Valley US Marines reunite with emotional families after help from nonprofit

PHOENIX – A pair of young U.S. Marines returned home Saturday for Christmas in the Valley after trading volunteer hours for plane tickets.

For Private Daniel de Jesus Garcia’s family, the wait could not end soon enough.

De Jesus Garcia’s mother says that even though her son had been in North Carolina for a month and a half, the wait felt like three or four months.

It’s a feeling that could warm even a Grinch’s heart. Even spectators waiting for flights or luggage stopped to catch a glimpse of the reunion. And when that moment finally comes, there’s nothing like it.

“Finally being back, being right here next to her, next to my sister too, it’s amazing. There’s no feeling like this,” said De Jesus Garcia, a U.S. Marine.

“I’m ecstatic. I’m very, very happy, I’m beyond happy right now. I just want to go home and do Christmas baking and do all that with him,” said Jenna Maselli, mother of PFC Michael Maselli.

All of this is made possible thanks to the nonprofit organization Miles for the militarywhich helps active duty military members obtain travel offers in exchange for volunteer service.

Without it, Private First Class Michael Maselli and his friend Garcia might have spent the vacation somewhere else.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have been able to come back. For sure. I wouldn’t have had the money to do that, but the 25 hours of community service and the donations to Miles for Military 100 percent is what got me here. 100 percent thanks to them,” said PFC Maselli.

It’s a Marine Corps homecoming that makes it look a lot like Christmas.