Raffle to send care packages to troops overseas

The USO Riverfest Gala Committee is providing yet another way to support the troops through a raffle benefiting Operation USO Care Package (OUCP). Raffle tickets can be purchased on our secure Web site for $25 each or three for $50. Each ticket will buy one care package valued at approximately $75 that will be sent to a deployed service member.

The raffle drawing will take place at the Gala on Sept. 6, and ticket holders need not be present to win. This year prizes include:

$500 Gift Certificate to Cincinnati Bell Retail Store
$300 Gift Certificate to Kroger
$200 Gift Certificate to United Dairy Farmers
$200 Gift Certificate to Montgomery Inn Restaurants
$100 Gift Certificate to Honey Baked Ham Company

Those interested in donating to OUCP may also send a check made out to the USO Riverfest Gala to 9959 Humphrey Road, Cincinnati Ohio, 45242.

Meet the committee members: Jessica Bechtold

For the past five years, committee members have worked tirelessly to make the USO Riverfest Gala a success. Each member has a unique path that led them to become involved in the event. Below is Jessica Bechtold’s story about why she keeps coming back.

“I have been involved with this event for the last four years because we are able to personally impact so many service men and women, and their families. Unlike so many other fundraisers, you see the impact your work has immediately. The honorees express such heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for everything we do for them; you can’t help but want to continue working for them.

My role on the committee is to coordinate the logistics for our honorees. This includes communicating with them before the event, organizing their travel and accommodation arrangements, and helping them with whatever they may need once they’re in town.

The most meaningful and touching moments during the weekend occur when we get to hear from the soldiers themselves. These brave young people risk so much for us, yet they are unendingly humble and appreciative of anything that we do for them. To hear someone say that they’ve never felt so proud for doing their jobs is a really remarkable thing, especially coming from someone so young.

This year, I am most looking forward to meeting the new honorees and catching up with the soldiers we’ve honored in years passed. It’s so nice to see how far they’ve come in their recovery and how grateful they still are of the time they’ve spent in Cincinnati.

The event gives us all a very unique opportunity to truly thank the people that fight for our country and our freedoms. An American flag waving in your yard or a yellow ribbon magnet on your car are all expressions of gratitude, but to be able to learn these soldiers’ stories, shake their hands and say “thank you” in person, is invaluable.

It is during these moments that you realize the courage these men and women have does not end when they leave their combat zone. They are dedicated to protecting and serving for as long as they possibly can, and it is the least we can do to let them know how much they’re appreciated.”

Jessica Bechtold

Fallen hero returns home to Cincinnati

The USO Riverfest Gala committee would like to express their condolences to the family of Gregory James Missman, who died in Afghanistan from injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device. Army Specialist Gregory James Missman belonged to the 4th Infantry Division, 4th Brigade Combat Team serving in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He was a member of American Legion Post 72 in Mount Carmel and was a 1993 graduate of Amelia High School. We thank Missman and his family for making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Meet the committee members: Thomas Starr

For the past five years, committee members have worked tirelessly to make the USO Riverfest Gala a success. Each member has a unique path that led them to become involved in the event. Below is Thomas Starr’s story about why he keeps coming back.

“My commitment to helping with USO Riverfest Gala completes a circle then began when I was a very young boy.

My brother and I spent several formative years at Ft. Campbell, KY with our paternal father Tom Evans, a career soldier with the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne and veteran of the European theater. Our adopted father, Roy Starr, enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17 before finishing high school and was in Honolulu when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

So it seemed natural for me to join the U.S. Army when I graduated from high school. The career I had imagined was cut short, however, after a series of circumstances forced me to spend six months at the Walter Reed U.S. Army Medical Center.

Serving Montgomery Inn ribs and UDF ice cream to the troops closed the circle that began more than forty years earlier when I begrudging left my comrades in arms to return to civilian life. The USO Riverfest Gala and the trips to Walter Reed have given me a chance to shake the hands of those troops whose courage and dedication to country I have admired for so long.

I am so proud of Cincinnati for helping us sell out the USO Riverfest Gala at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse every year. Buy your tickets today; we sell out every year!

Join me in meeting and thanking those who “stand on the wall” defending our freedoms and our way of life. May God bless you and America!”

Thomas J. Starr
Founder & Chairman
Miracles for Life

Photo: Thomas Starr and Sergeant Major Kenneth O. Preston, U.S. Army, at the Montgomery Inn BBQ at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2008.

Check out Sergeant Major Kenneth O. Preston’s video blog: http://www.army.mil/leaders/sma/

Check out our new Web site!

The USO Riverfest Gala has a new online home where visitors can find out more about the event as well as RSVP, donate and contribute silent auction items. Please take a minute to explore our new secure Web site: www.usoriverfestgala.com