Army Marches Onward With Its New Facility

Five girls armed with tambourines marched through the chapel of the new Salvation Army Corps Community Center in Oxnard on Sunday and turned to face the crowd. A blast of taped trumpets sounded.

And was quickly cut off. “Wrong music!” someone called out.

The 130 people filling the pews--some members of the Salvation Army, some community and business leaders from Oxnard and Port Hueneme--just laughed. For a group who, through volunteer work and donations, had finally built a new home for the Salvation Army’s local chapter, a tape mix-up was a minor thing.

Finally, the right tune, “Onward Christian Soldiers,” burst from the sound system, and the girls started shaking their tambourines in slow arcs over their heads.

Their performance came as the Salvation Army dedicated its new $1.7-million center at 622 W. Wooley Road.

“We are thrilled that between the community of Oxnard-Port Hueneme and the Salvation Army, this facility is now a reality,” said Lt. Fred Morasky, with the organization’s Oxnard-Port Hueneme Corps.

The local corps had long since outgrown its old facility, built on Hill Street in 1954. For more than six years, corps members had worked to gather the donations needed for a new building.

The new community center, more than three times larger than the old, opened its doors in early April. Already, about 90 children use the center after school each day, stopping by for basketball, foozball or pool, said Maureen Hooper Lopez, secretary of the local chapter’s advisory board.

The center also has private medical examining rooms, a library and a large kitchen, which will help the charity expand its food service programs for homeless and low-income people.

“This is a very, very essential part of the community,” Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said during the ceremony. “Certainly the children, the elderly, the homeless have benefited from your work here.”