Andy, your Palpatine is creepy as frell. Well done!

Date:
Saturday December 23, 2017

Location:
Marbles Kids Museum
201 E. Hargett St.
Raleigh, NC

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
Carolina Garrison returns yet again for a day of trooping The Last Jedi at Marbles IMAX! Troopers arrived just before noon for a full day of interacting with moviegoers as they arrived for shows taking place every three hours. Each year the theater sets up their function space as the "Marbles Spaceport", where patrons can hang out before the show, play games, eat snacks, watch one of the other Star Wars movies, and (the best part) get their pictures taken with us. During slower times we also head over to the Kids Museum next door to interact with families there.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
Indirectly. Proceeds from the IMAX theater support the Kids Museum, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Event Length (Hours):
7

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Katrina Andrews ID-45320 - Line Officer
2. Michael Henry BH-94327 - Boushh
3. Brian Storey DZ-42766 - Tusken Raider
4. Nevada Storey DZ-10969 - Tusken Raider
5. Barbara Sacchitello ID-27609 - Staff Officer
6. Ron Toland ID-41421 - Staff Officer
7. Curtis Smith SL-41870 - Darth Vader

Handlers:
1. Cole Storey

Check out some of the event photos below: (please post pictures rather than picture links)

Most of the group.


Santa Vader delivers throat hugs to those who displease him.


Santa Boushh delivers explosives to everyone.


Inside the Kids Museum, hanging out at my personal favorite spot. Many silly pictures have been taken on this ship...and the floor is squishy and comfortable.


Go Empire!


Vader has been a good Sith Lord and gets a unicorn Pusheen for Christmas...


...and a sweet new mechanical hand!


We finally get Cole excited about elevator selfies.


After a long day of hot costumes on a 70 degree day and uncomfortable shoes on hard floors, it's time to relax and watch the movie again. Good job troopers; no naps were taken during the viewing of this film.

Hey Chris, did you ever get charity totals from the event organizer?

Hey Matt, any update on the indirect funds generated?

OK...let's try photobucket instead.

Date:
January 21, 2017

Location:
Cattails Restaurant at Five County Stadium, Zebulon, NC

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
January Joyfest is a yearly fundraising event to benefit Make-A-Wish of Eastern NC. Last year, the event raised over $14,000. The theme this year was "casino night", featuring Vegas-style table games, a live auction, silent auction, food and drinks, and speeches given by kids who have benefited from Make-A-Wish in the past.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
Make-A-Wish

Event Length (Hours):
4 hours

Indirect Funds Raised (Total money raised by event):
Just over $14,000 raised to support Make-A-Wish.

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Curtis Smith (Vader)
2. Katrina Andrews (Officer)
3. David Carta (Tusken)
4. Brandy Carta (Jawa)
5. Patrick Lewis (TK)
6. Brian Storey (Gunner)

Check out some of the event photos below:

Buckets on, ready to go!


We found the ONE STAR WARS FAN at the event.


Hanging out with Muddy.


Always bet on black.


When not blowing up planets, our loyal Imperial Gunner guards prizes.


...and then gets a wise guy joining the shot.


Buckets off after a long night.

Date:
Nov 1, 2016

Location:
Lenovo Main Campus and Enterprise Campus

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
To kick off the "month of giving" in preparation for Giving Tuesday, Lenovo held employee events at both their campuses in Morrisville, NC. Both events celebrated all the charitable work Lenovo employees have done over the past year, as well as spotlighting a few employees who submitted stories for their "Faces of Giving" campaign. I submitted a story of my work with the "Bad Guys Doing Good", and the campaign organizers got so much of a kick out of it that I was asked if the 501st Legion could troop the celebratory events to add a little extra excitement and fun. In return, the event organizer agreed to make a charitable donation on our behalf.

This was my first time trooping a corporate event, and this is probably the first time one of our campus events had something like this tied to it. We took a lot of photos, did some recruiting for the new Death Star construction crew (LinkedIn is a very powerful recruitment tool), and even patrolled the cubicles afterwards to make sure all employees were being diligent Imperial citizens hard at work for the good of the Galactic Empire. You could definitely tell all the employees got a kick out of it.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
Make-A-Wish of Eastern NC and the American Red Cross

Event Length (Hours):
2.5 hours total

Direct Funds Raised? (Money raised directly by the Carolina Garrison):
$1000 donation to Make-A-Wish, $1000 donation to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Matthew relief

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Katrina Andrews ID-45320 - Staff Officer
2. Curtis Smith SL-41870 - Vader
3. Jim Epps TK-896 - TK
4. Seth Bosecker TK-22298 - TK

Check out some of the event photos below:

Lieutenant Middle Manager is very excited to be part of the Faces of Giving, because now she's "Lenovo Famous". Vader is happy too, I guess.


The traditional elevator selfie. I have got to get a better phone.


TK-896 patrols for rebel scum.


"You have failed me for the last time."


One of our foodservice managers meeting his childhood hero.


Baby squirrels! Another employee featured in the campaign was raising some baby squirrels that had been displaced by Hurricane Matthew. Nothing gets the tough Imperials to soften up like sleeping baby animals.


More angry selfies at the afternoon session.


TK-22298 stands guard over the tasty snacks reserved for loyal Imperial citizens only.

TK-73180, you're on notice for giving an officer bunny ears!

It was awesome to have so much armor together at one troop!

Date:
May 7, 2016

Location:
Eva Perry Library - 2100 Shepherds Vineyard Dr, Apex, NC 27502

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
Meet and Greet: take pictures with library patrons at libraries in Wake County as part of their summer kick off/ Star Wars Fest / before showing of "The Clone Wars". This was the second weekend of Star Wars fest events for the Wake County Public Libraries, and again there were three libraries doing events at the same time this day. Brett and I showed up before they showed The Clone Wars to take pictures for a couple hours with library patrons, and again patrol for Rebel scum. Our library-assigned handler professed himself to be the second biggest Star Wars fan working at the library, and we later learned that he went to school with our own Brandon Hurley. Near the end of the troop we got a photo with the biggest Star Wars fan at the library, and after the event learned that the guy belongs to Brandon's lightsaber combat guild. Moral of the story: Brandon has connections.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
no

Event Length (Hours):
2

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Brett Stafford - TK
2. Katrina Andrews - ID

Check out some of the event photos below:

These droids were finally apprehended without much struggle.


Break time!


Meeting a loyal Imperial citizen.

Date:
May 1, 2016

Location:
West Regional Library - 4000 Louis Stephens Dr, Cary, NC 27519

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
Meet and Greet: take pictures with library patrons at libraries in Wake County as part of their summer kick off/ Star Wars Fest / after showing of "The Clone Wars". There were three Wake County Public Libraries doing their Star Wars fest events at the same time this day, so we were a little spread out. Dan and I showed up after they showed The Clone Wars and hung out for a couple hours, taking pics with the kids and later patrolling the library for Rebel scum. The library had crafts for the kids, which included making posterboard lightsabers. As this was a goodwill mission for the Empire, our TD elected to leave his heavy weaponry behind, but these kids with their newly made weapons were vicious and showed him no mercy. Thankfully, no records survive documenting the incident.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
no

Event Length (Hours):
2

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Dan Smith - TD
2. Katrina Andrews - ID

Check out some of the event photos below:

Meeting some of the real heroes: the librarians!


Rebel scum apprehended at last!

Just got the total from the marketing person...$214! Well done, troopers!

Date:
May 7, 2016

Location:
Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham, NC

Description of Event (Please share as much info as you can):
The event was the Bulls' yearly Star Wars night. The theme this year was "A Tribute to Han Solo".

This is a big event for us (and the Bulls) every year. This year's game was a sold-out crowd, and you could tell because the place was packed! Everywhere we went, we got mobbed for photos. I'm glad the Bulls assigned us several staff members to corral the crowd and get us from place to place, because we definitely needed the extra help.

Many of our troopers (and some of those Rebel scum!) participated in a lot of different events throughout the game. The officers got to hang back in our photo area every time Vader and the Stormtroopers went off for an on-field appearance. That part was nice.

Due to the "Han Solo" theme for the evening we hardly got to see Princess Leia and Chewbacca, but they were able to rejoin us for fan photos late in the game. It was funny to watch Chewie upstage Vader in photo popularity once we got those two fan favorites in the same place together.

Congrats to Tim for his first official troop in armor! Tim has served as a handler before, but this is the first time he's taken that shiny new Anovos armor out for a spin. His armor bin is very clean and devoid of stickers, so we're going to have to change that.

Special thanks to Jane for serving double duty as trooper and photographer! Many of the photos below are ones she took. For more photos from the evening, look up Star Lady Photography on Facebook.

Did this event support a charity? If yes, which charity?:
Autism Society of North Carolina

Event Length (Hours):
Call time at 3:00 PM. We went out around 4:00 PM and the game started just after 5:00. We suited down at the top of the 8th, which was about 7:30 PM. 3.5 hours total trooping time.

Indirect Funds Raised (Total money raised by event):
The Bulls auctioned off their game-worn Han Solo-themed jerseys to benefit the Autism Society of NC. Total donation amount pending.

Carolina Garrison Members in Attendance:
1. Shanda M - TK
2. Kat- Officer
3. Seth- TK
4. Scott W - Vader
5. Brandon H - Officer
6. Dan - TD
7. Drew - First Order TK
8. Ernie - Boba Fett
9. Carolyn - Officer
10. Tim J - TK

Handlers:
1. George Rochelle

Crossover Attendees from the Rebel Legion / R2 Builders Club / Mando Mercs:
1. Liz W - Rey
2. Sandie - Leia
3. Chad - Obi Wan/Poe
4. Jane - Luke ROTJ
5. Ryan - Chewbacca

Check out some of the event photos below:

Managed to get a buckets off shot during one of our breaks. Not present are Sandie and Ryan, as they were hanging out with Wool E. Solo at the time.


We couldn't do this without our handlers. Well, some of us might be able to...but Drew would still be halfway in his armor waiting for someone to squish his bucket onto his head.


Hanging out in the changing area. Thankfully we had a big space so we weren't all on top of one another.


"Kylo Ren was here"? The office space that served as our changing area was due for renovation. The Durham PD had recently used the space for some tactical drills, so some of the back offices were pretty messed up.


"I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't know where your droids went."


Before the game, we stood outside the stadium to welcome fans and take lots of pictures.




A sold out game meant there were a LOT of fans.


FN-2199 got in some sparring practice with his boss.


Resistance scum!! Where is the map to Luke Skywalker? I know you've seen it!


Post-troop dinner at Mellow Mushroom.

Hey, check out that speed-built Shadow Trooper!

Me too! The receipt box was pretty full when we left, and they left it out until the restaurant closed that evening.

If I haven't heard back from them within a week after the troop I'll ping them again. Our original contact is no longer working for Taco Mac, so communication got a little more difficult once that happened. Troop still went great; I'm just expecting it to take a while to get that donation number out of them.