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Hero to Hero Program
Liz Jackson from Tacoma Washington started Hero to Hero after
she attended the funeral services for her soldier cousin who was
killed in Iraq and a Tacoma Police Officer who was killed in the line of
duty, both in the same week. Liz has been running this
program full time for almost 5 years now and will continue until the
troops return home from Iraq & Afghanistan. Hero to Hero is a
non-political group and is strictly for troop morale. Visit their
website at www.herotohero.us.
Kevin McHarg (Sarnia FireFighter) met Liz at the Fallen FireFighter
Memorial Service in Colorado Springs in September of 2005.
He thought it was a great idea, taking worn shirts, writing messages of
support on the shirt and sending it to a soldier overseas. At
the time he happened to be working with one of the new recruits who had
come to the Sarnia Fire Rescue after serving 15 years in
the Canadian Armed Forces who also served three tours overseas in Bosnia
& Yugoslavia. Kevin ran the idea by him and he said that
if someone would have sent him a Labatt Blue bottlecap it would have
made his day because it was something from home and someone
has taken the time to sent it. It was then that Kevin decided to
go full steam ahead with the program for our Canadian troops, you
contact him directly at
mchargs@xcelco.on.ca.
Last year was his first year participating and he collected 228 shirts
which were sent to the troops this past April. They have received
emails, pictures and even a phone call from Kandahar from troops
thanking folks for sending the shirts.
The goal for this year is to collect 2000 shirts from coast to coast .
The goal is always to try and get a soldier his hometown shirt if
possible. Last year the majority of the shirts were from the
Sarnia area but we need shirts from across Canada. He already has
about 500 shirts collected so far this year. Tank tops, shorts,
sweatshirts, track pants, t-shirts are welcome especially with your
department logo on them. They are also collecting Balaclava's and
used fire gloves as it gets really cold at night.
Our goal for Essex County is to collect 100 shirts. It is our
intention with the shirts we have for sale that they be sold, worn and
then
returned to be sent to our troops. If you wish to purchase the
above t-shirts or sweatshirts or if you require further info you can
contact Lorne Bradt at
lbradt@cogeco.ca or phone (519) 326-1552.
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