fleetus macmullitz
03-08-2010, 02:25 PM
Five For Fighting Update-
Peter King- Sports Illustrated
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/1.html
Lots of news this week about the effort with the USO to provide Army First Sgt. Mike McGuire and other active-duty soldiers with the kind of off-time recreation activities so many of them lack.
You guys rock. In the first six days of the Five For Fighting fund-raising campaign ($5 to help raise the morale of our men and women in the most out-of-the-way outposts), you've contributed $124,500. Thanks, thank, thanks!
We have now covered all the expenses for McGuire's company to receive the recreation equipment, X-box, video games, big-screen TV and weight-training equipment he and his troops wanted. If you'd like to contribute and missed last week, understand your assignment: All I want is $5 for our troops, and all you have to do is click on this link to help:
Five For Fighting is the stage name for singer John Ondrasik.
John Ondrasik, the one-man Five For Fighting Band, the man who gave us permission to use the name, is feeling it too. Ondrasik started a tour last week in the northeast -- it continues this week in Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta and Orlando -- and reports on the people who've come to see him: "Incredible! I have fans walking up and putting five bucks on the stage for your effort. The USO must be blown away. Congrats!''
Mike McGuire is euphoric about your contributions. "I don't even know what to say,'' he wrote from Germany, where his 135-troop Havoc Company, 40th Engineers, is training for deployment in Afghanistan later this year. "I am speechless, really. We are just soldiers. Never expected anything like this. Please tell everyone, 'Thank you.' I wish I could describe the emotions better. This just proves that the American people have not forgotten about the soldier. WOW!!!''
For those who missed the column last week announcing the effort, here are the details: I asked Mike last year if there was anything he thought I could do for him and his troops when they deploy. He said it would be nice if the base that will likely be invented for his company -- as are many in remote areas of Afghanistan -- could have some or the comforts that the big bases have: a TV with video games, and weight equipment for the soldiers in the company to use in their downtime. The USO graciously offered to be the accountant for the project, and to collect the money -- and Mike and I agreed that any money raised beyond the $20,000 or so for his company's equipment will be used for other platoons in other remote areas of the war zones.
You have raised enough money to outfit recreation areas for five more platoons. The USO has a goal of sending its "USO2GO'' entertainment/recreation centers to 200 platoons and/or companies in Iraq and Afghanistan. You've outfitted McGuire's company and five more. So: only 194 left. Let's not stop now just because McGuire's men have their stuff.
There's another way the USO has figured out for you to show you care. Of all the items the USO sends to remote outposts around the world, its officials hear constantly that the most uplifting are the words of encouragement from back home. As an additional way to support the Five For Fighting campaign , the USO has created a virtual wall that we will share directly with Sgt. McGuire. If you'd like, please take a moment and offer a few words to let those men know that they're in our thoughts back here. Click here to send your best.
https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?id=1848
Our goal? Not to get 200 USO2GO recreation outfits for the men and women who need a diversion from days and weeks and months a world away from home. But to get as many as our hearts allow us to give.
Next week in this space, I'm going to use some of the best Tweets I get from you on Twitter (@SI_peterking) about why you contributed. So please, whether you gave five cents or $5 or $50, I'd like to hear in 140 characters why.
Peter King- Sports Illustrated
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/03/07/freeagency/1.html
Lots of news this week about the effort with the USO to provide Army First Sgt. Mike McGuire and other active-duty soldiers with the kind of off-time recreation activities so many of them lack.
You guys rock. In the first six days of the Five For Fighting fund-raising campaign ($5 to help raise the morale of our men and women in the most out-of-the-way outposts), you've contributed $124,500. Thanks, thank, thanks!
We have now covered all the expenses for McGuire's company to receive the recreation equipment, X-box, video games, big-screen TV and weight-training equipment he and his troops wanted. If you'd like to contribute and missed last week, understand your assignment: All I want is $5 for our troops, and all you have to do is click on this link to help:
Five For Fighting is the stage name for singer John Ondrasik.
John Ondrasik, the one-man Five For Fighting Band, the man who gave us permission to use the name, is feeling it too. Ondrasik started a tour last week in the northeast -- it continues this week in Philadelphia, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta and Orlando -- and reports on the people who've come to see him: "Incredible! I have fans walking up and putting five bucks on the stage for your effort. The USO must be blown away. Congrats!''
Mike McGuire is euphoric about your contributions. "I don't even know what to say,'' he wrote from Germany, where his 135-troop Havoc Company, 40th Engineers, is training for deployment in Afghanistan later this year. "I am speechless, really. We are just soldiers. Never expected anything like this. Please tell everyone, 'Thank you.' I wish I could describe the emotions better. This just proves that the American people have not forgotten about the soldier. WOW!!!''
For those who missed the column last week announcing the effort, here are the details: I asked Mike last year if there was anything he thought I could do for him and his troops when they deploy. He said it would be nice if the base that will likely be invented for his company -- as are many in remote areas of Afghanistan -- could have some or the comforts that the big bases have: a TV with video games, and weight equipment for the soldiers in the company to use in their downtime. The USO graciously offered to be the accountant for the project, and to collect the money -- and Mike and I agreed that any money raised beyond the $20,000 or so for his company's equipment will be used for other platoons in other remote areas of the war zones.
You have raised enough money to outfit recreation areas for five more platoons. The USO has a goal of sending its "USO2GO'' entertainment/recreation centers to 200 platoons and/or companies in Iraq and Afghanistan. You've outfitted McGuire's company and five more. So: only 194 left. Let's not stop now just because McGuire's men have their stuff.
There's another way the USO has figured out for you to show you care. Of all the items the USO sends to remote outposts around the world, its officials hear constantly that the most uplifting are the words of encouragement from back home. As an additional way to support the Five For Fighting campaign , the USO has created a virtual wall that we will share directly with Sgt. McGuire. If you'd like, please take a moment and offer a few words to let those men know that they're in our thoughts back here. Click here to send your best.
https://www.uso.org/donate/custom.aspx?id=1848
Our goal? Not to get 200 USO2GO recreation outfits for the men and women who need a diversion from days and weeks and months a world away from home. But to get as many as our hearts allow us to give.
Next week in this space, I'm going to use some of the best Tweets I get from you on Twitter (@SI_peterking) about why you contributed. So please, whether you gave five cents or $5 or $50, I'd like to hear in 140 characters why.