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Bob now has a sizable portion of his business warehouse filled with items to be shipped and welcomes not only donations of items, but especially donations to cover the substantial cost of shipping all of these items overseas. Please include a check to help with the postage. I mailed a moderate-sized box recently to a friend in the 101st Airborne Division - towels, books, lip balm, jerky, sewing kit, etc.- that cost me twenty bucks in postage. In return for your donation, Bob will send you a DVD guaranteed to bring tears and cheers - montages of deployed troops and a few shots of Bob and his crew at work. Any amount helps. For more information, contact Bob Williams at 813 991-9400 or e-mail him at sift@aol.com Donation checks for postage should be made payable to "Postmaster" (Bob's business is next door to a USPS facility and he carries the checks directly to the post office be used only for postage) and can be sent to Bob at: Support Our Troops Bob has been recognized in the Tampa Bay community with numerous articles. Links to a couple: BTW - Bob's reaction to this page: "...Thank you for the kind words on your web page. The only thing I ask is that the focus be placed on our brave men and women defending our country and not particularly on me. I try to keep a low profile, although I've found you have to sometimes get your name out there to keep the funding coming in. I try to work a delicate balance so that the people out there want to support our troops and simply use me as an easy conduit to get it done. I'm going to be meeting with Publix again to see if I can get them to start putting the bags out there like they did before Thanksgiving where shoppers can buy a bag of groceries that we can send over. We are averaging 1,000 pounds a week with just 6 stores participating." Excerpt from an email from Bob:
I got up every morning at 0400, went down to the chow hall to visit with the troops who had come in during the night to head down range. Troops heading home also go through Manas. The troops headed to Afghanistan and Iraq were excited to go, some for the second and some for the third time, wanting to get the job done. The troops who were heading home know they will be coming back over. Listening to them talk, I heard mostly about the things they were going to bring back for the kids. The Marines heading to the combat areas had to check their rifles in a locked case at the airport, but TSA took all their knives. They were elated when I came up with a thousand knives and threw them on the table along with cigars and cigar cutters from Thompson Cigar Co. I told each and everyone of them that they made this old sailor really proud to be among young folks like them. On every wall in every building on that base is a picture of the twin towers in flames after being hit by the hijacked planes with the words "That's why." I have a copy of that picture and intend to have thousands reprinted and sent to schools and churches in our area and hopefully around the country if I can come up with a way to do it. You will not believe some of the pictures of the kids in what they call the "Cancer Hospital" which is nothing more than a rundown dorm. I also have photos of the kids in an orphanage playing with the toys we brought them. All the troops on that base look forward to getting a day off to be able to work at one of two dozen schools, hospitals, and orphanages around the city. I have never been so proud to be an American or experienced a week that was so emotionally filled. GIT' RRR DONE! STAY SAFE, BOB Photo and comment added from the Global Security Web site: The facility was unofficially renamed Ganci Air Base, after Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr., chief of the New York City Fire Department who gave his life Sept. 11 during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Although the U.S. Air Force is renowned for providing for the comfort of its troops, American airmen here say Ganci is setting a new standard for comfortable deployments downrange. Compared to the dusty and desertlike temperatures at the tent city at Karshi-Khanabad — or K-2, as troops call it — in neighboring Uzbekistan, Ganci is almost like a resort. Troop accommodations in Afghanistan “aren’t fit for a dog,” one U.S. Marine officer said. |
Our neighbor, friend and Vietnam vet, Bob Williams, is one of the most well known men in Iraq and Afghanistan. He even has a park on one of the air bases named after him. Bob has taken it upon himself to make sure as many of our service men and women as possible get something from home. He has personally purchased items ranging from snacks to coffee to laptop computers and sent them to individuals deployed in combat zones. He has gained the support of many firms, to include Starbucks, who donate cases of products and deliver them to Bob; and widespread recognition from our Troops.