Pin Ups for Vets

My roommate Gina has this amazing project called Pin Ups For Vets. She is the sole creator and model. It's a calender fundraiser that raises money for VA hospitals all over the US. She goes into those hospitals to deliver the calendars and at the end of every year, she gives the money raised from the calendars to one VA hospital of her choice. This is a great project and I am really in awe of her and all that she does for veterans everywhere. Please feel free to check out her website and buy a calender. They are awesome! Below is some more information about the project straight from her website.

"Besides raising these amazing funds to support Veterans’ health care programs, Gina has made countless personal visits to ill and injured patients in VA and military hospitals across the U.S., where she delivers her nostalgic pin-up calendars and posters that are donated by the public. She has also sent hundreds of donated calendar gifts to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gina Elise has been dubbed “the calendar angel” by America’s deployed troops, who have flown seven American flags in her honor over military bases in Iraq. The California Jaycees Foundation and the California Junior Chamber of Commerce selected Gina Elise as 2007 “Outstanding Young Californian”. The "Points of Light" Foundation in Washington, DC has honored this project for exceptional community service. Gina Elise’s nostalgic pin-up calendar is drawing lots of attention to Veterans’ health care, while at the same time honoring the four-year military service of her late grandfather. Gina Elise inscribes personalized messages of appreciation on the calendars and posters to thank the Veterans and troops for their service to our country.

In 2009, The "Los Angeles Business Journal" publication and its members honored Gina Elise as "VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR" at their annual "Women Making A Difference" awards ceremony. This annual event recognizes the work of influential women in the community. Gina Elise has raised substantial funds for Veterans' and military hospital programs that care for our Vets and active duty military.

Gina was inspired by the beautiful pin-up photos and paintings that boosted the morale of the troops in the 1940's . She took that idea and created a modern-day nostalgic pin-up calendar that would once again bring smiles to hospitalized Vets and deployed troops. On her website, people around the world can order calendars and other gift items for themselves, for hospitalized Vets, or for deployed troops. Her hospital visits and calendar gifts have been received with much gratitude by our Veterans and Wounded Warriors, and the calendars and posters have cheered up the troops who have had to deal with long deployments. The "In the Field" pages on Gina Elise's website album show the troops and the Veterans holding the "Pin-Ups for Vets" calendars and posters. Gina Elise also has posted numerous letters of appreciation from Veterans and active duty military who support the work of the calendar fundraiser project.

Gina Elise's project, that supports hospitalized Veterans and deployed troops, has touched people around the world. A military unit in Iraq painted Gina Elise's pin-up pose, in camouflage uniform, on a wall at the military base to help boost morale for the troops. An army medic, who recently returned home from Iraq, painted Gina Elise’s pin-up pose on his newly purchased motorcycle, to honor her work for Veterans. A traumatic brain injury patient in a Veterans hospital who had not spoken for a month, saw Gina Elise at his bedside and slowly began to answer her questions. Gina Elise hopes that the public will honor our brave ill Vets and injured troops by making a visit to a VA or military hospital to express appreciation to these men and women who have sacrificed so much in their service to the United States."

www.pinupsforvets.com