Entertainment, Music - Army Times

Jim Beam, Kid Rock offer homefront support

Entertainer Kid Rock fused music, bourbon and military awareness as he headlined the Nissan Pavilion outside Washington, D.C., on July 31 just before the conclusion of his 2009 summer Rock and Rebel Tour.

Jim Beam sponsored the tour, partnering with the musician to promote its new cherry-flavored “Red Stag” bourbon and raise money and awareness for Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization assisting soldiers, veterans and military families. Fifty cents of each ticket sold in 22 nationwide shows will be donated to the charity, which will receive a collective check at Kid Rock’s final show in Las Vegas in September.

“It’s a medley of a great brand with a great organization that’s doing so much to help military members and their families,” said Carly Samuelson, an Operation Homefront national rep located out of Washington, D.C. Operation Homefront offers service members and their families a variety of emergency services and morale assistance, including food, financial aid, and community programs. In addition to sponsoring the tour, Jim Beam designed a limited-edition Operation Homefront bottle — sold between Memorial Day and Independence Day — to spread the word about the seven-year-old organization.

Gene Carter, Operation Homefront D.C. board member and a retired Air Force captain, manned the booth at the show along with several other representatives and volunteers. He started working with military family assistance programs about four years ago.

“I wanted something that on my deathbed, I could look back and feel good about,” Carter said.

One of his earliest projects involved helping out a Fredericksburg, Va., woman, who was looking after her three great-grandchildren while their single mother served out a term in Iraq. The home was falling apart, infested with cockroaches and a toilet that barely stood. Carter organized about 50 volunteers and 30 donors and fixed up the entire house in one weekend.

In 2008, Operation Homefront met 65,693 needs for military families. On average, each case costs between $300 and $600; in areas with high living expenses such as Washington, D.C., costs can run up to $1,200 per case, Carter said.

Marti King, a family assistance specialist with the Maryland National Guard out of Havre de Grace, Md., is married to Sgt. 1st Class Kevin King, a guardsman who has served three tours in Iraq (Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom). Marti King, who has worked for Operation Homefront for about two years, participates in toy and crib drives, yearly youth camps for children of currently deployed and formerly deployed parents, and much more.

“They listen, they help out, they bus families back and forth,” she said, describing her experience in the group. “You should see the joy on [the service members’] faces when a family member walks into the room.”

Chris Swonger, Jim Beam’s senior vice president for corporate affairs, said selecting Kid Rock to partner in this effort was a “natural fit,” because the musician is a longtime Jim Beam drinker and vocal supporter of the troops. Kid Rock has played overseas shows for deployed soldiers and performed in a National Guard recruiting commercial that played on more than 27,000 movie screens nationwide.

Swonger said Jim Beam regards it “a privilege to be affiliated with such a charity. ... Operation Homefront works miracles to help these troops out.”

In 2008, Jim Beam raised more than $250,000 for the organization.

Carter believes everyone he’s met feels the same way about assisting service members. “When it comes to the families of the people [serving] over there, there’s no debate. Everyone wants to help.”