Entertaining the Troops!

CLEVELAND, Tenn.—Sixteen-year-old Kaylee Radzyminski got the message. She talked to American troops returning from overseas, and she noticed that they said they missed their families the most—and American music and movies second.

So Radzyminski founded Tunes 4 the Troops, an organization that collects CDs and DVDs for distribution to American troops around the world. She gathered up her collection of discs and sent them to American forces overseas. Then her friends donated their music and movies as well. Radzyminski began arranging drop-off sites for other contributions, and during the last three years Tunes 4 the Troops has sent more than 200,000 discs to American servicemen and servicewomen.

She has arranged additional support from the Cleveland High School, Home Depot, and Outback Steakhouse. She spends about two hours every Saturday at the Post Office, preparing the discs for shipping to American forces overseas.

For seeing a need and getting up to deal with it, Kaylee Radzyminski of Cleveland, Tenn., is the winner of this week’s TeenUp Award.

The TeenUp Awards are directed by Michael Robert Evans, author of the young-adult novel 68 Knots. The TeenUp Award is given each week to an American teenager who has taken the initiative to make a positive difference in the world.

For more about the award, see the YouTube clip:

For more information, contact Michael Robert Evans, michaelrobertevans@yahoo.com