Signature Chess Program

An article in our local newspaper spoke of the "crushing boredom" of US troops returning from patrols in Iraq. Hard as it may be to imagine, think of a world where you can't doze off with your TV blaster. Not even much in the way of radio, or even batteries. No Game Boys or iPods. And most of all, no joy riding in town.

If ever there was a high stress job that deserved some way to unwind, it's patrolling for snipers and road-side bombs. Mindful of such sacrifices of the Marines at Camp Pendleton, which borders our town, we decided to help.

We concluded our giant plastic chess sets with the 12" king and the 25" king would be rugged enough for the job. Our RolaBoard vendor decided to help with chess boards. And we added Mega Bags for portability, and our Soldier Chess poster to top things off.

So, on 25 January 2005, the Director, Personal and Family Readiness Division of the US Marine Corps accepted our initial donation package. The problem was that we had to figure out how to get it to Iraq. The Marines are busy fighting a war, and UPS doesn't deliver there.

We could use the US Post Office, but we didn't know which troops wanted a MegaChess set and had a place to put it. At this point, many do-gooders give up, or just send whatever they're donating to any American address they can find in Iraq. We've since learned this would have been a big mistake. Such orphan packages cause more logistic trouble than they're worth, and their contents are often trashed.

Fortunately for us, this is when we joined forces with Operation Interdependence, or OI among friends. Albert R. Renteria, a retired chief warrant officer with the Marines, put OI together as a non-profit civilian-to-military delivery system, or per their motto, "Real people sending real care packages to real heroes".

By the time MegaChess darkened their door, OI was a well-oiled machine having sent a million such packages, and without impacting the military's critical logistics operations. OI knew how to find the troops that needed a MegaChess set and how to get it in their hands.

And then Warrant Officer Renteria came up with an idea, what we now call the "Signature Chess Program". Before shipping the MegaChess set, OI takes the set to a festival, trade show, picnic, theme park (like Disneyland), or special event, and invites participants to sign the chess pieces. The participants add a well wish.

Before we realized what happened, the Signature Chess Program became so popular that people ran out of room to sign on the chess pieces and started writing on the chess board tiles. And then we started reading what they wrote. The words touched our hearts, and we're sure they lifted the spirits of the troops as much as the chess sets.

Then we started to receive the thank-you notes and pictures from the troops. Every business should have a mission beyond money, and this became one of ours. Since mid 2005, we've shipped several dozen MegaChess sets, and we don't plan to stop.

If you are a member of the US armed forces overseas and would like your unit to get a MegaChess set, send email to , or a letter to:

Operation Interdependence
P.O. BOX 339
Fallbrook, CA 92088-0339

If you're a civilian and would like to get involved, read how OI operates at www.oidelivers.com, and click on the "How Can You Help" button. Mention that you would like a MegaChess involvement, and they'll get you set up.

• American Forces Information Service article titled "America Supports You: Walter Reed Troops to Get Super-Sized Chess Set".
  
  
• The signing booth at NAB stole the show to the point that TV Worldwide focused on it on their online show review.
  
  
• US Vets TV put a video clip together showcasing Operation Interdependence getting signed the chess sets at the NAB show in Las Vegas.
  
  
• Webcast interview with Sergeant Major Lawrence W. Holland from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs about Operation Interdependence and the chess donations.
  
  
• We made the cover article of the ezine "America Supports You", a nationwide program launched by the Department of Defense to recognize citizens' support for our military men and women.