Hello Mr. & Mrs. Hintzke,

My name is Tammy Faris, I am President of the Columbus MS Army National Guard FRG. I would like to send ENORMOUS THANKS for your wonderful program. I received a phone call this morning from my husband, SGT Marion "Sherman" Faris who is in A Battery, 2/114th FA 155 BCT in Iraq. He had received big boxes. He was in total awe of the contents. This "operation take a soldier to the movies" was a HUGE HUGE HUGE hit among him and his fellow soldiers. He had no idea that I had submitted his unit for this. ALL of the soldiers were totally amazed that there were such good, caring people out there like ya'll.

On behalf of the entire A Battery, 2/114th FA 155 BCT, please accept my hearfelt thanks for the wonderful organization that you created. And on behalf of the entire FRG here in Columbus, THANK YOU so very much for caring for and supporting "our soldiers".

God Bless You. Tammy Faris




Dear Mr. Hintzke:

It has been a great pleasure being involved with this worthwhile project with you. Thank you for giving us a unique and simple way to bless our troops. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Dittrich Family




On a very sincere note, I am thankful for the courage and sacrifice of the men and women serving our country and protecting people and promoting peace in Iraq. I pray for their safe return home.
God bless you and yours,

Lynn Rinderle




We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and our thoughts are with you and everyone who has an empty seat at their tables this year for the holidays.

The Bielinshi and Kamenski families




I just wanted you to know that I have passed your information on to several Queen's school, as well as a private Catholic HS. One school had the local TV station in, and my school was in the local Catholic Newspaper, as well as the church bulletin. I wish you and your project all the success in the world.

May God Bless your son and the thousands of other sons and daughters serving in our military. My father served in the Air Force for 22 years and I grew-up in a military environment. I also enlisted in the Air Force and that is how I met my husband of 25 years. As you can see, the military and all its personnel hold a special place in my heart.

Best to all,
Remee Mallay




Hi Bernie:

I am so glad you sent this particular update. Our thoughts and prayers were focused upon our troops this Thanksgiving. We found ourselves thinking that they were getting their packages that day.
It has been a pleasure to participate!
Thank you for organizing this.

Amy




Bernie,

Thanks for the updates and things. Hope all is well with you and the family. You and your wife have put so much of yourselves into these efforts supporting our troops. Hope you find time over the holidays to find time for yourselves.

Take Care - Ted




Mr. Hintzke,

Thank you so much for sending us the thank you notes you have received.
I will post them on our school web site. If you get any more please continue to forward them to me. The families of Lakeview School were honored to be part of your awesome project. Thank you for starting Take a Soldier To The Movies. I'm sure you have made you son proud.

Sincerely, Lynn Fischer




Bernard,

Thank you for sharing the letter. I think we civilians forget what it was like to be 18, 19 or in our early twenties. Could we handle such as these young men and women have to endure? Not only do they have to deal with a cowardly enemy but have to deal with the "politically correct" treatment of them, (which only the press cares about). What you have organized is so wonderful. I read somewhere that the service discontinued the program allowing letters and cards addressed to "any service member". This is a disappointment. Your program allowed us to touch their lives.

Thanks Much

Leah M Bill-Moore




Many thanks to you and Kathy for this wonderful
program for our soldiers.
Thanks a million for sharing this!!!
Regards, Mary




Sir,

Just a quick, heartfelt note to personally thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for our soldiers. Letters and packages from the home front from folks such as you certainly brighten up a soldiers day and remind us why we are here.

Again, Thank you

Sincerely,
1SG Jeff Paulson (Fellow cheddar head from Waupaca!)
GO PACK!!!
v/r
1SG JEFF PAULSON
A CO 601st ASB, 1ID




Bernie,

Great to hear that this has gotten such a wonderful response. I am glad people are recognizing you and Kathy's efforts and of course I will not forget the wonderful ladies of the 601st.

Take care
Jen




Mr. and Mrs. Hintzke,

Bernie and Kathy, I am CSM (Command Sergeant Major) Guy R. Niles and your son's Battalion CSM (601st Avn Spt Bn). First I wanted to commend you on this idea that has fleshed out into a truly awesome project. LTC Ford, myself, any many like us have been on numerous combat and other deployments. In my 28 1/2 years, I cannot remember another project that has hit at the core problem of any deployment like this ones does and is, Idle Time! You and everyone else involved, deserve all of the accolades, praise, and good fortune that one soul can wish for and bestow on another.

Secondly, I want to commend you on raising such a fine young man as Adam. He is a good Soldier and a great American. You two are rightfully proud of him and his service to our Nation. Your son would be a welcome asset to any unit.

Thank you for what you do everyday. Thank you for allowing us to borrow Adam for a while. And, thank you for supporting our unit and our military. You two set the tone and example for the rest. Many thanks and God Bless.

GR Niles
CSM, USA
601st ASB




Bernie,

Hey, I have to tell you, 2000 more soldiers are thrilled in Iraq to be receiving take a soldier to the movie packages. The impact this program has had on the families, the support agencies in our communities, and the soldiers is tremendous. Jennifer is sending out and will continue to send out our thank you letters to the great people that have donated boxes, DVDs and the rest of the goodies.

As Jennifer sends the weekly updates she will be adding another piece. I had to check through our information security officer for how we could put out unit & unit #s. I have finally received an answer.

I can not give you units and their #s, but I can give you a grand total of boxes packed and I can also give you a list of units that have benefited. I just can't give you unit's and their specific #s. So next week Jennifer will be sending total boxes packed to date along with new units that have been added to the list. Sorry it took so long, but I needed to get the right answer to protect their operational security.

I think this will be a great piece to add to the website. I know we have packed over 1680 boxes to over 8 units so far and we have many more to go.

Thanks again for all that you are doing for our troops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be sending pictures soon after they open them in thanksgiving.

Mellanie




Thanks for the update. It's truly heartwarming to know so many care so much.

Carleen Ericksen




Mr. Hintzke,

Thank-you for thinking of us over here in Afghanistan, that means a lot to all of us. Here are the addresses:

BENNY ALVAREZ
CJTF-76 / CJ-9




Great!!!! It is interesting how one person can inspire so many others. Thank God for people like you.




That is great stuff, you are definitely touching the lives of thousands.

Thanks for keeping the energy for this project.

God Bless,
Pam




Bernie,

This really couldn't have been done without you! You and Kathy are really the sparks that have set this on fire!

Mellanie
v/r
CPT Mellanie S. Merrit
601st ASB Rear Det Cdr




Mr. Hintzke

I appreciate the support. We are doing pretty good here. You can use me as the contact person. I have 28 marines in my platoon.

Thanks again we really appreciate it

Cpl Trost
USMC
Semper Fi




My kids donated their Halloween candy, I love this movement, peace to all, and thank you for allowing us to help the troops. Gracious blessings to your child.

Love, Jackie




Hello Bernard!

I'm so glad that everyone is working together on this project!




Mr. and Mrs. Hintzke,

I am the new commander of Bravo Company, 601st Aviation Support Battalion. I would like to express my gratitude for your efforts in support of our soldiers. We recently received a large shipment of boxes containing donations which we will distribute prior to Thanksgiving.

As I have told the soldiers in this company, I have a great deal of admiration and respect for citizens who have voluntarily chosen this profession in a time when operational tempo is so high, and personal sacrifice due to the frequency of deployments is imminent.

Once again, thank-you on behalf of this fantastic group of soldiers for your benevolence.

Respectfully,
CPT Darcy Manion




Bernie,

This is great that people are so willing to help our soldiers. I think you and your wife have done such a wonderful thing here I just hope they will keep sending the donations. Thanks again for letting me be a small part.

Jen




I've forwarded this on to at least 2 dozen people. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of participating in this very worthy, clever event. We are so grateful for the sacrifices our military and their families are making!

Sincerely,
Barb Dittrich
Oconomowoc, WI




Looks great! We have our hands full just keeping the FRG room in order, boxes in, boxes out, stuff in the right place. UGH.


Best to you,
Pam




Hello Mr. Hintzke,

The Take a Solider to the Movie drive has ended here and we filled 115 popcorn boxes that I will mail out tomorrow in hope that they make it in time for Thanksgiving. What I need to know is what would you like me to do with the rest of the popcorn boxes? I have been asked if another committee can use them. I told them that they were not my popcorn boxes and that I would ask you. As we have just deployed some of our own troops I was wondering if could use some of the popcorn boxes for my own troops as X-mas presents, and have there families and friends fill them up. But like I said they are your popcorn boxes and whatever you would like me to do with them I will.

Thank you for letting me be apart of this program.

Jennette Santiago




Hi Bernard,

I first would like to say thank you for all of the hard work and support you are willing to give our soldiers, from a spouse who knows the hardships our soldiers endure and one who knows even better the amount of support they deserve. It is so wonderful that a small project took off the way it has and that you are still willing to see it through. I appreciate your kindness as I am sure many of the soldiers lives you have already touched do.

My husband first went to war with a unit out of Germany which was an ADA (air defense artillery) unit they were only needed for a short time so he was sent home in a six month time period. Upon his return we came down on orders for Fort Hood, Texas to be stationed with the 1st Cav division. He had been slotted to go to BNOC (a schooling for rank E-6) but was told his services were needed again in Iraq so he was unable to go to school. He has been deployed to, Iraq since March of this year with the hopes of returning next March. There return dates are still up in the air but we pray daily he will return to us when he is supposed to.

Mike and I have 4 children from the ages of 9 to 3 years. They miss their daddy tremendously but they know that what he and other soldiers do is something they should be proud of and it is to keep them and our country free. It has been hard on them with him being gone for so much of the last two years so I have concentrated mainly on them but my love and passion is getting people to help support our soldiers. If you have given me the permission to put your flyers out and get support from Texas believe me I will do that. I am not part of the FRG here only because things are run here a little different than in Germany. I will contact my rear detachment commander and give her the flyer to see what she has to say about it. If they would not like to participate would it be possible for my husband to be point of contact for his platoon of soldiers? He has 58 soldiers under him that would like to participate.

My husband is in a DISCOM unit and because he is a 63 HOTEL (a heavy wheel mechanic) I am not too sure I could explain exactly what he does in his unit now . He works on the computers for the battalion. We have no idea why he is with the unit because his life has been spent in a motor pool (that is what he loves) but he seems to be doing well here. He is safe and awaiting his return even more than we are.

I will do whatever I can to get the people in Fort Hood involved and I will do my best to spread the word among Texas. It has been months since I have been involved in supporting our soldiers and it will be great to get back into the swing of things.

I will let you know how it goes with the rear det CO and I will put out the word among the units who have re-deployed months ago I think they might be willing to help because they know what it was like to be deployed in Iraq.

I thank you for the opportunity to help with such a wonderful project. I know whatever can be done for my husband and the soldiers will be greatly appreciated by them and their families. I will pray for your son and his unit to return safely. He must be so proud to have such a wonderful family.

Take Care and God Bless you and your family,

Jeniffer



First, I would like to say thank you for such a wonderful idea. I so often want to do something for our servicemen and women, but haven't been able to find something to get involved in my area. This is such a wonderful thing. I wanted to ask a few questions.

I am currently participating as a volunteer in the Kids Voting in my county and have some very civic minded kids and teenagers participating in the voting polls this year. I am thinking these kids would love to get involved in this in their individual schools; however, I don't think this would be able to be facilitated and completed in time to get the movies by Christmas. If we could get our local schools involved, can we plan on whatever we collect throughout our schools, whether monetary or movies, etc., being sent to you NOT in time for Christmas to the troops?

I am hoping you are having a huge response after being on either Fox or CNN (sorry-I switch between the two!) and please let me know if getting our schools involved would be helpful to your wonderful endeavor. Thank you again for your ideas and your service - but more importantly, thank your son for me personally, for his service to this nation and to me as a citizen.

Jean LaCoss




Bernie,

I just thought I would keep you up to date on how our school did collecting
donations for Operation: Take a solider to the movies. We have 132 DVDs
and 607 bags of popcorn. It may take me a week to figure out how best to package and ship them, but you should see them by 11-13-04. It was a great activity that brought our students together. I am very proud of the job they did. Thanks for organizing it.

Lisa Hable
Chetek High School




I would like to commend your efforts. I run a website and we fully support the troops and all their efforts. We have contacts with promotion companies for movie studios. We have access to promotional t shirts, soundtracks, etc. for movies about to come out. I have already contacted my person in Cleveland to send a box of stuff. We are working with a teacher friend of mine, Rob Thompson at Brown Deer High School. Hopefully we have a bunch of stuff for you. But wouldn’t shirts be too big to put into a box?




Hi Bernard, we were happy to do it! We threw in some extras like magazines and a couple extra hats I snagged from work. If it weren't for the brave U.S. soldiers of yesterday and today, we, and future generations of Americans could not enjoy the freedoms we enjoy today. I've been telling people about the project, and I found about it on Free Republic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1222710/posts?page=1

I hope more people will participate. Thanks for the flyers.

Nick Rodgers




Bernie,

This just gets better and better! We get 10-20 boxes a day. It is so amazing to see the boxes and emails every day. This keeps our spirits soaring!

Thanks!

Mellanie
v/r
CPT Mellanie S. Merrit
601st ASB Rear Det Cdr




Bernie,

Thanks for all you and your wife do to let our young men and woman know that those of us who love our freedom, those who are GRATEFUL for their assistance in allowing us to vote in a few days, to worship in the way that we want, to complain and not worry about being put in prison for disagreeing with another individual, and for giving me the hope that one day all of us will be able to get along (although I know that I will be long gone when this happens). Anyway, I thank them from the bottom of my heart and my husband thanks them as well.

My brother was in the first Operation Desert Storm. Since then he has lost his life to cancer but I know that he was never bitter about going over to Iraq and helping as a doctor and afterwards getting cancer. He always said that if he could do it again knowing what he knew before he died, he would still have gone to serve his country. His father, my dad was a WWII vet and Kevin (my brother) always wanted to join the Military too. After Medical school, Kevin immediately joined up, met a WONDERFUL non commissioned young lady that shared his same Christian values and after he came home and she was discharged (retired) from the Military, got married. His wife married him EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW THAT HE HAD CANCER AND THAT HE MIGHT NOT LIVE FOR VERY LONG.


Regards and God Bless you,
Mary Kasal




Dear Mr. Hintzke,

I want to thank you for all the updates, sounds like your movie idea is really taking off. My school has collected about 150 DVDs. I will be shipping these to Germany next week. I know the students and their families have shown great interest in this. I have directed parents who wish to do this at their work to your website. May God bless you and your wife. Please know that we at Our Lady of the Snows School in Floral Park, NY are praying for your family.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Remee Mallay




You and those in your office, are to be congratulated for your organizational efforts.




Hi, just want to let you know that I mailed a package today from NYC to the address below. This is a great idea, and we were happy to help the troops.

Nick Rodgers, NY, NY




The Mom’s Club of Germantown has already committed to other projects for the holiday season, however we are very interested in donating to your very worthwhile effort. Will you still be carrying on this effort after the holiday season? We would be interested in getting the club and the kids to donate items in January and February if that is possible. Please let me know what you think?
Sincerely,
Kathryn Reinders




This is awesome Mr. Hintzke! I am so excited that the national Honor Society kids decided this was the project we wanted to tackle this semester. We plan to run the drive during the week of November 1.

Thanks for your help.
Gina Vogt (NHS Advisor)