'Adopt A Marine for Christmas' program leads to evening of fellowship

FALLBROOK - Over 150 individual Marines, Marine families, and their “adopting” sponsors gathered together for the Rotary Club of Fallbrook’s annual Adopt a Marine for Christmas program on Monday evening, Dec. 12. Rotarians, non-Rotarians from near and far away, and corporate and business sponsors brought car loads of gifts and shared an evening of fellowship and a spread of food.

Christ the King Lutheran Church offered its largest meeting room for the occasion and church women served at the gathering. Many visitors brought a variety of food, along with their Christmas gifts for the Marines and Marine families.

A huge Christmas tree was surrounded by stacks of presents, and Santa met with lots of children while proud parents captured those moments with their cameras.

The Marines were selected from the HMLAT-303, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron at Camp Pendleton. Fallbrook Rotarian Lynn Sheffer, the Family Readiness Officer on the base for the squadron, matched the Marines with the “adopters.”

Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Robert Morgan was in attendance and shared some insight into their operations and thanked the attendees for the wonderful opportunity provided to a lot of his people that away from home for Christmas. He said it gave them a chance to share in an evening that gave them the feeling of a family gathering around the kitchen table. It was a very special evening, even without the

presents.

The number of adopting sponsors and adopted Marines was more than

double last year’s program, largely due to opening up the opportunity for the public to “Adopt a Marine” which was announced with a press release published in the Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News.