Cherry Point Marines help serve up a Thanksgiving meal

Cherry Point Marines were chopping, sautéing, dicing, mashing and baking Thursday morning, preparing a Thanksgiving lunch for those who came to the Religious Community Services dining hall in New Bern.

It's the fifth year that Lee Fraizer, manager of the Cherry Point Sodexo food subcontractor, got the men and women together to lend a hand.

Fraizer said he asks for volunteers about three months before Thanksgiving to take on the extra KP duties.

"No one is opposed. Most of them jump at the chance," Fraizer said.

Cpl. Cortez Norbert, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is assigned to the mess hall at Cherry Point. Even with a day off, he said he was eager to help.

"Volunteers were asked for, so I came," Cortez said.

He said it was his way of helping the community and those less fortunate. He said it gave him a good feeling.

Cortez's wife, Erika Cortez, was with her husband. She said she did not mind that he volunteered. She said she was there to help in anyway she could.

With her husband being a cook by profession, she said when she cooked around the house he often "helps."

"He'll add ingredients to my cooking, make suggestions and generally be in the kitchen with me. I don't mind," she said.

The couple has a 22-month-old and 4-year old. The children were out of town visiting grandparents.

Cortez is cooking for the Marines now, but he hopes to become a police officer when he gets out of the military.

Cpl. Sean Davis was giving a large stainless steel pot of food a good stir. The Bowling Green, Ohio, native said he volunteered to give back to the less fortunate at Thanksgiving.

"I'll be spending time with my wife and children later today," he said.

Davis said he wife was agreeable to his volunteering at the center.

Roseanne Brownell, ministries coordinator for RCS, said the Thanksgiving meal has been a tradition for more than a decade.

"It gets bigger every year. Not only do we have the help of active Marines, but we have civilians who work in the mess hall at Cherry Point, family members of the employees and community volunteers," Brownell said.

Between 85 and 125 meals were expected to be served. The traditional Thanksgiving meal included turkey and a variety of vegetables and pies.