Retired Marine gets keys to Oxnard home

Retired Marine gets keys to Oxnard home
VCStar.com
By Gretchen Wenner
Posted November 1, 2012

The former enlisted Marine and his family walked through the door of their Oxnard home for the first time Thursday morning thanks to a charity program for veterans.

"Is that a real fireplace?" wondered Manuel Lopez, 32, as he, his wife and their four daughters toured the two-story house in the Lemonwood neighborhood, northeast of Rose Avenue and Channel Islands Boulevard. (Answer: Yes, it's real.)

"I'm in shock," Lopez said as his daughters picked out bedrooms. When he saw the garage, he knew that's where his prized '63 Pontiac Bonneville would live.

With three bathrooms, the new digs will be a major step up from the place the family has been renting in Whittier. Living with five girls has meant getting up at "zero dark thirty" to get his showers in, Lopez mused, adding, "Even my dog's a girl."

The family — Lopez; his wife, Raquel, 29; his daughters, Cecilia, 11, Nahdia, 8, Sofia, 6, and Juliana, who turns 2 in December; and dog Roxy, a Maltese/Shih Tzu mix — is getting the home mortgage-free through a program launched in February by Operation Homefront. The Texas-based nonprofit formed in early 2002 helps military families and wounded warriors through what has become a range of programs.
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