Employees of Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Keyport donated 1,109 pounds of food for the NUWC Keyport Summer Food Drive benefitting the Kitsap County Food Bank Coalition.

“Summer is historically a tough time for food banks since donations usually decrease but the needs of our community increase,” said Capt. Dave Kohnke, Commander, NUWC Keyport. “Keyporters not only recognized this problem, they answered the call to do something about it. Their generosity to others is heartwarming.”

Navy divers from NUWC Keyport’s Dive Locker picked up collection boxes throughout the base to deliver to the Central Kitsap Food Bank truck waiting outside the gate. The donations were then disbursed throughout the community via the Kitsap County Food Bank Coalition.

NUWC Keyport conducted its first food drive during the winter of 2000. Noting that hunger is a year-round problem, NUWC Keyport added a summer food drive in 2007. Since the program’s inception 13 years ago, NUWC Keyport employees have donated more than 33,000 pounds of food to local food banks.

Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Keyport’s mission is to operate the Navy’s full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and Fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapon systems associated with Undersea Warfare (USW) and related areas of homeland security and national defense.