The Kids at Lincoln School Are Our Heroes

The students at Lincoln Elementary School in Nutley, NJ followed the lead of the Nutley Firefighters and we are so proud of these kids!!! Lincoln school parent and Nutley firefighter John Redstone acted quickly when he found out that a Lincoln School alumni was headed to Afghanistan with the Third Battalion 14th Marine Regiment.

Firefighter John Redstone, who headed up the T-shirts for Troops program in the Nutley Fire Department, rallied the Lincoln School community and began to sell some t-shirts. Brownie Troop 53 also got involved and is putting together packages and letters for the Troops. The shirt sports the Third Battalion 14th Marine Regiment unit emblem on the back and the Lincoln school logo on the front.

The Marines were invited to the school by Principal Lorraine Restel, to present them with the T-shirts for their Regiment. The school presented the soldiers with over 175 T-shirts! These kids are wonderful!






The Redstone family, the students, and teachers at Lincoln School in Nutley have made our town proud! "Safe journey" to the Marines headed to Afghanistan.

Nutley School Supports T-Shirts for Troops

Shirts Sent

Here are some of the support out Troops have gotten in the past year or two .....

The 504th and the FMBA

Just got some pictures from 1st Sergeant Quion Hall ... a long time friend of Tshirts-for-troops.

1st Sergeant Hall is finishing up his second tour of duty in Iraq.

He says .... "These pics are from a marathon that my unit participated in over here and we wore our T-Shirts as our official uniform. We do not get to "dress down" too often but the shirts do provide some sort of relief from the dull ACUs and regulate PT shirts."

We are anxiously awaiting the safe return of all the 504th!

Update on T-Shirts for Troops

T-Shirts for Troops is going strong and would like to give an update on whats been happening and to say thank you to the NJ FMBA for the honor of being recognized at the 2009 Valor Awards.

Blowing Off the Cobwebs

Captain Moore blew the cobwebs off his uniform in preparation for the 2009 New Jersey FBMA Valor Awards Dinner which will be held April 25, 2009. Governor Corzine is expected to be in attendance that evening as well and the event is expected to once again sell out with over 1000 in attendance. "T-shirts for Troops" is thrilled by this honor.

T-Shirt Update

Just the other day we asked our friend and printer Scott Zabelski, of Blue Wave Printing if he could give us a rough estimate of the number of T-shirts he has printed for "T-Shirt for Troops" since the program started. We received the following email back.


Hey Kevin,

I have some big news....the total amount of shirts that we have printed for the T-shirts for Troops movement is......23,500 !!! That number includes shirts that went overseas and the shirts that were sold throughout NJ and PA.

I wasn't expecting it to be that many. It's a crazy number to see. But I'll let you know if any more are purchased in the next month so you can have the most accurate number.

Thanks again for everything. It's been a great thing to be apart of.

Scott

Thats translates to sending over 17,000 T-shirts to Troops! What great support from the New Jersey FBMA!

Greetings from Kyrgyzstan!

T-Shirts for Troops received this email the other day! We had to look up exactly where Kyrgyzstan was!

Capt. Moore,

Greetings from Kyrgyzstan!
As we are enroute to our final destinations in Afghanistan, I once again look forward to handing out the T-shirts so graciously donated to us by you and your organization!

I'm waiting until we arrive and get setup, but the current concept is to hold a open run where participants are given the T-shirts after the event.

It would likely be a spiritual fitness type run with a brief reminder that we need to work-out our spiritual side as well.

In any case, thank you and I'll certainly be taking and sending a few snapshots!

Blessings,

Troy

Chaplain (Captain) Troy Morken
Battalion Chaplain
3-509th Infantry Battalion (Airborne)
Afghanistan

2009 New Jersey FMBA Valor Awards

Kevin, Scott and I were surprised and humbled when we were notified about the honor of being recognized at 2009 New Jersey FMBA Valor Awards. When we read the definition of "valor", we felt a swell of pride.

"Once a year the New Jersey State
Firemen's Mutual Benevolent Association
takes time to recognize and honor select individuals
whom have given and taken their responsibility
to protect the life and property of their fellow man
to an extraordinary level..."

Sgt. Andrew Brown 1/509th Airborne Infantry
Killed in Action Iraq 08 Oct 04

"Valor" is the exact word that we would define the sacrifice made by Sgt. Andrew Brown. The life and valor of Sgt Andy Brown were the reasons for getting T-Shirts for Troops off the ground.

"Everyday the dedicated members of the fire service
risk their lives
to protect the property and well being
of the citizens of the community
they serve.
They selflessly brave untenable conditions that few would dare to endure."

Captain Kevin Moore & Scott Zabelski, Blue Wave Printing

Captain Kevin Moore, retired from North Hudson Regional Fire & Recuse will be honored with the 2009 Brotherhood Award. He was nominated by North Hudson Regional Local 26. Peggy Dreker and our friend and printer, Scott Zabelski were nominated by Trenton Locals & 206 for the Humantarian Award.

The true honor of this award goes to the members of the New Jersey FMBA who continue to support the Troops everyday.

SSG Alvarado Representing NJ Firefighters in Iraq

North Hudson firefighters Mike Alvardo (2nd from right)
with his crew from Engine Co. 5
on his last tour before returning to Iraq.
L-R Tom Kross, Terrence Shevlin, Alvardo, Cpt. Lenny Calvo

T-Shirts for Troops was thrilled to hear from North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue firefighter Michael Alvarado. Mike works out of Station 5. Michael is serving with the New Jersey National Guard. He is currently deployed to Baghdad, Iraq with the 50th Special Troops Battalion. Best wishes Mike and your fellow brothers of the the NJ FMBA are behind you!