Iraq War Vet Project

[Ngtflyr]

Here is an update on progress on Corporal Foster's car.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO YOUR FELLOW AUTO ENTHUSIASTS.

Attached are three pics of our work day for the Iraq War Veteran Project for Corporal Foster. I would like to Thank everyone that came and helped, and especially the folks from the CACTUS GTO Club. I think we can effectively call this a GTO and CAMARO club joint effort.


The day was incredible and again, I've never seen such cooperation and determination in one project. There was work going on everywhere and we accomplished a great deal in only a matter of hours.


As an update, John has a shop-hand named Spencer that is becoming friends with Jared, or Corporal Foster. So, Spencer will be our "inside man" if you will. Thus far, Corporal Foster is clueless about this project. He's under the impression that the body work is progressing well on his car---which it is.


But little does he know that we have completed his subframe already !!!!!!!! In fact, what's comical is that Corporal Foster goes to John Bauler's shop ever once and a while to work on small jobs for his car, that John instructs him on. He won't even realize that the nice new subframe sitting in the corner, against the wall is his !!!!!! We are literally building the car under his nose. One of his comments to Spencer was---"John' really hooking me up on getting some stuff done on my car," referencing the small jobs John let's him do at his shop.


However, we are still allowing the Corporal to pitch in, as again John has him cleaning, wire-brushing and painting some of the window and door parts for his car. The tricky part is going to be how we get the parts out of his parts tub and installed on his car !!!!!


On another encouraging note, we have received $1400 in cash and check dontations. More will be needed as we progress. Already, we have cut into that sum pretty deep and still have aways to go. Some, like Dave House and Jack Riley, are working behind the scenes and talking our efforts up on the net on sites like Team Camaro and Super Car Registery. Checks have come in from as far away as Washington State !!!!


I will continue to send the updates as we progress. The outpouring from everyone is incredible and I can tell you, Corporal Foster will be quite surprised and most importantly we want him to feel Thanked for his sacrifice.


Updates will be forthcoming.


Lance Baker 480-229-5691

John Bauler 480-632-6214


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[Ngtflyr]

Here's another update. For those of you who have offered donations, thank you. The IRS thanks you too, your donation will be tax deductible, more info to follow on that in the future.

here's the update:

PROJECT IRAQI VETERAN PROJECT:
Greetings to everyone who has joined with the First Generation Camaro of Arizona along with the Cactus GTO Club as we work on our "Thank You" project for Corporal Jared Foster.

My apologies for not sending even more updates, but my Email service has been less than accomodating in allowing me to send Emails to large numbers of people.

However, I will make this update brief and to the point:

NEXT WORK DAY
OUR NEXT WORK DAY IS THIS SATURDAY, DEC. 8TH FROM 2:00PM TILL ??? Location will be at John Bauler's house again. If you need directions, call John or myself. Numbers at bottom of this Email. Join us for 5 minutes or 5-hours, whatever you can spare. Our last work day was incredible and fun to boot.

FINANCIAL DONATIONS
To date, we have recieved approximatley $2455 in financial donations. Our efforts are posted on TEAM CAMARO, Thanks to the efforts of Jack Riley and the staff at TEAM CAMARO. Much interest has been generated due to this posting. See attached link below, or log in to TEAM CAMARO and go to their forums section. Look for the camo-colored link.
http://www.camaros.net/veteran
RECARO SEATS !!!!
Jack Riley, working so dilegently behind the scenes, has scored us a set of RECARO, small grain, black vynil custom seats---donated by RECARO themselves !!!!! This was exactly what we needed from our "Wish List". In addition, Jack is working on a set of custom seat belts.

WHEELS AND TIRES
Doug Meyers has put me in touch with a manager at a local Discount Tire, who will in turn work the tire and/or rim angle for us. Moe Ferrat is a local manager who understood completely what we were doing and will move forward pending a letter from me. Moe will work the BFGoodrich folks for us. As of yet, we are unsure of what the donation will be.

NON-PROFIT STATUS
We are now a considered a "Non-Profit Entity" in the eyes of the IRS. Thru some research, I discovered that we indeed did file for our Employee Identification Number back in 2002 and therefore all we need to do for each donor is provide them with a letter on our club letter-head, noting their donation. This will allow each donor to recieve tax credit for their 2007 filings !!!!! These statements will be mailed as soon as we can.

CURRENT PARTS STATUS
Many used and gently used parts have been donated thus far. Thanks to each of you that have done so. It really helps. Attached is our current spread-sheet of what we have and what we still need. We will use the best of the parts and return the others to the donators. Much of the financial donations have already been put to good use. We have reimbursed John Bauler for several of the purchases he has made for parts, including those he has taken out of his personal inventory. Tracking of this is viewable via the attached spread-sheet.

AROUND THE COUNTRY DONATIONS
We are getting donations and calls from all parts of the country---NJ, TX, IL, MA, CA, FL, AL, WA, British Columbia !!!! Many of you are working behind the scenes to spread the word, while others are here working the project itself. Our combined efforts are paying off in a very incredible way. Thanks to those of you that have donated your money time and efforts. We'll keep you posted as the project for Corporal Foster progresses. We will also be posting more details this weekend at TEAM CAMARO in the Bench Racing Forum.

Thanks again on behalf of Corporal Jared Foster and First Generation Camaros of Arizona and the Cactus GTO club.

LANCE BAKER 480-229-5691 cell
JOHN BAULER 480-632-6214 home / business=============

[Ngtflyr]

For those of you who have contributed, here's an update. Been kinda slow going with the holidays, then the auctions but this project will get back on track now.
OK folks,
We finally got some pics of the Corporal Foster's Camaro with a little paint on it. Sterling Allen has started to shoot the jambs. I took a few pics today---albeit in the rain.

Color of the car is going to be Viper Blue with white Z-stripes. I think you'll agree, the Viper blue is perfect and our inside sources tell us it's just what Corporal Foster wanted as well.

Our fund raising efforts are still in full swing. Between Friday and Sunday evening, we managed to receive approximately $1000 in donations and commitments from our club members and our military service people in Iraq.

However, we may need more before this is over, as we expect that we'll need a to cover the final costs of the labor for the body and paint work. Our intentions are not to allow Corporal Foster to dig into his pocket for any more of the funds, rather we want to drum up donations instead.

By the way, the assumption may be that we are looking for big donations, which is not the case. Folks----even $5.00 or $10.00 can be put to good use for this project.

Thanks to each and everyone of you that has donated thus far. Word is starting to spread in Iraq about this project and it is inspiring to our men and women serving over there. I will forward emails as them come in.

LANCE BAKER 480-229-5691
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Lance-

We appreciate the support and are definitely interested in updates as
the car progresses. I have to say, it already looks great.

We should be able to transfer some assistance via Paypal within the
week. We, of course, had to talk to the bosses (wives) before hand and
have all been given the thumbs up.

I really don't know how to express how much it means to the troops to
see that they are appreciated. Depending on how you and your team feel
about it, I'd like to post the story on our task force board for the
rest of the Soldiers to see. It's just a cork bulletin board in the
Headquarters building but a lot of Troops come through here. I
understand if you would rather not, or if you wanted to wait until the
project was completed.

I understand the necessity for stealth and will be sure to pass it along
to the rest of the guys.

Thanks again. He's going to love it!

Steve T

-----Original Message-----
From: Lance Baker [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2008 3:14 AM
To: Tolson, Stephen SSG 261st MMB OPS BTL NCO
Cc: Thom Mohr; Tony DAngelo (GTO club); Tom Burton (Cactus GTOs); Mark
Allen; Jasen Barckley; David House; John Bauler; Jack Riley
Subject: PROJECT IRAQI VETERAN

STEVE,
On behalf of the First Generation Camaros of Arizona, the Cactus GTO
club and Corporal Jared Foster, thank you for calling about the project.

More importantly, THANK YOU for your service to our country.

If you found us on the TEAM CAMARO website, do not get us mixed up with
the Patroitdream.org project. Our is PROJECT IRAQI VETERAN and you
will see the banner at the top of the forums, or go into the Bench
Racing forum and check out the "sticky" post.

John and I both about fell out of our chairs when we heard your were
calling from Iraq !! But this is exactly why we are doing this
project---to show our gratitude.

Briefly---our biggest need is for $$$. We have the majority of the
parts we need, but now need to buy pistons, engine bearings, etc.

I will be typing an update shortly, showing what parts we have and those
that we need, but the majority of our concern is $$$. You will now be
on our mailing list and should see our emails more frequently.

Lastly----$5.00 or $10.00 will suffice. We understand that military pay
is minimal at best and would rather that you make sure yourself, the
wife and family are taken care of rather than our project. However, if
you do donate as a unit or team, please include everyone's name and
email address, so we can send them thank you's and updates.

Attached are a few pics of Jared's car and our progress----these have
not been posted to the website yet. They are a few pics of work days,
where our two clubs came together to work on the parts for Jared's car.
Everyone pitched in---it was great. The excitement over the project was
incredible.

Lastly----this operation is covert at the moment. Jared's brothers and
sisters don't even know. I talk to his mom once a week and give her
status. This is our own version of 'OVERHAULIN' if you will.

LANCE BAKER 480-229-5691 feel free to call any time




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[Ngtflyr]

For those of you who have donated parts and or cash here is an update. The car is nearly finished and will be presented on Sunday. I will be in town in time to see the presentation. For those of you in the Phoenix area there is a car show at Falcon Field on the Commemorative Air Force ramp, in Mesa Sunday 2 Mar and the presentation will be done there I will get the flyer posted asap. over 500 cars are expected and vintage WWII aircraft as an added bonus. I would have got this up sooner but flying too much, not that that's a bad thing.

Dave

Here's the latest update from the guys doing the work:

TEAM-----Corporal Foster's Camaro is getting closer and closer to completion. Pics attached

Therefore, we have established SUNDAY MARCH 2ND as the golden day !!!

I will only provide some brief details in this email, as I am working on a flyer, formally announcing the event.

Here are the details:
---We are billing this as a Sunday afternoon show and shine car event---no trophys !!!
---Event will be held at the Commerative Air Force hanger at Falcon Field in Mesa.
The B-17 should be on site, but if not, they have their B-25, P-51 Mustang,
Avenger, 2 Migs, and various other aircraft for us to see. The hanger where we will
present the car is huge !!! And just the perfect back-drop as well.
---In order to support the CAF museum, we will charge $20.00 per car for the car
show, which gets you two tickets into the museum. All spectators and guest, will
pay $7.00 per ticket into the museum. Again----all proceeds go to support the
hanger---which they really need.
---If all goes well, Corporal Foster will be arrested and escorted under full Military
Police arrest----via two Hummers and possibly police escort !!!! Our inside MP and
also Iraq Veteran Jasen Barckley, is working those details as we speak.
---Formal presentation will take place at 2:00PM

This event is open to everyone and their car. Spread the word that we are doing this for a deserving soldier-----just don't use Corporal Foster's name as it may get back to him !!! He still doesn't know !!!

Flyer will be sent in the next couple of days.

LANCE BAKER 480-229-5691

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[mockingbird812]

Awesome job Dave. It is looking real good!

[Xplantdad]

Dave wanted me to post this!

[Ngtflyr]

Thanks Bruce!

Here is the story on what happened to Corporal Foster, he was shot by a 50 Cal and survived:

CPL Foster



Boy is he in for a surprise tomorrow. I will post pics

[BBIGG BLOCK 396]

What you guys are doing for this Young Marine is ABSOLUTELY GREAT.If anyone deserves a helping hand it sounds like he does!I would love to see the look on his face when he is presented with the Camaro when it is all finished! Also look forward to seeing and hearing more about this story as it moves forward.

Thanks

Bobby

[VintageMusclecar]

Anxiously awaiting updates & pics.

Eric

[Ngtflyr]

The presentation was absolutely perfect. Numerous news channels were there and there should be some great video of the presentation. I will post it as soon as they get it on their websites. Cpl Foster was stunned and very appreciative. The car was stunning, the setting awesome, inside the Confederate, I mean Commemorative Air Force Hangar. Several thousand people were there and a couple hundred cars for the show. Cpl Foster was told he had to see a Col to get his official outbrief for his medical retirement. He showed in uniform, and was obviously shellshocked. Members of the Camaro club blocked his view of the car until it was unveiled. If photobucket ever downloads the photos I will post a few tonight. A few SYC members were on hand as well, you may see a car or two you recognize from the pavillions as well. A really good turnout for a good cause, thanks to all of you from this board who contributed $$ or parts. It went to a great cause, Cpl Foster said he was going to sleep in it tonite. 30+ family members were on hand and at least four local tv stations, as well as a few "muscle car" magazine staff members. Pics to follow