Thank you, Versailles...

This past Saturday, we set up shop at the JOHNS IGA in Versailles, trying to raise funds for the upcoming trip. What a great day!

We were there from 10-3 and raised more than enough money to send one Vet to DC. The people who came in to shop were very supportive and shared some pretty good stories with us about their relatives who might have gone on past trips with us or other trips with other groups. We know unemployment is still a very real thing in that county. So to get that kind of support was very gratifying.

In a way I was surprised that we raised that much money ($373.00), but then again, I wasn't. The kinds of people who grow up in these small towns here, and across the country, are the same kinds who went off to war (then and now) to secure the freedoms of this nation and those of people they would never meet. This day was just a reaffirmation that people like that are still alive and well in America. It started with just a few people that day, and was highlighted by the likes of the man who gave us a $20 bill when he came in the store, and, when he finished his shopping, went to the bank right next door and withdrew $100 from the ATM and came back and gave it to us. He got away before we could even ask his name. I suppose that's the way he wanted it. We just want to thank him, and all the great Americans who stopped by that day.

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

Hooah

What a Great Bunch of Young Patriots...

I got a call from the guidance counselor at Emerson Elementary School in Sidney a couple of weeks ago. She called to tell me the students at the school had been working on a project to raise funds to support the "Vets to DC" program. We had spent some time with them last fall at their Veteran's Day activities, and they have been very supportive over the years with letters for "Mail Call" and "adopting " some of our WWII Vets. So when she called telling me that the kids had raised some money, I was pleased. When she told me the kids had raised $750.00, I was REALLY surprised.

Ray (one of the really good guys on our committee) and I visited the school this past Wednesday to visit with a group of the children and talk to them about the trip. The top picture shows me tracing the route we will take to DC and answering questions. The middle picture shows us receiving the "check" from the kids. And the bottom picture shows the kids and the banner they made up during this drive.

This was really a great gesture by these young Patriots. The money was raised by collecting pennies one week, nickles the next, and so on up to dollars. The money they gave for this trip could just as easily have been used to buy candy after school, or maybe their school supplies or a toy they might have wanted. But for them to donate it to this cause, to get Veterans they have not yet met to Washington to see their Memorials really says something about them and their families.

I put together a little plaque for the students and the school with this inscription on it: Our sincere gratitude is extended to the students of Emerson Elementary School, Sidney, Ohio for your continued strong support of the Veterans of this country. When you remember and honor us by raising funds for these trips and writing letters for us to read and keep, it warms our hearts and helps us to remember what this is all about – you , the future of this great nation and the freedoms you will enjoy all your lives. Thank you, and God Bless.

When we take our trip, we are going to take a laptop computer and try to hook up a Skype-type of thing between the two Vets in DC and the students at Emerson. That will be way cool, and should really bond these kids to the Veterans. I'll let you all know how this works out.

The purpose of life is not just to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all.

Hooah