A Documentary In The Making
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Newsletter #4
AUGUST 26, 2016
Dear Cherished Donors, Here’s our 4th newsletter with the latest information about the Why Can’t We Serve project. Things are going very well, but instead of relaxing we now must kick it into another gear. 1. We succeeded in getting 150 signatures on our White House Petitions proposal to allow soldiers, wounded and disabled in combat, to have a chance to remain in the military in noncombat jobs, rather than be forced to leave the military and be sent home with a disability and no future. The White House Petition website now has made public our proposal, which is great. But we only have until September 10 to promote our proposal to the whole nation. So please take the two minutes to sign the petition via this link, and take a few more minutes to share this info on FB, Twitter, and with all your friends. We can’t be successful without your help, but with your help we can move mountains. At the end of this newsletter is the blog we sent out a few days ago. Please check it out. 2. We filmed an interview with U.S. Representative Chris Gibson (R, 19th District, NY) last week and he was very supportive. A few of his comments will help make a great argument for the inclusion of disabled soldiers to remain in the military. We are a little closer to getting a chance to interview New York senators Gillibrand and Schumer. It’s still tentative, but I sure hope they will allow us to film an interview with both of them. 3. Mike Nelson, our wonderful filmmaker, will be going out to the San Francisco area to film interviews with a few important people. Once those interviews are done, we then have only a few more interviews before we can begin the task of putting all the pieces together into a powerful and meaningful documentary. At this point we have no idea about when we might actually complete the film, but it’s getting closer. 4. We have reached out to Gary Sinise, a well known actor (he played Lieutenant Dan in Forrest gump), to be the narrator of the documentary, but at this point we have not heard back from him. We think he’d be a great narrator, so let’s keep our fingers crossed. 5. We still need a celebrity on the team to bring more attention to our project, nor do we have a national organization that has stepped up to support us financially or endorse us. This is confusing and obviously frustrating, but we are moving full speed ahead with the making of the documentary regardless. However, it would sure be a big boost to find that celebrity as well as that organization. I personally believe that their lives will go better if and when they find us and are willing to stand tall and proud in support of our efforts. Got any ideas? Wishing you all a joyful and memorable end of summer. With Gratitude, Marty and the Why Can’t We Serve team - BLOG ENTRY - The team at Why Can’t We Serve want to extend warm wishes to all who helped us reach our goal of 150 signatures at the White House Petition website. We did it, and now we are on the national White House Petition proposals list. This is great visibility for our project, and for bringing to the light a desperate need for change in the military. We believe this policy change would help sustain meaning and purpose in many wounded soldiers' lives, as well as helping to decrease the number of veteran suicides, an ongoing tragedy that cannot be ignored. So today we celebrate the good news, and tomorrow we roll our sleeves up and take the next step on this important path. Please celebrate with us today, and please keep doing your part in helping us make a difference. Here are some things you can do: 1. You can keep talking about the Why Can’t We Serve documentary project. 2. You can share, and forward any and all of our FB and Twitter updates to help us get the word out. 3. You can contact us via our Contact Us page if you want to help with the daily work. 4. You can donate to our project via our Contributions page. 5. You can continue to help us get signatures for the White House Petition proposal. Here’s the link. 6. Or you can reach out and make friends with a veteran. With Deep Gratitude, Marty Klein |
