The Rotary Veterans Initiative conducted a community BBQ event on Saturday, Sept 10th at Rendezvous Run Farm in Dickinson Township at 806 Alexander Spring Road, Carlisle, PA 17015. The 130(+) participants of this sold-out ticketed event:
  • Honored Veterans by listening to and recording their stories of service and sacrifice
    • WWII and Korean War Veteran, and Harrisburg resident, Louis “Lou” F. Gallo 
    • USMC veteran, formerly homeless, and Central Penn College graduate, Randy Ramer
      • Randy shared his powerful story of rising above injury, drug addiction, and homelessness to become a Central Penn College (CPC) graduate
      • Tape of Randy’s comments is forthcoming; Randy also told his story in 2020:  https://www.facebook.com/page/416243718390392/search/?q=randy%20ramer
      • At CPC Randy served as the President of the student veteran’s Armed Forces Association (AFA) where he created and led the AFA Homeless Veteran’s Initiative --- which raised money to help homeless veterans
    • Raised money to continue to help Central PA veterans transform their lives, families, and our communities
  • Invested $20,000 in the career dreams of Central Penn College Student Veterans
    • Presented this check to support student veterans’ scholarships, textbook and technology device vouchers, and scholarships for student veterans performing unpaid internships and/or participating in Capstone courses
  • Invested $7,500 to reward and incentivize veteran participation in The Penn State Harrisburg School of Business Administration 2022 (Business) Startup Weekend program (Nov 11- 13, 2022)
  • To date, including the addition of the $27,500 announced at this event, RVI has contributed a total of $205,000 to help 270 Central PA veterans transform their lives, families and communities
  • Showcased the efforts of the Veterans Outreach of PA (VOPA) to address veteran homelessness
    • VOPA leaders Mike Reardon, John Hickey, and Jordan Ames provided tours of their “Tiny Home” and explained the VOPA Mission and Vision
    • Mission: We stand to combat homelessness among Veterans by providing support and services needed to promote an empowered life filled with strength and purpose.
    • Vision: Restoring trust and creating opportunity, one Veteran at a time.
  • Received the outstanding support of volunteers from The Giant Company 
  • Thanked our major sponsors, including Korporate Computing, The Giant Company, UPMC, Synergy Home Care of Carlisle, State Farm of Carlisle (Greg Lunde), Hoffman Funeral Home & Crematory, Diamond Wealth Advisors, William Harkey, Tom Fruth, the Bussard family, the Haag Family, the Rotary Clubs of Mechanicsburg North, Hershey, Harrisburg, and Carlisle.    
This event is complete, but there will be future events and many actions to support veterans; therefore, donations to RVI are always welcome. To make a tax-deductible donation to RVI, please write the check to the "Rotary Veterans Initiative" and mail it to RVI, 806 Alexander Spring Road, Carlisle, PA 17015 (or) make an online donation at https://www.tfec.org/funds/rotary-veterans-initiative/  To collaborate with RVI to help our veterans please email rickcopen@gmaijl.com
 

Rotary Veterans Initiative