mission continues at microsoft

Last night was the first of what we hope will be many regular events -- a special gaming event for veterans. I don't know all the details, but Ethan (I think Blair helped, but I'm not sure) hooked up members of The Mission Continues with employees of Microsoft's flagship store in Midtown Manhattan. Together they came up the get together, Two hours of gaming for the veterans of The Mission Continues in the private gaming room.

I came by at the end of the night (for the photo op, natch!), so I didn't get to experience the whole event. But when I got there, everyone was in a good mood, so I figure it was a success. The fact that they're talking about when to have the next such night is also a good sign.

Special thanks to Andres and Marcella at the Microsoft store, and Daniel at Mission Continues. My apologies if I'm omitting others who were a big part of this, but Ethan was more involved setting this up than I was, and he's in the middle of a writing assignment, so I don;t want to disturb him to ask.

who needs a red shirt to serve?

For those who don't know, we don't work with Stack-Up anymore. It wasn't a real surprise the organization made its decision that we should go our separate ways; the writing had been on the wall for a while, and it was really more a matter of when and how than whether. If I recall correctly the split came on June 26. But it had been coming. Since then, there have been developments that have surprised and pleased me.

During the last year or so we've made a lot of connections with the local veteran community, and the last several months of our events have reflected that. We did several service projects with The Mission Continues, and we've been at several of their social events as well. Our last activity for Stack-Up consisted of attending a Veterans stakeholders meeting in New Jersey. At that meeting, Ethan spoke about what Stack-Up can do. We've have spent time helping fix up VFW posts and an American Legion Hall. In fact, the American Legion Hall in Weehawken honored us at their reopening on May 26. At the time of our departure, we had plans to attend an event at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn -- an event at which there would be thousands of veterans and current members of the military. The fact is that we went to more events than we had really wanted to. But when local groups (and in one case a politician) asked us to be at events, it was hard to say no.

So, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words when I was asked what we'll be doing next. That's a question we had thought about, but hadn't come up with any definitive answer. But Ethan and I went to the American Legion  Hall in Weehawken to celebrate July 4. One of the people we knew there -- one of the very people who had given us a plaque a month ago -- asked me the simple question of what we would be doing next. I had to admit that I wasn't sure.

But someone else asked about a possible event. If they could get the equipment could we run the event? It seemed strange for a second. But, thinking about it, it makes sense. There's no reason we need to be members of any specific organization in order to serve. So, while there are no guarantees that it will come to fruition, there's every likelihood that we will be putting together an event. And if we put one together, there's no reason we can't do another... And, while we're at it, The Mission Continues has made it clear that we're welcome to keep signing up for their service projects.

Now, Ethan is talking about his ideas for what kind of charity is really needed. So the future has yet to be written.

memorial day weekend part ii: vfw

Our second engagement of the holiday weekend was Sunday's barbecue and pig roast at the Rocco Moretto VFW Post in Astoria.

As with the American Legion Hall (which we went to on Satutrday), the VFW Hall is a place we've worked with through Stack-Up and the Mission Continues. We were there for a Super Bowl party in February (spoiler alert: The Eagles won), and have since gone back to man a table at one of their Queens Craft Brigade events.

I had to sit out this event, since I was feeling a bit under the weather. But Ethan was there making contacts for Stack-Up.

memorial day weekend part i: american legion

It was a busy Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday it was the reopening of American Legion Hall 18 in Weehawken, NJ. We'd first gotten involved with the Hall several months ago. Apparently the Hall had fallen into disrepair over years of neglect. They needed volunteers to help get it ready for reopening. The Newark Platoon of The Mission Continues helped round up volunteers to get it cleaned up and painted. We made a Stack Up event out of helping.

Since then, we've stayed in touch. We had planned one event with them for the month of the military child. That fell through because they had other commitments, but we are still working with Lucy Del Gaudio, the Vice Commander of the Hall, to have an event there this summer.

At any rate, the grand reopening was an emotional day for many of the area vets, with speeches by local politicians. To our surprise and delight they honored us, calling us up to receive a certificate of appreciation for the work we did for them.

Getting called up was quite the surprise. When we were invited to this event we were told that they were planning something nice. But we had no idea. It's funny how volunteering with one group brought us to another and then another. It's truly an example of the Hebrew expression:

בדרך שהולך מוליכין אותוץ

And it makes me really proud of Ethan, since all of our involvement -- with Stack-Up, with The Mission Continues, with the American Legion Hall -- is due to him.