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,

They're outta here!!!

Wow!  Today (Monday, Feb 26th) the team gathered, joined by McChord AFB firefighters, Fort Lewis' 24th Quartermasters, Pino, and Aaron & JJ, at the Lakewood post office.

Our U-Haul trailer was filled to the brim with the Lincoln Moving & Storage boxes (It took 2 trailers to get the shirts and the packout items to the armory) ... and more filled the back of Larry's truck.  We hadn't counted them as they were packed, but were all taking guesses at how many we had.  There were several single boxes, and our largest group had over 45 boxes.

The boxes had all sorts of items donated, not just shirts.  There were t-shirts of course, but there were also polos, hats, pants, sweats, shorts, tanks, patches, certificates, letters, messages, and more. 

As the troops unloaded the boxes, Chani, Leta, and the rest of the 24th QM's worked inside to assure the customs forms were correct and attached properly.  It was a great team and it flowed very smoothly.  There was much laughter, even the customers in the post office got into the mood of things.  They were adding donations to help us cover the postage, and getting rounds of applause from the troops (& JJ).  We got to speak to a lot of veterans, family members, and troops as well, who spoke appreciatively of how important efforts such as ours are to a troops' morale.  **People occasionally question us about how much salary we receive ... We do not receive payment in monetary denominations, but in the smiles and thanks that happen at the most unexpected times.

So the final step of the PackOut began at 1pm, and did not end til around 5pm!  When all was said and done, post office customers had donated over $130, which we added to the $3400+ from the PackOut and Evening of Heroes.

So when the reallllllllly long receipt totaled out, we shipped 193 boxes for 7,000 troops, for a total cost of over $5,100!  Whew!

They should be there around the middle of March, and hopefully by the 19th.  After that, we hope to be able to share pix and words from the troops who receive them.  I know that is not the reason you give the shirts, but we are also aware that you all enjoy seeing the smiling face of a troop in your shirts.  So we have done what we can, now we wait.

We want to thank the troops who stepped up for us today, and gave most of their day to the final push.

Photos are en route!

lj

Tags: hero, heroes, shirts, packout, military, deployed troops, morale, positive, fire, police

WE DID IT!

**First off ... We want to welcome Jen West to our Tag Team!  She will be one of our photographers for local events, and we are happy to have her.  Jen is a professional photographer, an Army veteran ... and Gold Star Mother.  She and her son, Duane Longstreth, joined the Army together after 9/11.

Please enjoy her work ... We do!  All of the photos on this entry are courtesy of time and effort.  Thank you Jen, and welcome aboard! 

Packout Photos by "Jennifer L. West, 2007"

Thank you to everyone who answered the call for our troops!  This was the biggest request, and I won't kid you, I was afraid we wouldn't reach our goal ... but we DID!

7,000 shirts to our troops for this year ... Dannnnnnnng!

We took lots of pictures, but you need to bear with us, as we still have to ship several hundred boxes tomorrow.  We're still pretty exhausted from all the hard work, but we'll finish up, and get all the photos gathered and loaded for you.

There are so many people to thank, but one agency comes to mind right away ...

Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooo much to Bruce at Lincoln Moving and Storage, in Lakewood.  Talk about angels shining down on us.  Just a few days prior to the PackOut, we found out that our box contact for the past 2 years was no longer available.  You can only imagine that excitement!  Here we were with thousands of shirts waiting to go to their new owners in the desert, and we had nothing to put them in to get them there.  Sigh.

We made a few calls that got us nowhere, and were feeling more than worried.  Someone told us to go talk to the folks at Lincoln Moving and Storage, so I crossed my fingers and headed on over.  Meeting Bruce was a stroke of luck we couldn't have asked for.  He immediately jumped on it, and stepped up!  The day before the PackOut we picked up all the boxes we needed.  So a huge salute and thanks to our new friends.

We'll be back with more.  And we'll share all that happened ... And, we will reveal which units were adopted this year!

Stay tuned!  Also, if you have any photos from the event, please get them to us asap.  Especially if you have pictured of that phenomenal extrication done in tandem with the amzing Pileup in Puyallup team from the Puyallup Fire Department & the Godzilla crew of Fort Lewis.  So far, this is the area for which I can not locate photos.  Looks like eveyone was so involved in watching that no one thought to get pictures.  Please prove me wrong!

lj

Tags: hero, troop morale, hero shirts. military, camp murray, pack out, herotohero.us, fun, families, photos, annual,

Dang, how can it be so close?!

Single digits ... YIKES!  lol

That's the scary part.  The comforting part is that big boxes of shirts are showing up daily.  In fact, as the shirts arrive, finding places for them gets to be more fun.  The dining room is full, in fact, I have not seen the floor in there for months.

The kitchen has boxes of "swag" from our local recruiters and merchants, and community efforts.  (This is for the PackOut)  The living room is an assembly line of ill proportions.  Somewhere in all of this my poor dog is barking ... Hope she isn't boxed up!

We're still not certain that we will reach our goal, but I have given up worrying about that part.  We've never had to say no to a troop asking for a Hero shirt, but then we've never had a number this high ... and there are only a few of us at the core, making it happen.  I can tell you this team has done a lot of work this year to make this happen, and I am sooo proud of every member of our teams.

We have probably got close to 5,000 shirts here, or enroute.  Shirts always come in on the day of the PackOut, too ... Hand carried by firefighters and police.  *The graph represents shirts we have already stamped, and checked.

This year has been different.  Without a doubt, interest has grown.  We get more personal messages from the troops, and the hometown heroes are taking the time to really "get it" ... that is borne out when you see the huuuuge boxes showing up at our door!

Recently we have seen logos and postmarks from, Tillamook, Oregon - Fairfax, Virginia - Wrangell, Alaska - Bozeman, Montana - Cleveland, Ohio - Spokane, WA - Durham, Connecticut - Wheeling, West Virginia - Kansas City, Kansas - Shreveport, Louisiana - Berkeley, California - The Pentagon ... & more!

Some of these have added things in their boxes.  The shirts are getting creative too.  We have to get a shot of one of the Wheeling FD shirts, they added our name below their logo ... What an honor!  Thank you WFD!

We have seen Challenge Coins, blinking pins, and donations to help with the shipping -- Boy, do we appreciate that!!!

We keep hoping to kick up the idea of every year on September 11th, you remember & honor our Troops by donating a shirt off your back and a dollar.  If all of our firefighters and law enforcement did this, we could make sure that every troop asking for a Hero shirt would get one.  Work with us and we can make this one happen!  1 shirt, 1 dollar.  Think about it ... we really do make a great team!

So, as we prepare for the 4th annual PackOut, this coming Saturday, we're hoping for ...

*More shirts

*Enough funds to get them all shipped

*Lots of smiles as our Heroes & Angels come together to make this all happen once more.

*Blue skies the day of the PackOut ... Because the Hero Static Display is gonna be an amazing (outdoor) thing!

Thank you all for staying with us as the years pass.  i know, sometimes we are probably a pain in your (you choose it).  But the reality is that every shirt is a troop getting an assurance that no matter the politics, or what is on the news ... They are not forgotten by the folks back home who understand what it is to put it all on the line in a moment's notice.  These are our Heroes.

We have promised to stay with this effort til they are brought back home, and we will ... but we will need your commitment to keep it going.

So, we keep going toward the PackOut.  Tomorrow I will post the day's events.

Thank you all for what you have done ... and for all the smiles you are about to send!  Without a doubt, you are all Heroes!

lj

Tags: hero, firefighter, police, troops, morale, military, herotohero.us, deployment, shirts