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Mother, daughter feed body and soul at Fisher House

  • Published
  • By Mike Wallace
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Paula and Jenna Bullock, a mother and daughter team, volunteer on two Thursday evenings each month to prepare meals and host bingo games for guests at the Wright-Patterson AFB Fisher House. They began doing this in early March. It fit in with their other volunteer work in school, church and community.

"I was here in the mid-1990s, and a woman and a child I knew stayed (in the house), so we got to know about it," said Mrs. Bullock, a retired Air Force Reserve major. "I had medical problems myself, and we have a passion for people.

"Service is an important component of our lives. We don't wait for someone to ask us for help. When we see a need, we try to help."

Jenna, a high school junior, not only helps with the cooking, but also calls the numbers for bingo.

"There's fierce competition here," she said. "People play until the prizes are gone."

She also spoke about planning "theme nights" in which she envisioned guests dressing up or doing something to conform to the theme of the evening. Perhaps the favorable guest reaction to her and her mom's Mexican food night gave her the idea.

"Usually we serve a homemade meal," said Mrs. Bullock. "We have a good time, and the bingo keeps people distracted for a time from their problems. That's important for good fellowship. It draws people in, and it's a way for people to get to know others."

The Fisher House offers a place to stay for not only patients undergoing both short-term and long-term treatments at the Wright-Patterson Medical Center, but also a place for patients' families to stay. Wright-Patterson was the first Air Force base to offer facilities like these. The Fisher House opened in 1994.

"My motivation is a family illness," said Mrs. Bullock. "It meant a lot to get help to talk with someone. Volunteers lessen the load. Years ago, I was sick at Christmas. I had small children, and the unit I was in sent a Santa Claus to my house. It was touching. I didn't look at where I was stationed as just a work unit any more. It was a family.

"When you go through something like that, you can't help but want to do the same for someone else. We're doing something small compared to what the people here (at the Fisher House) do every day.