Category: Sandbox Route Coordinator News

Hello All,
Well May is finally upon us. So…Is it May yet?! YES IT IS!

This letter will likely find many of you already on the road heading toward the west coast and ultimately into Ontario to begin the 31st annual Run For The Wall mission. I know that you all have prepared for many weeks and in some cases all year long for aspects of this mission. Preparations like motorcycle maintenance, logistical planning, financial planning and even (especially) your personal health maintenance. All a part of our ongoing commitment to to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action (POW/MIA), to honor the memory of those Killed in Action (KIA) from all wars, and to support our military personnel all over the world.

I would like to give you an update on the status of the Sandbox Recon before we all meet up in Ontario;
– As of this writing we have a complete routing for the recon. This route has been published on the Sandbox Hub and is available for viewing. https://rftw.us/sandbox-route-hub/
– Please Visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RFTWSandbox/
– We have been graciously invited to breakfast, lunch and dinner at each of our planned stops along the route. I have been told by these locations to be prepared for some amazing food and huge welcome’s!
– The vast majority of law enforcement jurisdictions that we will cross have promised to either escort us through or aid us in one way or another. Our Road Guard Captain and his staff have been in communication with these agencies and they have begun to establish lines of communication and relationships.
– Our commissioning ceremony, in Ontario, is in the final stages of preparation and it looks like it will be an amazing event that will truly mark the beginning of Sandbox. Please invite your friends and family to this event as it is open to the public. It will be held following the the ALL ROUTES Safety Briefing in the parking lot next to the host hotel on Tuesday at 1700 (5pm local).
– Sandbox has begun multiple fundraising efforts that will help us to support the activities of the route this year and into the future. The other routes have agreed to assist us in this effort by auctioning some of our Limited Edition Sandbox Route patches during their LA to DC missions. Mary “Cupcake” Pittman McElroy (Mary.pittman@rftw.us) is also handling the raffle and auction activities during the recon. She has posted information about this on the Sandbox Facebook groups. FYI she is looking for items that anyone might want to donate for these activities. Please contact her so that the logistics can be arranged.
– We have also set and internally published the Sandbox specific schedules for Ontario and Arlington.

Please take the time to visit the website and Facebook page of our Mission complete- The Middle East Conflicts Wall https://middleeastconflictswall.org/

https://www.facebook.com/MiddleEastConflictsWallMemorial/

As we are all heading out towards Ontario I would like to wish you all safe travels and Godspeed. I am very much looking forward to us all officially meeting for the first time (in person) as one collective unit that will forever be known as the Sandbox Recon.

How far are we going?!
WALL 2 WALL!

V/r,
Senior

#RFTWSANDBOX

Greetings RFTW family,

I would like to take this opportunity to officially introduce you all to the newly formed Sandbox Route!

It is my true honor to be appointed by the Run For the Wall (RFTW) Board of Directors as the 2019 Sandbox Recon Route Coordinator. I am privileged to be given the awesome responsibility of leading an incredible group of RFTW Leadership personnel, with countless years of experience, on this mission.

This recon will cover states, interstates, roads and towns that have not yet been exposed to the RFTW mission. This is an opportunity for us to further the mission and grow our family, and to make more people aware of the POW/MIA issues that we, as an entire RFTW family are so invested in. We will help in the healing of veterans, including those currently serving and those families of our heroes Killed in Action. We will also establish relationships with individuals, organizations and political bodies that will soon learn about how we ride and why we ride. We ride with Heart and We Ride for Those Who Can’t!

Efforts have already begun to introduce the communities we will see and visit to the RFTW mission. We will continue in this effort up to, and until departure from Arlington, VA. Our staff of dedicated volunteers has been hard at work contacting members of all of these communities. Calls are being made to each area that we will touch and press releases will be published for each community we intend to visit or pass through.

It has been the vision of the Sandbox Route’s Route Architect, Mary “Cupcake” Pittman-McElroy, that this particular route make a spirited effort to grow the RFTW family. Further opening the RFTW arms to active military, veterans and civilians of eras that came after Vietnam was always a vital aspect of this route’s design. To bring Vietnam era veterans together with their comrades-in-arms from today’s generation is vital in the success of this mission and it was a focal point in the planning and development of this route. Wall 2 Wall!

Sandbox Route will visit the Flight 93 Memorial in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania and visit towns, and cities in between, on its path to the Middle East Conflicts Wall in Marseilles, Illinois. This wall has almost 8,000 names of heroes that have been lost in our nation’s conflicts in the Middle East since 1967. Unfortunately, names are continuing to be added to this memorial each year.

Our team of riders are incredibly motivated to undertake this mission. We know that we will be the face of the RFTW family in this endeavor and we intend to make you all proud. We have tirelessly planned this mission, and we intend to leave no stone unturned in this recon mission.

I want to thank everyone involved in this process. I also want to thank the countless people that have offered their support and prayers to us as we move forward. These sentiments have given us the fuel to press on. Thank you all!

I anticipate that all of you have many questions and comments. I also anticipate that many of you would like to join us on this mission. Due to the “recon nature” of this mission in 2019 we will not be taking members of the RFTW family beyond our team’s complement this year. I do encourage you to consider joining us in 2020. We have established a volunteer link that you can use to supply your information, if you would like to submit your name for 2020 (Leadership).

Thank you all once again for your support!

Wall 2 Wall!

Respectfully,
“Senior”
M.D. MILLER
Route Coordinator
Sandbox Recon Route