Party Honors Military Families
Sun Post News | Written by Barbara Potter
Debbie Nicholson, wife of Col. Nicholson, center, chats with other Marine wives of Headquarters 5th Regiment. Each wife received a gift basket at the event.
Words of Comfort, Hope & Promise bring joy to those serving our country.
Some Camp Pendleton Marines who are serving in Iraq will get to see their families on Christmas Day. A video that was taken at a recent holiday party of their wives and children has been sent to them.
“We have adopted the 5th Regiment and we wanted to support our troops, so we threw their families a huge party and took videos of it,” said Cynthia Martinez, the founder and president of Words of Comfort, Hope & Promise.
Marines from the 5th Regiment Headquarters
As in the past, the San Clemente woman, along with her many volunteers, held a holiday party for about 400 men, women and children on Dec. 9. The event was held at the San Onofre Community Center at Camp Pendleton. Along with a surprise visit by Santa, who handed out bundles of toys to the children, Deborah Nelson, the current Ms. America, also joined in the festivities.
Deborah Nelson, Ms. America 2006-2007, also attended the event, helping to hand out gifts to the children.
A tradional Christmas dinner was catered and the band from the Church On The Rock sang Christmas carols. Martinez said that with help from the community and local churches – Church on the Rock, San Juan Capistrano; Foothill Family Church, Lake Forest; Life Church, Mission Viejo; Calvary South Church, San Juan Capistrano and Trinity Broadcast Network – “it was a huge success.”
Members from the Foothill Family Church in Lake Forest helped served dinner to all the guests.
“We had some overflow of toys, so we were able to provide them to another Battalion and to the Army National Guard,” she said.
After 9/11, Martinez formed the nonprofit organization. She has said that God called her “into action to bring comfort, hope and support to our country and our military men and women.” Today her nonprofit organization has grown into a full-time ministry. Throughout the year, Martinez plans and holds parties for Marines who have been deployed and for those who have returned home. She also gathers items and sends care packages to those serving overseas.
If you would like to make a donation, please visit the Donation page or contact Cynthia at (949) 637-7615.
December 21, 2006