(SC) Dec 18 Buy a Ticket For Dan at Cinebarre Mt Pleasant

[NegativeEleven]

This is a tricky one to explain. Yes, it was the opening night for The Force Awakens, but we weren't invited by the theater. We were invited by Erika Figuroa. She's the head of the Fan Alliance (Star Trek fan group) and for a couple of years has hosted this event. It was originally "Figgy's" idea to buy tickets to get a huge Trek fan named Daniel out to see Into Darkness when it was released in 2013. He was in the hospital with terminal cancer, so dinner and a movie was a big deal in terms of raising his spirits. Even though Dan passed away, Figgy has kept the tradition going, once a year, partnering with Cinebarre (locally owned theater/restaurant) and local hospitals to get cancer patients out of their beds for one night of fine dining and Sci-fi cinema.

She contacted me early this year and asked how she could get the 501st involved. I told her to go through the 501st website, but that once our event coordinator got it on the message boards, I would do what I could to get troops there for her. This movie release has been tricky for costumers, but even when the theater told us that we couldn't cover our faces or carry any prop weapons, we still got a pretty good sized invasion force to take over the theater. Good guys and bad, we escorted patients and their families to their seats and flanked Erika for her speech before the movie started. Everyone had a great time and didn't seem to mind that TB-11701 and TB-11110 carried their helmets and had something much more dangerous than blasters in their holsters!

Oh, and Boba Fett was there with his trusty Gonk droid, but the rules about helmets and blasters don't apply to him because he doesn't have a face and was unarmed (mannequin doesn't have a head or arms)!

Troopers in attendance:
Chris Gould - Biker Scout
Taylor Seay - Biker Scout
Caroline Boyd - Imperial Line Officer
JP Morgan - Tie Pilot Reserve
Jamison Lewis - Imperial Gunner

Rebels in attendance:
Brad Butler - X-wing Pilot
Jeffery Lewis - Han Solo ESB

[JeffMiller]

Very cool

[silverBoyd]

I'm glad you all were able to do this one. I know Erika was pleased to have you all participate. Great work