Shareece Wright gives back to his neighborhood

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Page A2 • November 22, 2012 • Inland Empire Community Newspapers • Colton Courier
Shareece Wright gives back to his neighborhood
Thanksgiving
men served and refilled punch,
prepared and served desserts and
anything else that needed to be
done.
Apart from the meal, the church
also gave out their regular Tuesday
bread donations. Every Tuesday,
Immaculate Conception gives out
hundreds of bags of bread and
serves dinner to about 300 people.
The first Thursday of every month
they provide 312 bags of groceries
and basic commodities.
On Tuesday a volunteer, who donates his time and with his own
gas, picks up hundreds of loaves of
bread from Community Action
Food Bank in San Bernardino and
brings them back to the church for
families in need to pick up. The
bread is donated by Stater Bros.
If there is an abundance of bread,
families are allowed to take as
many loaves as they’d like, often-
times to share with friends and
neighbors, and if there’s a smaller
amount, there is a limit, but either
way, they walk out with a generous
portion of bread and other baked
goodies.
At the end of the Thanksgiving
feeding there were eight pounds of
turkey meat left, from 22 turkeys
and eight pounds of mashed potatoes, some of which was donated
the next day to a family of four,
with one on the way.
“It went really well,” said Ely
Sanchez, director of the church’s
Dinner Hour Ministry. “I hope people know they can count on God to
provide for them. All we have to do
is ask and he always comes
through. We should thank him for
what we have all year.”
The Immaculate Conception Dinner Hour Ministry is available only
to Colton residents. For more information call the church at (909)
825-5110.
IECN COURTESY PHOTO
On Tuesday, November 20 Colton High alumnus and pro football player for the San Diego Chargers Shareece Wright purchased 90 turkeys at Walmart in Colton and delivered them to every
home in the Colton projects where he was raised. It was not possible to contact Shareece before
publication to get a comment but words are hardly necessary when these bright smiles tell a wonderful story about what the donation meant to everyone.
IECN PHOTO
CYNTHIA MENDOZA
Dinner Hour Ministry Coordinator Eloy Sanchez, left, and Father
Michael Manning during Immaculate Conception’s Thanksgiving
dinner outreach which served over 1,000 people.
Food drive
real need looks like; one woman
had lost a husband and was burdened with medical bills so high
she couldn’t make her house payment. In another family both mom
and dad had lost their jobs.
“They all had a story,” Campa
said about these and other families
they served. “It was a life changing
experience for the kids to see what
other families go through. They
learned to be grateful and to give
back. We’re grateful the Conquistadors let us come with them.”
IECN PHOTO CYNTHIA MENDOZA
Applicants
Just a few of the youth from the Colton High School Rotary sponsored Interact Club who cheerThe 11-member committee deals
fully volunteered their time at Immaculate Conception’s Thanksgiving outreach which fed over
1,000 people on Tuesday, November 20. From left: Kendahl Villalobos, Nicole Martinez, Luis with proposed changes to school
district organization issues, includLopez, Alex Moran, Sherri Valenzuela and Clarissa Camarillo.
ing number of trustees, trustee and
school district boundary areas, and
Culhane
served on two previous deployments to Iraq in 2007 and 2009.
During his four months at a forward
operating
base
in
Afghanistan, Dr. Culhane cared for
wounded U.S. and Afghan soldiers
and civilians, while sharpening his
diagnostic skills.
Dr. Culhane, an attending surgeon
at ARMC since 2005, handled
about 10 to 20 surgeries each week
in Afghanistan. That’s comparable
to the number of surgeries he performs every week in ARMC’s Department of Surgery, which
conducted approximately 5,000
surgeries last year.
Though the number of surgeries
each week in Afghanistan may
IECN PHOTO CYNTHIA MENDOZA have been similar to his ARMC
Many of the volunteers at Immaculate Conception’s Dinner Hour Ministry have been donating schedule, Dr. Culhane often had to
their time for many years. They generously prepare food and serve hundreds of people per week. improvise with equipment.
“There was a time when the
On Tuesday, November 20 they whipped up and served a delicious Thanksgiving meal with all the
power failed in the hospital in the
trimmings for 1,008 people.
middle of our operation and we had
Campa plans to involve his players in future charitable activities to
keep the spirit of service and giving growing in them. In December
the Conquistadors plan on doing
another food as well as toy drive.
“We’re grateful the Conquistadors let us come with them,” said
Colton High Baseball coach Shawn
Campa about the opportunity for
his young ball players to partner
with the Conquistadors to provide
food boxes to families in need on
Saturday, November 17. “It was an
eye opening experience for the
boys.”
unification.
For more information about the
committee or application, contact
Dennis Mobley, acting secretary to
the County Committee, by phone at
(909) 386-2947 or via email at
[email protected].
to use flashlights,” said Dr. Culhane. “Another time we had to
make a colostomy for a soldier but
didn’t have the supplies, so we had
to suture a freezer bag.”
Dr. Culhane saw some unusual
cases. He recalls one patient who
had a shrapnel injury to the bowel,
“When we operated we found that
a piece of shrapnel had severed
both the patient’s bowel and a footlong intestinal worm.”
Intense trauma work came naturally to Dr. Culhane. He started as
a paramedic and the experience
helped to spur him to become a
doctor. He then continued his training to become a surgeon in order to
be able to provide both regular
medical care and surgical care, he
said.
“When I decided to become a reservist I felt like my skills as a surgeon could be an asset in a time of
war,” said Dr. Culhane. “I am
pleased that I can provide care in
this manner.”