Greetings RFTW family from sunny south Louisiana. Yes, it has finally stopped raining, (at least for today). The sun is shining and we are moving forward with our mission!
A lot of people are going through very tough times right now. Our veterans and all our RFTW family need to know that we are here for each other and support one another. Please reach out to your RFTW family if you need us. At this time, I would like to remind everyone of the tragic tornado devastation to our friends and family in the Cookeville and Lebanon Tennessee areas. These towns are great supporters of RFTW. Several people have reached out to me to ask if there was something we can do to help. With the help of the TN State Coordinators, I am pleased to tell you the answer is yes!
I did not want to set something up to send money to a place where our donations would be lost and we wouldn’t know what the money was used for. Our Tennessee State Coordinators have reached out to the people in the area to determine what we could do to help veterans that were in dire need of help to recover from the tornado. Our donations will be going directly to help needy veterans! Some cannot afford to even start the rebuilding process!
I have spoken with our Treasurer, Ken Ward and he has helped to set up the process for this. If you would like to donate to this cause, please make checks payable to: Run for the Wall (RFTW) and mail to:
RFTW attn: Ken Ward
1766 S. Erie Highway, Hamilton, OH 45011
IMPORTANT!: Make sure you write “Midway Tornado Relief” on the note line. If you do not, your donation will not go to this cause.
The “Donate” button on the RFTW.US website has been moved to the front page. You can also use this button to donate through PayPal. If you are donating for this cause, you need to make sure that you put “Midway Tornado relief” in the note section or, once again, your donation will not go to this cause.
There are so many people who need help. However, I hope our efforts make you feel comfortable that your donations will get to our veterans in need. I want to thank our TN State Coordinator Ron “Sky” King and his Assistant SC, Ed “Midway” Butler for their efforts to make sure our donations will go to help veterans.
Ed personally worked in a veteran’s home to assist with salvaging and recovering their belongings from what was their home. They survived in a closet under the stairs, the only room intact. Ed said, “There are no words to express the sadness and hurt a person feels working to pick up a lifetime of families heirlooms.”
We have RFTW “boots on the ground” there to oversee the distribution of our donations.
The point of contact is the Putnam Veteran’s Service office. Although we have been told they had not identified all of the veterans effected, they have had several come in asking for assistance. We are focused on the Veterans.
Hwy 70 is where the main tornado damage occurred. Two of these hwy 70 signs were made specifically for RFTW. The largest donor will get one of the signs and the other sign will accompany us on RFTW to be signed and them given back to Cookeville.
I invite people from all routes to contribute to this cause if they would like. We are 4 routes but 1 mission. I will keep you updated from time to time on how our fundraising for the tornado victims is going.
Thank you in advance for your generosity.
Sincerely,
Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway Route Coordinator
