Meet David Henseler: Rotary’s Mission Man By Writer and Contributor NJ Jaeger
True to his South Bay style and strong social conscience, Rotarian David Henseler entered Starbucks for our interview wearing his signature Hawaiian shirt and shorts. Smiling he said, ”Most people in Rotary have never seen me in long pants.” Showing me his phone, he said with a laugh, “ You might enjoy this special outfit I had stitched up for the Rotary gala. “
Born on the 4th of July in an army hospital, David and his wife (who preceded him into Rotary) were determined to support the 70,000 military at Camp Pendelton. A few months into Covid, Camp Pendelton eased some restrictions, and David, who had been busy working back channels, went into action to rally fellow Rotarians to help supply the Warrior Warehouse. David says, “ It is a big warehouse filled with donations for the Marines to come in and go shopping and take whatever they need for their homes.”
David explains, “And just a couple of things about Camp Pendleton; first, it's the largest training base on the West Coast at 197 square miles. There are 46,000 enlisted, and when you add their families to that, that number grows to 70,000:70,000 is half the population of Torrance living at Camp Pendleton. And there are 10,000 children under the age of five with over 160 babies a month here. So, the need is constant, because there's always people transferring in and people transferring out. The first four ranks of all of our military are E1, E2, E3, and E4, are paid less than $2,600 a month. And that is about 90 to 95% of our enlisted. The Marines call it a private, private, first class, lance corporal, and corporal. Often, when they get to the base, the only thing they have to put in their housing is what they have in their car.
David called Jim Macelli in the San Fernando Valley who headed the Pendelton Committee to share his ideas for Camp Pendelton’s Warrior Warehouse collection mission. Jim activated the committee and immediately people were calling and sending emails. David would tell them, “Just bring it over to my house, and tell your friends, but don't put my address on social media. It didn’t take long before the entire inside of his garage, side yard and driveway was full. More space was needed so David enlisted the Hawthorne LAX Lennox Rotary Club to secure the local high school district approvals for a major parking lot donation event.
David says, “The 1st event filled the 26-foot U Haul, and that is how it started. Now every time we have a donation event, which I hold quarterly, donations keep growing. Donors, especially those with growing families themselves, know for sure that the Marines need this stuff, and that it’s one way of supporting the military. And that's how it became as big as it is today.”
20 years ago, Linda Sundram walked into a young Marine's house to find the only thing they had to drink from was a plastic Carl Jr. cup. No furniture. And she just thought, we’ve got to do something about this. Linda and Larry Sundram were Carlsbad Rotarians and together they formed a satellite Rotary at Camp Pendleton www.cpcsf.org.
Camp Pendleton Rotary Club’s Foundation is called the Pendleton Community Service Fund. Marine volunteers go out in the Foundation’s truck to area communities between La Jolla and Newport Beach to pick up gently used furniture. They have a strong community reputation and charge modestly to continue funding their foundation. While the military provides housing, the foundation helps them furnish it.
“We accomplish our mission by soliciting lightly used furniture, housewares, toys and cash for the families of enlisted personnel of United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy. Cash contributions are used to fund donation pick-ups and family assistance – education and morale building, particularly for those wounded or killed in action.”
The Warrior Warehouse opens Friday mornings and families take what they need for their homes. David says, “They're limited to two pieces of furniture which must be out by noon, or their tags come off. When I’m there I ask, does anybody want something here, but not have a way to get into their homes? On my last visit a young couple came over, and I told them I have a truck, and I can take it to your house. “
David explains, “The military does ship belongings from where you were to where you're going, but it's not a big priority, and it could take three to six months for your stuff to show up.”
David loaded up a couch and a king-size mattress in his truck and drove it to their home. They had been on the base for four months. David says, “Their living room had suitcases in it, the bedroom had a blow-up mattress, and the wife was four months pregnant; these people are literally sleeping on the floor. I always tell people, the foremost needed things on the base are diapers, diapers, diapers, wipes, and kitchen stuff. The cost of a crib, or a stroller or highchair so that they don't have to go out and spend four, five, $600 on, is a godsend. And we also ask for gift cards in $25 increments. So, when word gets around about people that are having a hard time, like, their car broke down, and now they can afford to either fix their car or get food, somebody is dispatched to go to their home and knock on their door and say, You know what? We heard you're having trouble with your car, so here are some gift cards: go buy food and get your car fixed. “
Monetary donations that go to the Pendelton Community Service Fund are used for scholarships and morale building holiday events. Because they don't want the children to see the toys packaged inside items go into black trash bags as it may be the only thing the child gets for Christmas. David says, “One young woman whose husband was deployed was there by herself, and I don't know her other circumstances. I don't know if she had one or two kids or what else was going on. But she was at the party, she opened the bag to see what was inside of it, and went up to someone and said, I think there's been a mistake. They said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ She says, ‘Well, there's too many gift cards in here’. And the woman said to her, ‘I know the woman that packed that bag and I assure you there's no mistake.’ And the woman started to cry.”
The Foundation tries to get people to bring donations on Thursdays when they have marine volunteers at the warehouse along with civilian volunteers to process and display the donations.
David is spreading the word through social media and his Warrior Warehouse presentations, most recently to the Orange County Rotary District in the San Diego County, the Fountain Valley Rotary Club and the Lakewood Rotary Club.
Closer to home the Rotary is supporting the military families at Fort MacArthur, But their numbers are just much smaller. Fort Mac Arthur has the Airman’s Attic. David says, “When we do a collection event the woman who runs their Airman's Attic, is always there. They can accept used men and women's clothing. Pendleton does not because they don't have the room for it. So, when we do a collection event, we always ask for things that are specific to Fort MacArthur, and when we get things like dishes or pots and pans, I always try to give them a percentage of it. “
The Rotary also collects shoes for an organization called Soles for Souls that sends shoes all over the world. The shoes help women who have lost their husbands to disease or war, or are disabled, to help them get set up in a marketplace with a small business that supports their families.
By collecting clothing suitable for job interviews the Rotary supports Home Again LA an organization that helps people who are coming out of homelessness, domestic abuse and addiction with permanent housing and jobs
I asked, “David in your dream scenario what would make you more productive?” David replied, “A storage unit. I try to say yes to everybody that calls and says, and if I start saying no, then I stop getting calls. So, the dream my wife has of putting her car in the garage doesn't happen. I've always got something in there, and when I get enough stuff that I can fill up either my expedition or a 12-foot trailer, I'll just go rent a trailer or fill up my expedition, just to clear out the garage a little bit, and drive it down to Camp Pendleton myself. ”
David says, “There's another project that I like to do at the YMCA in Torrance, and it's with an organization called Rising and Hunger. We do a meal packing project and we fund the whole project. With 40 cents a meal, rice, dehydrated vegetables, soy, and a vitamin mineral packet. Each box has 30 bags in it, and it gets shipped all over the world to where food is in short supply. 40% of it goes to schools of developing nations, so that the kids get one good meal, which increases attendance. It breaks the cycle of poverty with education. And educated girls are much less likely to become involved in sex trafficking.”
“I'm never going to meet most of the people that are down there, but I know many lives are touched every time I drive down a truck. So, except for the numbers, because the numbers change, everything I told you is true for every military installation of the United States and the world. The only exception is, they don't all have a Warrior Warehouse and a bunch of Rotarians supporting them.”
David’s final thought, “My wife and I have had a very good life and we are now spending the rest of our days giving back. It does a lot for the soul, I think. And I would say to people who are depressed, go out and help somebody.”
NJ is a storyteller who has written in many voices for clients in health, education, entertainment, food, sport and politics. Her firm managed publicity for documentary films, book authors and the U.S. Championships. NJ received the Lynn Weaver Award from the Entertainment Professional Publicists Society for her lifelong commitment to philanthropy and community volunteerism.