Our New Home on the Internet!

It should come to no one’s surprise that we are now moving over to our own web site domain. The past 8 months have been truly amazing and words could never truly describe what this all means to so many people. Last night a soldier had just returned home on R&R from Afghanistan and myself and the Lindsey’s were honored to watch this family, with two toddlers, reunite. It made every moment spent on the phone or in front of this computer screen worth it.

Thank you for your continued support and now ….

http://www.GregHarrisMCR.org  

 

We will keep this WordPress site up yet will discontinue its use as of today March 8, 2009 …

 

Donation Scam – Not on Our Watch

You may have seen this Ch. 9 report on a telephone scam that we became aware of last week in which someone has been calling local residents asking for donations over the phone for the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room. Unfortunately, we became aware of it and reported it to the Syracuse Police Department. We also contacted Ch. 9’s Your Stories segment asking them to make the public aware of the scam AND contact Syracuse Police if they were called and still had information about the caller and what they asked potential donors to do with their donations.

Apparently, Ch. 9 contacted the police and they didn’t want to add that residents who were contacted should call the Syracuse Police. We at the Courtesy Room are beside ourselves that someone out there would use our project to cheat people out of their hard earned money.

If the Police don’t seem interested in finding this individual, we at the Courtesy Room are more than interested. If you have been contacted by this individual over the phone and have any information; a phone number from the caller ID, the address where they asked you to send the donations or anything of that nature, we ask that you contact us via email at gjharrismilitarycourtesyroom@gmail.com and we will take it from there.

To reiterate what was said on the Ch. 9 broadcast, we only solicit donations via written letter and anyone wanting to send a donation should send it to:

Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room
7155 Manlius Center Road
East Syracuse, NY 13057

Check should be made out to – Gregory Harris Military Courtesy Room

If you have any questions, please call 315-715-0404 and speak with out Public Relations Coordinator.

Thank you to the Community for your ongoing support of our project and we hope that the perpetrator of this illegal activity is found and brough to justice in the very near future.

Thank you!

The Staff and Volunteers of the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room

 

Ribbon Cutting – We are now officially open!

 

 

 

They only thing that can be said at this point is, “You had to be there!”  A heartfelt “Thank You” to Mayor Driscoll and Airport Commissioner Mancuso for their unwavering support of this project.  The Mayor was on hand much longer than planned, he simply did not want to leave, he was proud of what the people of the City of Syracuse were doing on behalf of our men and women in uniform.  Commissioner Mancuso shared that he had never seen this many people at the airport for a press conference.  He too was proud to be part of such a project, only one of two like it in the nation. 

Our sincere thanks to our speakers, Sam Bregande, the Marketing Manager for AmeriCU Credit Union, our very first corporate sponsor;  Command Sergeant Major Terry Parham representing the 10th Mountain Division from Watertown; Lt. Col. MaryJo Timpano representing the 174th Fighter Wing of Syracuse; Lt. Commander Christopher Flaherty and crew representing Naval Air Station Brunswick, ME (the Lt. Commander is from nearby Cleveland, NY and flew in on a P-3 Orion aircraft especially for the event and to visit with children from his hometown who are part of his First A Dream Foundation) and Jim Ransom, the North Central Area Vice Commandant of the Marine Corps League.

The most poignant part of the speeches was, without a doubt, the moving presentation done by Lt. Commander Flaherty.   In concert with his crew, they performed what is known as The Missing Man Ceremony, for more on it, click here. In short, this is a solemn ceremony to remember those who are POW/MIA. The Lt. Commander dedicated the ceremony to Marine Cpl. Gregory Harris, the Marine for whom the Courtesy Room is named. It was difficult to find a dry eye in the place as these sailors performed the ceremony with precision and a keen awareness of what this ceremony would mean to the Harris Family.

After the remarks by the speakers and the very touching Missing Man Ceremony, the mood took a more festive tone as members of the Harris Family joined the Mayor to cut the appropriately colored yellow ribbon to officially open the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room. Patriotic cakes was served immediately following the ribbon cutting and all those assembled, military personnel, Veterans and proud military families mingled for almost an hour after the ceremony to celebrate the day and take a quick tour of the new facilities.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all who attended, our speakers and the special group of children who came as part of Lt. Commander Flaherty’s foundation. It was wonderful to have so many young people there and they were absolutely fabulous! What a wonderful group of young people! They were also very excited to hear that we were having cake! (They were just adorable!)

For those in other parts of the nation and quite possibly around the world, you will find links to the various local news reports here, here and here.

We plan on putting together a photo album of the event so please, anyone who was in attendance and has some photos they would like to share, please forward them to us at our e-mail address, gjharrismilitarycourtesyroom@gmail.com . (We will update this entry when more photos become available as well!)

Once again, we are so thankful for all of the ongoing support that we have received with this project and as we said today, this room is a testament to how we feel about our military and what they mean to us.

So now, when you are at Hancock International Airport, please come down to Baggage Claim A and visit! We would love to have you!

- The Proud Staff of the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room

 

The Final Countdown …

Hey there! Yes! It is finally all coming together! We are now down to all the little details and the rooms are really taking shape. We were all over there today and we took some pictures of how things are moving along. I know that many of you do not live locally so these will be your first view of the room. Just keep in mind that these are the “work in progress” photos! Enjoy! Those who are local? See you Tuesday at 10 am!

Main Entrance
Coffee AreaLounge Area
Coming Soon

 

The First Hero on The Memorial Wall

I had a great chat yesterday with Lt. Commander Flaherty who will be piloting the P-3 Orion aircraft from Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine on Tuesday. He will have some 18 men aboard with him to join us for the ribbon cutting. We are all very proud to say that he is a local man who continues to do great things in his community here at home while still serving our great nation. I learned that the Lt. Commander has established a small foundation entitled “First A Dream” and he, in concert with a few of his former teachers back home in Cleveland, NY, attempt to incorporate his military service into their learning. He writes to them from the various locations he travels to around the world and gives the teachers some “real life experiences” that they can extend to the classroom about someone the students already know. Some of these great kids will be attending the opening of the courtesy room on Tuesday to see their hero. It should be a magical time for everyone! More pictures to come!

Thanks!
The Proud Staff of the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room

 

T-minus 6 Days and Counting ….

 

Well Folks, we are all walking around like a kid on Christmas Eve. We have had over 1,000 hits on this blog site and we are all excited, anxious and coordinating like crazy making sure that the opening goes off without a hitch. We would like to offer a special thanks and our sincere gratitude to Commissioner Mancuso. He had the foresight to realize that this project has become much larger than we all expected and he has given us a second room that is adjacent to our original room so that the troops have more space to relax while using the Courtesy Room.

With this additional space will come additional needs. So, anyone out there who would like to donate some cafe tables with chairs, some DVDs, portable DVD players or make a monetary donation to be used for the purchase of said items that would be a great help.

Again, donations can be sent to:

The Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room
Emerald City Detachment # 877, Marine Corps League
7155 Manlius Center Road
East Syracuse, NY 13057

For non-monetary donations, please contact us at the following e-mail address: gjharrismilitarycourtesyroom@gmail.com , and we can work out the details.

Some of the larger items that have been donated thus far include a double door refrigerator, a commercial size coffee maker and several comfortable chairs. We are really making progress! We have already gone out and purchased our first batch of supplies for the room – food items, coffee supplies, water, soda and paper supplies.

Today we all met at the room to do some minor things and a local TV channel, WTVH5, a CBS affiliate, came by to do an interview and show how the room is shaping up for the ribbon cutting ceremony next Tuesday. You can view that piece here. There was a lot of excitement in the air at the airport as well. The employees have been so supportive and many have stopped down to see how things are progressing in the rooms.  The crew that has been helping with some of the minor renovations have been fabulous!

We have lots of little things to do and finalize before the opening and we now even have a way for those of you out there is cyberspace to help out as well.

Please leave a comment below in the form of a message to the troops who will soon be utilizing the Courtesy Room. We are confident that messages of support from other Americans will be a great thing for them to read. So, let the troops know how much they mean to you – We will later have these message made available to the troops for them to read while they visit the Courtesy Room.

Thanks in advance for leaving a message to the Troops! It doesn’t matter what uniform they wear, only that it has that red, white and blue patch on the sleeve.

From All of Us at the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room,
THANK YOU!

 

Welcome! – Update: AP Reports on Courtesy Room

The Cpl. Gregory J. Harris

Military Courtesy Room

Hancock Airport, Syracuse, New York

 

Emerald City Detachment, Marine Corps League

Military Courtesy Room Project

PO Box 393

Chittenango, New York 13037-0393

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Under the auspices of the Emerald City Detachment of the Marine Corps League (Chittenango), we are proud to announce the establishment of The Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room at Syracuse’s Hancock Airport.  This unique space will offer any active-duty military personnel, particularly those traveling through Hancock Airport on deployment, a comfortable location to relax, grab a bite to eat and wait for their flights. 

Loren Davies, Commandant of the Emerald City Detachment and former Homeland Security/TSA Supervisor at Hancock Airport along with Leroy Bowen, Iraqi War Veteran and Quartermaster of the Pulaski VFW who is also employed by the TSA noticed that many servicemen, due to scheduling and leave passes, were forced to spend long hours waiting for their flights when heading home on leave, moving to a new duty station or returning to their place of deployment.   Many servicemen were forced to spend the night at the airport and make sleeping quarters where ever possible.   This was obviously unacceptable to these Veterans so they set out to do something about it.

Together these veterans coordinated with the Aviation Commissioner Anthony J. Mancuso and Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll to get the necessary approval for the space.  Thanks to the amazing cooperation and enthusiasm of both offices, this plan was put into motion and finalized in short order.

The Courtesy Room is being named in honor of a local Marine, Cpl. Gregory J. Harris who was captured in June of 1966 during the Vietnam War and is still unaccounted for.  Cpl. Harris was a 1963 Graduate of West Genesee High School and has family and friends that still live in Central New York and are actively perusing his case with the Department of Defense.

Donations both monetary and non-perishable goods, have been received from many local businesses and private individuals yet much more will be needed to maintain the Military Courtesy Room on a monthly basis.  Monetary donations can be sent to the address given above and goods can be coordinated through Mr. Davies (315) 359-6149.   Volunteers will also be needed to provide assistance to those servicemen utilizing the Military Courtesy Room.  Those interested in volunteering or to help with ongoing donations to cover monthly costs can contact Mr. Davies for further information or e-mail gjharrismilitarycourtesyroom@gmail.com .

We welcome the public to join us for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Gregory J. Harris Military Courtesy Room on July 29, 2008 at 10 AM at Hancock Airport.   Those expected to be in attendance, Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll, Commissioner of Aviation Anthony J. Mancuso and a representative from the area military installations including Ft. Drum.

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UPDATE: 

Associated Press reports on Military Courtesy Room more here