Help Entertain our troops in Afghanistan???

[EastTexFrank]

Good, I'm glad you had a great response.

Sorry about the packing. Had to do it in the dark. Storms knocked out the power for 2 days.

 

[shoppintractors]

Bob,

The State of Michigan is adding to the CD program in a big way.

<font color="blue"> More Than 11,000 CDs Headed Overseas To Troops
By The Associated Press
June 23, 2004

DETROIT - More than 11,000 compact discs are headed from Michigan to troops serving in Iraq.

The CDs are among the 194,000 that the state received as part of a nationwide settlement with five music companies and retailers earlier this year.

Attorney General Mike Cox was to announce the shipment Wednesday at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County's Harrison Township, The Detroit News reported.

A lawsuit brought by states and consumers charged that large music companies engaged in price-fixing in the late 1990s. More than 79,000 checks for about $13 each were sent to consumers in Michigan, said Stu Sandler, spokesman for Cox.

The record companies also sent $75.7 million in CDs to 41 states to support music-related programs. Most of Michigan's music went to public schools, libraries and domestic violence centers, Sandler said.

But other selections - including CDs with parental advisory labels - were left over. Instead of sending them back, Cox's office decided to send them to a group that is constantly looking for U.S. entertainment.

The list of artists includes Nas, Blink 182, Outkast, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith and Mozart.
</font>

Note: Bob is collecting for troops in Afghanistan. Michigan's are going to troops in Iraq.

Don

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Don: We were able to collect several hundred DVDs, our are going to Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan. Camp Phoenix is manned by a multinational force and acts as a training camp for the Afghan National Army, as well as a base for raids into the Afghan mountains along the Pakistani border.

As one of the humanitarian projects sponsored by the Americans, the soldiers of Camp Phoenix are supporting an orphanage and will be collecting infant and childrens clothes. I'm not sure who will be coordinating the collection efforts of how the clothes will be shipped to the orphanage.

 

[Inspector507]

Just brought this subject back up to remind everyone that the need is still there to send supplies and what not to our troops. No matter where they are serving.
I think Bob is still shipping needed items to them.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

YUP, thanks for bringing this back up.


We send an average of 2 to 3 cases of snacks, coffee, & goodies to the soldiers in Camp Phoenix, Kabul Afghanistan every week. To date, their library of DVDs that were donated is probably about 400 titles, most of them are different titles. Of that amount, probably about 100 came from various folks here on the TBN website (including Inspector507).

We also send an average of 2 to 3 cases of goods to soldiers in Camp Atterbury, Edinburg, IN who are in a National Guard unit that is being shipped over to Iraq. Their mission will be to run fuel trucks between bases, and as I understand it, that is one of the most dangerous missions over there right now because it is nearly impossible to armor a fuel truck! When they are deployed, we will ship the goods to whichever base they are assigned to.

My company is picking up the cost of the shipping of everything, and while I donate personally about 1/2 of what goes into the cases, the company and many of the employees make up the rest. We have also worked with some of the local VFW and American Legion posts to gather goods. There is an orphanage in Kabul that our troops adopted, we have done clothing drives for them as well as collected stuffed animals for the kids.

If anyone feels that they would like to support the folks we have in Afghanistan or Iraq, then I would encourage you to do so in whatever way you find suitable. If there is no local organization that you know of then please ship things to me. Many of the folks who donated have related that they went to their local video store and talked to the manager, explained what they wanted to do, and cut special deals on previously rented DVDs so that they were able to purchase surplus DVDs for a couple bucks a piece. Many others simply cleaned out their old collections. But what may be old to you, is much appreciated by our troops.

They need:
Anything to entertain themselves, including music CDs, DVD movies, decks of cards, "travel size" games, all sorts of toiletries including toothpaste, razors, soap, deoderant, waterless hand soap, skin lotion, (bear in mind we have a lot of ladies over there so female related products are in short supply and greatly appreciated) chapstick, OFF! or similar insect repellents (liquid not aerosol) and snack foods of all types including Girl Scout cookies, candy, meat snacks/jerkey, trail mix, etc. Shipping often takes 3 weeks so food items must be shelf stable with a long shelf life.

If you care to donate please send what you can to:
Bob Skurka
c/o City Sales, Inc
2552 Industrial Drive
Highland, IN 46322-9038