Gary Sinise Launching Foundation

borrowed from Gary's Fb page

I have been a fan of Gary Sinise -- personally and professionally -- for a long time. I LOVES me some Gary Sinise. He is one of those people who uses his notoriety and personal resources for good in the world. Closer to my heart is that his favorite cause is the military -- active, veterans, the wounded. With this announcement, he takes another piece of my heart. As the wife of a veteran, the mother of a wounded veteran, and the mom of an active duty sailor, Thank you, Gary, from the bottom (and the corners) of my heart.

 

Presidential Citizens Medal Winner, Actor Gary Sinise Launching Foundation

Los Angeles, CA. (June 15, 2011) – Award-winning actor Gary Sinise will launch the Gary Sinise Foundation July 4th, 2011 to honor the Nation’s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need. The foundation will provide and support unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen and build communities.

Some of the many programs include relief for wounded warriors, entertainment for service members and their families, school supplies for children where U.S. troops are deployed, and scholarships for veterans. The foundation will also support and promote several quality organizations, some of which include The United Service Organization (USO), Operation International Children, Snowball Express, Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, American Veterans Disabled For Life Memorial, Fisher House Foundation, People to People International, Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, TAPS-Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, The FDNY Fire Family Transport Foundation, Hope For The Warriors, The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, The Navy Seal Foundation, and Disabled American Veterans.

The launch will coincide with the release of Jonathan Flora’s documentary “Lt. Dan Band: For The Common Good”. During the 30-day online release, when people stream the film at http://www.ltdanbandmovie.com/, one out of every four dollars will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation to support its programs.

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ABOUT GARY SINISE:In 2008, he received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian honor awarded to citizens for exemplary deeds performed in service of the nation. He is only the second actor, and one of only 110 people in history to have received the honor. Other awards include The Medal of Honor’s Bob Hope Excellence in Entertainment Award, The Spirit of the USO Award, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award and the Heart of a Patriot Award from USO of Illinois. In April 2011 he received the USC School of Social Work’s Crystal Heart, the school’s highest honor for his outstanding community service, and the university established the Gary Sinise Endowed Scholarship in the School of Social Work in his name to support further education in the area of military social work.

Sinise has done hundreds of personal appearances and concerts with the Lt. Dan Band worldwide, mostly for military related organizations. He has participated in more than 40 tours and made more than 150 appearances for the USO alone, and traveled to bases in Alaska and throughout the US, and overseas to locations such as Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Belgium, The UK, The Netherlands, Italy, UAE, Qatar, Korea, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Okinawa and Guantanamo Bay, raising the spirits and boosting morale of hundreds of thousands of troops and their families.

As a result of Sinise’s first two trips to Iraq, he started Operation International Children with Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand, which has worked with schools in the U.S., corporate sponsors and People to People International to supply the military with well over a quarter of a million school supply kits, along with more than half a million toys and thousands of blankets, backpacks, pairs of shoes, Arabic-language books and sets of sports equipment to provide to children in conflict areas.

Sinise serves as the spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, traveling the country to raise funds to build the memorial to honor America’s three million living disabled military veterans, which broke ground in 2010. He was involved in raising funds for The Pentagon Memorial located just southwest of The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, where one can find a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people killed in the building, and on American Airlines Flight 77. He also helped raise funds to build The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance in KeySpan Park, to honor the first responders, those fire, police and emergency personnel from across the nation who raced to the sites after the terrorist attacks, risking their lives in service to others.

“The Foundation is a strong, dependable resource to spread the 'give-back goodness’.” That’s what Gary Sinise wants his Foundation to do, “provide opportunities for people to give back.”

Currently, Sinise stars as Detective Mac Taylor and is also a producer of CBS’ highly successful “CSI: NY.”

Between Two Worlds (Redux)

More than five years ago I wrote the following blog post... despite the fact that there is so little news from the front, there are still two theaters of operation... and good men and women are being deployed daily and leaving behind wives, children, parents, siblings and friends to wait. wait. wait. and worry. So it is worth reminding those who do not have loved one's in harm's way -- those who live in THIS world -- what that is like.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Between Two Worlds

[snip]

I have recently come to the conclusion that when you have someone deployed, you live in two worlds: "This" world and "THAT" world. In This World, everything goes on as normal. You go to work (for those that work), do the laundry, clean the house, pay the bills...… You know -- all the things "normal" people do.

But we're not normal. We also live in THAT World -- the world where the telephone ringing in the middle of the night is normal 'cause it's morning over there. The world where news is everything and vague reports of improvised explosive devices can raise your heart rate 10 beats a minute and unconfirmed reports of soldiers' deaths can cause you to inhale involuntarily. The world that can fall apart in an instant when the caller ID says it's Fort _____ or there's a knock at the door and the chaplain is standing there.

In This World, holidays are a day off or a reason to shop. In THAT World, holidays are markers of time passing... merely milestones until homecoming. First we got through Valentine's Day,… then Easter (telling ourselves that they'll be home next Easter), then Memorial Day (oh how we'll celebrate next Memorial Day!), Independence Day (we'll have the best barbecue next 4th!), Labor Day, Columbus Day...… just marking time in THAT World... the World where you live between goodbyes and hellos until it's goodbyes again.

In This World, birthdays and anniversaries, the births of children, the marriages of friends and family are celebrated with a degree of sadness because your soldier is not here... your soldier is in harm's way. Can you ever truly celebrate in This World when your heart is mostly in THAT World? We do but only because we are forced to live in This and THAT World.

We live in This World where the ringing phone is just a ringing phone -- an annoyance, an interruption... but we are forced to also live in THAT World where we curse because the phone does not ring often enough or can bring unhappy news... where 21st century technology is a tether to That World but which we curse in blackout or busy times when we are plunged into unwanted silence.

In This World, shopping is a normal every day activity, but because we also live in ThHAT World, it is a lifeline to our soldier: shopping for the things they need...… the things they like..… the things that tie them to home -- to us...… tie them to This World and learning that soft toilet paper or their favorite brand of salsa may be more priceless than gold in THAT World.

In This World there are 24 hours in a day, but because we also live in THAT World, we live a parralel 24. As we progress through our days in This World, we are calculating the time in THAT World and conjuring up pictures of what our soldier is doing at that moment. When we eat we wonder if they had a hot meal today...… when we shower we wonder if they had hot water for a shower or whether it was a water bottle rinse off...… we wonder if the mail even got through today. In This World, "Where did the time go?" is a simple phrase. In THAT World, it is a blessing that the hour or day went quickly because in THAT World time passes excruciatingly slow --… especially those last few days until that plane touches down and the senior officer yells, "Dismissed!"

In This World, you are brave, tough, and supportive and you dare not admit to many that in That World you are also weary, frightened, worried sick, and lonesome for your soldier and sometimes you cry about it for him and for you.

In This World, you smile politely when someone asks about the yellow ribbon pin or the purple ... bracelet you wear... and you smile broadly when they ask you to thank your soldier for their service in That World.

In This World you wonder why people clap when David Letterman or Jay Leno say hurtful things about the War while your soldier fights nobly in THAT World for their right to say it. In This World you find that you talk back to the television a lot and that you stop watching or listening to Senators and Representatives and clueless celebrities who can't seem to put aside their partisanship long enough to see the effect some of their mindless statements have on those that live in THAT World and are fighting That war. In This World you wouldn't dream of challenging someone demanding that we cut and run, but because we also live in THAT World, we have no qualms about telling them that they don't know their butt from an indentation in the Earth's surface and thoughtfully answer all their rote mumblings about oil, lies, wealth, WMD -- and when they spout "We support the troops" -- we don't hesitate to ask them to prove it!

Before this deployment, I thought that once our son -- once Our Guys -- were home, I would return to living in just one world -- This World. However, now that the deployment is over, I have come to realize that a part of me will always live between the two worlds. That World is now an integral part of This World for me... as it is for many others.

In This World, your friends are those you know in your neighborhood and from the PTA or Lions Club meetings. For the families of those deployed, our friends in This World include everyone that understands all too well THAT World: friends that are serving, those that have served, the families of those that are deployed, have been deployed or are deploying and the people that really do support them... always ready with a helping hand, an encouraging word, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold in good times and bad. THAT World is a big world inhabited by a large family of which I am proud to be a member and for which I will forever be grateful.

Copyright 2006. All rights reserved.