VISTA —- Hundreds of military families around San Diego County are getting a much-needed boost this month in the form of a holiday meal and a shopping spree thanks to Operation Homefront’s Adopt-a-Family Program.
But for a couple of lucky families, the experience got an extra special spark on Sunday.
Two members of the United States Navy, both who have served for more than a decade, and their wives and children also got to spend the afternoon with their adopters —- the staff of the Vista Fire Department’s Wildwood Station.
They checked out the station, went shopping for gifts, then headed back for dinner with the firefighters and some of the firefighter’s own family members.
“It’s just a godsend because being here at the fire station is much bigger than the toys he’ll receive,” said Heather as her 5-year-old son Joseph explored the firetrucks and tested out the equipment during his personal tour. The family of four asked to only be identified by first name.
She said that she and her husband, James, didn’t tell Joseph about where they were going until they got about a mile away and that when he heard, he could barely contain his excitement.
“This is so cool,” said twin 7-year-old sisters Zaria and Zariah in unison as they took in all the sights and sounds of the station in wide-eyed amazement.
Their mother, Courtney Swanigan of Sierra Mesa said she was absolutely thrilled when they discovered that, unlike several of their neighbors in military housing who received gift cards in the mail, her three daughters, including 17-month-old Zoe, would be “embraced like this.”
“How many kids can say they had a Christmas dinner with firefighters?” Swanigan asked.
Then came the news that the children would be riding over to Walmart for the shopping spree aboard a fire engine.
“Wow, are you serious?” Zariah asked.
The thrills kept coming as they arrived at the store and hit the aisles accompanied by the uniformed firefighters. Heads turned and shoppers kept commenting on such a “wonderful thing to see.”
Swanigan was brimming with gratitude. She said that since moving to San Diego a year ago, she had been in shock at the cost of living that had quickly been draining the family’s bank account.
“We were out of luck this year,” Swanigan said. “And now we are just so blessed.”
The children darted from display to display, squealing with delight at each new prospect.
“They are making some fine choices,” engineer Brian Metzgen said as he watched the carts slowly filled to capacity with baby dolls and stuffed animals for the girls and tool benches and push toys for the boys.
“I just wish we could do this for even more kids,” said Kelcey Sass, also an engineer.
The firefighters, including Capt. Chris Bowden, paramedic Mike Romeo, Metzgen and Sass, came in on their days off. Metzgen even took some vacation time to be able to “have some fun and see some smiles.”
The firefighters ladies auxiliary has been adopting families for the last two years, but dreamed up the idea to include their husbands this holiday season.
“We thought it would be fun to do it jointly and it sure is,” said Tina Metzgen, president of the auxiliary.
The nonprofit Operation Homefront has 30 chapters nationwide and has provided critical assistance to more than 45,000 military families in need. For more information, visit www.operationhomefront.net.
Story and photo by nctimes.com
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