Rick Bowen, stationed aboard the Roanoke Island, agreed.

"One of the biggest things of the Coast Guard is helping out the general public," said Bowen, who has been on the Roanoke Island since May.

Currently, crews from both ships are involved in a woodcutting effort benefiting local families in need of a little help. Chainsaws are whining, woodchips are flying and 20 loads of specially ordered wood are being delivered at $100 a load. The firewood program has been going on for more than 10 years.

"The whole crew is involved in that some guys are working full time (on the firewood project) while other guys are covering for them (on the ships)," Musman said. "It's pretty heavy involvement all around."

"We're always looking for people who want to clean up their land, we come up, cut the wood and deliver it," said Scott McAloon of the Hickory, adding deliveries are done within reason.

"If you wanted it walked five miles through the woods, we probably wouldn't do that," McAloon said, laughing.

The $2,000 earned will be used to create a holiday season to be remembered for two families selected by a local social service agency.

"We basically get all the fixings and presents and surprise two families with a Christmas holiday," McAloon said.

Haunted Hickory is another project bringing crews from the Roanoke Island and Hickory together. Last year, more than 3,000 visitors lined up for the fright-night event that has a history stretching back more than two decades.

For the admission price of two items for the Homer Community Food Pantry, visitors arriving between 4-11 p.m. at the Hickory's dock at the end of the Spit are greeted by costumed strangers, bone-chilling music and the frightened screams of those already being lead through the temporarily remodeled ship of horrors. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary also promising to be in costume are on hand to help collect the donated food items.

A kids' version of the Haunted Hickory designed for the more easily frightened kicks off the night from 4-6 p.m., followed by the full-fright experience from 6:30-11 p.m.

The evening isn't all ghosts and monsters. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and beverages are for sale, prepared by crew and their families.

"It's a reasonably priced meal," McAloon said.

The combination of fright, food and fun repeatedly proves the perfect combination to benefit the pantry. Last year, the event collected about 2,500 pounds of food, so much food, in fact, that when it was delivered to the pantry, the folding table on which it was placed collapsed, Gregory Kanes, vice president of the food pantry's board of directors, told the crew at a recent planning meeting.

"There are a lot of needy people in this town," Kanes said, thanking the crew for what he called the pantry's "biggest fundraiser."

The ships also welcome guests at other times of the years, offering tours for school classes and other groups. Coast Guard personnel volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters and coach different sports, including baseball, basketball and swimming. The Hickory opens the doors of its training and recreation building for PTA meetings. Through a new program, unused food on the Hickory can be shared with community members.

"When we have lunch on board and have leftovers, a lot of times the cooks can't use them so we've developed an authorized program for us to donate leftovers to the food pantry," Musman said. "Instead of having food go into the garbage, we get it to people that need it."

Even when traveling to other ports, crews find ways to be involved in local communities.

"We do a blood drive every year at the buoy tender round-up in Juneau in the summer," Musman said. "And when we did an arctic trip last year and we'll do it again next year we did community outreach. That typically has to do with a boating safety presentation, a little 'this is what the Coast Guard does' talk and we had community leaders onboard. It's a way of engaging with local communities."

Not to be ignored are the dollars and cents the Coast Guard brings to the Homer area, as Musman pointed out when speaking at the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce fall conference in Homer.

"Just in general terms, the crew on the Hickory's salaries are $3 million a year. That's a lot of money to bring into a community," Musman said. In response to questions of how much is actually spent in Homer, he said, "Even if it's only a third or a half, that's still a lot."

The Hickory's commanding officer also is quick to point out the flip side of the Coast Guard's Homer experience.

"Everyone, in general, is pretty happy to be living in Homer, Alaska," said Musman, who began his tour aboard the Hickory in July. "There's probably a few people that are just not Alaska types, but everyone is pretty happy to be in Homer."

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky.@homernews.com.