{"id":1117684,"date":"2021-12-14T11:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1117684"},"modified":"2021-12-14T11:44:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:44:22","slug":"gary-sinise-foundation-brings-joy-to-more-than-750-gold-star-military-families-in-annual-snowball-express-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gary-sinise-foundation-brings-joy-to-more-than-750-gold-star-military-families-in-annual-snowball-express-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Sinise Foundation Brings Joy To More Than 750 Gold Star Military Families In Annual \u2018Snowball Express\u2019 Event"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgary-sinise-foundation-brings-joy-to-more-than-750-gold-star-military-families-in-annual-snowball-express-event%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1117684&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Gary Sinise Foundation held its annual \u201cSnowball Express\u201d event virtually this year, but still found a way to bring joy to more than 750 Gold Star families and 1,800 children during a star-studded event featuring Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Gordon Ramsay and Simone Biles.<\/p>\n<p>According to the foundation\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.garysinisefoundation.org\/snowball-express\/\">website<\/a>, the Snowball Express event \u201cserves the children and surviving spouse of fallen military heroes. We are committed to programming and support that holds space to honor their fallen heroes while also helping create new memories as they move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The foundation was started by Emmy-award-winning actor Gary Sinise and serves military families and veterans.<\/p>\n<p>In a video <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VA2I8c6I5QM\">released<\/a> after the event held on December 11, Sinise addressed supporters, saying: \u201cImagine you\u2019re a child and you\u2019ve just been told your parent is never coming home. At the Gary Sinise Foundation, we serve thousands of the children of our fallen heroes through our Snowball Express program, and on December 11th we brought 1800 of these children together for a virtual online event of healing and joy \u2014 and many of my pals sent in messages of support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/film\/news\/gary-sinise-foundation-virtual-snowball-express-celebrities-1235132675\/\">noted<\/a> by Variety, those \u201cpals\u201d included some of the most famous and lovable people in Hollywood and beyond:<\/p>\n<p><em>This year\u2019s Snowball Express included special messages from Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Steve Buscemi, Matthew McConaughey, Kristen Bell, Simone Biles, Caeleb Dressel, Jordan Chiles,&nbsp; Brett Goldstein, Joe Mantegna, Norman Reedus, Tom Kenny, Zachary Levi, Stephen Boss, Allison Holker Boss, Kelli Erdmann, Preston Arsement, Laurie Metcalf, Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Eddie Cahill, Dean Cain, Gary LeVox and Mike Rowe.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Children and families watched several live performances and were able to share messages of support and remembrance about their military loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary heartbeat of the Gary Sinise Foundation is lifting people up and bringing them joy and support and making sure that they know they\u2019re appreciated,\u201d Sinise told recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/kristen-bell-tom-hanks-and-more-celebs-join-gary-sinise-for-virtual-2021-snowball-express-exclusive\">told<\/a> Entertainment Tonight, \u201cand that we\u2019re grateful for them and that we don\u2019t forget what we\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Snowball Express began in 2006 and was started by American Airlines, but joined forces with Sinise\u2019s foundation in 2017. This year\u2019s event was virtual due to COVID-19 concerns but in years past <a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/news\/airlines-holiday-kids\/\">American Airlines<\/a> has flown families to Disney World:<\/p>\n<p><em>In 2019, the last time the event was held in person, American Airlines and its volunteers coordinated gate-side celebrations in scores of airports and flew more than 1,700 Gold Star family members to Orlando International Airport from 87 cities via chartered and commercial flights. In addition to being able to visit the theme park, while in Orlando families had access to counseling services; application support for educational scholarships; education about and access to medical and government benefits; financial counseling and assistance; mentoring; and aid for those with special needs or disabilities.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The primary mission of the Gary Sinise Foundation is to \u201cserve our nation by honoring our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need \u2026 by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFreedom and security are precious gifts that we, as Americans, should never take for granted,\u201d a quote from Sinise reads on the website. \u201cWe must do all we can to extend our hand in times of need to those who willingly sacrifice each day to provide that freedom and security. While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation\u2019s defenders, we can always do a little more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Video of the Snowball Express event can be seen here:<\/p>\n<p> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gary Sinise Foundation 2021 Virtual Snowball Express - A Weekend to Remember\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VA2I8c6I5QM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gary Sinise Foundation held its annual \u201cSnowball Express\u201d event virtually this year, but still found a way to bring joy to more than 750 Gold Star families and 1,800 children during a star-studded event featuring Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Gordon Ramsay and Simone Biles.According to the foundation\u2019s website, the Snowball Express event \u201cserves the children and surviving spouse of fallen military heroes. We are committed to programming and support that holds space to honor their fallen heroes while also helping create new memories as they move forward.\u201dThe foundation was started by Emmy-award-winning actor Gary Sinise and serves military families and veterans.In a video released after the event held on December 11, Sinise addressed supporters, saying: \u201cImagine you\u2019re a child and you\u2019ve just been told your parent is never coming home. At the Gary Sinise Foundation, we serve thousands of the children of our fallen heroes through our Snowball Express program, and on December 11th we brought 1800 of these children together for a virtual online event of healing and joy \u2014 and many of my pals sent in messages of support.\u201dAs noted by Variety, those \u201cpals\u201d included some of the most famous and lovable people in Hollywood and beyond:This year\u2019s Snowball Express included special messages from Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Steve Buscemi, Matthew McConaughey, Kristen Bell, Simone Biles, Caeleb Dressel, Jordan Chiles,\u00a0 Brett Goldstein, Joe Mantegna, Norman Reedus, Tom Kenny, Zachary Levi, Stephen Boss, Allison Holker Boss, Kelli Erdmann, Preston Arsement, Laurie Metcalf, Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Eddie Cahill, Dean Cain, Gary LeVox and Mike Rowe.Children and families watched several live performances and were able to share messages of support and remembrance about their military loved ones.\u201cThe primary heartbeat of the Gary Sinise Foundation is lifting people up and bringing them joy and support and making sure that they know they\u2019re appreciated,\u201d Sinise told recently told Entertainment Tonight, \u201cand that we\u2019re grateful for them and that we don\u2019t forget what we\u2019re going through.\u201dThe Snowball Express began in 2006 and was started by American Airlines, but joined forces with Sinise\u2019s foundation in 2017. This year\u2019s event was virtual due to COVID-19 concerns but in years past American Airlines has flown families to Disney World:In 2019, the last time the event was held in person, American Airlines and its volunteers coordinated gate-side celebrations in scores of airports and flew more than 1,700 Gold Star family members to Orlando International Airport from 87 cities via chartered and commercial flights. In addition to being able to visit the theme park, while in Orlando families had access to counseling services; application support for educational scholarships; education about and access to medical and government benefits; financial counseling and assistance; mentoring; and aid for those with special needs or disabilities.The primary mission of the Gary Sinise Foundation is to \u201cserve our nation by honoring our defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need \u2026 by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities.\u201d\u201cFreedom and security are precious gifts that we, as Americans, should never take for granted,\u201d a quote from Sinise reads on the website. \u201cWe must do all we can to extend our hand in times of need to those who willingly sacrifice each day to provide that freedom and security. While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation\u2019s defenders, we can always do a little more.\u201dVideo of the Snowball Express event can be seen here:[embedded content]The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1117684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1117684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1117684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1117684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1117684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}