BriEOD
06-04-2009, 09:35 AM
If you're looking to donate a few bucks here is a good cause: PIZZA (www.pizza4patriots.com)
Chicago Sun-Times
June 3, 2009
Pg. 10
28,000 Pizzas Headed To Troops
Vet sending Uno pies to Iraq, Afghanistan for July 4th
By Kate Kennedy, Chicago Sun-Times
Last Fourth of July, Mark Evans shipped more than 2,000 pizzas to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This Independence Day, Evans, a retired Air Force master sergeant from Elk Grove Village, aims to top himself. He's planning to put 28,000 deep-dish pizzas, packed in dry ice, on a plane bound for the war zones later this month.
Their destination: the bellies of 75,000 to 100,000 soon-to-be-grateful troops.
"It's like telling [the troops] that they're doing a great job," said Evans, 49. "And I'm telling you, their eyes light up."
Evans spent 26 years in the service. Now, he's a fiber optics splicing technician for AT&T. Last year, his then-16-year-old son Kent, worried about how U.S. troops in war zones were doing, posed a question over the kitchen table as they ate a pizza: "Do they have pizza like this over there?"
"I said, 'No, son,' " Evans said. "He said, 'You think we can send some?' "
So Evans quickly lined up sponsors, collected donations and made it happen.
This year's pizzas are coming from Uno Chicago Grill. Evans is collecting donations to pay for the discounted pizzas with the help of corporations and private contributions at www.pizza4patriots.com.
Every soldier at nine forward bases in Iraq and Afghanistan will get a third of a pizza.
To wash it down, MillerCoors is donating 10,000 cases of beer. The pizza and beer will be jammed into a DHL plane on June 19 and it should end up with the troops in time for July 4, Evans said.
"We're gonna stuff that airplane as full as it can get," he said.
Chicago Sun-Times
June 3, 2009
Pg. 10
28,000 Pizzas Headed To Troops
Vet sending Uno pies to Iraq, Afghanistan for July 4th
By Kate Kennedy, Chicago Sun-Times
Last Fourth of July, Mark Evans shipped more than 2,000 pizzas to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This Independence Day, Evans, a retired Air Force master sergeant from Elk Grove Village, aims to top himself. He's planning to put 28,000 deep-dish pizzas, packed in dry ice, on a plane bound for the war zones later this month.
Their destination: the bellies of 75,000 to 100,000 soon-to-be-grateful troops.
"It's like telling [the troops] that they're doing a great job," said Evans, 49. "And I'm telling you, their eyes light up."
Evans spent 26 years in the service. Now, he's a fiber optics splicing technician for AT&T. Last year, his then-16-year-old son Kent, worried about how U.S. troops in war zones were doing, posed a question over the kitchen table as they ate a pizza: "Do they have pizza like this over there?"
"I said, 'No, son,' " Evans said. "He said, 'You think we can send some?' "
So Evans quickly lined up sponsors, collected donations and made it happen.
This year's pizzas are coming from Uno Chicago Grill. Evans is collecting donations to pay for the discounted pizzas with the help of corporations and private contributions at www.pizza4patriots.com.
Every soldier at nine forward bases in Iraq and Afghanistan will get a third of a pizza.
To wash it down, MillerCoors is donating 10,000 cases of beer. The pizza and beer will be jammed into a DHL plane on June 19 and it should end up with the troops in time for July 4, Evans said.
"We're gonna stuff that airplane as full as it can get," he said.