By Rick Rogers
For The North County Times

Monday morning found Virgil Whitehead delivering furniture to Navy families in southern San Diego County, though it could've just as easily been to Marines in North County or Army reservists in East County.

Four tables, a cabinet and a bookcase. Heavy lifting for a former Marine drill instructor who pushed his first recruits through boot camp half a century ago and who's still helping service members at 79.

"A lot of the combat vets come back and they are blinded or have lost both arms or both legs. The military gives them very nice places to live, but they have no furniture. They bring their family here and they have a kid or two, but they have nothing," Whitehead said. "I don't know how many homes I've walked in to that had nothing but an air mattress and an ironing board. That's where we come in."

The "we" is Mitchell Paige Detachment 1207, a Chula Vista-based Marine Corps League chapter that's quietly delivered literally tons of furniture to nearly 600 families across the county in the last two years.

Military non-profits have sprouted across San Diego County like mushrooms after a heavy rain by capitalizing on the goodwill donations of the pro-military community. A recent report on these operations, however, found no vetting process to parse the legit organizations from the frauds.

But the Mitchell Paige Detachment is no-nonsense with unambiguous priorities. It's the same detachment that collected nearly 15,000 gifts for the toys for tots program last year and greets every Marine unit that returns to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

"We broke away from an organization that seemed more interested in funding raising than helping veterans," Whitehead said. "We focus on veterans and active duty returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Probably 99 percent are on active duty. A lot of them are from the C5 Ward at Balboa," said Whitehead, San Diego County's 2009 Veteran of the Year.

C5 stands for the Comprehensive Combat Casualty Care Center and is a program of care that manages severely injured or ill patients from medical evacuation through inpatient care, outpatient rehabilitation and eventual return to active duty or transition from the military. A C5 unit is located at San Diego Naval Medical Center, which is commonly known as Balboa Naval Medical Hospital.

Camp Pendleton's wounded and their families are also big customers. Word of the detachment's good deeds spread quicker than a rumor leading to furniture staging areas being established in Chula Vista, Santee, Clairemont Mesa and Vista.

But furniture caches are running low while the demand is not. Needed items include: wheelchairs - electric and manual -- walkers, beds, bed frames, dining room tables, couches and TVs.

"We have more demand than we can handle," Whitehead said. "But these people need help and we can't turn our backs on them."

Whitehead can be contacted at (619) 691-0534 or by emailing him at virgilwhitehead@yahoo.com.