Tunes 4 the Troops was started in 2005 by a 15 year old girl named Kaylee Marie Radzyminski. Kaylee Marie was attending a Sea Cadet camp in Pensacola, Florida. While at this camp she had the opportunity to speak with some military personnel who had just come home from a deployment overseas. They told her that while being overseas they missed entertainment. What little CDs/DVDs they brought with them were played so many times that they became repetitive. As a result they were passed to other troops so they could enjoy the limited yet essential means of entertainment. Hearing this sparked an idea in the high school freshman to do something about their need. She gathered her personal collection of CDs/DVDs. She then asked her friends and school. This effort shortly spread to her community, state, nation, and now it is an international project. By November 2005 500 items had been collected. These items were taken by Kaylee Marie and her mother to Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed Army Hospital during Thanksgiving. The first box did not go overseas until March of 2006. Every CD/DVD for the first couple of years had a sticker on them saying thank you as well as had the Tunes 4 the Troops email address on it. This was so the troops could request more items for their unit or so when the items got passed to other troops their unit would also be able to request a box. As of June 1st 2011 over 925,962 items have been sent overseas. A little idea has impacted hundreds-of-thousands of lives in a positive way. Tunes 4 the Troops is now part of the Service Center at Tennessee Technological University. There are student workers who graciously give their valuable time to continue to make Tunes 4 the Troops such a success.
It's not about supporting the war or opposing the war, it's ALL about supporting our Troops!
