On November 11, 2012, USMC veteran Sergeant Brendan O'Toole set out on a 3,600 mile run across the U.S. in honor of the selfless men and women who have served in Operations Iraqi and Afghanistan. The Run for Veterans' goal is to raise $2 million to support the United States Armed Forces veterans, combat veterans, disabled veterans, and their families. The Run for Veterans started in Oceanside, CA, and will end in Portland, ME.
The Run for Veterans will engage local communities, collaborate with existing organizations, and work with local veteran non-profit groups to connect civilian and military personnel.
I asked Brendon to give us updates on his progress as he crosses the U.S. The following is the second of his Situation Reports.
From Brendan:
We are currently now in the state of Texas. We arrived on February 11th. This day was quite significant to our organization as it marked three months into our journey. As with any start up project comes its share of mistakes and challenges. We experienced times of highs and lows only to teach us what areas we as a team are weak in. Lucky for us, when things get tuff, we simply need to take another step forward to continue our mission.
The morning of the 11th was for the most part calm. If we were able to cover New Mexico’s final 42 miles in 1 day, we may just have enough time to reach Texas before midnight. So, we punched in our clock around 3am. It was cold, windy, and wet at times. The pain, footsteps, and many miles all passed after 18 long hours welcoming our Team to the Great State of Texas.
As we have taken some time off to re-organize, today we get back on the open road to “Kick Off” Texas in the town of Bronco this evening.
I am attaching some info that may be of help to you and our progress. We are happy to see that New Mexico was finished strong and our three month Boot Camp is complete. We are beginning to receive a strong wave of support from folks across the USA.
Last, we have updated part 1 of 2 to our webpage. We hope to re-design a more user friendly website in the next two weeks. On the home screen, you can now see our live twitter feeds (even if you’re not a member of twitter), a sign up roster for monthly emails regarding your state, our schedule, and ways that we can all connect up and help support our mission. Live map of our current state and live GPS tracking. This week, we will focus on step two of our web material.
Texas sure has some great value to our project. I can feel it in my run! Glad to be here in Texas and confident The Run For Veterans marked an important day in our history.
We have just only warmed up!
I greatly appreciate all your help and support. I have included links to all of the social media methods available to stay up to date with The Run For Veterans progress. We are asking people for a simple $1 donation or a “Like” on Facebook to help share our mission.
