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June 2010
We were happy to get the news that our
friend and repeated contact, Colonel Larry
Gallogly, returned home safely from Afghanistan
on March 18th. Welcome home Colonel!
Upon Col Gallogly's departure, he gave us the
name and address of another RI group and we've
been able to send packages to Lt Col Anthony
Hamel, commander of the 143 Security Forces
Squadron currently in Iraq. Col Hamel and
many of the airmen with him have participated in
the annual Rhody's Run for the Troops.
In April, Pack It Up sent Lt Col Hamel an XBOX
360, controllers and games. We also sent 3
portable DVD players and about 25 movies.
It was good to hear everything was well received
in this note from Lt Col Hamel.
In May, Pack
It Up sent over sports equipment.
Footballs, basketballs, soccer balls, ping pong
set and nerf balls were sent again to Lt Col
Hamel along with magazines, more DVDs,
Providence Journal newspapers and girl scout
cookies.
Ahern Family Charitable Foundation
For the fourth year in a row, Pack It Up
was the recipient of a $2,500 grant from the
AFCF. It was another fantastic event by
the Ahern family. Please check out their
organization and all the great work they do!
http://www.ahernfoundation.org/
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Pack It Up given a grant of $2500 in March 2010
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Run To Home Base
In May, Kristin Struck and John Moretta from
Pack It Up participated in the Run to Home Base
at Fenway Park in Boston. The 9k run ended
inside of Fenway Park and all runners crossed
home plate as part of the race. This
fundraiser raised money for the new Home
Base Organization:
The Home Base Program
is a new philanthropic partnership between the
Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General
Hospital dedicated to improving the lives of New
England servicemen and women returning from Iraq
and Afghanistan with combat stress disorders
and/or traumatic brain injury through clinical
care, innovative research, education, family
support and community outreach.
http://www.runtohomebase.org/
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Kristin Struck and John Moretta from Pack It Up at the Run to Home Base race
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Memorial Day 2010
In May, we were lucky enough to
attend a breakfast in Boston for the group
Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund.
http://www.massmilitaryheroes.org/
The Massachusetts Military
Heroes Fund supports families of those lost in
service as a result of current military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. For Memorial
Day 2010, the MMHF placed 20,000 flags on the
Boston Common to in remembrance of the 20,000
Massachusetts soldiers who have died since WWI.
It was an incredible visual spectacle.
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