For over four months, the Hope For The Warriors Airport Military Lounge at the Jacksonville, NC airport has been a little warmer, brighter, and a whole lot more welcoming thanks to Volunteer of the Month Louise Lorentson.
Louise stepped into service with Hope For The Warriors after becoming an empty nester for the second time. “I needed to fill my time,” she shared with a laugh. But it wasn’t just free time that brought her to volunteer. It was her heart for the military community, one shaped by decades of firsthand experience.
Louise and her husband spent 20 years connected to the Marine Corps. Though she didn’t wear the uniform herself, Louise lived the life of a dedicated military spouse, navigating deployments, raising children alone for long stretches, and building community in Jacksonville, NC.
Her son was only three months old when her husband deployed, returning when he was fifteen months. “We did quite a few deployments,” she said. Her understanding of sacrifice is deep and enduring.
Now, years after her husband’s passing in 2013, Louise felt the pull to reconnect with the military community. Volunteering at the airport lounge offered exactly that. “I wanted to give back,” she said. “I see a lot of military members, and I see a lot of issues in the military community. This was some way to give back.”
Spend five minutes around Louise, and it’s clear why the young Marines and soldiers passing through the lounge gravitate toward her. She radiates warmth, calm, and genuine care. “When the younger guys come through, my mama bear kicks in,” she said. “I imagine my kid being somewhere in an airport…they all look like deer in headlights.”
She listens to their travel stories, encourages them, and makes sure they’re taken care of before their next leg of the journey. Whether offering snacks, conversation, or a steamer to smooth out a wrinkled uniform, Louise is all in. “We have steamers and irons,” she said proudly. “Some of them come out of their packs looking wrinkly. The airport staff here are awesome at making sure they’re squared away.”
One of her favorite parts of volunteering is watching veterans, especially older retirees, interact with the younger service members. “The older gentlemen come in and talk to the younger guys, telling them about their life experiences,” she said. “They just share their stories. It’s kind of cool.”
Those moments, along with the emotional reunions she witnesses between service members and their families, remind her of her own experiences years ago. “You try not to be conspicuous,” she recalled, “and then suddenly you’re crying and blubbering everywhere.”
Louise volunteers at least once a week, often on Mondays, prepping snacks, making sandwiches, and most importantly, simply being there for the people walking through the lounge.
She also was a tremendous help at one of HOPE’s Fueling Families activations on Camp Lejeune. It was a hot day on the base, but Louise didn’t stop moving, carefully placing boxes of pasta, sauce, canned vegetables, cereal, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, and bread in each bag.
Thanks to the help from volunteers like Louise, 950 bags of food were distributed to military families on Camp Lejeune that day.
For her, giving back is essential for strengthening the military community. “Over the years, even since we’ve gotten out, the rallying around the military community has dwindled,” she said. “I think giving back lets them realize why they’re doing it. I don’t think we show them enough how important they are to us.”
Louise didn’t know about Hope For The Warriors until she started searching online for volunteer opportunities. After discovering that the USO no longer operated a lounge locally, she found HOPE, and was quickly welcomed by the team, especially HOPE’s Volunteer Manager, Angie Parker. “I’m just glad I found this organization,” she said. “It was weird, I had never heard of it until I went looking in the community. Angie got in touch, and it was nice. She’s wonderful.”
And now, Louise is a beloved part of the HOPE family.
Thank you, Louise
Hope For The Warriors is grateful for the heart, warmth, and wisdom you bring to our community. Your ability to see people, care for them, and lift them up makes a difference every single day.
If you’d like to get involved or learn more about volunteer opportunities with HOPE, click here.
