“Bring Marines and their Community closer together”

The concept for a coordinating council evolved in 1997

The unit's family readiness program faced many communications challenges every month, keeping the families informed about events, during Annual Training (AT) and while on deployment.  Additionally, there was a steady supply of former Marines/civilian volunteers who wanted to do something to help our local service members.

There were also annual requirements which needed coordination and support -- planning & conducting family day, executing the Toys for Tots program and the Marine Corps Ball.

The biggest long term benefit of having a council was to build continuity within the family readiness programs, keeping the community connected to our Marines.

It was General Charles Krulak, then 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), that initiated a dialog asking for veteran's groups to begin forming organizations such as Coordinating Councils in local communities across the country.

We began our journey by initially contacting a retired General in Houston, TX to find out more information about coordinating councils.  He had created a very successful council in the Greater Houston Area.

Our eventual fact finding efforts lead to us establishing the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Rochester, Inc. in 1998.  We drafted our Bylaws and mission statement during these initial stages -- with the end result of fully incorporating as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with tax exemption status.

Some of our original members, Leonard A. Benedict,  Josh Porte, and Frank Kozlowsky are still active today.   There were other “plank owners” not listed who made significant contributions along the way.  Leonard A. Benedict was the first elected Chairman of the Council and had an established office in the Reserve center where he worked tirelessly in support of our Marines.

Our first endeavor, a major undertaking, was to get the Medical community in Monroe County and the surrounding areas to accept Champus (now Tricare) for our Marines and their families. This was a key item since the nearest military medical facility was at Ft. Drum, NY (approximately 200 miles).

Because of a lack of understanding of this active duty health insurance program within the community, medical services were not being billed properly and many of the medical establishments were 'balance billing' Marines.  Because of this disconnect, individuals accumulated debt to the medical community, it was affecting their credit reports and collection companies were unrelenting in their efforts to collect.

Dr. McVeigh was the first physician to begin accepting Champus (now Tricare) and as an advocate, his support eventually lead to others accepting Champus (now Tricare) which began to ease the stress our Marines were experiencing.

The Council has engaged in many support projects since that very first success:

Musical Tattoo – a musical extravaganza which brought to town many international drum & bugle corps for 2 nights of patriotic music.  (great community support)

Website – supporting our deployed Marines.  Allowing the Unit’s leadership to post timely and accurate information from the deployed unit under security of password protection.  This ensured that communication with loved ones back home sent a uniform message to all families and allowed them to access the site at their leisure.

An NCO lounge was built at the reserve center – dedicated in honor of MSgt Kenneth Cummings' service to God, Country & Corps – a former Marine and council member who lost his battle with cancer.

Support annual family days, family nights, deployment send-offs, etc.

Provide merchandise to build unit pride such as T-shirts, coins, etc.

Support the planning and execution of the annual Marine Corps Ball.

Provided coffee and breakfast foods on reserve weekends.

Provide volunteers to support the annual Toys for Tots program.