Posted on: Saturday, December 4, 2004
Holiday treat for 58 Guard members
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
The number of Hawai'i National Guard troops who will be coming home from Texas this Christmas continues to grow thanks to the "Home for the Holidays" campaign, which so far has tickets for nearly 60 soldiers to visit their families before being deployed to Iraq.
A special party to benefit the "Home for the Holidays" campaign will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 16 at Zanzabar Night Club, 2255 Kuhio Ave. Admission is $10. "My goal is to get as many of them home as I can possibly get," Frey said. "As many troops that want to come home and can't afford to do so, that's my goal."
Frey has donated her own money, raised enough more to purchase 58 roundtrip tickets for the troops and hopes to collect enough to fly more than 100 soldiers home.
In October, more than 2,500 members from the Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade deployed for training to Fort Bliss, Texas. After a brief holiday break, at which time the troops are permitted to fly home, Guard members will be sent to Fort Polk, La., for combat certification before deploying to Iraq in late February.
To help the "Home for the Holidays" campaign bring a National Guard ( 29th Infantry Brigade) soldier home for Christmas, contact Ame Frey at mfrey1@hawaii.rr.com or make a donation to the "Home for the Holidays" fund at any Bank of Hawaii location. Donations are tax-deductible.
Hawaiian Airlines mileage account members can transfer miles to Operation Ohana by visiting www.hawaiian "I'm very grateful that I've been able to help these families," said Frey. "I called a woman in American Samoa yesterday to tell her her husband was coming home and she just ... It just makes me happy to know that they will be happy and be able to spend Christmas with their family."
Frey said Jeff Stone, developer of Ko Olina resort, has donated $10,000 to the cause, and businessman Jim Rautio and Zanzabar Night Club in Waikiki have pitched in another $10,000. The Honolulu Community Concert Band held a benefit concert
for the effort last month, and dozens of individual people have made cash contributions and donated their Hawaiian Airlines miles to help bring the soldiers home.
Frey has been working at a frantic pace on the project — from the time she wakes each morning until she goes to bed at 2 or 3 a.m. She is a 30-year-old former Marine who watches her children, 18-month-old Shayna and 5-year-old Petey, while her husband, Marine Corps Capt. Shayne Frey, is in Iraq.
"Just because you are in a situation doesn't mean you can't help other people," she said.
"It doesn't take away the fact that I miss my husband dearly. It doesn't take away the fact that I'm not going to have him home for the holidays and I really want him here. But it does make me appreciate what I have and it makes me focus on life as it is now. By making things possible for other people, I'm honoring my husband, my family, my children and God."
Reach James Gonser at 535-2431 or jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Ame Frey, whose husband is flying combat helicopters in Iraq, started the campaign after seeing a report about some Hawai'i National Guard members who would be unable to come home because they couldn't afford the airfare.
'Home for the Holidays' benefit
Frey said the soldiers will return for their holiday visit Dec. 20 and 21 and fly back to the Mainland on Jan. 2.
Helping bring troops home
airlines.com. Directions on how to transfer miles are available at Frey's Web site, www.spsn.us/My_Home
page_Files/Page4.html.
