Muskegon – The Muskegon Maritime Academy(MMA) announced today that through private funding the school will be helping parents off-set the cost of school uniforms to kick off the school year.

School founder Franklin A. Fudail said the uniforms to start the school year off are temporary until the customized uniforms for the naval academy are finalized. He said he has worked with a Fashion Designer to create “cadet-styled shirts” for the small sizes needed.

“You can’t just go to the store and buy these shirts or find them online for the sizes we needed, so I decided to design what we needed. I found a great Fashion Designer with great technical design skills out of California that took my vision and designed it into a reality. I then found a manufacturer to make the shirts”, said Fudail.

In the meantime, Fudail said school supporters, including himself, are preparing to make the first bulk order for temporary uniforms for the school. He said they are ordering the basic kid sizes for the temporary uniforms now and will supply them to upcoming students. “Parents will be able to contribute a small fee not to exceed $75 and get several uniforms for their child, school supporters are subsidizing the rest of the cost”, said Fudail.

“Once we close our enrollment and can collect exact sizes for shirts, pants, and shoes we will order the official MMA uniforms”, said Fudail.

Donations for the uniforms have come from all over the country including California, Texas, New York and a couple from Muskegon. Contributions can be made at https://muskegonmaritimeacademy.org/donate