UPDATED: July 28/09
In the U.S., the PackOuts and the Annual Tour have had to be discontinued due to Liz's health issues, in fact their entire program had to be overhauled. (PS... Liz here, I am fine. Just have to adjust to life with osteo-arthritis. Thank you all for the e-mails.) These changes DO NOT affect the process for the Hero To Hero Team Canada shirt collection/PackOut.
Although we collect shirts from first responders all year round, we have an "Official" kickoff to the Shirt Drive on September 11th each year.
All shirts collected by February 14th. will then be processed and shipped to Canadian troops deployed anywhere in the world, outside of Canada. This includes ships deployed at sea.
Troops that will be deployed for at least 3 months after the February 14th. date are eligable to apply for shirts for their complete unit/platoon/crew etc. and requests will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
In the past all shirts were shipped immediately after the February 14th. deadline in one large shipment. We will no longer be doing this and it is probably the biggest change to the Canadian side of the program.
We have made this change so that we are not overloading the supply system. This also takes into consideration that it takes approximately 3-4 weeks for shirts to be delivered in theatre.
Troops simply need to contact Kevin McHarg at mchargs@xcelco.on.ca to apply for adoption of their unit.
The troop applying for adoption must be prepared to receive and distribute shirts to all the personnel in his/her unit. So far shipments have ranged in size from 4 shirts to 800 shirts.
We do encourage troops to send an e-mail or photo to the first responder who sent your shirt if contact info is attached. A group photo is always great. If no contact info is attached our Hero To Hero e-mail address is attached to all shirts. We would be happy to post any letters or photos.
There is no obligation to do so but receiving just a few replies back from the troops helps show that troops appreciate our efforts and that is certainly helpful in generating more shirts for the following year.
Timelines in a nutshell....
September 11th..."official" kickoff to shirt drive.
February 14th...Hero Shirt Drive closes.
February 14th. We begin processing and shipping shirts to troops.
February 15th...We start collecting shirts for the next years shipment.
Note: TROOPS can request shirts any time but must be deployed after Feb 14th. for
at last a 3 month period.
Note: FIRST RESPONDERS, we actively collect shirts 365 days a year.
Please send your shirts to:
Kevin McHarg
Hero To Hero Team Canada
1940 Avenue Rd. SS1
Bright's Grove, Ontario
Canada
N0N 1C0
FIRST RESPONDERS...By collecting all the shirts at one point, we are able to ensure that every box received by troops contains shirts and hats from all the various first responder groups and that there is a variety of sizes from different hometowns across Canada.
Every shirt we ship has a message from HeroTo Hero Team Canada attached to it and we also rubber stamp every shirt with the words Hero To Hero "Team Canada".
Don't forget to attach your contact info to each and every item you donate. Just staple a business card or piece of paper to the collar of the shirts. You are also welcome to send patches, pins, letters, postcards, etc. with your shirts.
Take a picture of yourself or your crew holding up your shirt(s). Send it along with your shirt(s).
Many first responders have said to me they don't want to attach contact info because they do not want recognition....they just want to do something for the troops.
Let me say this about that...you are not doing it for recognition. You are doing it in case the troop receiving your shirt would like to say thanks.
I suspect that if you received something out of the blue from someone wanting to say thanks for the job you're doing, you probably would want to know who sent it so you could say thanks. Am i right?
OK, i'll be checking the H2H mailbox every day looking for YOUR departments shirts.
Thanks for participating in the HeroToHero.US and Hero To Hero Team Canada Troop Morale Campaign.
If you have any questions about the program please contact Kevin McHarg
P.S. The above information is our guideline but I am more than willing to talk to anyone about anything, anytime! We will do our best to accommodate.
Kevin McHarg
Canadian Director