Local woman to bring cheer where really needed
Danielle Hettinger, a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader and third-grade teacher at Muhlenberg Elementary Center who lives in Ruscombmanor Township, is one of six Eagles cheerleaders headed to Kuwait as part of a weeklong goodwill military tour.
Reading Eagle
December 9, 2011
Danielle Hettinger’s family has a strong military background, so she’s thrilled to be on a 13-hour flight to Kuwait today to entertain U.S. servicemen and women.
The Ruscombmanor Township resident is one of six Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders embarking on the seven-day goodwill tour.
“I think it will be life-changing,” said Hettinger, 24.
She believes the trip will deepen her appreciation for those in the military, including both of her grandfathers who fought in World War II, her grandmother who was in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES division, her brother in ROTC and her mother, Patti Rodgers, also a Ruscombmanor resident and a retired colonel in the Army Reserve.
The cheerleaders will stay in barracks during their tour and meet with soldiers on bases, in hospitals and during their 45-minute performance.
They interact with the audience during their performance. Soldiers will be asked to participate in games and a push-up contest, said Hettinger, a third-grade teacher at Muhlenberg Elementary Center.
Many of the soldiers the cheerleaders will meet have been overseas for more than a year, and many are on their way back from Iraq, Hettinger said.
“The level of duty, honor and loyalty humbles me, and I am looking forward to this opportunity to personally thank them for their sacrifices,” Hettinger said.
She said she hopes to meet soldiers in units from Pennsylvania.
“I think this will really bring meaning to me to just experience what the life of a soldier is really like,” said the 2005 Holy Name High School and 2009 Kutztown University graduate.
Hettinger also received a master’s degree as a reading specialist at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia in 2010.
She said her family and her husband, Scott, are supportive of the trip.
“They are completely behind me,” she said.
Though it’s the third time in four years that Eagles cheerleaders have gone to the Middle East to visit soldiers, Hettinger has never been on a tour like this.
But she said she isn’t nervous.
“I’m just excited,” she said.
