Walter Reed Hospital Seeks donated kits

Outstanding timing, my friend.  I just moved to Northern Virginia, due to my job.  I am about to set up my Man Cave and realized that I just have too many kits.  I just can't build them all.  I didn't want to just store them away and I don't have time or will to do the ebay thing.  My son's are Boy Scouts, so we will go through my stash, weed it out, and contact the Red Cross...we will make it part of a family project.  Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention.

How about building supplies?  Paint, glue, etc...

I just spoke to them and supplies are welcome too. Paint, brushes, glue, tape, putty, sanding supplies. Not sure about Xactos, super glue, etc.  A lot of these guys work from their beds.  Sounds like they could really use a steady flow of materials.  

I'll be contacting you once I go through my stash of kits tonight. This sounds like a great cause and I'm more than happy to contribute.

I'd suggest talking to the person in charge of the Occupational Therapy Clinic at WR. They have the task to provide arts and craft activities for the patients. They also have a budget to provide these items for the patients, not that they wouldn't appreciate donations. In my experience, the person in charge needs to be indoctrinated into the hobby so they see the value it has for the patients. One of the USAF hospitals I was at, soon learned that scale modeling was a popular past time and motivated patients to actually do something during their allotted time in OT.  Making bead purses and stained glass suncatchers just weren't my cup of tea.

i'm definately in with some kits, got a couple P-51's and a P-47 that are bagged and will be easy to ship.  Just PM me your address if you want to gather them or I can use the Red Cross addy tou posted.

Cool idea.

We had kits sent to us in Iraq from IPMS.

Are there any locatons on the west coast as well? I have several kits that I could donate. Its just the shipping charges may get high.

Send me a PM if you like.

Mike T.

I'm sure there are vet or naval hospitals out your way. Or team up with some other kit donators (even an overstocked hobby shop) and split the cheapest shipping of one big box to DC; might be $5 each person and you could rebag the kits to save space, just leave a chunk of the boxtop art intact.  Heck, each kit might be valued at $400 in therapy and you can write off that donation from your taxes. 

By the way, what is a PM? Everyone is asking me to send them a PM.

A PM is private (or personal) mail that we have between forum users. Just click the "start conversation" button on someone's replay to conduct it.

I was considering how many kits I could add and the total is getting close to a dozen.

My oldest son is serving with the 2nd Inf up at Ft. Lewis and I donate blood often (gallon club+). I rather donate the kits then sell them on eBay.

Mike T.

Thanks for the FYI! I have some Accurate Miniatures that I will send for our "Protectors of Freedom".

Bocks,

Drop me an email with your address and I'll get some kits sent you way for donation.

Cheers,Douglas

guys_old@yahoo.com

My first box should have arrived today. Just went to the PO to get some flat fee boxes to send some more kits.

Mike T.

I'll watch for it/them.  They're also looking for build supplies (no sharps). And I'm looking for a decent but not great airbrush and compressor, if you have them to sell.

Bocks -

I sent the first box off on Monday via Priority Mail, which they say takes 2 days. There might be have some extra supplies like sanding sticks and clamps that I could throw in the next box.

My oldest son is supposed to be released from service soon, he hasn't been given a date yet. We can't wait to have him back.

Mike T. 

Thank you. That's great news about your son. Was he in Iraq and under fire? Hope he's OK.

My son spent a little more than 6 months in Iraq, but was sent home early for medical reasons (not drugs). He was more bound to his base, he's a MOS 25B INFORMATION SYSTEMS OPERATOR–ANALYST with a Stryker Brigade, HQ Co. They were training Iraqi forces about 50 miles north east of Baghdad at an Iraqi base.

Send me a PM through the Conversations link.

Mike T.

If you sent them Monday,then nothing has arrived here yet. Perhaps you sent them directly to the Walter Reed  address I had posted. If possible use the tracking code from the USPS to see where they are. Let's follow up. Of course build suppilies are welcome any time. Thx

Bocks - I checked the tracking on Friday and the first parcel was late, but at least at your local PO. Hopefully both parcels are there today.

Mike T.

Well, I finally remembered to stop by the post office and get some of the flat ee boxes.  I have 6 or 7 of the 1/72 scale aircraft kits (old Tamiya, etc.) that I'll try to get out tomorrow.  I'll also look for some glue, paints, etc to fill in the spaces.  THanks for letting us know of this opportunity to help our vets!  I was surprised that I had to go down 3 pages to find this post to get the address again.  Thanks again, Bocks!

John