Show Support For "The Way We Get By"...

The Way We Get By already has the support of a number of organizations, including the USO, the American Legion and Serve.gov, which is part of President Obama's United We Serve initiative. We hope that you will help us spread word about the broadcast, as the film highlights the impact of individual action and how a small act of kindness can change lives.

Here are a variety of ways that you can support and promote the November 11 broadcast of The Way We Get By airing at 9 PM on most PBS stations. (Check local listings.) Tell your friends about these ways to participate in promoting the film by emailing them this page.

Thank you for your support!

HELP PROMOTE THE PBS BROADCAST!!

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And...we're back!! Southern Circuit cont...

Note to self: Never follow months and months of working 7 days a week with a 3-day wedding extravaganza, and a 2-week trip traveling state-to-state all through the south again...because you WILL get a horrible, debilitating cold. Got it. Never again.

Yes, Gita and I enjoyed our first two screenings on the Southern Circuit Film Tour. We enjoyed our two free days in Nashville. We flew to Alexandria, Louisiana on day 5, and promptly got sick. Me first and then Gita-- both with bad colds that we are just now beginning to recover from. Let me tell you, nothing cures a cold faster than constant travel...lots of airplanes and driving.



It started with a sore throat in Alexandria. But with our biggest crowd on the tour-- a really great, engaged audience-- it was easy to look past it. We were told before the screening that a soldier had called the venue, saying he had been through Bangor and been greeted by the Maine Troop Greeters, and was planning to attend the show. During our Q&A, he stood up and recounted his experience traveling through Bangor, saying he remembered how nice my Mom had been to him. After the Q&A, he introduced himself as Bobby Strother and said he had a gift he wanted to send back to the troop greeters with us. We agreed to meet him the next morning so he could bring us the gift before we hit the road to New Orleans. The next morning we met Bobby in front of the local drug store after stocking up on cold medicine and tissues. Bobby handed me a large triangular wooden box with a glass front. A perfectly folded American flag rested behind the glass, and an engraved plaque read...



This was no normal gift...a unit coin, a thank you card, no-- this was something Bobby had laid his life on the line for. Something that represented everything Bobby loved about America, and he talked to us for a long time about just that, and about how tough it is to come back after serving and having to re-adjust, and about friends getting divorced, and about friends dying, and about how if he had to go back again he'd pack his bag and leave tomorrow because serving his country was worth it. He said, "when we're over there we're wearing our vests which are about 75 lbs. and all our gear and we carried two weapons, so you're talking about 100 lbs of gear...we had a lot of weight we were carrying with us over there."...And it just made me think about watching the troops walk down the ramp over and over again at the Bangor International Airport and seeing them breathe a big sigh of relief at the sight of the troop greeters, and the flags waving, and the smiles welcoming them home, and how it really is "that moment" when the weight of it all is finally lifted off their shoulders. I can't wait to get back to Bangor to pass along Bobby's gift.

Tomorrow, I'll spare you the most boring trip to New Orleans ever, as we spent the entire time in our hotel room coughing and sneezing, and I'll skip ahead to our screenings in Alabama and Mississippi and the story of "Big Joe" Evans going for the oyster eating record. How can you not be excited?!

Southern Circuit Film Tour - Day 1 & 2...

"This is not our honeymoon..."
Aron Gaudet

This was Gita and I on Friday...



That's right, we got married on the coast of Maine (notice the paparazzi chasing us?), and two days later we were in Nashville, TN. The Southern Circuit Film Tour happened to fall directly after our wedding, and so although we made it very clear to each other that "THIS IS NOT OUR HONEYMOON!", the trip definitely has a weird honeymoon vibe to it all.

Day one took us from the Bangor International Airport (where much of The Way We Get By takes place) to Nashville and Vanderbilt University. This is the first year the folks at Vanderbilt have taken part in the Southern Circuit Film Tour-- so that means we're even. It meant maybe a slightly smaller crowd than normal, but definitely a group of people that would probably otherwise never have the opportunity to see our film in a semi-theatrical setting. And even though we were screening at a university, the crowd was littered with people of all ages, so the word apparently had spread beyond the campus. All in all a successful screening.

Gita and I love a good breakfast place, so day two started with us trying to choose between the Loveless Cafe and The Pancake Pantry-- 2 local favorites that everyone seemed to recommend. The choice was made easier when we discovered The Pancake Pantry was less than a mile away. We drove up to find a long line waiting outside on a Tuesday morning!! This place had to be good right? The line moved quickly and Gita and I were soon experiencing the best pancakes either one of us has ever had... we're still talking about them. Let's hope the pancakes on day two are not the highlight of the trip, but you've got to start somewhere.

After the best pancakes on earth, we set out for Bowling Green, Kentucky for our screening at Western Kentucky University. It's a little over an hour north of Nashville and the scenery is exactly what I would expect driving from Tennessee into Kentucky-- rolling fields and farms, old weathered boards holding up barns that looked like they should collapse, but somehow were still standing. Just beautiful countryside for a drive.

We made it to Bowling Green and to our screening to find a bigger audience made up primarily of students. We always like showing the film to a younger audience because everyone assumes that The Way We Get By will appeal more to senior citizens and baby boomers, but what many people forget is it's young men and women on the other side of the handshake, heading to war or returning home, so a university campus is filled with people that have brothers or sisters or friends that have been through Bangor and met the troop greeters. Last night was no exception, as a student approached us after the film to tell us he had been deployed through Bangor and remembered meeting all three of the subjects from the film-- especially Bill who is always the first in line to greet the troops. Everywhere we go it seems the Maine Troop Greeters have made their mark in some way. It was reassuring to know Bowling Green was no different.

Coming up... Day 3 & 4 are rest/travel days so we're working on something fun to do before heading to Alexandria, LA for our next screening on Friday. Keep reading.

Red Sox Foundation Provides Free Screening & Care Pkgs

THE RED SOX FOUNDATION INVITES YOU TO A PRIVATE FREE SCREENING OF THE AWARD-WINNING FILM HONORING MILITARY FAMILIES AND VOLUNTEERS

The Red Sox Foundation is proud to present this highly-acclaimed documentary, The Way We Get By, will screen on Monday, October 12 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Regal 13 Cinemas, 401 Park Drive, Boston (Theatre down the street from Fenway Park).

Screening at 1 PM with Volunteer Service to follow, in which those attending the film will quickly assemble care packages for US troops serving overseas (RSF will provide supplies and mail all packages).

Fresh off its recent successful New York City, Washington DC and Los Angeles theatrical premieres, The Way We Get By continues its campaign to rally support for volunteer activities for military families.

The Way We Get By is a deeply moving film about life and how to live it. Beginning as a seemingly idiosyncratic story about a group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small New England airport to greet American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the film quickly turns into a moving story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality. The story of these exemplary Mainers has been praised by The Boston Globe, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times as a film that is “filled with a rare honesty and intimacy that makes for a rewarding film experience,” and proof that volunteerism can significantly impact an entire community.

Since its completion, The Way We Get By has inspired audiences across the country. From war veterans to elderly volunteers, the film has provided hope to everyday citizens during this time of economic turmoil. The Way We Get By has been honored with the Special Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival, the Golden Rock award for Best Documentary at the 3rd Little Rock Film Festival and the Audience Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. At the Cleveland Film Festival, it beat out 28 films to win the Greg Gund Memorial Film Competition, which recognizes films for their social conscience.
The Way We Get By

Monday, October 12- COLUMBUS DAY
Regal 13 Cinema Theatres
401 Park Drive ( Brookline Ave/Landmark Center entrance within walking distance from Fenway Park), Boston, MA 02215

Note: Seating is limited to the first 200 guests. Please RSVP including your full name and number in your party by Sunday, October 11 by noon to gborson@redsox.com. Entrance is first-come, first served so we encourage folks to arrive by 12:30 p.m if possible.

To view the trailer and to obtain more information, visit thewaywegetbymovie.com.

The Way We Get By is a co-production of The Way We Get By Productions, Inc., the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and American Documentary, Inc. | POV, WGBH, MPBN with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

It will air on the POV program on PBS stations on Veterans Day Nov 11, 2009.

"The Way We Get By" on Capitol Hill

Dr. Jill Biden and Senator Susan Collins welcome the three troop
greeters and subjects from THE WAY WE GET BY to Capitol Hill for a special screening.