In This Newsletter
Thoughts from Volunteers: Melanie Thomas
Want to know more?
We will be sending additional newsletters over the next 6 months, keeping you informed about Project America Run. We welcome your questions. Please send them to info@projectamericarun.com. We will answer them in a future newsletter or by direct response, or both!
Click to view this email in a browser
Thoughts from Mike
With 5 very short months to go the ball is rolling even faster. I have been fortunate enough to take an early retirement from the Postal Service and this will allow me time to get everything in place. Many times I have been told my middle name should be "anal" due to my attention to detail in preparation. We are currently up to 57 nights of hosting. It’s a big country, so take a look at the route link on our site and if you have friends and family on or near the route I'm running, ask them if they'd like to host me. You can contact me at mike@projectamericarun.com.
And….as we approach the final days of this year, I would like to express my sincere thanks and good wishes to those who have been so instrumental in making this project a reality. Without you, I would be a wagon without wheels, so thank you.
Honor as defined in Webster says: Respect and Esteem shown to another; Honor may apply to the recognition of ones right to great respect or to any expression of such recognition.
This, I feel is something that has been lost these days by us. When a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine takes his/her oath of service, they, in a sense, sign a blank check made payable to the United States in and up to the amount of their life. There is nothing more honorable than that.
These flags that will be placed carry the names of those WE can honor and if for only the briefest moment of the day we can pause and reflect, then we have given them the utmost in respect and the epitome of honor.
~Mike Ehredt
Fallen Hero Profile: Army Staff Sargent David Veverka
Life, by all accounts was a tremendous gift to David Veverka. Life, however short it was, gave us a great, great man.
Army Staff Sergeant David Veverka was 26 years old: a joyful man, with an infectious smile. The future always appeared bright to David and full of delight. So very, very positive, he found joy in everything: from his research on baby seals, to teaching kids biology, all the way to complementing his Aunt Nora’s roast over and over on a visit home.
After graduating from high school in Jamestown, PA, he served in the Army and was assigned to the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. He also served at the White House and participated in the cleanup of the Pentagon as a result of 9/11. David used his military benefits to attend the University of Maine and while there, a desire to do more compelled him to re-enlist in the Army Reserve. Three weeks before graduation David was called up. He would have graduated Summa Cum Laude and he was awarded his degree posthumously. Today there is a garden named in his honor on the University of Maine campus.
I have tried to get a picture of this young man in my mind and to help me with that, a story was shared with me about his days in high school. There was a disabled girl in his class and unfortunately, one of their classes was in the basement with no wheelchair access for her. She would have missed the class except for David. He picked her up and carried her downstairs for each class.
There is a moment in life when we can all do one noble thing. I suspect David Veverka did many, many noble things. Though I never knew him, I feel that I now do. So, thank you, David Veverka, for what you gave to those closest to you and for giving me the inspiration to honor your nobility. ~Mike Ehredt
We are still nearly five months away from Mike’s kick-off in Astoria, Oregon, on May 1st, and things are coming together well. Since our last newsletter 6 weeks ago, we have:
- improved our website with better maps, now showing the nights for which we have hosts lined up as well as those nights for which we still need a host.
- we have set up a “shopping cart”, which should be functional this week, to make it simpler for donors to make a secure credit card donation online
- worked out arrangements for PAR followers to track Mike’s progress across the USA on a Google Earth map, current to within 10 minutes! There will be a link on the site taking the viewer right to the map, with Mike’s position marked.
- lined up several more sponsors, such as Vasque, Trambars, DryMax, and Peak Printing
- Flag labels are done. Mike will hold a community event in Driggs on Saturday, January 30th, 2010, to apply the labels to the 4360+ flags and to organize and bundle the flags for shipments every 7-10 days to hosts along the route
- A Facebook group has been created called ProjectAmericaRun. Feel free to join if you haven’t already. This is a great way for Mike to communicate with a vast group of people through direct text messages to the site and for you to find updates.
Following the last newsletter and a recent mailing to VFW posts along the route, along with the followup calls to these posts by our teams of volunteers, our host sign-ups have accelerated. We currently have about 1/3 of the host nights covered. We have a ways to go, but the pace of signups has picked up. Our new maps on the website show those days for which we still need to line up hosts.
Hats off to Scott Cavey, of Berthoud, CO, who, with his family, is not only hosting Mike, but also is on a mission to line up other hosts for Mike in Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and New York! Thanks for that effort, Scott. This is the snowball effect we were hoping would occur. Many people are really excited about this event and are circulating the newsletters and spreading the word to their friends and families around the USA. This has helped us find more hosts, grow our mailing list for the newsletter, and work toward covering our costs through more donations.
Our teams are currently working on contacting the VFW posts along the route. We anticipate over the next 6 weeks to cover many nights with members of the VFWs.
Host Interview: Barry Sites, Skowhegan, ME
Mike's host for nights 152 and 153. Barry Sites is a name Mike remembers from his Army days. In 1978-1979, Barry and Mike were stationed in Germany together. Back then, Barry used to run with Mike, even doing some marathon events, and, eventually switching over to ‘bike with Mike’, accompanying him on his training runs. At one point, Barry joined Mike on a 10 day junket to Athens, Greece, where Mike represented the US Army in one of the early modern marathons in Athens.
Over the years, Mike and Barry have maintained sporadic contact. Since Mike contacted Barry this fall about his run, Barry has been making his own plans. He works for the Skowhegan School District and has already put in for several days off, so he can meet Mike at the NH/ME border and shadow him as he crosses mid-state Maine. He’s also been drumming up interest with some of the kids in Skowhegan, where Mike’s route will take him past 5 schools in mid October, as he nears the end of his epic run to the Atlantic Ocean in Rockland, ME.
It seems we all have occasion to say, it's a small world. Barry grew up in Skowhegan, and babysat a little boy next door by the name of Jay Thomas Aubin, who would, on March 21, 2003, as Marine Major Aubin, become our first fatality in Iraq. It is to honor and remember Marine Major Aubin, from Waterville, just south of Skowhegan, that Project America Run is going through Waterville, enroute to the Atlantic.
When pressed for some memories of their Army past together, (you know, the kind of memories that Mike and Barry still laugh about), Barry is still watching Mike’s back. However, if you’re hosting Mike this summer, please see if you can get him to open up about the beer-brewing monks at the monastery across the valley over there in Germany, at a time in their lives when Mike and Barry, to the casual observer, seemed to be getting quite "religious".
Fort Wayne, IN -- Mike will be running across Ft. Wayne on the Greenway with the cross country team from the University of St. Francis. This will give Mike an opportunity to speak with the team about what he’s doing, and why he’s doing it. The team will then run with him, helping him place flags along the Greenway through Ft. Wayne. We feel this is an important opportunity to involve our young adults in this effort, and they will see that many of our fallen heroes, whose names are on the flags being placed, are in their late teens and early twenties, their contemporaries. We are considering taking this a step further, contacting selected high schools along the route to involve their track or cross country teams in this special effort. More on that in the next newsletter, in February.
Trambars is a young company, recently the subject of an article in the Teton Family Magazine. Following is that article, profiling Kate Schade and Trambars:
In my early 20’s you could usually find me, Kate Schade, waiting in the Tram line at 7:00 am. I’d catch the first box, ski all day, and then run home to shower before slinging pasta all night at Anthony’s. Rent was cheap, dinner was free, and my homemade energy bars kept me going all day long. Ah, the “ski bum” life style…On days off I made my bars and stuck them in the “lunch” pocket of my ski jacket. They were my primary source of fuel, and eaten while waiting in Tram line. What else could they be called, but “Tram Bars?” My friends would ask me to make them a batch- again, and again, and again. A business concept was not yet forming in my head. I just wanted to play. I was continually encouraged to sell them, and looked into it, but found it to be too much work.
Then my good friend and designer, Julie Dean, made a label for me. Tye Tilt and Scotty Button of Mountain Valley Mushrooms gave me another push, then Scotty and I partnered up for a short time and Tram Bars was born. While it was, and still is a lot of work, I am still able to live and love the mountain lifestyle that Tram Bars were made for. Originally created from ingredients found in the cupboard, the recipe has evolved to include more nutritious and organic ingredients. Working at the Cosmic Apple Gardens opened my eyes to the importance of organic foods, not only for our bodies, but also for the environment.Tram Bars are sooo well loved. That keeps me going. For me, it is necessary to enjoy the food I eat. Tram Bars make your mouth sing with all the different textures and flavors. I provide real food for real energy with real recognizable ingredients. The good combo of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates keep you skiing, biking, hiking, working, motor biking, snowmobiling, fishing, smiling, rafting, flying, diving, running, kayaking, hunting, and playing for hours.
Tram Bars are also sold with the Grizzly Bar label, and Kate has recently released the sultry, spicy Caz.Bar. Tram Bar products can be found at most grocery stores, local sports shops, and can be ordered in bulk online at www.trambars.com. ~As seen in Teton Family Magazine, Fall 2009
And, what does Kate think of Mike Ehredt and Project America Run?
“The more I get to know Mike, the more in awe I am. His passion for life, compassion for people, and enthusiastic attitude is contagious…and he shares this with everyone. Now he is sharing the memory and honor of our fellow and fallen soldiers.What an amazing man, running across the country, to share this piece of human spirit. May we touch the thousands of people who see the flags, the families and friends of our soldiers,and the whole country, by supporting and realizing Mike Ehredt's dream." ~Kate Schade
Thanks to Joe Maxwell and Brenda Veilleux of Teton Data Services in Jackson, WY, and Tom Sullivan, of Alipse, along with our own techie Erica Rice, we finally have an arrangement whereby donors can go to our website and make donations with their credit cards. These transactions are totally secure, and all donations are fully tax-deductible. This should be functional any day now.
As we draw to the end of the year now, you may want to consider becoming a part of Project America Run by making a donation prior to December 31st. Our donor page requests the mailing address of the donors, simply so we can mail appropriate receipts for the donations. This mailing list will only be viewed by Project America Run and Honoring Our Veterans, our supporting sponsor, as detailed on our website and in Newsletter 1.
Thoughts from Volunteers: Melanie Thomas, Victor, ID
“When I heard about Mike’s plan to honor our fallen soldiers I knew that I wanted to be a part of this project. My son had just joined the Army and the fear was shortly replaced with pride. Watching him graduate from boot camp and seeing the pride and bravery in the young men and women as they readied themselves to defend our freedom was something I will never forget.”
Melanie's son, Pfc. Austin Hurst, now in Special Forces training
“Mike’s dedication to this project is amazing and I am proud to be a part of it. God Bless our Troops.”
Please forward this newsletter to your friends and family. Anyone can sign up for future newsletters by clicking the link below or visiting www.projectamericarun.com and submitting an email address.