In This Newsletter
Thoughts from Volunteers: Megaera Quayle
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
What is Project America Run?
My name is Mike Ehredt. I am an Army Veteran having served from 1979 to 1983. I was never in a conflict or war during my service time, however, I served faithfully and honorably during my 4 years of service.
As my postal career was winding down in 2006 in Crested Butte, Colorado, I would sit in the break room during lunch and read the stories of soldiers and Marines who had died in Iraq; their passions, their goals, their dreams, unfulfilled. My dream was born that day way back when, a dream to honor and remember.
I soon moved on to Driggs, Idaho and it was there, during a run on a cold February night, that it came to me exactly what I should do. I would run across this country, from water’s edge in Astoria, Oregon to the Atlantic Ocean at Rockland, Maine. I would place a flag each mile for every lost service member until my mission is complete. It is my objective to create an invisible holding of hands from one service member to the next, flag to flag, ocean to ocean. Over 4300 lives, 4300 flags, 4300 miles.
This is my tribute to them. This is Project America Run.
Fallen Hero Profile: Army 2nd Lt. Joseph D. Fortin
Army 2nd Lt. Joseph D. Fortin was 22 years old.
He was from St. Johnsbury Vermont and died August 23, 2009. When I read the news on Lt. Fortin I was touched by the words of those closest to him. A superhero in high school, a superhero in college and then answering the call of his country and I can only assume he was a superhero to the men who served beneath him. It appeared to me that the world could use a few more men like Joey Fortin. That even in the face of sadness and loss, the spirit of an amazing individual can shine through.
Thank you Lt. Joseph Fortin.
Thank you for bringing joy and smiles and laughter and love to those who knew you.
Thank you for the privilege to honor and remember you. ~Mike Ehredt
Mike will run a memorial mile for each service member killed in Iraq, commencing on the west coast at Astoria, OR, where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean. A flag will be placed there for the most recent fatality in Iraq. Mike will then place a flag every mile along his route of about 4550 miles. Each flag will be labeled with a soldier’s name, rank, age, and hometown. These flags will be placed in reverse chronological order. Mike’s run will take him through the home town of our first casualty in Iraq, Marine Major Jay Thomas Aubin of Waterville, Maine and ultimately end at the Atlantic Ocean.
Mike will make this run unaccompanied by a support team, taking a bare minimum of gear with him in a jogger’s stroller. He will be supported by teams of volunteers in Driggs, Idaho, who will ship supplies out ahead of him to host families with whom Mike will be staying on his run. These teams will be on call for Mike 24 hours a day, to help him in any way he needs. Additionally, these teams will be working with the hosts, state transportation departments, and the press, to make sure Mike’s run goes as smoothly as possible. His route will take him along US and state highways, through many small towns and cities, ultimately passing through 16 states.
It is now late October and in just over 6 short months, a flag will be planted on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, OR, on May 1, 2010. We do not know whom that first flag will represent, but we do know that the first step to Honor and Remember will have been taken.
Over the last few months it has been my pleasure to meet so many people who have come forth to help with this Project. Nearly 600 yards of ribbon have been labeled with our fatalities in Operation Iraqi Freedom, a number which currently stands at 4349.
We have organized 4 teams of people to help remotely from Driggs and elsewhere with day to day support via phone. They will be handling hosting duties and the media phone calls and will be shipping boxes to me to be picked up every 10 days. The service of my volunteers cannot be acknowledged enough.
Over the next few weeks I will be driving part of the course while I recover from minor surgery. This will allow me make some mental notes on road surfaces, traffic conditions, terrain features and weather. After this I will not pre-scout any of the run. There is an element of the unknown that should be part of this. The flags will lead me.
Much has been accomplished toward making this project a reality. The route has been finalized, as detailed on the route maps posted on our website. We will be posting more refined and detailed maps soon.. We will be posting more detailed route information on the website soon. All our host locations have been determined, and our sections teams are in the process of arranging for hosts at this time.
We are nearly done with preparing the flag labels. We’ve had many tireless volunteers here in Driggs who have stepped forward to hand-write these labels, consuming about 1800 feet of yellow ribbon. This winter, we will have a community event here in Driggs, inviting folks here in the Teton Valley to join us in applying the labels to the flags and organizing them for the support teams to ship to Mike.
Fundraising to support this event is underway at this time. If you would like to support Mike’s effort, please check the donor page of our website at www.projectamericarun.com for telephone numbers and addresses to which checks can be sent.
Donate! Non-profit Status and Donations
An essential component to our efforts to raise funds to accomplish this run was the establishment of a non-profit status for Project America Run. Many individuals and companies who wish to financially support this project also would like to receive a deduction from their taxable incomes.
We were fortunate to link up with a local non-profit that has agreed to allow us to raise funds through their organization, thereby accomplishing our goal of making donations tax-exempt for donors.
Honoring Our Veterans is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Jackson Hole, WY. Please take the time to go to their website www.honorvets.org to learn about the important work they are doing to help disabled veterans on their return to the US. Funds that we raise for Project America Run are made payable to Honoring Our Veterans, earmarked for Project America Run. Funds raised in excess of our needs for the project will revert back to Honoring Our Veterans, to support their efforts to re-integrate into our society these disabled veterans who have given so much.
Take a few minutes to read their newsletters, and you will understand why their work with individuals is so important. With over 30,000 disabled veterans from Iraq alone, Honoring Our Veterans has rolled up their sleeves and is doing all they can to help these wounded warriors. Operating with donations from ordinary citizens and with no government funds, HOV is working with individuals, one-on-one, to help them cope with their situations. Your contributions will help Honoring Our Veterans reach more disabled veterans.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Project America Run and Honoring Our Veterans. We now have a donation page on the website www.projectamericarun.com, detailing our address for mailing checks, and providing a telephone number to call in credit card donations.
Yostmark Mountain Equipment is a respected local retailer of sports gear and clothing, focused on the needs of back country and Nordic skiers, as well as hikers and mountaineers. Yostmark also provides guided ski trips into the back country here in the Tetons, and rents Nordic and back country gear.
Yostmark provided Mike with a key piece of gear essential to this project: a Chariot runner’s stroller, which Mike will use to carry flags, cameras, emergency gear, clothing, etc. When Mike is done kitting out this stroller, it will have emergency lighting, gps, satellite phone, and even a tent arrangement should Mike find himself in a situation where he needs to stop with no shelter. Yostmark has also generously offered to host a send-off reception for Mike in the last week of April, 2010, just before he leaves for Astoria, OR, where the run will begin.
Here are the words of Rich Rinaldi, co-owner of Yostmark:
“We were so inspired by Mike's run and the patriotism it symbolizes that we knew immediately it was something we wanted to support. Project America Run is a true testament to the sacrifice of all the fallen men and women of the armed forces and the debt of gratitude we owe them. We look forward to following Mike's progress and look forward to supporting him and Project America Run any way possible.”
Our thanks to Rich, Kathy, Lars, Vivian, and Mike.
Please support Yostmark if you’re in the Teton Valley, either as a resident or visitor. Small local businesses such as this are an integral part of our community. Driggs wouldn’t be the same without Yostmark.
Mike is looking forward to meeting all kinds of Americans on his run in 2010. He is hoping to spend his nights with families who volunteer to take him under their wing, so to speak, for a night or two.
As a host, it would be your responsibility to pick Mike up at a pre-determined location, bring him to your home, where he can clean up from the day’s 29 mile average run. You would provide him with dinner, breakfast, and a ride back to the same point the next day.
View the map to check Mike’s route, and if you have an interest in hosting Mike as he passes through your area, please email us as soon as possible at info@projectamericarun.com .
Thoughts from Volunteers: Megaera Quayle
“I got to know Mike in passing, at our local post office, when I first moved to Driggs. His sincerity and enthusiasm for life were evident straight away. The poignantly simple, single-minded focus of honoring the lives of fellow countrymen and women, soldiers no longer among us sharing their lives and dreams with their loved ones, makes me eager to lend my support to him on this
commendable journey.”
This first newsletter is an attempt to inform all interested parties about Project America Run. It has been our pleasant experience that, almost without exception, anyone we talk to about this run is amazed at the scope of the endeavor, inquisitive about the details of the project, and supportive of Mike's plans, either as a volunteer, host, or a donor. Most Americans know a friend, a relative or a friend of a friend who has died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and they would seize the opportunity to support this selfless effort To Honor and Remember those we have lost.
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.
Forward this message to a friend