Fleet and Family Support Programs (FFSP) and Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) Liberty Center combined forces to kick off Military Saves Week at the Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor Theater, Feb. 25.

According to the Military Saves Web site, it is a social marketing campaign to persuade, motivate, and encourage military families to save money every month as well as convince leaders and organizations to be aggressive in promoting automatic savings.

The event taught Sailors many things about their finances including car buying, home buying, credit and debt management and who to contact for help.

“This event is extremely important to me because as a young Sailor, I neglected saving and putting away money that I should have,” said Master-at-Arms 1st Class Charlie Kessler, Naval Base Kitsap Security. “I can see this event being extremely beneficial to junior Sailors, in that, when they retire or get out of the Navy, they will have good saving and investing habits.”

Military Saves Week starts the last Sunday of every February through the first Sunday of March every year.  Representatives from Armed Forces Bank, Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, FFSP, Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society as well as numerous other companies took part in the event providing information to Sailors.

“I am here to see what they offer here financial--wise, because if you don’t take care of your money, you will end up broke,” said Electronics Technician 3rd Class Tony Campbell, Trident Training Facility student. “This gives me options I wouldn’t normally have. It’s very hard to drive around from bank to bank to see what financial services are available. Another thing, most of us have security clearances and if we are not financially secure we could lose our clearance.”

The campaign is a growing network of organizations and individuals committed to helping and supporting military members and their loved ones build personal savings arsenals to provide for their immediate and long term financial needs.

“Sailors can learn about financial responsibility and credit rating here,” said Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class (SS) Vernon Dechene, USS Ohio (SSGN 726) (Blue). “Events like these are important to give Sailors information or financial assistance to get out of debt or realign their spending habits.”

MWR provided free hot dogs and soft drinks and FFSP held a “Jeopardy” -style game about finances where Sailors could learn and have a chance at winning a prize.

“The goal of this week is to get people to go to the Military Saves Web site and take a pledge to start saving money,” said Walter Barrett, FFSP financial educator. “We hope people will start to increase their savings rate. As a nation, we are in debt and the military is a part of the nation. Our little goal is to have people save $500 minimum.”

For more information, contact your local FFSP or visit http://www.militarysaves.org{{PERIOD}}