A quick shout-out to all SoCal area Treklanders, or anyone who wants to help out our service men and women with a little real-life Starfleet flavor:
Christopher Mulrooney, whose "Trek to the Troops" organization makes sure that Trek and its fans and celebs have a way to help those in the uniform of this century, has a "Sci-Fi Fan Volunteer Day" packaging event and fun stuff planned for all day tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, anytime from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (with noon hour off for lunch) at the Army National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, 17330 Victory Boulevard. Care packages assembled will be forwarded via the overall Operation Gratitude volunteer program, which sends over 100,000 packages a year to active duty personnel, woun ded warriors, veterans and their children alike.
You can help on site with all kinds of packaging; the link above has an NBC-4 local report on the work of volunteers. For his event, Chris says there will be photo ops, so come in costume if you have one. Check the link above for what to do, bring and expect. I'll be there as well for the Beta shift, as it were.
It's not even Trek-specific: Chris tells me there's elements of the local 501st Stormtroopers due to help out too—that is, if we can keep the whiteheads and the redshirts at peace.
If you can't make it, a suggested donation of $15 for one care package, or more, can be made at the TTTT website (left column).
Chris has been leading this L.A.-area show of Trek support for those in uniform since his own return from Iraq in 2005, and gotten a lot of high-ranking help to do so. As it turns out—surprise, surprise—a lot of today's troops are big Trek and sci-fi fans, and enjoy the support and even the surprises that the civvies group is able to beam into their lives.
Check out Trek to the Troops' Facebook page for the group to see how a lot of the past events have unfolded.
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