Updated 24 December 2011
Kuwait is bustling right now,especially after the President announced our Troops were coming home from Iraq. We thought it would be a good idea to visit Kuwait and bring some Holiday Cheer to our brave Men and Women in uniform! The guys in Iraq come through Kuwait on the way home! Little did we know we would be there when the final group came over the border into Kuwait!!!!
We brought eight Washington Redskins Cheerleaders and plenty of gifts. Thanks to our Special Friends at Unilever and Atlas Air Worldwide, we are able to purchase commercial travel to and from Kuwait. Our Special Friends at Microsoft donated eight Xbox 360 consoles, special wireless headsets and extra hard drives; and their publishers added hundreds of video games; additionally, our good friends at EA's Medal of Honor brand donated 100 games and goodies; EA's Community Outreach department donated more games; TRX donated 50 Force Kits mobile exercising equipment so Warriors at all the bases will benefit; USO sent some special gifts and provided logistical and marketing support; the US Tennis Association sent eight mobile tennis courts and door prizes for each of the bases; CBS Sports donated hats; Hershey's donated cases of chocolate candy; BAE Systems donated cash toward the purchase of special t-shirts; the EOS Rock Band put on the Roq'n for the Troops event at The Stone Pony legendary venue in NJ and cash from that event went towards shirts for the Warriors in Kuwait; Jelly Belly donated 1800 packs of jelly beans; and loads of candy canes and Christmas lights made it a heck of a visit! All creative artwork and marketing materials, for posters and fantastic t-shirts, were donated by Ten Gun Design of Seattle, WA; and Leatherback from Seattle donated all the posters for the event.; Family Media helped us make the t-shirts. Original Smith printed all the Cheerleader Tour Cards. Thank you all!!!
Update 11 December: On Saturday, 10 December, the Cheerleaders held their last Dress Rehearsal for Family and Friends and they put on the same show they will have in Kuwait. It was great! They have been practicing for months now and the Troops over there will love it!!! Thanks Stephanie and the Team for the tremendous spirit, hard work, compassion and generosity put into this Tour!
Update 6 December: The latest news comes from JFK Int'l Airport! DHL Express held a Trees for the Troops event yesterday at Dee's Nursery and also at DHL's JFK hub. They are sending over 500 live Christmas trees, with ornaments, lights and Hannukah menorahs as well to our Troops in AFG and KUW. Most importantly, for our Military Appreciation Tour - Kuwait 2011, they are sending live trees and gear to Lt Zach and Maj Heather, our hosts in Kuwait. Additionally, they are sending a lot of gear we couldn't mail in time, such as nearly 1000 t-shirts for our Troops, Xbox consoles, posters, Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Tour Cards, Xmas presents for Zach and Heather and even some cookies from the Hackensack Pastry Shop. DHL, we salute you as a company and as great people. Thank you Cain M, Cathy O', Michael T and all the great folks at DHL who are helping make this a memorable Christmas for our Troops!!! Thank you guys!!!!
The Washington Redskins Cheerleaders have been partners/Special Friends of AaSP for nearly eight years now! The young ladies going on this tour will perform variety shows throughout Kuwait, visit with our Warriors at dining facilities, the Kuwait Expeditionary Medical Facility, and lots of units throughout the bases in Kuwait to do meet and greets, take pictures and sign autographs with our American heroes. These are special ladies who love giving of their time to improve morale of our Troops and we are proud to call them our Special Friends.
Our good friend Colonel Ralph Romine and the 467th Expeditionary Group will be our host, along with Col Poore of the 386th EFSS. Col R was our emcee at two Rock Band tournaments in Iraq in 2008 and 2009. We're looking forward to finally meeting him! And we're currently working with Maj Heather M and 2nd Lt Zach G of the 386th as our contacts in Kuwait. We're also hoping to meet many of the units we've been supporting and just added to our adoptee rolls.
If you would like to donate gifts, candy and prizes please let us know! Thanks to Debi F. and her local Walgreen's for cartons of chocolate candy she collected. We understand that chocolate is in short supply in Kuwait right now. We want to bring large candy canes and strings of Christmas lights for our Troops over there and you can help! Thanks Lynne G for getting Jelly Belly and Hersheys!
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