Families host Thanksgiving meals for Camp Lejeune Marines

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A group of folks celebrated Thanksgiving by giving back and opening their doors to Camp Lejeune Marines who couldn't go home for the holiday.

It's the fourth year more than 80 families organized the event to welcome two or three Marines into their homes.

Everyone waited at Hoggard High School Thursday morning for a bus full of men and women from Camp Lejeune.

Port City Java CEO Steven Schnitzler, who organized the group, says more Marines signed up than ever before. 84 families each took in two or three Marines.

"We had to cut it off at 84 cause we always have more than enough families to go around," Shniztler said.

He says the growth they have experienced over the past four years was expected.

"The first few minutes are a little bit nervous I think for them they get here and I think they don't know anybody. We distribute them out and they go home with some strangers but by they end of the day when we load them back on the busses every single one of them says, keep doing this. This is great," Schnitzler said.

Marines Alycia Cooke and Tommie Soto-Martinez are both fresh out of boot camp. Cooke is from Orlando and Soto-Martinez is from Las Vegas.

This Thanksgiving is their first away from home. "It's a little weird," Cooke said. "But having another family will make up for it." They both ended up going home with the Schnitzler family.

The families took in a total of 171 Marines.

To find out how you can host marines next year, CLICK HERE for PortCity Java's Facebook page.