Dear Run for the Wall family,
As I am sure you have all heard by now, but if not, it is with a heavy heart that I must let you know that the Run for the Wall has once again been cancelled for 2021. The anticipation and excitement for the Run this May seemed to be at an all time high after the disappointing cancelation last year. Everyone was looking forward to our mission in May and being together again. FNGs were so excited to experience the special event that is Run for the Wall. My heart is truly broke right now. However, the Covid restrictions that our government has placed on us makes our event illegal in most, if not all states. Our routes are just too large to comply. As an organization, RFTW cannot be responsible for leading our routes into illegal situations. The liability of doing so, could destroy RFTW’s future. We would also put our hosts at risks of civil penalties. See the President’s message at the link below:
https://rftw.us/presidents-message-february-2021-part-2/
The hours put in on planning our Midway route over the last two years is enormous. It is sad that it has not been able to produce the route and mission we want to participate in and support so much.
Our hosts and communities that support our Midway route were looking forward to having us back this year. I hate canceling on them. They all put in so much work and money into hosting us and it would not be fair to have to cancel on them at the last minute. I want to express my gratitude to all of them and ask for their understanding and continued support for what will hopefully be our Run in 2022. I know it is disappointing for them as well. They all have become like a second home to us on our route and I truly appreciate all that they do for us.
What can I say about our Midway leadership team? You are so amazing. Thank you for another year of fantastic leadership! State Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators, I cannot express my appreciation and gratitude enough for all the hard work you have done all year to plan for what would have been an amazing 2021 route. I will be counting on you heavily over the next couple of weeks to help us dismantle our route and notify all our stops and supporters. I know that you will represent RFTW professionally and express our disappointment of the need to cancel, and our gratitude for what they do to support us. We hope to have their continued support for 2022 and beyond. I want all our route participants, especially the FNGs to know just how difficult and important a job it is to be a State Coordinator. We could not have our mission without them. I hope everyone will tell them thank you for all the work they do when you see them.
I wish I could list and thank each and everyone of you in this newsletter, but that just would not be possible. I hope you all know who much I appreciate each and every one of you. However, I want to give a special note of appreciation to my ARC, Jerry Wilkins and our Road Guard Captain, Rick “Taildragger” Schultz. You two guys helped me to coordinate this route across the entire country. You both are very special to me and I appreciate everything you have done. You were always there for me and our mission. I am blessed to be able to call you friends.
To all of you who raised money for us, and those who donated, I thank you for your time, talents and treasure given to support our mission. Your money will remain in the Midway route account and be allocated for the purpose it was donated for and used to support our 2022 route and riders. I intend to give donations to Milan Elementary and the Falcon’s Children’s Home as we normally do to help support them. I will also announce the day and time that I will hold the drawing for the “Hotel Raffle”. That $1000 prize will be given as planned. You sent money for the raffle and so it will take place and I will be excited to announce the winner. I am planning on a Facebook “live” type of drawing so whoever wants can witness the drawing for the prize. This time, you may have your hotel money early for next year!
The work of dismantling the route will begin ASAP. Then it will be time, once again, to plan our Midway route for 2022. The first part of planning is putting our Leadership and support teams together. I invite you all to return to your positions and hope that you will do so. It has been a very long two years and I would like us all to stick together to finally see our route return in 2022. We do have a fantastic team!
We will move forward with a positive attitude planning to put this route together again to make Midway 2022 the best it can be. I cannot say enough of how proud I am of our team. The wait will just make the mission even sweeter when we get to have it again.
I will continue to keep all of you informed throughout the coming year as we look forward to seeing everyone at reunions and other events throughout the year.
Our mission lives on all year. Many of you will ride your own individual rides this year as some did last year. Maybe paths will cross again sooner rather than later.
I wish you all the best. And, Have I told you lately?………..I love my RFTW family!
Sincerely,
Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway Route Coordinator
