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 Chappaqua, NY - Peter Gallagher and Jack Wilson have kicked off their new charity, Games for Heroes. The Westchester teens spent a week of their spring break in White Plains (NY) Elementary schools talking about the hardships the deployed American soldiers face in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Encouraging the students to write letters in an initiative they called Cheer Up the Troops they collected hundreds of letters that were forwarded to the soldiers with the assistance of Marine Parents of Missouri.
After making this contact with the Marine Parents and gaining a registered donor number from the organization, they learned that next to letters, the most requested items by the troops are battery operated, hand held video devices. Their mission now was to be able to send the devices to the troops. Games for Heroes was the next step for them and they developed the website www.gamesforheroes.com on their own. In addition, they wrote letters to friends and family. The sixteen year old sophomores at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY set a goal to collect 10,000 game machines (new or used but still working,) batteries, games or cash donations to purchase them.
To date they have received hundreds of devices and several thousand dollars towards purchases. In addition they have received generous donations of games from CAPCOM and G-Net.
Additionally, they have been acknowledged by Military.com the largest military and veteran membership organization.
Peter Gallagher and Jack Wilson are making a difference. They are two patriotic and caring young men. In addition to the wonderful "good deed" they are doing for the soldiers who are only a few years older than they are, Peter and Jack are great American role-models for other young people. They are civic minded and have a deep level of awareness of the world around them. They are examples of what young people today are capable of doing and what they can accomplish. As the war in Iraq goes into its fifth year, this earnest effort will keep the troops in the thoughts and minds of Americans at home. Peter and Jack are our future heroes.
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