Families needed to host Marines for Thanksgiving

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Port City Java needs families in New Hanover County to volunteer to host Marines for Thanksgiving this year.

Thanksgiving is less than two months away, but not everyone will get to spend the holiday with their families.

This will be the 9th year Port City Java has held its Thanksgiving event for Marines. Port City Java CEO Steve Schnitzler said they have placed more than 1100 Marines over the life of the program. Most all of them are fresh out of boot camp, and under 21. For the last few years, Schnitzler said they have had both male and female marines.

Each host family gets two marines, but it is random.

Schnitzler said they request that host families live within 15 minutes of the drop off points at Hoggard, New Hanover and Laney High Schools. At the moment, they are only looking for families for Laney and NHHS. Hoggard is full. The reason for this requirement is that the Marines travel an hour each way on the buses. Schnitzler said they do not want their entire day to be taken up in a car.

The procedure to get on the list is simple. You need to e-mail Steve at steve@portcityjava.com.

Do not try calling. He said phone calls will not be returned. There are more than 80 families that get selected, and many more that apply. Schnitzler said he needs a written record to do things in order of how they were received.