Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Hooters girls bring holiday cheer
Veterans Home residents find visit oh, so delightful
By LEO MONIZ/Staff Writer
BARSTOW — A quartet of 20-something Hooters girls paid a visit to the Veterans Home of California, Barstow, Monday afternoon, distributing candy and Christmas cheer and posing for pictures with the home's residents.
Staff photo by Hans K. Meyer
Bill Cumpston, a resident of the Veterans Home of California, Barstow, speaks with Tania Crisan, a waitress from the Hooters restaurant in Ontario, while Charisse Gonzalez signs a card in the background Monday at the veterans home.
The restaurant chain that bills itself as "delightfully tacky, yet unrefined" does frequent charity work, said Chris Guillet, general manager of the Hooters in Ontario, where the women work.
"It's just to get out into the community," he said.
Wearing their signature white-and-orange tank tops, the girls distributed chocolate candy and chatted with excited residents as Guillet took Polaroid snapshots.
"It's nice to do this," said Tiffany Bartholomew, 21, one of the quartet. "They're happy. It feels good."
"It's very spiritually fulfilling," said Hooters girl Charisse Gonzalez, 22.
The home's residents seemed to agree.
"This is heaven," said Don Stewart, 59, a former U.S. Army sergeant. "It's really nice. Now I just have to go to Hooters to get some food."
Bill Cumpston, 89, a former U.S. Air Force major who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, asked Hooters girl Tania Crisan, 21, for her name and address. Crisan gave him the Ontario restaurant's location.
"I think they're extremely charming, and also very talented, I'm sure," Cumpston said.