Sinise/Tiny Soldier Partnership Helps Troops & Families

PEORIA, Ariz., Nov. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gary Sinise Foundation and The Tiny Solider announced a partnership that will result in a unique line of products, with 50% of proceeds from sales of the clothing going to the Foundation and 5% going to The Tiny Soldier's favorite military service organization, Operation Gratitude.

"We are so excited to have The Tiny Soldier on board," said Brook E. Finan on behalf of the Gary Sinise Foundation. "We share Janell's passion for the military and are so happy to help spread support for our troops alongside The Tiny Soldier."

The two organizations have created a special line of products that will be embroidered or screen printed with a new customized logo that blends the individual logos of each organization. Fifty-percent of the proceeds from the sale of these items will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation. Five-percent of the proceeds will continue to go to Operation Gratitude. The Tiny Soldier has donated five-percent of all sales of its Tiny Soldier line to Operation Gratitude since the company's first year of operation.

The logo is a new version of The Tiny Soldier logo, which includes a signature stick-figure character named Sherman. In the new logo version, the character's shirt is embroidered with the Gary Sinise Foundation logo. The new figure is named Calvin.

"Calvin is all about 'serving honor and need,' remembering our defenders, giving back to our military, honoring our veterans and supporting our troops and their families-just like the Gary Sinise Foundation," Tiny Soldier owner and founder Janell Mitchell explained. "Calvin is also about the importance of giving back and the hope of instilling in our nation's youth a sense of patriotism and pride in the red, white and blue."

New products will be announced as they are produced. Customers will be able to order products directly from The Tiny Solider website: www.thetinysoldier.com. The Tiny Solider also provides custom embroidery for ball teams, businesses, charity organizations and others. The embroidery and screen printed designs can be applied to nearly any fabric item a customer desires. For more information, call Janell Mitchell at 623-825-5057, or e-mail [email protected].

About The Tiny Soldier

To honor U.S. soldiers and other civil servants, The Tiny Solider uses quality screen printing and embroidery to produce infant clothing and children's clothing with distinctive whimsical designs that make patriotism fun for everyone. The Tiny Solider also offers high-quality personalized gifts and custom-designed logo merchandise for companies, teams and other organizations. Five percent of all profits go to Operation Gratitude to support U.S. troops. For more information, visit www.thetinysoldier.com.

ABOUT GARY SINISE:

In 2008 he received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian honor awarded to citizens for exemplary deeds performed in service of the nation. He is only the second actor, and one of only 110 people in history to have received the honor. Other awards include The Medal of Honor's Bob Hope Excellence in Entertainment Award, The Spirit of the USO Award, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award, and the Heart of a Patriot Award from USO of Illinois.  In April 2011 he received the USC School of Social Work's Crystal Heart, the school's highest honor for his outstanding community service, and the university established the Gary Sinise Endowed Scholarship in the School of Social Work in his name to support further education in the area of military social work.

Sinise has done hundreds of personal appearances and concerts with the Lt. Dan Band worldwide, mostly for military related organizations.  He has participated in over 40 tours and made over 150 appearances for the USO alone, and traveled to bases in Alaska and throughout the US, and overseas to locations such as Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Belgium, The UK, The Netherlands, Italy, UAE, Qatar, Korea, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Okinawa and Guantanamo Bay, raising the spirits and boosting morale of hundreds of thousands of troops and their families.

As a result of Sinise's first two trips to Iraq, he started Operation International Children with Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand, which has worked with schools in the U.S., corporate sponsors and People to People International to supply the military with well over a quarter of a million school supply kits, along with more than half a million toys and thousands of blankets, backpacks, pairs of shoes, Arabic-language books, and sets of sports equipment to provide to children in conflict areas.

Sinise serves as the spokesperson for the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial (www.avdlm.org/site/c.gnKFIJNqEqG/b.5307877/k.B20F/About_the_Memorial.htm), traveling the country to raise funds to build the memorial to honor America's 3 million living disabled military veterans, which broke ground in 2010.  He was involved in raising funds for The Pentagon Memorial (www.whs.mil/memorial) located just southwest of The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, where one can find a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people killed in the building, and on American Airlines Flight 77.  He also helped raise funds to build The Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance (www.brooklynwall.us) in KeySpan Park, to honor the first responders, those fire, police and emergency personnel from across the nation who raced to the sites after the terrorist attacks, risking their lives in service to others.

"The Foundation is a strong, dependable resource to spread the 'give-back goodness'."  That's what Gary Sinise wants his Foundation to do,  "provide opportunities for people to give back."

Currently, Sinise stars as Detective Mac Taylor and is also a producer of CBS' highly successful "CSI: NY."

Press Release Contact Information:
Janell Mitchell
Owner
The Tiny Soldier
623-825-5057
[email protected]

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SOURCE The Tiny Soldier