Posted on: Monday, November 8, 2004
Fund-raiser seeks to aid troops
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Rather than sit around and agonize about her husband flying combat helicopters in Iraq, Ame Frey has decided to help bring troops home for Christmas.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser Frey, who says she has fronted more than $6,000 of her own money to buy the plane tickets, said yesterday that bringing troops home before they go to war is the decent thing to do.
"They (the troops) might not come home (once they deploy to Iraq)," said Frey, who watches her kids, 18-month-old Shayna and 5-year-old Petey while her husband, Marine Corps Capt. Shayne Frey is in Iraq. "Somebody had to do something, and thank God for my big mouth. I always knew it would help me with something, and it finally has."
There are more than 500 National Guard and reserve members based in Hawai'i serving in Iraq.
Donations can be made to Home for the Holidays at any Bank of Hawaii location or by contacting Ame Frey at smfrey1@hawaii.rr.com. The 29th Brigade Benefit Concert, held yesterday at the McKinley High School auditorium, had a patriotic tilt. The set started with "The Star Spangled-Banner" and ended with "America the Beautiful." About 70 people attended the show.
Frey's latest fund-raiser came with the help of the Honolulu Community Concert Band, who agreed to put on a show at which Frey could collect donations.
Directed by Thomas Hesch, Hawai'i's only community concert band performed nine selections, mixing classical period pieces with contemporary vocal arrangements. The band played songs that varied from "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables" to selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera".
Hisao Yoshimura, 77, knows how much the type of gift Frey is sending means to troops stationed away from their families during the holidays. He spent the Christmas seasons of 1946, 1947, and 1948 in Europe.
"I know how it is, being far away," said Yoshimura, who with his nephew Russell Yoshimura, donated five year's worth of accumulated airline miles. "They (the soldiers) stay over there and have no place to go."
Frey started her campaign, called "Home for the Holidays" after her husband left for Iraq. She said she was watching the news and saw a report about some Hawai'i National Guard members who would be unable to come home before deploying to Iraq because they couldn't afford the airfare.
"I got upset and called everyone," she said.
Frey said she has gotten donations as large as $1,200 and as small as $5.
Even as she collects money, however, her husband will not be able to come home until June.
"America was founded on the fact that we have soldiers who die for our country, and I think people will start to realize that."
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
The 30-year-old former Marine wants to fly Hawai'i National Guard members home for Christmas from their training assignment in Texas before they deploy to Iraq. Through donations of airline mileage and cash, as well as money of her own, Frey has purchased 11 roundtrip tickets for members of the Hawai'i National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade who cannot afford the airfare.
Members of the Honolulu Community Band yesterday afternoon performed a 29th Brigade Benefit Concert at McKinley High School to help raise money to bring National Guard and reserve members home from Texas for Christmas before the brigade deploys to Iraq.
During the first week of October, more than 2,500 guard members from the 29th 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.
How to help
