OCEANSIDE MAYOR HONORS VIETNAM VETERAN

Peter Cruz selected as the 2023 Senior Volunteer of the Year

For years, Peter Cruz has been serving folks lunch in the dining room at Oceanside’s Country Club Senior Center on Country Club Lane.

Cruz, an 84-year-old Vietnam veteran, is known for “serving with a smile.”

About 10 years ago, Cruz came to the senior center and said he wanted to volunteer. He told them he didn’t want any pay — it was his service to the community. Since then he has put in more than 3,000 hours, and he says he has no intention of “retiring.”

“I’ll keep volunteering until I can’t walk anymore,” Cruz said.

Cruz was picked as Oceanside’s 2023 Senior Volunteer of the Year recently and was given a plaque by Oceanside Mayor Esther Sanchez, who proclaimed it “Peter Cruz Day.” He got a standing ovation.

When he started volunteering for the city of Oceanside’s Senior Nutrition Program, Cruz brought the lunch trays from the kitchen of the senior center to a room full of seniors seated at tables in the dining hall. He would make a point of smiling at each recipient.

Now, Cruz spends most of his time supervising volunteers as they bring in lunch, and his first piece of advice, of course, is to smile. “I tell them, ‘always smile and be agreeable’ — you don’t want to make anyone mad,” Cruz said.

When training new volunteer recruits, Cruz tells them, “All you have to do is socialize.”

“Peter comes to work with a smile on his face and then happily serves the seniors their lunch. He takes great pride in his volunteer work,” said Judy Barz, management analyst of Senior Programs for the city.

Cruz served in the Navy for 26 years and was a medic during the Vietnam War, stationed in Saigon.

His deployments included Okinawa, Japan, and Thailand.

For a number of years he served as a naval corpsman at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. He and his wife, Josenina, have lived in Oceanside for 50 years.

Cruz’s name, along with the names of past award recipients, is engraved on a plaque that hangs in the