Thank You All....

Well Sir, I had planned on puttin up a post individually thanking everyone who had donated and helped the Military Courtesy Room. I was only going to list first names and your area of the country, however, the list has grown far too large and expansive.

So...I'll begin by simply saying .....THANK YOU ALL!

So much has happened that this might take awhile. From the immediate moment of my posting of our need for a Military Courtesy Room at the Syracuse International Airport, contributions from you great folks ALL over these United States started pouring in. To say the least, we, Loren Davies, Leroy Bowen and myself were truly overwhelmed by the depth of your generosity.

Folks and corporations from across this great country of ours donated everything from $10.00, to $500.00, and every bit of it is sorely needed. Assistance in other forms also came in, for instance, "Joanne" from Long Island, contacted Dan Maloney from "A Gathering of Eagles" who reposted about our project. From Dan's post, another wonderful person named Mary Ann Reitano from the Syracuse area contacted us and offered assistance on several fronts. BTW, "Joanne", I couldn't get a personal message of thanks to you through your blogsite.

Mary Ann became, among other things, our "PR" person as she has many political and media connections. While working with her, it was learned that her cousin, Gregory J Harris USMC, is a listed POW/MIA from the Vietnam War. Because of all the valuable help and assistance she has provided, Loren Davies (Marine Corps League Commandant) and one of folks initially starting this project, decided to name the Courtesy Room, The Gregory J Harris, USMC, MIA/POW-Vietnam, Military Courtesy Room. Loren showed some real class by doing that!

BTW, Mary Ann also personally went to Washington and contacted Congressman John McHugh of our State, and he has offered the full assistance of his office....WOW!

....and ALL you other bloggers out there that jumped right in helped us with donations, posts, or BOTH, "The Chief", "SubVet", "Gayle" , "C.D." "MightyMom", "Bothenook", "Nicki" , "Yankee Mom" "Bluto" "Sig" , John, "John from Marine Corps Vet", Sandy and her hubby from Tampa, and Pat, ...again....THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!

If I've missed anyone (and I probably have)...I sincerely apologize.

OK...to continue, fer a spell we ran into some minor legal problems having to do with the Marine Corps League being a "Not-For-Profit" agency. The City of Syracuse (who donated the room for us at the airport) attorneys need proof of this status. But because of this, our originally planned opening date had to be postponed. At this writing, a "Soft" opening with official ceremony will happen on July 2nd, and the actual opening, on or around July 14th of this year.

Also, there are so many others that either contributed, or wrote articles about the project in your organization's newsletters, Like John LaManna of the Onondaga County Veterans Council, Gordi Lane of The Mayor's Veterans Advisory Council and Gary Williams of the Navy Fleet Reserve of Onondaga County.

To All of You (and those of you I may have missed) ....We again say THANK YOU for helping us bring this project to fruition......

....and people complain about what a bad place the internet is...*Sigh*

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