Kourageous Keith

“The Rebel Pilot hides in the basement, alone, hoping to avoid detection at all cost…”

No, that’s not the opening line of the latest X-Wing series novel -- just me being the first to arrive at a surprise birthday party request that came in to Great Lakes Base, Ohio Garrison and Rancor Clan this past weekend. 

 The birthday party was for a brave kid known as “Kourageous Keith.” Keith just turned 8 years old and he is fighting a rare form of pediatric cancer called “undifferentiated soft tissue sarcom” -- for the second time.  His mother sent in a request for a few Star Wars characters to make an appearance at his birthday party, an invite our guys were glad to accept.  As you’d imagine, we tend to get a lot of birthday party event requests (for various reasons) -- yet we tend to only accept ones involving kids with serious medical issues.

Once the rest of the guys joined me in my underground hideout/basement, everyone got suited up as quietly as possible. After a while, Keith’s mom comes downstairs to check if we’re ready.  She goes back upstairs and announces that there’s some “special guests” who’d like to wish Keith a happy birthday; which is our cue to start heading upstairs.

In case you were wondering how many adult-sized Star Wars characters can fit in your standard-size living room = the answer is four; yet we somehow managed to fit six of us in the room!

After the rush of kids and parents taking cell phone pictures of Keith with all of the Star Wars characters, you can’t come to a kid’s birthday party without bringing some presents!  Bunch of the guys donated various Star Wars coloring books, toys and Hot Wheels cars for Keith’s birthday.  Keith tried on my Rebel Pilot helmet, which went along with his “Rebels Rule” t-shirt, and checked out one of the Mercs’ blaster rifle.  Then it was time for us to load up the spaceship and leave Keith and his family to enjoy the rest of his party.

You can find out more about “Kourageous Keith” by visiting his facebook community page:

https://www.facebook.com/KourageousKeith

GLB five-year Celebration

This year, Great Lakes Base has been celebrating it’s five-year anniversary with The Rebel Legion!  As one of the largest Bases within Rebel Legion, this milestone says a lot about not only the current members, but also the many people who’ve come and gone over that time.  One of the best ways to honor the legacy of Great Lakes Base is by coming together to celebrate the occasion with our fellow band of “Rebels.”  That is precisely what happened this past weekend in Maumee, Ohio.

Jed’s Fireball and Brew has become the (unofficial) center of Great Lakes Base.  The sports bar is located just outside of Toledo, with easy access from either the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton or Detroit regions of either Michigan or Ohio.  As many of us travel these “hyperspace routes” to and from events on a regular basis, finding a centralized location to host a rally for a volunteer group is helpful. This year’s holiday party would be extra special because it also served that the five-year anniversary celebration.

BrianKenobi and Lumpy welcomed everybody to this special occasion with a brief “State of the Base” address; pointing out the fact that Great Lakes Base is the third largest Base in Rebel Legion, that we’re tied for the largest population of Wookiees within RL, and that for the third year in a row GLB has trooped +100 “missions” over the course of the year.  BrianKenobi also introduced Moff D, the original Commanding Officer for Great Lakes Base, who helped keep this group together during some rather difficult times and thank him for helping build the Base we have today.

Then came time for the announcement of this year’s “Skywalker Select Awards.”  The Skywalker Select Award is presented to a GLB member from each state “for outstanding commitment, devotion and contributions to the Great Lakes Base.”  This year’s recipients were Foogy One (Ohio) and kcjohnson (Michigan)

Once the “rebel briefing” was taken care of, it was time to celebrate and HAVE FUN! Sheikahchica hosted her annual “White (Bantha)” gift exchange, which is a huge hit with the crowd.  For reasons I can’t get into (for now), Lumpy and Bacca9 decided to suit up in their respective Wookiee costumes for a while – which made the evening feel a bit like the “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

Here’s to another five years (and more) of Great Lakes Base!  Because when it comes to this Star Wars family having a good time… “it’s what we do!”