Ukes for Soldiers: I need your help

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mythidiot

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Hi Everyone,
Recently a buddy of mine was deployed to Iraq. Right before he left he was borrowing my extra uke a lot and learning to play. Later, his wife mentioned that it was his birthday and we sent him my extra uke. Well, not surprisingly, he plays it on the base all the time and everywhere he goes people ask him to play something and they all jump in with a song. He told his wife that a lot of soldiers there wanted to learn to play the Ukulele.

This got me thinking, what if I got the UU involved and we tried to donate old ukes and/or buy entry level ukes for these soldiers? So that's what I'm proposing, if you've got a playable uke that is just collecting dust or you've got $30ish bucks lying around somewhere, wouldn't it be cool to brighten up a soldier's tour?

My buddy is in the reserves and was called up for 18 months, leaving behind his cute little wife and two boys. This is a tough situation for them, but I like to think that our little Uke gift has helped a little. His boys often ask to play my uke when their around because I think that there is a little connection to Dad that way.

Anywho, this is pretty long rambling post, but I guess I'm wondering if there is any interest out there? I have no idea how many we'd need at this point, but I'm gathering info from the base of guys who would want one. We all have UAS and many of us have a uke or two that we haven't picked up in a while, wouldn't it be cool to use those ukes to spread the Aloha to those who've left their families to serve their country?

What I'm Looking For:
1. People who will commit to donate a Uke
2. People who will commit to donate money to buy and ship a uke
(I'll set up a paypal donation thing and do a big bulk buy somewhere)

What you'll get:
1. A photo in this post of the soldier with your Uke (maybe I can talk them into doing a video or something!)
2. The opportunity to give back to some soldiers
2. Awesome karma vibes and a warm fuzzy feeling
 
I can find $30 to give to a solider...how much is that in UK ££? About £20/£25, yeah, give me a couple of weeks to save and I'll donate that. Sounds like a good plan!
 
Count me in for a monetary donation. Thanks for spearheading this effort.
 
For what they do for us....$30 is nothing!!!!
 
DEFINITELY in. Would almost immediately donate a Lanikai LU-21 & would contribute towards some Makala dolphins to head to soldiers as well.
 
I knew I could count on you guys to be awesome. I think I'll start with just those on this base and see where it goes from there. I was also made aware of a similar thing called "Ukes for Troops" which had given away over 1500 free ukuleles to the troops before the person running it became ill. That is quite a feat.

Anywho, I'll put together a paypal thing tonight and call my friend and see if he's got a list of how many troops on his base are interested and we'll start there. Thanks everyone! Oh and spread the word, the best bang for the buck is going to be if we can combine all of these ukes into as few shipments as possible, that way most of the money goes towards getting more ukes instead of shipping costs.
 
I do a similar thing on my own, but for under-privileged youth in my area that show interests in learning the Uke, but don't have the means to own their own. So, that said, the couple I have on hand available are already targeted for a couple kids, otherwise I would be blessed to be able to send them to troops. But, I would like to either slate the next one I get in to be sent to one of our men or women warriors. Or at least offer a monitary contribution to buy/send one.

Also, in many cases like this, being a veteran myself, know the USPS sometimes will ship to troops for free when pertaining with gifts and donations for our troops. Ya might want to contact your local PO and see what they say about shipping to our folks over there to save the shipping costs that could go torwards actual Ukes..
 
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Great idea! I'm in. Have you considered setting up wsomething like a Facebook page for this? I know people who aren't uke players and wouldn't see threads like this one but would love to do something like this to help the troops. I could post a Facebook ukulele donation page on my Facebook wall, it would reach people like that as well as those in the ukulele community.
 
I would happily donate $ for this.
 
Figure out the mechanics and I'm in. Do you want them shipped to you or what?

Several years ago a marine reservist I work with was called up for Afghanistan. Once he got over there he got in touch with us and organized "care packages" for his unit. You'd be surprised some of the stuff guys asked for most - toilet paper, sun screen, hard candies, playing cards, stationary - really basic stuff. I don't know if it's still the case but the first couple of years in Afghanistan the military supply system was really struggling to keep them in guns and rations, let alone "luxuries" like paper and envelopes to write home.
 
Count me in...I'll give some money for a great cause!
 
Figure out the mechanics and I'm in. Do you want them shipped to you or what?

Several years ago a marine reservist I work with was called up for Afghanistan. Once he got over there he got in touch with us and organized "care packages" for his unit. You'd be surprised some of the stuff guys asked for most - toilet paper, sun screen, hard candies, playing cards, stationary - really basic stuff. I don't know if it's still the case but the first couple of years in Afghanistan the military supply system was really struggling to keep them in guns and rations, let alone "luxuries" like paper and envelopes to write home.


Tell me about it. People over here wiith running water just dont understand what those kids do without over there. It's not intensional, but just hard to conceave. I have a good friend that was in Iraq serving as a Marine Captian. I got a bunch of friends that used to about every month or so for the year she was over there, send her troops a box of simple items we gathered together for them. It was pitiful really when I used to get messages from her telling me that the soldiers over there would gather in front of her tent every time they saw a box from the states come. And many of them were actually reduced to tears to eat a snickers bar from home. A bar of soap would put smiles on their faces. The things we take for granted safe at home..
 
Hey guys I just wanted to say that you guys are awesome. I am in the Air Force and was recently in Afghanistan. These types of gestures mean a lot. There was a program called "a cup of Joe" i believe in which we would get a gift card for a cup of coffee, if your base has a coffee place that is. Even something as small as that was a great gesture. Just wanted to say thanks to all of you for looking out for us.
 
What was really really cool, that year my Captian friend was over there, it was near halloween. A local store gave up an unbelieveable amount of all kinds of halloween candy from all sorts of hard candies, fun sized chocolate bars of many types. I think we got an easy 50 or 60 pounds of candy from that store. I mentioned it to them when I was in there buying a bunch of travel hygene kits. The manager was in there and when he asked what I was doing with all those kits, he told me to hold on a minute, and went back to the back, and then I see this dolly come up front loaded with boxes of unopened halloween candy. He told to send all that too them. The USPS didn't even charge me to send it. When those guys got that month's care package, the Capt said those guys were estatic, and ran around their area dancing with faces full of candy.. lol.. Made my day that they had allot of fun with that stuff...

Point is, theres allot of mom and pop stores that will leap at a chance to give ya stuff if you can get it over there..
 
I'm in for bucks too! See if the Ukes for Troops handle can be gotten going again. Can't beat that name. Thanks for your effort.
 
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