Giving Something Back

4/8/05

ith the United States involvement in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq, whether you agree with the war or not, we have US soldiers who put their asses on the line daily for our country.

In the past I’ve donated my recently read copies of car magazines to the auto shop class at my former high school, so I’ve saved up a large box. While watching FOX News one evening I saw a story on how our troops spent their leisure time away from the line of fire. The “rec-room” was a tent, it looked primitive, but you could see from a couple of posters, a satellite-fed TV, a boom-box, some board games and decks of cards there were a lot of things missing from the mix as diversions from the action. So I thought maybe I could help a little with some of those boxed car magazines.

I always assume that if you don’t ask you don’t get, so I started asking. First the local VA Hospital in West Hills where I’d donated DVDs and VHS tapes of current TV shows sent to me for judging the Emmy Awards.

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“Car magazines, no we don’t have much of a need for those here. Give a call to the USO.” I found a number for the USO in Los Angeles and once again, “No not here, try down south at Camp Pendleton.” Camp Pendleton, near San Diego is where many of our troops are staged for overseas service. There must be a way to donate car magazines there, but I sure couldn’t find it. One person at the base suggested the USO again. There’s got to be a barracks, a lounge, a bathroom stall or two that could use some fresh car magazines to help pass the hours. Nope.

At every turn the USO was not helpful in any way. So, with a call to USO Operation Care Package in Washington DC, I asked what they supplied for reading material, “We include a new copy of the Reader’s Digest, one of our marketing partners,” said a nice woman on the phone. So I thought, give it up - this car magazine stuff is just junk to them, time to give it to Mr. Mukai’s auto shop class where it’ll be appreciated.

Then as one last shot I asked for help from the PR Department of Don Schumacher racing, since they’ve got the U.S. Army sponsorship with plenty of fresh recruits who attend motivational lectures from Top Fuel Champ Tony Schumacher right there in the pits. They’ve got to have some connections to our troops over there and this seemingly simple idea will be a slam-dunk. One of Shoe’s people put me in touch with an Army Lt. Colonel in the Pentagon and he liked the magazine idea. The Lt. Colonel routed me to another part of the Pentagon puzzle and then onto another representative of the USO, who ultimately was not at all interested. Another dead end from the USO.

About the same time the DRO world headquarters received a faxed letter from Sgt. Virgil Clayton, a soldier in Camp Victory North, Baghdad, Iraq who was looking for racing stuff, “Banners, clocks, trash cans, posters or anything, it doesn’t matter if it’s new or used it will be greatly appreciated.” I’m putting a box of stuff together to mail over there, not a big one, but it will include some car magazines, NHRA and NASCAR driver press kits, a die cast or two, some posters, cards, pens and paper.