UPDATE: As of Dec. 15, the American Red Cross South Jersey Chapter reported it has reached its goal for families to host Coast Guard recruits on Christmas Day. Officials expressed appreciation for the community’s response, reported here last week, to place every recruit in a home for the holiday.
CAPE MAY – More than 100 local families are still needed to host 195 Coast Guard recruits on Christmas Day, according to the South Jersey Region (chapter) American Red Cross, which co-sponsors “Operation Fireside” with the U.S. Coast Guard each holiday season.
“This is about twice as many families as we needed for Thanksgiving,” said Georgianna Engels, administrative coordinator of the program, “so we still have quite a ways to go.”
“South Jersey and Cape May is our hometown,” added Chief Warrant Officer John Edwards, the Coast Guard’s external affairs officer. “I am sure our communities will respond.”
About 350 Coast Guard recruits will be away from home during the Christmas season, training at the Guard’s only enlisted basic training program. “Operation Fireside,” started in 1981, brings together local families and veteran groups for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Host families should plan to pick up their recruits at noon on Christmas Day, returning them to the Coast Guard base by 8 p.m. “It’s really about giving the recruits a chance to watch TV, call home, eat a home-cooked meal and go onto the Internet,” Edwards said.
Dr. Richard Weiss, and his wife, Dr. Sandra Harmon-Weiss, will be first-time hosts for two recruits this Christmas. The couple have lived in the area full-time since 2004, and found, “This year, our family table is a little smaller than we’d like,” said Harmon-Weiss. “We are so looking forward to sharing our table with a couple recruits.”
The service “discourages” any gift giving to recruits. “The recruits are being welcomed into a home whose family has generously invited the most junior members of our service to celebrate with them,” Edwards said. “A recruit has limited space for the authorized items they have, and anything else could be contraband, so bringing back anything onto the base would not be encouraged or allowed.”
One of the companies which will be spending time with families at Christmas was among the newest at Thanksgiving, when members had dinner at one of four local service groups. “Our newest group at Thanksgiving time is now our most senior group,” Edwards said, “so they will get a chance to spend the holiday with a local family. There are two more companies after them so we have a larger number of recruits for Christmas because of the influx.”
Dave Delaney, Smithville, and Neil Fine, Ocean View, host recruits for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“We’ve been doing it for 13 years,” Fine said, as he picked up his recruits Thanksgiving Day. “We host them for Christmas Day, as well. Our day is planned for them, so they can do what they want and enjoy the day. It’s our gift to them.”
Delaney and his family have been hosting recruits since the early 1990s. “It’s become a family tradition,” he said. “Now our kids host recruits as well, and some of their friends. It’s the coolest thing we can do for them (the recruits) by sharing our holidays with these young people.”
If a recruit does not celebrate Christmas, they are able to stay on base if they wish and not participate in “Operation Fireside,” according to Edwards. “We make all possible arrangements to ensure our recruits are able to attend their religious services and observances on a daily basis, not just at Christmas time,” he said.
“If a recruit does not recognize or participate in the holiday due to religious reasons, they are still allowed to go with a family if they choose. Or if they have something specific they would like to participate in, a request would be considered by the command. By having the families pick up the recruits at noon, this gives them a chance to attend worship services in the morning, such as divine hours, if they want.”
Anyone wishing to host recruits for Christmas should contact Engels at 646-8330.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.
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