The "Passport Tour" is officially unveiled!

A big salute to the YELLOW RIBBON CLUB!  Today all of the hard work done by our 7th graders in the Yellow Ribbon Club, produced the final tour route for the tour.

**We now have the actual dates for the visits at each hometown.  Kathy will be getting hold of you if we have contact info for your department.  If in doubt, feel free to email us directly at HeroShirts@aol.com and we can get your visit locked in asap.  lj**

**CHANGE ONE --  We have removed one of the Connecticut stops, (We had three) so that we can spend time with some of our favorites up in Massachusetts.  We will visit Framingham, MA toward the end of May.  See schedule below.  lj

4th Annual National HeroToHero.US Tour ... 

"Passport Tour"

1. Moscow, ID
2. Billings, MT
3. Sheridan, WY
4. Rapid City, SD
5. Mitchell, SD 
6. La Crosse, WI
7. Fond Du Lac, WI  
8. Holland, MI
9. Detroit, MI
10. Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
11. London, Ontario, Canada
12. Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
13. Buffalo, NY
14. Cleveland, OH
15. Cambridge, OH
16. Wheeling, WV
17. Shanksville, PA 
18. Milford, PA 
19. Framingham, CT 
20. Manchester, NH 
21. Portland, ME 
22. Providence, RI
23. Durham, CT
24. New Haven, CT
25. New York, NY
26. Trenton, NJ
27. Philadelphia, PA
28. Baltimore, MD
29. Washington DC/Fairfax, VA 
30. Dover, DE
31. Norfolk, VA
32. Raleigh/Durham, NC 
33. Charlotte, NC
34. Columbia, SC
35. Brunswick, GA
36. Orlando, FL
37. Melbourne, FL
38. Naples, FL
39. St. Petersburg, FL
40. Mobile, AL
41. Gretna/New Orleans, LA
42. Lafayette, LA
43. Houston, TX
44. Dallas, TX
45. Odessa. TX
46. Las Cruces, NM
47. Tucson, AZ
48. Phoenix, AZ
49. San Diego, CA
50. Port Hueneme, CA
51. Contra Costa/Berkeley, CA
52. Sacramento/Lodi, CA
53. Redding, CA
54. Newport, OR
55. Garibaldi/Tillamook, OR

It was a cool day all around.  The YRC did all the work to find just the right cities for our tour.  Can you guess the theme?

This year's tour will begin on May 12th, lasts six weeks, and takes us over 10,000 miles before we return on June 23rd.

There will be three of us on the road this time.  Kelly is a firefighter & teacher from Idaho, Kathy is our Co-Director who will be on her second time around.  And me ... I have to go, cuz I do the driving.  ( ;

We are turning the route this time, meaning we will head east directly from Fort Lewis.  We try to coordinate all of this to line up with Memorial Day visites to the 9/11 sites ... this will be a tad "skewed" this time due to the early observance of the holiday.  (Ms Liz learned something - Memorial Day is not May 31st, it is the last Monday in May.  Oh, sigh.  But hopefully we will still be in NYC for Fleet Week - Note to self: check dates.)

We also travel alongside Rolling Thunder riders as they make the pilgrimage to the Vietnam Wall ... So many Harleys!  Very cool!

We try to leave in conjunction with National Police week to honor James G. Lewis, the Tacoma Police motorcycle officer we lost in the line of duty the same day we lost a member of our family, Army "Stryker" Sgt Jake Herring in Iraq.  The tour began after I sat through both their memorials and Jake's high school retired his football jersey #55.  The tour honors Jake, James, and ALL of our Fallen & Wounded ... Whether they be troops or first responders.

So every year til our troops come home from Iraq, we will drvie to 55 hometowns across North America ... this year there are THREE Canadian stops!!!  (Speaking of Canada ... More about this in a few days, but wanted to note that today was a historical day for HeroToHero.US.  Today Canadian first responders shipped out shirts to their troops in the desert!  Well done, eh?)

These kids do a lot of the work after school and on their own time. They learned a lot and are still working it for us.  Now they are going through the list and finding special things about each stop so we can make each visit even morememorable.

Their teacher, Mrs Thornton, brought in a big ol' cake, and we brought some of the left over swag from the PackOut to share with them.

As if all of this were not special enough, two of the kids shared something very special with us ... their father, home on his R&R from the desert!  He told them how cool it was to see that kids were willing to volunteer their time for the troops, and how proud he was, and honored by their efforts.

He signed his units Honor shirt that will go to a special location onthe tour, and was happy to get an armful of Starbucks coffee to take back and share with the other soldiers.  (We added even more coffee before we said farewell.)

I have to say I agree with his comments.  Too often we hear about the negative things that kids do.  If anyone wants to do a feel good story about something positive being done by kids to honor our troops, firefighters and police ... check out these kids and this teacher!

A huge thank you to Mrs Thornton, the members of the Yellow Ribbon Club, Sgt King and his entire family.  You all made today even more special than I thought it would be!

lj

Tags: yellow ribbon, army, police, national tour, R&R, military, troops, desert, hero, first responders, fallen, wounded, Harleys, Rolling Thunder, Vietnam Wall, Fleet Week, 9/11 sites, hometown, tour

The Adopted Troops for H2H '07

Ma’am

 I would like to send my appreciation for the shirts and other gifts Hero to Hero has sent us.  I’ve attached a company photo from a battalion volley ball tournament we participated in and showed off the shirts.  It was an awesome time and the Soldiers truly enjoyed a change in uniform for the day.  We all appreciate what you do for us and I’m extremely thankful for what y’all do.  We will send more photos as we collect them.

Once again, we had a blast and the Heroes back home were a part of it.

Thomas ... 63rd Ordnance Company

H2H Salutes the 63d OD for being the first to respond for our Heroes!  Thank you all!

                     ******As more arrive, we will post under a separate header******

 

Here you go!

 

Below are the officially adopted units who received shirts off the backs of some of our favorite stateside Heroes across North America.

 

Countless firefighters and police from countless hometowns are paying their respects to our troops via these shirts.

 

Some departments sent brand new shirts, some sent the very shirts off their backs.  And either way was appropriate, as the troops told us that though getting a new shirt was nice, they really liked knowing a hero had actually worn it.

 

Some of the messages on the shirts told the recipient that if they didn't like the shirt they got, they could come visit and get a different one ... or trade it for dinner with them.

In any event, on February 24th, some amazing people drove many miles, flew in from out of state, gave up their day and evening, donated supplies, and prizes ... and helped us get a touch of love and respect from home to 7,000 (!!!) troops in the desert.

 

Now the shirts have begun arriving in the desert, and we can all look forward to the messages and smiling faces of the troops who write us.  This is the fun part for all of the departments, to get to see their shirts represented by the troops in the desert.

 

Any messages/photos we receive will be posted ... with high regard for OPSEC. (*If you send directions to smudge sections of photos, we will make that happen.  and we will not post your location)  The units we listed, do not have the full info for who received the shirts.  If your unit is on the list and has not received your shirts, feel free to contact us at HeroShirts@aol.com << this isthe address to send messages, as well.

 

We thank and salute our heroes, here at home and those so far from home.  We'll keep doing this til you are back home with us.  This was our 4th PackOut and we are closing in on nearly 20,000 shirts sent!

 

 

H2H 2007 Officially Adopted Units ...

 

108th Quartermaster Co

1MHG MTT1

1st Anglico Det

1st MLG Comm Co

24th Quartermaster Co

45th STB 

49th MCB

958th TC Det

63rd OD Company

659th Maint Co (HQ)

774 OD CO (EOD)

790th Chem Corp

864th ECB (H)

325 BSB 25th ID
2 BSB, 2BCT

4-9 CAV

1-16

86th SIG BN

324th ITSB

CLV 2, Main Co. HQ Plt

121st INF (ABN)

326th QM Co

3-25 AVN REGT

1-82 FA

1 ACB

1-5 CAV, 2 BCT, 1 CD

36 CAB

45th STB

57th Signal Battalion

593d CSG

1BCT 1CD K-9 Section

6-9 CAV, 3BCT, 1CD

JLTF 57

NMCB 18 - Main Body

Next up ... The Yellow Ribbon Club has completed their tasking to plan our route, and we hope to post it tomorrow!!!

lj

Tags: troops, hero, deployed, desert, firefighter, police, yellow ribbon, army, 63 OD, destination harley, wolfpack, sacramento metro, wheeling wv, auburn, bellevue, boston

The "Bunker Challenge"

At the 4th annual HeroToHero.US PackOut, rookie firefighter Beau Jackson, challenged experienced Army firefighter Ray Waliany to a bunker challenge.

All was well til the rookie realized he should have checked to see that the coat would actually fit him.

Fortunately they both had friends standing by who were only too happy to help!

lj

Tags: firefighter, challenge, bunker, troop morale campaign, hero, army

NO we don't do politics ... But, did you catch Obama?

Okay, so there I am .... sleeping.  Meanwhile, my phone is taking call after call from people wanting to know how we did it.  Did what?  I'm asleep!

Some of those calling are almost giddy.  Hmmmm.  Guess I am getting up now.  I make a cup of coffee and listen to my voicemail.  WHAT?!?!?!?

Barack Obama has mentioned us in a speech.  Huh?  Total confusion.  K, now there's more, the speech is part of the IAFF, and has to do with the run for the Oval Office.

Ok, you have my attention.  So it's internet time.  Wow.  I can actually watch the speech, except my computer is not cooperating ... it's still asleep I guess.

Finally I get the video to play.  Ok, so he's very pleasant, seems very likable, and he's telling us how he sees things.  Got it.  But it's all politics, and we don't do politics.  I am still not sure how he will mention us, but he has a strong Hero theme working ... which usually draws my attention.

Then about 8 minutes into his speech I am shocked.  He says ...

"When you are saving lives here and saving lives on the streets of Baghdad in a war that never should have been authorized, your actions teach us how to be better citizens.  You run marathons and raise money for our veterans.  You help train army transportation units to care for the wounded.  And you have donated thousands of t-shirts to our soldiers fighting overseas with the Hero-to-Hero program. 

You sign the shirts with messages of hope and support for your friends in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Your Brothers and Sisters from all across the country are working with police officers and you have sent more than 10,000 shirts to our soldiers.  I’m not a firefighter, and I am certainly not a hero.  But I have one more for you: a signed shirt from me.  It reads, “Thank you.  Be safe.  You’re coming home soon.” "

OMIGAWD!  Am I still asleep?!?!  I can't quit laughing,and tearing up that someone at this level even knows about us.

The phone and emails continue through the day and evening.  No, i have never met him ... No, we have not gone political ... No, we are not endorsing a candidate, or party ... Yes, it is very cool! ... And no, we have not received the shirt.  (But he knows about us, hopefully he knows how to get the shirt to us too!  lol  And IF we get it, I will post a photo of it here with this message.)

For the record, you can watch the entire speech, as well as those of all the other candidates, courtesy of the IAFF, at http://www.iaff.org/2007LegCon/forum.htm

We are still not political.  We are not "pro" one side or the other ... We are pro troops.  So if any other candidates want to show their "pro" troop support, feel free to mention us by name.

And Senator Obama, I would love a photo with that shirt!  Btw, you say you are no Hero, but today you are a Hero to this troop morale campaign, and we thank you!

Still giddy

( ;

lj

Tags: barack obama, speech, hero, firefighter, hero to hero, shirts, iaff, presidential, forum,