-members and provide various planned activities. Visiting personnel also participate each year in the annual Staten Island Memorial Day Parade.
