<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Heroes Helping Heroes gets help from Iraq</p><p>Story written by SGT Dean Tomlinson of the 855 MP CO</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It&#39;s 1530 hrs. on Sunday, May 16th here in Iraq. Back in Dec. of 2009 one of my first missions was to defend our<br />
FOB by supervising the ECP team (Entry Control Point) basically the one place for ALL foot and vehicle traffic to<br />
enter and exit the FOB. Obviously the need for well trained Military Police men is a must. Because the U.S. will<br />
not stay here forever I have about 19 coalition security force and 8 Iraqi interpreters who work along side us<br />
and are learning how to keep positive safety and security while working the ECP. I have met and work with an Iraqi<br />
Interpreter who&#39;s code is &quot;Vinny&quot; He&#39;s 28 years old. They all have code names to help hide their identity<br />
when they return home. Most of these guys would be killed by the anti American insurgent force if<br />
ever discovered they helped the Americans. I want to tell you about Vinny because he went even further in help of<br />
the Americans. You see, I would talk with Vinny during my missions at the ECP and Vinny has an odd belief<br />
system as far as main stream Iraq goes. Vinny said he believes there is a God up in heaven and we can<br />
talk to him all the time. I told him I believe that same thing and that I do talk to God, a lot! Vinny smiled and<br />
in his Iraqi accent said, &quot;Oh you beddy wize Sawgent T&quot;. As I would work more along side Vinny, we would<br />
talk and learn about things going on in each others lives. One night I told Vinny about a little American girl who<br />
needed a new heart. Vinny asked, &quot;What is litel girls name?&quot; I told him her name is PENNY. Vinny seemed very<br />
touched about Penny&#39;s condition and would always ask me about her when we worked together. I told Vinny about a<br />
female soldier named Cirra who is raising money to help Penny and her family with the medical costs. Vinny<br />
said, &quot;See-airda beddy smot girl, hoo has big hawt&quot;. The terps we work with here get time off to go<br />
be with their families every 90 days or so they get 4 days off to go home to their villages. Now I can&#39;t say where<br />
Vinny is from for security reasons but it&#39;s a small poor area. Vinny left for his earned time off at the beginning<br />
of April and then while he was gone, my turn came to take R&amp;R back to the States. I had a great time at home. and<br />
then came the leaving again part which was harder this time than ever before for me. I got back to FOB Sykes<br />
on Sun. May 2nd, when I came back here my mission had changed. I was no longer assigned to defend the FOB but now<br />
was to go out side the wire more and conduct missions. On Fri. May 14th while I was walking to the DFAC<br />
I saw Vinny, the Terp. We shook hands and he embraced me like a long lost brother. Vinny said, &quot;It soo<br />
beddy good too see my beddy good frend Sawgent T&quot;. Before I could say anything Vinny asked about Penny. I told him<br />
what I knew and that Cirra was holding that fund raiser in the States tomorrow. He said, &quot;YES! bremembered&quot;. He<br />
then told me to come by his CHU later he has something he wanted me to see. I could not get to see Vinny until<br />
today, Sun. 16 May.</p><p>&nbsp;<br />
So I went to Vinny the Terps CHU and he invited me in; told me to &quot;Pleez hav seet&quot;. Then Vinny, the Terp, went to<br />
his wall locker and got something, as he walked back over to me he said, &quot;I toked to God maanee time abaoot Penny<br />
and when I go too my veelige I tell my famalee and we got sum Iraqi coines for litel Penny.&quot; He<br />
handed me the Iraqi money and said, &quot;It&#39;s not a beeg amownt but its alot to my famalee and we wunt too heelp Penny<br />
too.&quot; Cirra, my eyes welled up with tears at this act kindness and generosity. I hugged Vinny the Terp because I<br />
think that&#39;s what any and all of you and Penny&#39;s family would have done. It&#39;s not a big amount but knowing that<br />
some Iraqi interpreter and his village heard of and took a small collection for an unknown American girl<br />
was worth telling you about. So, I will be bringing Penny some real Iraqi coins from Vinny the Terp when I come<br />
home with the 855th.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br />
&nbsp;</p><p><br />
Heroes Event Recap</p><p><br />
Our event has helped raised the awareness of Penny&rsquo;s heart condition and the mission of Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud. We have<br />
already brought in over $6000 for our combined cause and have the potential to raise another $10,000 through our<br />
T-shirt and Cuddles Bear sales. Thank you to everyone who helped make our event successful! Each contributor had<br />
a story of why those chose to help our cause, they will included in this newsletter as well as in July&rsquo;s<br />
newsletter. Please help support these business&rsquo; as their hearts and wallets were there for us when we<br />
needed them most! We received over $20,000 in donated items and services from our community for this event and<br />
look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with them all in the years to come!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br />
&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Cuddles Bears and Heroes Tshirts</p><p>Did you know, you can now orderyour Cuddles bear and the &ldquo;Cuddles Goes To Iraq&rdquo; story/coloring book at<br />
<a href="http://www.cirrascloud.com">www.cirrascloud.com</a>. Just click the donate now tab on the home page! Donation is $35. You can save $5 if<br />
you order the Cuddles bear and extra T-shirt offer. You get the Bear combo plus a T-shirt for you!</p><p>T-shirts come in black, tan or army green and in sizes from small to Xlarge. T-shirt prices are $20.</p><p>All proceeds will go to the Heroes Helping Heroes campaign.<br />
T-shirts printed by Twisted Image.<br />
T-shirt design by Freeland Fridge.</p><p>&ldquo;My name is Cuddles. I belong to a special little person who has a loved one serving in the military in Iraq.&rdquo;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br />
Free Diamondback tickets</p><p><br />
Tickets are good for the following days and must be picked up at our office at least two days before the<br />
scheduled game!</p><p>June 4 Diamondbacks VS Rockies</p><p>June 7 Diamondbacks VS Braves</p><p>June 9 Diamondbacks VS Braves</p><p>Tickets will be given out to our family members first, followed by our Heroes event volunteers and then those who<br />
request them, on a first come first serve basis. Please request all tickets by going to <a href="http://www.cirrascloud.com">www.cirrascloud.com</a> and<br />
clicking on the contact us tab. Be sure to indicate who you are and how many tickets you are requesting along with<br />
the date of the game you would like to attend.</p><p>Thank you to our Arizona Diamondbacks!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>They support us, who do you support?</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Compass for your Cause</p><p>Since the conception of Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud, BBVA Compass Bank has assisted us with our fundraising efforts; donating<br />
$75 per account opened using our special code and contributing 1 to 2% of all sales from those accounts as well.<br />
They have been there to support each event that we have been a part of and raised over $200 in new<br />
account money at our event on May 15. Please support our organization and Compass bank by opening an account,<br />
transferring your account or linking your existing Compass account to our Organization.<br />
Use code: 74806. A little goes a long way!</p><p>Costco</p><p>I chose to attend your event because of the cause it was supporting and your enthusiasm in regards to promoting<br />
your event. Wow, let me say that you are amazing at what you do!&nbsp; Costco Wholesale, Inc. is dedicated to<br />
continually providing our members with quality goods and services at the lowest prices. In order to achieve our<br />
mission we will conduct our business with the following five Codes of Ethics in mind:</p><p>&nbsp;# 1. Obey the law. # 2. Take care of our members. # 3. Take care of our employees. # 4. Respect our suppliers.</p><p>&nbsp;If we do these four things properly, and in this order, then we will accomplish what every corporation has<br />
responsibility to accomplish which is to:</p><p>&nbsp;# 5 Reward our shareholders.</p><p>&nbsp;Heroes Helping Heroes Event, was a success on so many different levels. Even if the turnout was not what you<br />
expected, as far as the number of people that attended, those that did attend were touched and<br />
appreciative of your ultimate mission.</p><p>&nbsp;You are a delightful person that should be commended for all of your efforts, and most of all your &quot;Big Heart&quot;. I<br />
for one am extremely grateful for being given the opportunity to meet you and watch you work. I was so impressed<br />
with your event and everything you accomplished!</p><p><br />
&nbsp;<br />
Southwest Metal Summit Recap</p><p><br />
Another 6 local bands supported our Heroes cause on May 29 at the Opheum Theatre in Flagstaff. No matter what types<br />
of music we listen to, when this many groups of musicians come together to support our cause, a cause they believe<br />
in, it is huge! We appreciate all of the love that we have received for this cause from all of the community<br />
musicians, businesses and residents! Southwest Metal Summit along with Vision 5 Studios put on this fundraising<br />
concert for Heroes Helping Heroes. They held a raffle for us with over $1000 in prizes and raised awareness for our<br />
cause! Way to go! We thank you!</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Upcoming events</p><p>Our upcoming fundraising efforts will be amazing! We were recently contacted by a very special woman with a<br />
heart wrenching story. Not long ago, a loving mother lost her son to the War in Iraq. He was at<br />
The Walter Reed Medical Center when the angels took him. In the midst of all her grief, she decided to donate his<br />
car to charity. We are honored to be able to raise money for her cause, to send DVD&rsquo;s and Video players to the<br />
soldiers who are at the Walter Reed Hospital recovering from their wounds that they received in combat.<br />
Each raffle ticket of $100 will give you an opportunity to help her mission, assist Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud with their<br />
mission of assisting family members of deployed soldiers, win a unique car that was donated out of<br />
pure love, among other great prizes donated by our community! Be apart of something big, buy a ticket today and<br />
let everyone know about this amazing raffle. Tickets will be on sale June 15&mdash;July 30, 2010.</p><p>Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud is still working on opening the Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud Charity Resale Boutique this summer. This boutique will<br />
give us the opportunity to be monetarily self sufficient as well as to provide low income families the chance to<br />
own &ldquo;boutique style&rdquo; merchandise at unbelievably low prices. 100% of the proceeds will go to Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud and we<br />
will help our community by holding fundraisers as needed at our location as well as holding rummage<br />
sales every weekend in order to sustain our cause. If you have any items that you would like to donate or know of<br />
someone who would like to help us with a location, please call Cirra Turpin at 602-614-5081.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br />
Cirra&#39;s Cloud</p><p>18015 N 12th Place</p><p>Phoenix, AZ 85022</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.cirrascloud.com">www.cirrascloud.com</a></p><p><br />
Phone: 602-614-5081<br />
&nbsp;</p><p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:cirrascloud@hotmail.com">cirrascloud@hotmail.com</a></p><p><br />
Since our conception, we have held activities, events and fundraisers to aid us in our mission as well as<br />
make the deployment year easier for families with a soldier over in Iraq. We are currently supporting 183<br />
families. Past activities include; Raffles, community meetings, Military Appreciation and Veterans events,<br />
Christmas celebrations, tailgate parties, monthly newsletters that feature articles and information of<br />
interest to military families as well as showcasing oursponsors and events, ongoing solicitations for com-<br />
munity support and donations, submittal of grants, news publicity campaigns, a Valentine&#39;s dinner for the<br />
wives and girlfriends of our deployed soldiers, and community fundraising events to bring awareness of<br />
our Organization as well as to assist specific family members with needs brought to our attention. We are<br />
working on some large projects such as holding free spa days for the spouses of our deployed, to give<br />
them time together in a relaxing atmosphere.</p><p>We also intend on sending our soldiers and their family members on all expense paid trip to reunite them<br />
on neutral ground once they return home from Iraq.</p><p><br />
Cirra&rsquo;s Cloud is dedicated to<br />
assisting the family members of<br />
deployed soldiers in Arizona.</p><p><br />
DONATE ON THE WEB!<br />
<a href="http://www.CIRRASCLOUD.COM">WWW.CIRRASCLOUD.COM</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br />
&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>