Gary Sinise, aka Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, has spent the last several years humbly serving our nation's veterans. The Gary Sinise Foundation, created in 2011, has helped rebuild homes, performed concerts, and provided almost 200,000 meals to service men and women.
For his latest Herculean effort on behalf of our vets, Sinise sent over 600 Gold Star families to Disney World via his foundation's Snowball Express program. The initiative was created for a simple, yet heartwarming goal: Make sure Gold Star families enjoy the holidays.
With all of Sinise's commendable work on behalf of America's finest, some are wondering why he has not yet piqued the interest of the editors at TIME Magazine, who every year crown someone "Person of the Year."
The 2018 "Person of the Year" award went to "The Guardians," a group of journalists who were either killed, jailed or faced other forms of persecution for trying to seek the truth, the editor-in-chief explained during the reveal on NBC's "TODAY." One of the recipients was Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had often spoken out against the Saudi government before being murdered in October. In 2017, TIME gave the "Person of the Year" title to "The Silence Breakers," the group of women who spearheaded the "Me Too" movement.
Among the other nominees this year were Robert Mueller, the separated families at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump, Christine Blasey Ford, and Meghan Markle.
Sinise wasn't on the short list, but he's at least got Patricia Heaton's vote. The actress went ahead and nominated him for the accolade on her Twitter page this week.
Hey @TIME , why isn’t @GarySinise ever on the Person of the Year list? Hey @TheAcademy , why isn’t he ever picked for the #jeanhersholt humanitarian award? He raises $30M a year to build homes for wounded vets along with his #goldstarfamily support. Retweet! https://t.co/pj7BGEN7Ds
— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) December 10, 2018
Heaton's petition was seconded by fellow actor James Woods.
Yes. Yes. A thousand times, yes! @GarySinise. Thank you, Patty, for this. @PatriciaHeaton https://t.co/6wcqhOmSLH
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 12, 2018
Sinise may not have won this year's title, but it doesn't seem to bother him. He's too busy making kids smile this Christmas. Learn more about his foundation here.
Over 1000 Gold Star Children travel w/ surviving parent, 1,750 in all, via @americanair to Disney World today as part of our @GarySiniseFound Snowball Express program. This charter left LAX this morning. I’ll join up in a few days. Have fun kids! We love you! pic.twitter.com/OfMEpVF1er
— Gary Sinise (@GarySinise) December 8, 2018
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