Nearly 30,000 Defense Department employees contributed more than $15 million dollars to the Combined Federal Campaign this year, surpassing all other government agencies in donations. At the Pentagon ceremony, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter presented a giant cardboard check for $15.2 million dollars to Dr. H. Brandon Haller, LFCC Chairperson. This marks the ninth consecutive year that the department has set a CFC fundraising record.

Carter said the donations will go to some 4,000 charities that “help extend access to medical care to some of the most impoverished regions in the world.” The contributions came even as DOD employees are facing an uncertain budget and personnel situation, he said.

Carter noted that this year, some contributions will go toward helping people who would not normally be recipients - victims of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated coastal areas of the northeastern United States in October. “Your financial contributions to organizations that provide post-disaster relief have been vital in helping these regions recover from that devastating storm,” he said.

Six DOD components, the Navy and Marines, Naval Sea Systems command, Army, Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency each raised more than a million dollars in contributions.