Good job Gary!

[Ginge!]

Hey Gary, saw this on the DND site:

A model project to help soldiers; Kits being sent to troops serving in Afghanistan

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When it all began, Gary Porter's goal was to collect between 300 and 500 model kits for Canadian soldiers and their allies serving overseas. With under a month remaining before the kits get shipped out, he's confident he's reached that goal, and then some.

"We're probably over 500 but I don't have an official number," the 43-year-old teacher said from his home in Lower Sackville. He says there are mountains of model kits, plus four big unopened boxes containing more, stored throughout his house.

All of them will be heading to places such as Afghanistan through Mr. Porter's brain-child project, Kits for Kandahar, which kicked off in May through the efforts of the Halifax Military Modelling Group. Mr. Porter is a member of that group.

People and businesses from across the globe have gotten in on the campaign, Mr. Porter said, with donors coming from all walks of life.

"We've got everyone from little kids who did extra chores who dropped off a kit to a man whose son just came back from a seven-month stint in Iraq, and he sent us at least a thousand dollars worth of kits."

And there's more to come.

Mr. Porter is asking for the public's help in finding a way to bring 2,000 kits to Nova Scotia from a donor in Miami.

"If we don't make arrangements to get a hold of these things in the next couple of weeks, they're in a dumpster," he said.

He's also asking people to continue giving to the campaign, especially items for the military's women. Right now, the project has collected about 25 cross-stitch sets and more are needed.

"We need more stuff for the female contingent," said Mr. Porter. "We're talking 500 women plus who are serving over in Afghanistan." Even though Mr. Porter and the other members of the project have tried to keep a low profile on the campaign until the models actually get shipped, some soldiers have learned of their efforts and are already making requests.

"I had a British military engineer phone me about three weeks ago and he made me promise to put away a Spitfire for him," he said. "The last of the comments he gave to me was, 'I'm bloody grateful for that. I'm hoping to get it fairly soon because I don't know how long I'll have my fingers.' I didn't understand the comment until he told me later that he was a mine-removal specialist and a couple of his friends have come back missing their arms."

Mr. Porter said he promised to get the model to the man.

The kits will go through an inspection and packaging process by ex-military and RCMP personnel on Aug. 10 to make sure they are safe for the soldiers. In the following days, the models will be loaded on military transport planes to be sent overseas and Mr. Porter is adamant that each one will make it abroad, no matter how many kits they have.

"We had one rather funny conversation," he said with a chuckle. "We were asked, 'How many cubic feet of models do you have?'

"Our response was, 'Tell us how many cubic feet a C-130 takes, and we'll tell you how many you'll need.'"

Despite the success of the Kits for Kandahar campaign, which Mr. Porter says is the largest endeavour of its kind ever undertaken, he claims his efforts are nothing in comparison to what the people the models are for have done.

"They're seeing things that no man or woman should ever have to see and they're in a country where people want them dead," he said. "They're doing really good work for a lot of people."

Anyone wishing to donate can continue to drop off kits, tools, paint or glue at Maritime Hobbies and Crafts, Nautilus Aquatics and Hobbies in Halifax.

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'I had a British military engineer phone me about three weeks ago and he made me promise to put away a Spitfire for him.'

[BlackOps]

Very nice write-up for a very generous cause, I know if I was out there in the big mess I would appreciate the heck out of Gary and everyone involved's efforts!

[Ollie]

Way to go Gary!

       

[Gary]

Thanks Mate
BTW, we got the 2000 kits thanks to that article. A local insurance company is paying the bills and a local trucking company is driving the load.

Weeee haaaaa

We're on the way