At the end of every calendar year, we at Move America Forward look back on some of the highlights of the last 12 months. It’s a reminder of the great things we’ve achieved thanks to your support, and also some of the tough trials that we’ve had to overcome throughout the past year.
The Charlie Hebdo Attack
On January 7, 2015 two Islamic extremists entered the Paris, France offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The terrorists were angry about the paper publishing a cartoonist’s depiction of Muhammad, so they attacked the defenseless employees, killing 11 and wounding 11 more. After they were done shooting up the Charlie Hebdo offices, they continued their rampage out on the streets of Paris where they killed a police officer and five more civilians.
Move America Forward responded to the tragedy of these attacks with the following statement, made the same day:
Pro-Troop Group Offers Prayers for Victims of Paris Terror
Attacks Says Freedom of Expression, Thought, Must be Defended
“Today’s terror attacks were a painful reminder that these terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, or any group that aligns with a radical Islamist ideology are dangerous and cannot be negotiated with.” said Danny Gonzalez, Director of Communications. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims of today’s attack and their families. Their loss, and the sacrifice they made in the name of freedom will be known the world over.”
“We cannot allow our freedoms to be held hostage by men with guns and a radical ideology…Shame on anyone who looks at these events and says we should have been more sensitive, or that we must limit what we say about Islam or those who profess to follow its teachings. Shame on those who warn others not to speak their mind, or say what they believe, for fear of retribution from the terrorists.” said Gonzalez.
“The world must come together to hunt down these extremists and bring them to justice, but not to condemn individuals for speaking out against the radicals who commit crimes in the name of Islam.” said Gonzalez.
For their own response, Charlie Hebdo continued publishing images of Muhammad, and sold almost 7 million copies of the next issue. Supporters started a massively popular social media campaign of solidarity using the slogan “je suis charlie”.
Operation Mail Call Successful
In January and part of February, MAF embarked on a campaign to raise $13,800 in postage-only donations to raise money to send 1,000 boxes to Afghanistan. As sometimes happens in the MAF offices, if we get an influx of free, donated items, we will ask for postage-only donations to simply cover the shipping costs for sending packages to our troops overseas.
Here’s a photo of hundreds of boxes ready to go for Operation Mail Call back in January – February of this year.
This year our supporters were very generous during one such Mail-Call campaign, and we reached our goal and were able to send all 1,000 boxes overseas. These boxes were mostly filled with See’s Candies and Girl Scout Cookies, and coffee we had received for free. Thank you to everyone who donated during that postage drive!
MAF’s Easter Celebration
What’s an Easter care package without the sugary fluff of brightly colored marshmallow Peeps? Easter is full of traditions and one tradition we here at MAF like to carry on is our commitment to making sure our seasonal Easter packages for our troops contain Peeps to remind our troops that a long distance hug from home isn’t really that far away after all. Of course we will still sent all the other great treats soldiers crave like, Rogers Family gourmet coffee, beef jerky, Oreo cookies, Gatorade, lip balm, Ohh-Ahhs field towels, deodorant and more.
This year’s Easter celebration was a huge success and hundreds of care packages were sent. Our donors raised almost $25,000 for Easter care packges in 2015! Thank You!
Troopathon Supporter Coach K Wins 5th Championship
For the past 3 years Coach K has also been an enthusiastic supporter and participant in MAF’s Troopathon. His inspiring messages of support for the troops overseas have been a blessing to have and include in our annual Troopathon show.
In April this year we congratulated our friend “Coach K” Mike Krzyzewski for an amazing job he did coaching the Duke University Blue Devils to their 5th championship in college basketball. Last night, Coach K’s team bested Wisconsin in the finals to secure their 5th championship 68-63.
Mike Krzyzewski is already a legend in college basketball, but he’s also distinguished himself as Coach of TEAM USA, our Olympic men’s basketball team who won the Gold in 2008 and 2012 with Coach K at the helm.
US NAVY IN SHOWDOWN WITH IRAN OFF SHORES OF YEMEN
Back in April and May of 2015 there was a showdown with Iran off the shores of Yemen when the Iranians were discovered to be providing support for the Houthi rebels destabilizing that country and trying to take over.
The Iranians were suspected of smuggling cash and weapons to the Islamic extremist rebels in Yemen and they sent ships down there to protect the flow of support by sea. The Iranian ships even dared to board attack and board a civilian shipping vessel.
After the US sent the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to the Gulf of Aden, a convoy of up to 9 Iranian ships that seemed bound for Yemen turned around and went back to Iran once the US fleet was in their path. We don’t know what those ships contained but clearly they did not want the US to know what was in those vessels.
To help, Move America Forward got in touch with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and sent packages to support the troops on-board that vessel!
We are always thrilled to hear from the soldiers who receive packages though Move America Forward. Sometimes we receive cards or letters back and sometimes we hear from the soldier directly via email.
As you can see, they really special receiving the packages and if you haven’t heard back directly from a soldier you have supported, who knows, your package just may have been among this special shipment!
MAF Sends Extra-Special Gift to the Biggest 49ers Fan in Uniform
Earlier this year, Move America Forward sent an extra-special care package to a very dedicated football fan serving on the front lines. Inside this care package was a one-of-a-kind 49ers football and today we received confirmation that this timeless piece of pro-troop NFL memorabilia made it into the hands of this deserving troop!
Good Morning Sir/Ma’am!
My friend and I here in the middle east sent you a request for a care package a few months back and I am emailing the pictures back to you of the wonderful gift I received!
I truly appreciate the care package that was sent. It is organizations like yours that make this strenuous and stressful time away from family and loved ones a lot easier and I can’t thank you enough. Your gift will be cherished for generations.
Go NINERS!!!
Sincerely,
TSgt Shawn S.
F-16 EFS Munitions Specialist
We are very glad to help troops deployed overseas, especially with such an extra-special gift like this. But don’t forget there are still tens of thousands more troops still serving overseas and they need our help too!
SUCCESSFUL 8TH TROOPATHON RAISES $289,890 FOR THE TROOPS!
In June MAF held our 8th Annual Troopathon event broadcast live from MAF Operation Headquarters in Sacramento, California. Troopathon 8 “Care Packages for Our Heroes,” featured a 6-hour long fundraiser that brought together pro-troop movie stars, TV personalities, elected officials, professional athletes, musicians, talk radio hosts and many other supporters.This year was very special for Troopathon, we were extremely blessed to have Rita Cosby as a co-host alongside our own Melanie Morgan. Rita is a phenomenal journalist, news anchor, radio-host and best-selling author with strong ties to the military community.At the end of Troopathon we came close to our goal of $300,000 but fell just a little bit short. We did raise an amazing $289,890 though, which is very close!Thank you for all the support from everyone here at Move America Forward. On behalf of our hosts, Melanie Morgan and Rita Cosby, all of our staff, and most of all our troops on the front lines, thank you for your support! We couldn’t have done it without you!
Obama Makes Dangerous Nuclear Deal with Iran
In July this year President Obama’s administration foolishly negotiated with Iran and agreed to a deal with more holes than Swiss cheese and dangerously flawed.Obama claims the deal will halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions for 10 years in exchange for sanction relief, but it gives Iran far too many concessions without getting concrete verification that their weapons program is ending.By releasing billions of dollars in sanctions relief and given Iran’s radical history of disruptive policies in the Middle East, this deal will empower Iran with the cash and resources to turn the Middle East upside down, ensuring an Iranian hegemony that will threaten peace in the region for decades to come.The most important and dangerous component, Iran’s centrifuges to make nuclear material, are untouched. Iran won’t be forced to dismantle any facilities and critical element, inspections, is where Obama’s deal seems the weakest. It gives Iran the option to appeal the inspections or delay them up to two weeks.Finally, we were extremely disappointed that Obama refused to condition any deal with the release of innocent Americans who are held unlawfully by the Iranian authorities. Obama should have made the release of Americans the first step in Iran demonstrating some commitment to the rule of law and engagement with the civilized world.
In August MAF joined a large coalition of groups for a rally against Obama’s Iran Deal in Las Vegas, Nevada about the importance of opposing Obama’s nuclear deal.
We were joined by local activist Danny Tarkanian and the famous businessman/author Wayne Allyn Root.
MAF Rallies to Free Marine Held in Mexico Jail Cell!
Andrew Tahmooressi served two combat tours in Afghanistan with the US Marine Corps before he was honorably discharged in 2012 and returned to the US. On March 31, 2014, he was on his way to meet some friends in the town of San Ysidro, California, a town very close to the Mexican border. He made one unlucky wrong turn and found himself on a one way road into Mexico with no way of turning around or getting off the highway.After accidentally crossing the border, he informed Mexican border agents that he had loaded firearms in his vehicle and just wanted to turn around. Instead of being allowed to simply turn back, he was arrested and held for 8 hours before being charged with possession of illegal weapons under Mexico’s strict gun laws. Ever since, it was a battle to try to bring Sgt. Tahmooressi home. On August 25th, MAF joined with allies for a rally in Sacramento to bring Andrew home.
Andrew was eventually released on November 1st, 2015. President Obama did nothing to bring our Marine home. He never asked or negotiated with Nieto. Obama was willing to negotiate with the Taliban to free 5 Terrorists at GITMO, but he didn’t lift a finger to negotiate with Mexico to get our Marine home. It’s shameful. Not only that, but considering that Mexico lives under the safety umbrella that the United States provides for North America via the sacrifice and courage of military men and women like Andrew, that is no way for the Mexican government to treat an American hero!
MAF Honors the Fallen in 9/11 Memorial for 3rd Year!
For the past several years, MAF has been invited by John Vinson and his family to help them put up a huge memorial flag display to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. This September, MAF put together a video showing John and his team of volunteers placing the flags in the ground.
Watch the video – Click Here
John Vinson says that when he woke up September 11th, 2001, and heard about what had happened in New York City, he was confused, afraid, frustrated and angry. He channeled his anger by picking up an American flag and going to a freeway overpass and simply waving it proudly and defiantly at the enemy, for all the passing motorists to see. Those that passed by and saw him waving the colors honked and cheered and encouraged him.
Over the years John has continued to fly the flag every 9/11, except today he has well over 4,000 flags to fly and he’s moved from the freeway overpass to a field in view of a busy street in West Sacramento. But his idea is the same as ever, to fly the flag (now a collection of flags laid out as a memorial to the fallen) in defiance of those who would try to destroy our freedom.
The 9/11 memorial grows larger each year
We appreciate the efforts of people like John Vinson, or the countless other patriots around the country who are flying their flags today, supporting our troops. We are proud and grateful to have taken part in his 9/11 memorial for these past three years.
MAF Celebrates the Holidays by Supporting Troops Overseas
As we do every year, Move America Forward worked hard to give our troops support for the holiday season. Whether it was special Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas care packages, we had something special for our troops for every Holiday.
MAF was able to send thousands of holiday care packages to troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq thanks to your support. We hope to continue sending packages to our troops in 2016, with your help. We will continue supporting our troops until all our troops come home!