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BILLINGS MONTANA IS ONE OF THE 55 OFFICIAL STOPS ON THE HEROTOHERO.US NATIONAL TOUR
  by MNA PRESS


June 13, 2006--"Around the World in 30 Days" Tour honors our Fallen and Wounded Troops, and their Loved Ones. Billings FD shirt given to a US Navy MP enroute to Guantanamo with the JTF 6.5 ... at their farewell picnic at Fort Lewis

On the National Tour, we travel across North America to meet, shake the hands of, and honor our Stateside Heroes for their continued
nonpolitical support of our deployed troops.

This is the third annual tour, which was borne after our family lost a young cousin, Jake Herring, 21, in Iraq, 28 April 2004. Within a 24
hour period we lost Jake and a local Hero, Tacoma Police Officer James Lewis, in the line of duty. Their memorials were the same day. At
Jake's memorial, they retired his football jersey #55. I made the decision in that moment, that we would "Drive 55" to honor Jake and all
of his Fallen comrades.



Every year, we travel to 55 cities. It is a huge effort for this grassroots group, and has been a complete success for the past two
years. We anticipate this year's tour to be just as amazing. This is part of the HeroToHero.US Troop Morale Campaign, wherein Firefighters, Law Enforcement, and all Emergency Responders are asked to truly show their support for our deployed troops ... By giving them the shirts off their backs.

For the past 3 years we have sent shirts from hometown Heroes, to Heroes in the desert (and beyond). Every shirt must bear a department logo, then we ask that department members write words of support on their shirts. (Stapling a business card, usually ensures a response from the troop receiving your shirt ... if it includes an email address.) Shirts need not be new, however, they do need to be in great condition. Also note that we take many different items, NEW hats, tank tops, shorts, coats, etc.

We collect these items throughout the year, then ship them out in a mass packing event at Camp Murray National Guard base, in Tacoma, Washington. The official shirt drive begins on 9/11, and the Pack-Out takes place on the last Saturday in February, annually. We will remind you of these dates so that you will not be left out.

Troop requests have grown substantially every year. H2H '04 we shipped 800 shirts, H2H '05 saw 3,500+ shirts sent overseas. This year, H2H '06, within 18 hours of opening troop adoption requests, on September 11th, we had over 3,000 requests for Hero shirts! We shipped over 5,500 shirts!

On the tour we ask for shirts to begin the next year's drive, however, due to restricted space in the tour vehicle, we ask that only a couple
be given, with the remainder being mailed to us before the deadline.