Hometown Boy does good -- Even in his absence

Saturday, January 7th was the beginning of the HeroToHero.us JTF ... Joint-Task-Force.

We were honored in many ways.  First, we found out that one of our own Hometown Heroes, NASCAR Race Car Driver, #9, Kasey Kahne, of Enumclaw, Washington donated over 200 shirts to our troops for the HeroToHero.us effort!

Then we finally got Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Tacoma Fire, Seattle Fire, King County Sheriff's Dept, and the Washington State Patrol, together for a truly memorable photo op.

Kasey's Mom, Tammy, opened her doors at Kasey's storefront, located at Topping Dodge.  And was extremely surprised to see the troop representation that greeted her with unit coins, and shirts signed for Kasey, from the troops.

She knew there would be a few troops joining us, but the response was wonderful!

We had members from one our adopted units ... our biggest to date ... the 555, Triple Nickel!  Joining them were reps from the Marines, Air Force, and Navy.

Things started off slowly, but as we all got more into the event, there was laughter, and smiles all around ... almost!  We learned that Marines do not smile!  I never knew that.  As we would take photos, we would say "smile", the Marine faces rarely changed.  We were concerned that they weren't enjoying themselves, but they assured us that in their own way, they were smiling.

We did see all out laughter when the shirt exchange happened, and our female firefighters out shined the guys!  Check out the guns!  There is no question that they could pull anyone to safety in an emergency!

Laughter also ensued when we "ticketed" our uniformed officers from the WSP, and Sheriff's K-9 Unit.  Our Sheriff rep displayed what an actual mugshot normally looks like!

Then, poor ol' SHertz got in trouble again!  Before we knew it, he was getting ticketed, a finally they had to restrain him.  The poor ol' puffball is getting cranky as his tour of duty winds down.

Members of the soon to deploy 508th Military Police, from Fort Lewis signed messages to Kasey on an Army NASCAR shirt.  Kasey, if you get the chance, they'd love to see a photo of you with the shirt.  We'll make sure they get it!  We hope to shake your hand when next you're home.

Tammy was so gracious, posing for photo after photo, and always smiling.  She is absolutely gorgeous!  You gotta love this woman ... we do!

**Kasey is doing great things, check this out ...

President Busch appoints Kasey to the Presidential Council on Service and Civic Participation
President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate three individuals and appoint seventeen individuals to serve in his Administration, including Kasey Kahne of Washington for a two-year term on the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.

All of you fans, check out his site, and the store.  We will be linking it to the site!

We want to thank Kasey and Tammy, and wish Kasey every success in his bright future.  Make us proud!

Special thanks also to Colonel Rapp, who made sure we had representation from his troops, even though he is deployed to the desert!

And special thanks to SPC Ray Waliany of the 537th Firefighters, for his incredible support ... Your guys rock!

lj

**Mark your calendars!  Shirts are due Valentine's Day, unless you're coming to the Pack-Out on February 25th.

Shirts can be sent to:

HeroToHero.us

Attn: Liz Jackson

PO Box 98954

Lakewood, WA 98498