Last Wednesday, I had the honor to attend the third annual Stand Up For Heroes gala in New York. A fundraiser for the Bob Woodruff Foundation/ReMIND.org, it brings together a variety of people to raise money for our wounded. Not only that, but the first three rows at The Town Hall theatre (where the phrase "not a bad seat in the house" was coined) were given over to some of those wounded in the last year and their families. Brian Williams of NBC was the MC, and the acts, well, let's see: Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Louis CK, Stephen Colbert, and Lisa Lampanelli were the highlights. Jon Stewart, along with the First Lady and President G. H. Bush, sent a video presentation for the evening. All the performers, and I include Brian Williams in that category, were good. Williams has a very dry sense of humor, and the decency to keep the audience informed of what was happening in a certain world series game... Louis CK was good, and Colbert (in his camo suit) got off some really good lines, my favorite was his discussion of Gen. Odierno as Shreck, and how soft the generals hands were and about how he gave Colbet a full Brazilian to go with the haircut. I will also admit that Lisa Lampanelli has never been a favorite of mine, but her equal opportunity picking upon was well done, and I (and others) just about fell out of our seats over her gay Navy routine. The best line was "that's why the Navy uses powdered soap, it takes longer to pick up." The goal was to raise money, and they did. A company promised to match any and all donations made that night up to $150,000.00, and given that I think they raised more than the $150k based on pledges, I suspect they cleared well over $300,000.00 on that alone. In addition, Bruce Springsteen presented the guitar he played in his last set for auction, and it was bought by actress Mariska Hargitay for $50,000.00. The victory dance she did when Bruce handed her the guitar (possibly in/on her seat) was worth the price of admission. Two things need to be noted here. First, ReMIND.org gives most of the money it raises to other charities, grassroots organizations that are already doing the work with the wounded. They are not trying to reinvent the wheel. Second, they -- like Valour-IT -- are in doing a fundraiser centered on Veteran's Day. If you are of a mind to, they are looking to get people to donate $11.11 on Veteran's Day. It's a good cause and I've donated to them before myself. While it was a quick trip, I did get to do a couple of other things. RichardUSA and his wife were kind enough to offer me the hospitality of their home, and it was a pleasure to get to peruse his library a bit and to view the excellent collection of military miniatures and impressive dioramas there. Richard was also kind enough to buy me an excellent lunch at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station (Blue Point Oysters with anchovy butter) before I walked over to the U.S.S. New York for a visit. I want to thank the Navy for letting me aboard, and the Marines for an excellent visit/tour/instruction session. It was a true pleasure to spend time with such a good group, and to be able to present a Soldiers' Angels "May We Never Forget" coin to a ship that has "Never Forget" as its motto. Don't forget, if you can, give a bit to ReMIND.org and there is still a chance to get my head shaved if Team Army gets extremely lucky. Come on, you want to see me bald... LW
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/JwSQIBoDPfg/remindorg-stand-up-for-heroes.html
Posted
Nov 10 2009, 12:08 AM
by
BLACKFIVE