I Love A Parade

"Another day in Paradise. Every meal's a banquet, every paycheck's a fortune and every formation is a parade"

Next Saturday, 19 May in Richmond VA there is going to be a parade to welcome home the Iraq and Afghan vets and salute them for their service and sacrifice. I realize we still have troops downrange, and they are likely to stay awhile yet, but its time to do this thing. We tried a few years back, couldn't get anything going. Hard to get funding sometimes. But this time, with the help of the Welcome Home Foundation, the Richmond Times Dispatch, and hundreds of volunteers, the parade is going to happen and we are going to pawwwwtay.

In conjunction with the parade, we are going to set up a Veterans Resource Village on the grounds of The Carillon, Richmond's WWI Memorial. There will be Veterans Service Organizations, (including our very own Cooking with the Troops), Wounded Warrior Project will be on hand, veterans agencies from the state and federal government and a few companies and groups looking to hire veterans, including Wal-Mart Transportation, the largest employer of veterans in the country, and Dupont Spruance Plant will be on hand to talk to vets about oppportunities working for the maker of Kevlar and Nomex, two products our military depend upon every day to keep them safe.

McGuire,Woods LLP will have some legal foks on hand to assist vets with any legal issues they may have, and they stepped up big time for this one.  Capitol One will have a booth to talk to vets about financial issues and do some recruiting. (full disclosure-both of my children work for CapOne, and you could do a lot worse. They love it.) Dept of Motor Vehicles will have their mobile outreach van onsite, along the Veterans Outreach Center van, AUSA Mobile Blood Donation van, and the Hunter-Holmes McGuire VA Hospital van.

I have to give props to a lot of folks who have donated to this effort. City Ice Co, down in Chester, VA is giving us ice to keep the water cold we got from Virginia Artesian Water, Co over in Mechanicsville, VA. Both of these local companies support our military and veterans and we need to return the favor. Thank you Mark from City Ice and Nancy from VA Artesian. Haley Buick GMC is providing tents and transporting veterans for us. Commonwealth Events and PartyPerfect worked with us on getting the rest of the tents and the tables and chairs.

This is just a partial list of the folks who have stepped up for our veterans and we thank them. Its never too late to donate of course, and we will accept most anyone who wants to volunteer to help.

Here are a couple of links that have been up recently:
P Henry Saddleburr <----good pics from St Louis parade here.
PJMedia

Welcome Home Parade May 19 Richmond VA

A very good friend of mine wrote this.

Thank you, Sir.

Hello my finely feathered friendlies.

What I'm about to tell you is of utmost importance. I don't often send out email blasts, but I feel it important to do so... for this event.

On Saturday, May 19th, Richmond, VA is hosting a Parade to Welcome Home and Thank the Troops, starting at 10am, starting at the Virginia Historical Society, marching down the Boulevard and ending at the Carillon, some 2 plus miles away.

This parade is to honor the heroism and sacrifice our Armed Forces have provided, not just in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also those who served faithfully in Viet Nam, Korea, and all of the other places they've been forced to endure to fight for our freedom.

The debt we owe all of these patriots cannot be repaid with a single parade, of course, but a massive outpouring of support to these fine individuals and their families is the least we can do.

This is an effort that was built at the grassroots level and naturally, lacks the polish, funding and organization of a centralily organized event. Which is really the beauty of it. It ain't the Rose Parade.

This is not organized by a political party, a politician, or a movement. It's spontaneous. It's completely American.

But this is well worth doing and is part of the unspoken covenant that the American people have with their warriors. We've asked them to do things on our behalf, some of which are unsavory, some of which resulted in tremendous loss of life and/or severe and debiliating injury, and all of which ask them to sacrifice family time and to endure unfathomable danger and discomfort.

If you've got an ounce of appreciation for the troops and the missions they've executed on our behalf, please carve out some time for this parade in their honor. And please copy this to your friends and family, and come on down to Richmond for this Parade.

It's important.

St. Louis had such a parade in January and drew 100,000 patriots. In the bitter cold. Certainly Richmond can double that on a beautiful day in May.





This should be the mid Atlantic's Welcome Home and Thanks celebration.

Spread the word. Bring your kids. Bring on the love for the Troops.

Robin Beres from Richmond Times Dispatch is a major organizer of this event. Even Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones is a sponsor.

It's People. Not politics.

Go here for more info and how to contribute or volunteer. http://americaforvets.org/

All my best.

Jim S.

Final Details on 7 December Norfolk Naval Base

This just in: Bill O'Reilly warns JAG prosecutors they had better have some good evidence or he's gonna get involved. Just as soon as he finds out where this is taking place. Idiot...

There are many different individuals attending this rally - from every day Americans to various organizations and groups.

Below please find the finalized information regarding time, date and place that everyone has been looking for.

Why: Show your support for our Navy SEALs, their families and our military serving throughout the globe

When: Dec 7th, 2009 Pearl Harbor Day
Where: Gate 5 of the Base, Norfolk, Va Hampton Blvd and B Street.
Time: 7 am until noonish? Depending on how many citizens show up....
a PEACEFUL RALLY for support is the optimal goal. The media will be there to share with those that can not make it.

NOTE: All that wish to attend and show their support:

You have chosen to attend this event in support of our Navy Seals. Please do so in a peaceful manner. History has proven that our local Norfolk Police Dept has been very happy with any civil rally, specially when supporting our military. Remember to thank the Police Officers for being there and for the hard work that they do for us as citizens as well. Simply, put a smile on their face. You must provide your own transportation. Several shopping centers have bus lines up and down Hampton Blvd. There is even a large parking lot on Hampton Blvd so car pooling might not be a bad idea, they will likely fill up quickly.

Before leaving, please take a look around you for garbage and be sure clean up your signs & trash when you leave. We are looking forward to Monday being a PEACEFUL, SUPPORTIVE message for our Military, specially these three young men and their families and .