Area couple helping out California-based Marines with a ride, a hot meal, and a helping hand

  • By Jennifer Kneuss
  • February 14, 2012
  • 347
                        
Summary: For young Marines hundreds of miles from home, a ride, a helping hand, and a hot meal are welcome respites, as an area couple have found out during their volunteer work with the Soldiers Organized Services (S.O.S.) organization in Palm Springs, California. Chuck and Billie Nicholson are known for the successful car businesses that bear the Nicholson name in Holmes and Tuscarawas counties, but for young men and women serving their country as U.S. Marines, they are much appreciated volunteers. The Nicholsons have taken to escaping Ohio’s usually harsh winters to spend the coldest months in LaQuinta, CA, about 15 miles from Palm Springs. There, they reside in their motor home in a local RV resort. This winter, instead of just enjoying the balmy climate, the couple responded to an appeal issued by a group called S.O.S., an acronym for ‘Soldiers Organized Services’. S.O.S. is a non-profit organization supporting the Marines stationed at the Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, CA. Marines who are deployed to a mission or who are returning are transported by military bus from airports to the base, but others have to find their own ride. “At the Palm Springs Airport, I met a young Marine came in who had been shot and wounded in Iraq, and as a result was in a cast up to his hips. He was on crutches and struggling to carry his bags, and was dismayed at having missed the last evening bus back to his base,” explained S.O.S. founder Erica Stone. “He was faced with having to spend 24 hours in the airport or pay close to $200 for cab fare.” Stone was greatly moved by his plight, and there on the spot insisted on driving the young man back to Twentynine Palms herself. “He said, ‘Ma’m, I don’t want to inconvenience you.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding?’” she continued. “I started recruiting my friends and put an article in the newspaper. We went from 8 volunteers to 62 over a weekend! From that point on, S.O.S. was born. The stories go on and on.” “Two days ago, we had a gal in labor, and her husband was a serviceman and was with her at the hospital, so we transported her mother to the hospital so she could be with them. When they are deploying, when their grandparents have passed away, when they get married, or have their babies, we are there for them,” continued the founder. “Our volunteers get to be part of something so phenomenal.” “When Marines first report to the base as a recruit, or go home on leave, they are responsible for their own transportation to and from the airport. Taxicab fare is about $152 each way, which is obviously a burden for some new recruits who arrive with $10 or $15 in their pocket. By the time they arrive at the Palm Springs Airport, some of them haven't eaten in 24 hours,” explained Chuck. The couple and their fellow volunteers provide their own vehicles and fuel to transport the service men and women, and usually also stop along the way to purchase a meal for the Marines. Almost 24,000 Marines have been given rides back and forth to the airports since the project began. “Billie and I became involved after the holidays when the S.O.S. organization published an appeal for additional volunteer drivers on a temporary basis because so many off their normal volunteer drivers were out of town for the holidays,” Nicholson explained. “It was supposed to be a one-time deal, but when we found out how tough it is for Erica to find volunteer drivers, we volunteered for the season. It's been an interesting process.” Stone hopes that her winter volunteers will take the project with them back to their home areas if a military base is nearby, and start S.O.S. programs all over the U.S.A. “My dream, and my goal, is to see an S.O.S. program near every military base,” explained Stone, who coordinates the rides and struggles to raise funds to keep S.O.S. going. S.O.S. does not accept donations from the Marines they serve, but instead relies on the donations of others to keep the program going. Find out more at www.sosride.org.


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