It was truly a proud day for the Midwest Garrison and the 501st. Members of the 501st rallied to make a little girl's dream come true by donating money and materials toward the construction of Stormtrooper armor for Katie "The Star Wars Girl". On Saturday October 27, 2012, Katie and her Mom, Carrie, arrived at Steve Gaza's house to an aisle constructed of 8 mighty TK's leading right to Darth Vader and A member of his officers team and the Imperial March over the stereo. Neither Katie nor her Mom was aware that that turned into an official troop and that so many members of the Garrison would be present. We felt that to completely understand the effort of the WORLD and to appreciate all that was done for her, the entire story was told to Katie. It was all very overwhelming to her and her apprehension was evident until the tote was opened and she saw the armor for the first time. Then came the magic question; "are you ready to suit up?" With the measurements provided by Carrie and the love and care taken by the build team, the armor fit her perfect. She was a natural. She reminded everyone how they felt when suiting up and seeing yourself for the first time. We took some great shots and after a short explanation of the do's, don'ts, can's and can not's of wearing TK armor, Katie and Carrie were on their way.
A list of donating members for all over the globe was attained and the names printed on the underside of the lid as a reminder of who helped make this dream come true. It was an honor that all the members of the build team (Javier Esqueda, Adriane Bean, Steve Mammen, Brian Troyan, and Steve Gaza) were present for Katie to meet and thank. It was also an honor to have the turnout for this little girl. Garrison members attending:
Jim Tampa-Darth Vader (SL 1020)
Dave Obidallah Imperial Officer (ID 4185)
Brian Troyan-TK (8968)
Steve Mammen-TK (7345)
Adriane Bean-TK (4541)
Carlos Mendoza-TK(5924)
Javier Esqueda-TK(265)
Matt McDonald-TK(8148)
Phyllis Schulte-TK(1951)
Steve Gaza-TK(4034)
Special thanks to Matt Frysztak (8596)for coming in from the Bloodfin Garrison in his TK to make the presentation more awesome!!!
![Image](http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g395/MidwestGarrison/2012%2010-27%20Katie%20TK%20Armor%20Presentation/P1030980.jpg)
Beans and her "mini-me"
![Image](http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g395/MidwestGarrison/2012%2010-27%20Katie%20TK%20Armor%20Presentation/P1030982.jpg)
All images from the day can be seen at
http://s1099.photobucket.com/albums/g39 ... sentation/
Carrie presented us with a copy of her book, "Bullied" and a cope of one of her paintings. Both can be seen in the album