Contribute to the Largest Shipment of Care Packages to Our Troops - EVER! (Updated)

Update: Did you notice that they had to change the scale?

After raising a little over $1M in one day, the donations have kept coming. Now they're at one and a half MILLION dollars.

That's 50% past their goal. Way to go America!


******
They cracked a million bucks! Not bad for 8 hours work, huh?

If you missed out on the fun, they're still taking donations thru July 2!

*Another* degree of freedom for our vets - YOU can help for FREE (HT: Blackfive)

I couldn't have planned this.

In a terrifically opportune follow-up to my post below (about funding a trike for Sgt Bob of Iowa), Major Daniel Gade passes along a request for your help for wounded vets and other mobility-challenged folks that are using Segways to get around town.

I'll let Maj Gade fill you in:

"As many of you know, I was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2005, and lost my right leg. I am not alone: the war has produced more than 800 amputees of various degrees of severity, and many more with burns, joint fusions, and other issues resulting in decreased mobility. For many of us, the solution to our mobility issues- the thing that enables us to get around our college campuses, places of work and worship, golf courses, and other locations, is the Segway. A Segway is to a person with a mobility problem as a guide dog is to a person who is blind.

...

However, for a variety of reasons, certain venues which allow wheelchairs (Federal law requires it) choose not to allow Segways.

...

But you can help: On Tuesday the 18th of June, the Department of Justice released a "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" which seeks public comment on whether Segways should be accommodated in the same way as wheelchairs when they are operated by a person with a disability. You can help by simply contacting the Department of Justice and stating that disabled veterans and others with mobility issues should be accommodated in all circumstances, whether they use a Segway or a wheelchair. It would be best to express your views in your own words rather than quoting me, but only because "form letters" are counted by DOJ as single comments rather than separate ones. "

Read the whole thing HERE (HT: Blackfive).

Follow the two links at the Blackfive post and get on board to help these folks attain the quality of life they deserve. If motorized wheelchairs are permitted, I can't see how Segways can be excluded. It's really not that different from making an exception for seeing-eye dogs where pets are otherwise not permitted.

Thanks, Major Gade, for your service and for bringing this opportunity to our attention.

A new degree of freedom for one of our wounded vets?

Maybe you'd like to help one of our wounded veteran's get one of these?

So he can do stuff like this?

He got to take one these "trikes" for a spin on day two of this year's Face of America Bike Ride from Washington, DC to Gettysburg, PA.

I can't really imagine what it's like to have an injury that permanently changes how one gets around in the world. The closest thing I've experienced would be a sprained foot, but, yeah, not even close.

So how would you like to help give this vet a new degree of freedom with his very own trike?

It just so happens that I met this veteran during the FOA bike ride. He wouldn't remember me, but I remember him because his borrowed trike wasn't available until the second day of the ride, and I didn't realize that he would be riding until I saw him rolling down the road. [I don't have any pictures - they're all on Lauging Wolf's camera...]

I also didn't find out that this trike-riding veteran is from Iowa.

It just so happens that an Angel from Iowa that is assisting with this Trike Project is one of my best Angel buddies (though like many Angels, we've never met in person!). Angel Michelle and I adopted a Navy ship for a holiday project in 2006. Small world!

My Trike Fund check will go in the mail on Monday - how about you?

All donations are being handled through a special bank account and a designated bank officer in Maryland near another trike-rider who is working this effort on that vet's behalf.

That caring cyclist who rode with the veterans in the FOA ride managed to find a trike that will only cost a total of $3600 to purchase, modify, and ship to Iowa. Any funds raised in excess of those needed to purchase and ship the trike to Iowa will be donated to Soldiers' Angels.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

Send checks to:

** UPDATE: ACCOUNT CLOSED

Thanks to anyone who donated!! Sgt Bob is now enjoying his new trike!

Not for Nothing, Take 6

The surge.

Some amazing before and after pictures. (HT: Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette)

They made a difference.

Others are talking about it more and more, without hesitation or qualification. (HT: Mrs. G's Dawn Patrol at Mudville Gazette)

If you'd like to support those that continue their work in Iraq or others serving in our armed services, adopt a troop through Soldiers' Angels today.