Snowball Express kicks off weekend festivities

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
  • Air Force Print News
LOS ANGELES (AFPN) --  Orange County businessman Michael Kerr decided his part in the War on Terror was to give families of fallen military heroes one magical weekend, complete with a trip to Disneyland.

Mr. Kerr is the founder of the Snowball Express, a Dec 15-18 event offered to the families of service members who died after Sept. 11. Mr. Kerr spoke before the kickoff dinner at the Crystal Cathedral Friday about what his group was trying to accomplish.

"This is our offer to the families of fallen heroes," he said. "We wanted to get them together in one place and show them as a nation we support them."

Activities included in the four-day event are a holiday show, a party at Oakley headquarters, a shopping spree with donated gift cards, a trip to Disneyland and the last event is tickets to a NHL hockey match between the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames at the Honda Center.

The event will not cost the families a penny. Mr. Kerr worked with local groups and sponsors from across the country to gather donations and ensure all families who wanted to attend the event could do so.

"It was a phenomenal amount of work and it couldn't have (been) done by just one group," he said. "We just wanted to do something for them, because they have already paid everything to this country that they need to pay."

Jenny Auchman's husband Master Sgt. Stephen Auchman died in Mosul Iraq to mortar fire in 2004. She attended the event with her sons Brian and Eric and said it has been an emotional trip.

"It's been a little challenging because of the memories," she said. "But so far it's been good. "It makes me feel good to know that other people do care; I don't quite feel so alone."

Mr. Kerr hopes that people across the country can use his event as a blueprint on how to help military families.

"So often people want to help, but they don't know how," he said "What we wanted to do with Snowball Express is set an example on how to help these kids."

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