USO OMG!
So I had a very cool weekend in Washington DC!
I went on tour with the USO!
What's the USO, i hear some of you asking?
It's an awesome non-profit group that helps support the US military and their families, and these days they need all the support they can get. It's not political... it's not about whether you believe in the war or not... it's just about helping out the folks who serve, many of whom have it pretty rough.
(You can learn more about them at http://www.uso.org.)
Sooper triple amazing voice actress Candi Milo (the voice of Numbuh Two's Grandma, Dexter, Madam Foster and a KA-MILLION other voices... http://candimilo.com/) organized the trip and brought along me, total rock star Joe Murray (creator of Rocco's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo) and almost the entire cast of Comedy Central's Reno 911 (Carlos Alazroqui, who plays Officer Garcia on Reno is also the voice of Rocco AND Lazlo... as well as 'The Kid' on KND!) And while Reno 911 is definitely NOT a show for the young kiddies, EVERYONE in the military LOVES them!
Here's some of the awesome stuff we did:
• Visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals and their sick children in the pediatric wards. One kid was even watching Camp Lazlo when we walked in- man, was he pysched to meet Joe Murray!
Most of the soldiers were wounded by bombs and despite their injuries were ALL so upbeat and positive. There was a great guy named Luis who had lost his hearing from a bomb blast so we talked with him by writing on a dry erase board. Turns out he's a massive KND AND Lazlo fan so Joe and I made sure to draw him some extra-awesome pics!
• Drew more pictures, signed autographs and gave away TONS of cool Cartoon Network stuff at bases Quantico, Belvore and Fort Mead on Family Deployment Day. So many of the kids' parents are overseas now, so it was great to do something to cheer 'em up!
• We even got invited for a tour of Marine One Security's hangar! They're the guys who run the fleet of helicopters that you see landing on the White House lawn and stuff. We even got to sit in the seat where countless Presidential butts sit! Definitely not something you get to do every day!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_One
Here's me and the Reno 911 cast. If you think their show is funny... try riding around in a bus with them for a couple days. My stomach hurt from laughing so much! And everywhere we went, people FLOCKED to meet them.
The rockin' Candi Milo signing stuff for the kids!
And Joe Murray drawing probably his eleventy hundredth drawing and not breaking a sweat.
'
This was the second time I did a visit for the USO and I can't wait to do it again!
I went on tour with the USO!
What's the USO, i hear some of you asking?
It's an awesome non-profit group that helps support the US military and their families, and these days they need all the support they can get. It's not political... it's not about whether you believe in the war or not... it's just about helping out the folks who serve, many of whom have it pretty rough.
(You can learn more about them at http://www.uso.org.)
Sooper triple amazing voice actress Candi Milo (the voice of Numbuh Two's Grandma, Dexter, Madam Foster and a KA-MILLION other voices... http://candimilo.com/) organized the trip and brought along me, total rock star Joe Murray (creator of Rocco's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo) and almost the entire cast of Comedy Central's Reno 911 (Carlos Alazroqui, who plays Officer Garcia on Reno is also the voice of Rocco AND Lazlo... as well as 'The Kid' on KND!) And while Reno 911 is definitely NOT a show for the young kiddies, EVERYONE in the military LOVES them!
Here's some of the awesome stuff we did:
• Visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals and their sick children in the pediatric wards. One kid was even watching Camp Lazlo when we walked in- man, was he pysched to meet Joe Murray!
Most of the soldiers were wounded by bombs and despite their injuries were ALL so upbeat and positive. There was a great guy named Luis who had lost his hearing from a bomb blast so we talked with him by writing on a dry erase board. Turns out he's a massive KND AND Lazlo fan so Joe and I made sure to draw him some extra-awesome pics!
• Drew more pictures, signed autographs and gave away TONS of cool Cartoon Network stuff at bases Quantico, Belvore and Fort Mead on Family Deployment Day. So many of the kids' parents are overseas now, so it was great to do something to cheer 'em up!
• We even got invited for a tour of Marine One Security's hangar! They're the guys who run the fleet of helicopters that you see landing on the White House lawn and stuff. We even got to sit in the seat where countless Presidential butts sit! Definitely not something you get to do every day!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_One
Here's me and the Reno 911 cast. If you think their show is funny... try riding around in a bus with them for a couple days. My stomach hurt from laughing so much! And everywhere we went, people FLOCKED to meet them.
The rockin' Candi Milo signing stuff for the kids!
And Joe Murray drawing probably his eleventy hundredth drawing and not breaking a sweat.
'
This was the second time I did a visit for the USO and I can't wait to do it again!