Wheelers for the wounded.

[tonythemarine]

just thought i would share this with you guys... got it from the TX TTORA site.

Wheelers For The Wounded

Hi, my name is Jason Havlik and I'm the Founder/President of Wheelers For The Wounded.

To give you some quick background, I originally planned on returning to the States and traveling around the country for a month or two to sightsee. While doing this, I was going to pick up a friend who lost both his legs from the calves down to an IED attack about 2 months ago. I'm hoping he will have his prosthetic legs by then and was going to let him drive my vehicle off-road. This is one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life.

A friend of mine helped me to see the bigger picture and do the same thing for other wounded military members. When word go out to a few others, one guy said he would like to ride with me while I was in his State. That snowballed into others wanting to do the same thing. I then started the MySpace page just under 2 weeks ago and it has grown to were it is today...over 550 friends on that page and 9 sponsors.

My Jeep will be undergoing an extensive customization process which will truly make it a one of a kind vehicle. The hardtop and doors will be removed during the trip which will provide more sensation for those veterans who have lost partial eyesight or hearing (a common occurrence when hit by an IED, car bomb, mortar, etc).

Various off-road events will be hosted by clubs all across our great country in a 3 month time span (March 1, 2009 until June 1, 2009). At current I have heard from clubs in California, West Virginia, Missouri, and Arkansas who all wish to be Event Hosts/Trail Guides while I'm in their area.

A Hummer Club will be hosting the event in Missouri. A TORRA club has requested to be considered for one of the other States, and a Jeep club has volunteered as well. While name brands of vehicles are in the titles of the club names, during the event ALL makes of vehicles will be allowed to participate.

This is about setting aside out differences and coming together for a common goal of giving our wounded military members some great memories that will last for years to come. They need to know that the citizens of the United States care about the sacrifices they've made for their country.

I will be taking donations and each club holding an event will be raising money prior to the event through things like "charity trail runs." A small portion of the money will go to things like camping gear for the veterans if they need some, food, fuel, etc. NONE of the money raised will go to the customization of the vehicle. I am paying for that myself with my own money and with parts supplied by sponsors. I wish I could pay for everything, but when you consider the cost of the vehicle and that I won't be working for those 3 months, I simply can't afford much more. All of the excess money raised will be donated to a charity of my choosing (it will be military related) on behalf of the entire off-road community.

Anyone can throw money at a problem, organization, charity, etc...that is NOT the goal here. If no money is raised, then so be it...I will pay for everything out of my own pocket if I must, as hard as that will be on me. The primary goal is to go out and DO SOMETHING for these brave men and women. We're not just going to give them lip service, but rather actually spend some time with them, get to know them a little, and share in some fun.

The website www.wheelersforthewounded.org is up and running, though is still under construction. I have a forum set up with a section for each State in which I get off-road clubs volunteering to hold an event. This will make it easy for event hosts to get the information out to people who would like to attend their event and vice versa. Will surely be better than sending a bunch of mass emails back and forth with everyone.

I hope you all will consider showing your support by either wanting to host an event in your State or attending an event.

Thank you for your time. If anyone has questions, you can ask them here or contact me through the website. Please keep in mind that I'm in Fallujah, Iraq and it may take me a little while to get back with you, but I will be as prompt as I can possibly be.

I hope to see you all on the trails,
Jason Havlik
Founder/President Wheelers For The Wounded
www.wheelersforthewounded.org
www.myspace.com/wheelersforthewounded

[woody dog]

Very cool thanks for posting

[brny67]

way cool

[Oxymar00n]

Thanks Tony. I cross-posted it to CT...