Local chapter of Star Trek fan association hosts food drive for The Table

Submitted by U.S.S. Nomad, a chapter of Starfleet, the international Star Trek fan association

Main photo: Captain Joel Robert Ehl (left) and Ensign Lachlan Stead (centre) of U.S.S. Nomad deliver goods from the group’s food drive to The Table Soup Kitchen Foundation (supplied)

For over four decades, Starfleet has provided Star Trek fans a way to make friends, have fun, give back to their communities, and show that the dream of Gene Roddenberry can live long and prosper.

On the local level, members can gather with other fans for a variety of enjoyable activities. On the international level, STARFLEET offers our members a wealth of resources that cannot be found in any other Star Trek fan club. In addition to a great set of membership materials and our regularly published newsletter, Starfleet offers members the chance to get involved with Starfleet Academy, the Starfleet Marine Corps, the Department of Technical Services, and much, much more. We even have a group of academic monetary scholarships that are awarded to deserving Starfleet members each year.

Starfleet is divided into hundreds of local chapters, spread out across the United States and the world. It is in these local chapters that members of Starfleet get together to make friends, meet, and have a fun time. In keeping with the Star Trek theme, our chapters are each named as a ship of the line or space station.

The U.S.S. Nomad is a ship based in Muskoka, Ontario. This chapter was formed during COVID-19 crisis and from June to now has grown from five members to 26 SFI-registered and two non-SFI members. We do meetings, games, and chat online.

In Ontario there are members in Kingston, Belleville, Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough, Waterdown, Hamilton, Burlington, Barrie, and our headquarters is in Huntsville, Ontario

The Nomad is unique as it is a ship that has members over 4356 miles apart. We have members in the USA in California, Utah, Michigan, and New York. In Canada we have members in Newfoundland, Ontario, and Manitoba in addition to those listed in Ontario

This past weekend the U.S.S. Nomad took on a food drive to support a larger initiative by the fleet. The Nomad decided to make this a weekend team event and since Friday have packaged food and started delivering.

Eighteen members participated, donating to 11 communities. The total number of items collected was 380 with a weight of 350.535 lbs. The contribution to the Table Food Bank in Huntsville was just over 60 lbs of food.

This was the Nomad’s second community event this year. The first was an organized walk to raise money for trained PTSD dogs for veterans and first-responders.

For more information, visit ussnomad.com or email uss.nomad.command@gmail.com.