Nationwide Turn-A-Thons Saturday

[Keith Outten]

Please support the Veterans Day Turn-A-Thons this Saturday November 11th at your local Woodcraft Store. In light of recent events those who serve in our Military need to know that the American people haven't given up on them.

The Freedom Pens Project is alive and well, we are receiving pens every week and recently received a really large donation that will cover our costs shipping pens for a very long time. Woodcraft has also offered to ship all of the pens made this Saturday directly to the Middle East saving us the cost of shipping. This is very generous and shows that Woodcraft's commitment to the FPP is steadfast.

If your schedule prevents you from turning pens Saturday you can drop off pens made in your shop at any Woodcraft Store.

Many Woodcraft Stores will be having sales this weekend, our local Woodcraft Store has scheduled their annual Customer Appreciation Day and have announced major discounts this weekend. Visit your local Store and make some new friends Saturday, you will feel better for donating your time to such a good cause.

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[Tyler Howell]

Real Good News.
If I ever learn to spin one of them buggers, It will come your way.
TJH:o

[John Miliunas]

I'll be at our Madison Woodcraft this Saturday, doing exactly that! Come on folks...Let's get out there and show our support of all those guys and gals in harm's way! :) :cool:

[Keith Outten]

If you can't turn a pen you can still help us out by visiting your local Woodcraft and offering to assemble pens. Most of the TAT's I have supported had people making pens and others who assembled. You can help pen turners fill out their cards or find another way to assist, there is always something that needs attention.

All you Veterans out there know how much this means to the young people who have the watch right now. You also understand how important it is for us to show our support and never stop.

If for only one hour please show your support for our American Patriots both current and past, visit your local Woodcraft Store and have a cup of coffee, say thanks to another Veteran or just cruise the store for new goodies for your work shop.

Any of you who would be kind enough to contact your local newspappers or TV stations and request that they send a reporter to your local Woodcraft TAT, your help would be appreciated getting the word out to the general public and to our Servicemen and women.

What are you doing on Veterans Day that could be more important? Please donate an hour of your time for this worthy cause.

Someone is probably turning our 60,000th pen right now.

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[Rusty Smith]

How does this work? Does each person supply their own blanks and pen kits? I think I saw somewhere that someone has pen kits at a substantial discount, so that kinda answers that question. What about blanks?

[Keith Outten]

Each Woodcraft Store will have their own way of doing things at Turn-A-Thons. Most stores will provide free pen kits and wood blanks, some will have them made up ahead of time. You should call the Manager of your local store and ask what they will be providing and if there is anything you will need to bring.

I just contacted the Woodcraft Store in Norfolk Virginia. They are providing everything this year, the only thing pen turners need to bring is their own turning tools.

Rusty, you can purchase pen kits for the Freedom Pens Project from my wife Jackie. She purchases pen kits from all the major suppliers in bulk and gets a substantial discount for FPP turners. You can contact Jackie Outten via Private Message here at SMC.

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[Ian Zahn]

Hi all,

I spent the entire day at the brand spanking new Woodcraft in Loveland, Colorado. And since I was the only one there in uniform (Army), many people came to me to say thanks for the project. I would then explain that Freedom Pens is a nation wide effort with many individuals, groups, organizations and corporations providing whatever they can to the endeavor.

Probably the most rewarding part of the day was seeing all the wide eyed youngsters that were able to take a tool in their hands and make some chips fly, and when they were done take the very pen they had created and write a note to some Soldier, Marine, Sailor or Airman that they will never know thanking them for a job well done.

Up until this morning I hadn’t turned anything except an ankle, but by the end of the day when all the dust settled I had managed to get a couple pens put together and in the pile to go across the pond. Big thanks to the folks from Rocky Mountain Woodturners (http://www.rmwt.org/) for providing the first-rate instruction to all the non-turners like me, and the folks at Woodcraft for being such gracious hosts. All tolled the fine people of Northern Colorado made 73 pens for the project and I’m told more will be done on Sunday.

So, I guess what I’m really trying to say is Thank You to all the people behind Freedom Pens, especially some guy named Keith who back in January of ’04 said “I had an idea this morning to start making wooden pens and donating them to our troops overseas.”, Thanks Keith.


Ian

[Keith Outten]

Ian,

Thank you for your service, this is the Freedom Pens Project's only goal. I was so pleased to see how well our local Woodcraft Turn-A-Thon went on Saturday in Norfolk, Virginia. The store was full of people all day and the room where we were turning pens stayed busy with young and old making pens, teaching new pen turners and lots of friendly conversation.

Aaron and my oldest daughter Kathy stayed pretty busy making pens and we received a bonus when a reporter and photographer from the Virginian Pilot Newspaper arrived to cover our event.

Pictures of our TAT will follow shortly.

[David Hayes]

Was only able to turn for about 1 hour along with my daughter, Savanna. We (she mainly) got two Ambrosia Maple pens turned. I brought in 10 pens that I had ready to ship.

The store had six lathes and they were all manned during the hour I was there. I don't know how many were made in total, but it was good to see some guys that I had met at last year's TAT.

Dave