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Helping our Service Members Families....

kklewin

Well Known Member
RV Friends/Family,

Below is an email I sent to my friends and family. Thought many of you in the RV community might be intersted....

Kurt Klewin, RV6A, OKC, OK
Iraqi Freedom Veteran/Current USAF Reservist and parttime Marathon Runner


Hello,

Once again I’m back into my training regime for my annual spring marathon. After last years trashing my thighs took on the hill of Nashville I’ve decided to run Oklahoma City again. It’s a fairly flat and fast course that has become one of my favorite marathons. It is well organized and a very enjoyable event.

I do have one major change for this year’s run. I’ve decided to run this year’s event for a purpose a bit greater than my continued quest for 3 hours of pain followed by 3 days of difficulty walking.

I’ve decided to run this year and raise money for an organization called Snowball Express. As some of you may know, Snowball Express is a non-profit organization that raises money to send spouses and children of service members who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan . Every December Snowball Express flies these families to Disney Land for 3 days of activities. We as a nation get the unique opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to these very special spouses and children.

You can visit the Snowball Express website at: www.snowballexpress.org to learn more about them. Some of the videos and pictures will melt your heart. They are a registered 501(c)3 corporation and all contributions to them are tax deductible. They are very unique in that 98 cents of every dollar in contributions goes directly to the families. All the members of the board of directors and the staff at Snowball Express are volunteers.

A fellow pilot I fly with at Southwest, Roy White, is chairman of Snowball Express and it was through Roy that I became aware of the great deeds done by this wonderful organization and its dedicated volunteers. As a company, Southwest Airlines, along with other great companies like: American Airlines, Oakley, Air Tran Airlines, Baskin Robbins, Taco Bell, UPS, Best Western, Coach America and Disney Land Resorts pour their hearts into this great cause. It costs about $500 to send one child or family member to the 3 day event in California . Efforts by the employees of these companies and thousands of individuals provided funding to send over 1200 family members to the 2007 event.

If you find Snowball Express a noble cause and would like to sponsor me during my Oklahoma City Marathon please drop me an email. I know we all get mailings and phone calls from many worthwhile organizations, but if you have been looking for a really good place for your chartable giving Snowball Express is a great organization.

You don't have to send any money now. I will simply take pledges from now until the day of the race on 27 April 2008. For a 30 day period after the race I will send everyone that has pledged their support an email with instructions on how to send in your donation and obtain your tax deductible receipt.

If you wish to donate simply email me with your name, mailing address, email address, amount of your donation (it can be anything really, even $1 helps), and if you wish to receive my email updates every few weeks. (You can also just copy and paste the document below into your email and fill in the blanks). I’ve also posted one example of how Snowball Express has help one family below this email. It’s worth a minute of reading.

Thanks for taking the time to read about Snowball Express. Please forward this email to anyone that you feel might be interested in helping our veteran’s families.

Regards,

Kurt Klewin
[email protected]
______________________________________________________________
NAME:

MAILING ADDRESS:


PHONE NUMBER:

EMAIL ADDRESS:

AMOUNT OF PLEDGE:

DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE UPDATES? (Y/N)

________________________________________________________________

Story from a Snowball Express Volunteer:
I spoke to a young woman in Florida today about travel arrangements. She shared with me the following story:
She has two children. She was pregnant with her 2nd child when her husband left for Iraq . Her oldest son was only 4 when his father was killed. At the funeral of her husband, protestors burned flags and had signs that said, “Thank God for IEDs”. This was the memory that burned in her son’s mind and caused him to be very confused about why his father had died and what his service to our country really meant. As they drove to Oakley Saturday morning, as they saw the lined streets with the hundreds of cheering Boy Scouts and families holding welcoming signs, the boy began to cry again. His mother began to comfort him, assuming he was crying because the scene invoked visions of the last time he had seen this, protestors at his father’s funeral. Through her tears, as they could see the signs of support and cheering crowds, she told her confused son they were not protestors but were supporters and were there to celebrate the families’ arrival to Oakley and show their respect for their service and sacrifice.
“So Mom, there are folks who loved my father and our family?” The mother replied with a simple “Yes, there are.”
And with that simple question and answer, she said her son’s attitude changed dramatically that weekend and forever on how he viewed his father, his death and his service to our country. As they drove up to Oakley the boy continued to cry but not for the same reason as the first set of tears. He was now smiling and knew the price of freedom he and his family had paid was recognized by others. Only through the eyes of a child could that story be told so poignantly on what Snowball Express meant to this family and to so many other families.
Please donate to our cause so more families can share in this unique experience for children and spouses. We hope you will tell others also.
 
Last edited:
Ya know, as a moderator, I am supposed to deal with posts that dont relate to RVs.

In this case, I will pledge $26----buck-a-mile for your race.

RV related, or not, this fits pretty well into the spirit of what Doug has created here.

Good luck, Thanks for your Service.
 
Thanks Mike! The RV community is a great bunch of folks many of which of which are veterans or great supporters of veterans causes. Although I am speeding a bit on the "non RV related" post these families sacrifice is what gives us the freedom to burn 100LL every weekend and all the other things we enjoy about our lives in the ol USA. So sincerely thanks for the forum....and the pledge! (drop me an email with your info when time permits)

I've got a rare day off today so I'd better get back on the treadmil so I can keep up my end of the bargin....

Cheers,

Kurt
 
Snowball Express Pledge

Kevin,

I sent an email with info and a pledge of $25.

Happy training.
 
Just sent you an email and a pledge. There is not enough we can do to support our troops.

Thank you for your service.
 
Thanks for the support guys....I almost have enough in pledges to send one person to next years event ($500)....my goal is to raise enough to send 8 family members (eight in 08, $4000). Thanks for the great start. Don't be afraid to pass along my letter to all your friends!

Kurt
 
Thanks again guys for the continued support.....getting close to $700 and we have until April to gather all the pledges we can....so feel free to email my first post to your family and friends and get the word out about the snowball express program for our service members!

Happy Building and Flying...oh and don't forget to vote!!

Kurt
 
Just ordered my Inverted oil system and by using my EAA card, saved 25.00 on my order. I'm going to pass that to you. I'll send you a pledge email with my contact information
 
$50 each from my wife and I, thanks for bringing this to our attention. I really try to donate to "clean" orgs. and 98% is as clean as I've seen.

Good luck.

Grant and Colleen
 
did he mean that the race is on 27 April 2008?? he said it was '07


regardless, i'll have to check my finances, but i'll see if i can give $15.. if i can't now, maybe when i return home from my own deployment to Iraq, i'll have some cash in hand to donate.


thanks for what you do to take care of my fallen shipmates families


V/R,
 
opps...did I type 2007? Yes its 2008!!!! I guess I'm still not up on the year change!!

Just finished week 7 of my training.....fund raising is close to $900...thanks so much guys!!!

Pass the word...

Cheers,

Kurt
:eek:
 
THANKS!! We have broken the $1000 mark with pledges thus far....well on my way to $4000. $4000 will send eight family members to the 2008 event.

I've pasted my first update to my many donors below if you are long on time and need a read.

Keep passing the word...!! Just got done with about 30 minutes of flying the RV, now its out the door for a 15 mile run before the kids are home from school...going to be a great day!!!

Best Regards,

Kurt


_________________________________________________________________
Oklahoma City Marathon Snowball Express Fundraiser Update #1

Fundraising:

We have had a great response from everyone thus far. Thank you. Our total pledged has reached over $700. I?m not sure of a good goal for fund raising, but I?m leaning towards $4000. This will be enough to send 8 family members to the 2008 event. (8 in 08)

Marathon Goals:

My best marathon thus far has been the Oklahoma City Marathon in 2006. I finished 18th overall with a time of 2:59 (6:50 miles). This year I would like to run a 2:50 to 2:55 time. Not sure how realistic this will be but my training is based on this pace and so far it has been going really well. The opposition is father time as I?ll be 39 on race day.

Training:

This years Oklahoma City Marathon will be my 6th marathon. I have learned a lot about proper training and more importantly the tactical and technical aspects of race execution. In short I have made many mistakes in my training and in running the race itself.

I?m currently in my 4th week of dedicated training. Total miles per week are up to about 50. My longest training run thus far has been 18 miles run at a 7:57 pace. I do one long run, one tempo run, and one hill or speed run per week. The other days are filled with shorter runs, weight training, core training, and cardio (usually the bike).

I plan to run my long runs at 8 min miles, tempo pace runs at 6:05-6:15 pace, and speed runs at 5:40 per mile pace. This should prepare me for a 6:30-6:40 race pace come April.

Most Memorable Training Run

Some runs are very enjoyable. Some are a lot of work. And some make you wonder why you are up so early in the cold. A few weeks ago I ran an 11 mile training run along the Oklahoma River in downtown Oklahoma City . It was windy and the cold blew right through you. It was 18 degrees F when I started running just past dawn. It took a good 4 miles to just to warm up my core and despite gloves and a hat I don?t think my extremities every did get comfortable. It is runs like these that make you focus on pushing yourself into the uncomfortable zone and pushing your body beyond its pre-set limits.

Other News:

I had a chance to run a 5K (3.1 mile) race two weeks ago in Oklahoma City . With two jobs and two young (4 and 6) boys I don?t get too many weekends off, so it was a rare treat. I managed a 7th place overall finish with a 17:40 time (5:40/mile). I really find the shorter faster runs more work and less fun than the longer runs.

Thanks again for all of your support. Please pass along my original email to anyone you know that might be interested in supporting Snowball Express. Snowball Express has set a goal of sending 2000 family members of our deceased veterans to the 2008 event in December. Let?s see what we can do to help out.

Regards,

Kurt
 
Also, if you have not received an response from me via email (and you sent mail to my yahoo account) I have been "missing" email from my yahoo account....hence I've decided to give gmail a try.....thus..

My New Email is: [email protected]

Thanks again folks!!

Kurt
[email protected]
 
Congrats to Kurt for not only finishing well but for an outstanding fundraiser. My and my wifes $100 is on the way.

God Bless

Grant
 
Thanks to all who donated. Looks like we raised about $2200 which will help 4-5 kids of our fallen heros attend this years event.

The race went well. I finished the Oklahoma City Marathon 4th overall in 2:47 (6:24 pace). I am more proud of the support by the folks at VAF and others in the aviation community that have donated to this wonderful cause.

If you are still interested in donating to Snowball Express (www.snowballexpress.org), drop me an email at [email protected]

Thanks again for your support.....now back to what I do best after every marathon....sleep and eat lots of ice cream!! =)

Regards,

Kurt
RV6A OKC
 
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