Navy foursome helps senior center

FALLBROOK – A foursome of Navy hospital corpsmen recently took some time out from their military duties to assist the Fallbrook Senior Center on June 20. The corpsmen are part of a community service program that connects active duty personnel with nonprofit groups and other local organizations once or twice a month.

The foursome helped with the center’s lunch program and then moved furniture and performed other tasks at the center’s thrift shop. All of them are assigned to the 3rd Marine Air Wing at Camp Pendleton.

One of the visitors, Hector Carbajal, was thrilled to sit down to lunch with a local senior who was at Pearl Harbor when a Japanese aerial attack catapulted America into World War II.

“I ate lunch with ‘Pearl Harbor’ Bill (Greenhouse),” Carbajal, a Fallbrook resident, said afterward. “Just to listen to him and to share some of his experiences was really meaningful.”

Carbajal and his colleagues helped by greeting lunch patrons, picking up dirty dishes, folding tablecloths and putting away the tables and chairs.

“I want to thank you guys for coming,” said Gerald Fare, a 90-year-old Fallbrook resident. “You made our day. I appreciate it.”

The thrift shop put the foursome to work after lunch, after they had changed from their Navy uniforms into civilian clothing.

Sandra Bridges of Murrieta noted that they could donate their no-longer-used belongings to the thrift shop the next time they clean out their garages or storage sheds. Her Navy colleagues, Barbara Mayer of Camp Pendleton and Ashley Kline of Murrieta, agreed and said the outing certainly achieved the objectives of their community service program.

“Every time we do one of these, we benefit from it,” Kline said.

Visit http://www.fallbrook

seniorcenter.com or call (760) 728-4498 to volunteer or obtain more information on the center or its programs.