Great, great visit to the Palmetto Health Children's Hospital! Christy Spinks, the child life specialist, was over the moon with the Carolina Garrison visit yesterday. She commented to us how professional and prepared we all were, and how wonderful we were with children. We're getting a write-up in the network's social media releases. Most importantly, all the kids flat-out loved us. For those of you who put up with my hair-brained organizational skills and came out - a hearty thank-you for what you did for the kids. Truly amazing and I'm very proud to be a member of the Carolina Garrison.

Here are some pics:

Hey gang,
A little late getting the report in. What I assumed would be a sad, half-informed attempt by the local comic shop owner to stage an ill-fated show actually turned out to be a nice little baby-con. About 1500 people turned up by Chris Foss' account and all vendors, performers, and attendees seemed very positive in their feedback. Digging out what I could to dress up the table worked out okay, we had 1/3 of the world-traveling Rose Parade Lego diorama on display, as well as stuff from the archives. I was thrilled to see some of my CG homies there, rocking it like professionals. Vader and the troopers were a hit with the fans and did a great job representing the Legion and the CG. On a side note, we got the word out about R2-KT, the CG, and the Galactic Academy and sales of the patches totaled $105 for charity (not a big haul, but better than doing nothing) split between the Give Kids the World Village, Make-A-Wish, and UNICEF. It was an honor to sit with comic book legend Roy Thomas, who talked at length about his role in bringing Star Wars to Marvel. I wish they'd done a recording of the interview, it was very educational and I'm happy to share details with anyone next time we're in orbit over pub glasses.

Thank you all for a great effort in helping establish a convention in Columbia, SC. I felt very proud introducing my fellow troopers to the locals. This is a great start in establishing a show here in town and as Jason and I talked about it we hope we can really build more activities for us to attend.

And sorry KT wasn't there -but the good news is I received an email from Make-A-Wish the night before the show that KT is done with her project and heading home. Ironic it was just short of her being here for SupahPop but the good news is we'll have her back for any troopers leading into the holidays!

Thank you everyone, it was very cool to troop at this show. 18 years ago they tried to hold a show at the Shriner's Temple the weekend Peter Mayhew came to town. Tom and I couldn't make it, so I feel like I finally redeemed myself almost two decades later

Rock on

AL (Tk210)

Well done, fellas. Lookin' good - heard a lot of good talk in the town mentioning your work.

Troopers,
Yesterday I was joined by Tom Gardner, Brad Lee, and David Cope as well as David's son DJ to troop at the horse show fund-raiser being held in Congaree, South Carolina. It was a low-key casual affair with kids riding horses around a small outdoor arena and friends and family and supporters joining. Richard's chair was wheeled over as we unveiled R2-KT and the squad marched over to the arena. For those who don't know, Richard is in the final stages of a diffuse intrinsic pontene glioma (dipg) like Katie had. He is wheel-chair bound and has difficulty communicating and controlling his movements. But we greeted him and he was orienting well to the sight of costumed characters and the droid. He eagerly took the gift bag we prepared for him and immediately wanted to wear the 501st cap and lanyard. We brought t-shirts, caps, lanyards, 501st action figures, trading cards, a CG coin, 501st and R2-KT patches, and autographs by Daniel Logan and Pam Rose. We even had some for his sister, Regan. His mom assured us the thumbs-up he gave (and giving up his sippy cup) was a sure sign he LOVED the visit and the gifts. We spent the next couple of hours entertaining the kids who were there and posing for pictures. Unfortunately Richard couldn't be much more engaged than our first meeting, but his mother told us it was a big hit and really appreciated the show of support from Star Wars fans and the Legion.

As a follow-up, the squad headed over to my house where we worked on the Legion LEGO Diorama project. We were able to get ALL the spectator figures glued to the stands and began decoration of the stands with flower pieces. It was a lot of fun just hanging out in my man cave with my Legion brothers and getting some work done on the project before it ships to Celebration Europe 2. My thanks to everyone who was there as this event held a special place in my heart due to Richard's condition. God bless!