Collecting for the troops

Alicia Robinson

Chiropractor Jake Pivaroff has enlisted everyone on the floor of his

building to collect items for care packages to help an Orange County

Army National Guard unit.

Beginning Monday, Pivaroff’s office and others in his Corona del

Mar building will become drop-off points for socks, writing supplies

and other items that will go to Company C, 1/160 Infantry

(Mechanized) California Army National Guard, known locally as “Team

Viper.”

The Orange-based unit of 90 to 100 soldiers will be deployed to

Kosovo after Jan. 1 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, said Dona

Russie, a volunteer for the unit.

Pivaroff said he came up with the idea to support the National

Guard members in the community by providing them useful items to

travel with, and the other tenants on his floor wanted to

participate.

Pivaroff is a Vietnam veteran and remembers receiving things from

home.

“I think it’s a very nice gesture for the National Guard, because

they have to leave their families at home,” he said.

He’d like to see that every solider gets a care package, and that

job will be made easier with the help of seven other offices on the

second floor of Pivaroff’s building.

“Any way that we can make their life a little easier, that’s a

wonderful thing to do,” said psychologist Linda Algazi, who also

works in the building. “This is a good time for us to all band

together as Americans and support our servicemen.”

The security provided by the military is particularly important to

Jimi Kim Hogue, who runs the Newport Acupressure Center in the

building.

Hogue emigrated from Korea and is grateful to be in America with

the protection the military provides, she said.

“They are so important to our country, and we are safe here

because of them, and we need to contribute anything possible,” she

said.

Russie said she was also happy to hear about Pivaroff’s

collection, as was the Guard unit. Their deployment could last up to

18 months.

“I know the soldiers are pleased to know the community is behind

them,” she said.

Second-floor offices at 2711 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar,

will be collecting items from Monday until Dec. 21 for National Guard

care packages. Suggested items include international phone cards,

mittens and gloves, 37-cent stamps, writing paper and envelopes, and

general interest magazines. For more information, call Pivaroff

Chiropractic at (949)673-6070.