Submitted by: Mike Fochuk
LAJOC members,
This event was discussed at our AGM in November 2016. For those that are interested the event is scheduled to take place June 9-11th 2017 this year.
Registration forms can be found on the event website www.4wheelers4vets.ca. Completed forms and registration fees must emailed to 4wheelers4vets@gmail.com by May15th 2017.
Please come out and support a great cause.
For more information please read below or email 4wheelers4vets@gmail.com
Information on the event
4wheelers4vets Veterans’ Trail Run is an annual event, organized for the first time October 2016, matching Canadian Veterans with Jeepers, for an exhilarating weekend on the trails. Funds raised are used via our committee, after being put to vote, to assist Veterans in need who ‘fire a flare’ for help. Assistance needed includes, and are not limited to; Veteran Homelessness, Boots on the Ground for Veterans in Crisis who need a comrade at their side (in some cases to bring a comrade home), provisions of grocery items for those who are struggling, to assisting financially with pertinent utility bills to avoid cut-offs.
4wheelers4vets, represents essentially the alliance formed between Wheelers and Veterans, much like the family bond formed in CAF, based on what is represented as being similar to those groups adapted by Veterans ‘self-help’ networks across Canada – 31 Canadian Brigade Group, Veterans Well-being Network, for example, in South Western Ontario.
Our aim is to make the event as cost-free to participating Veterans as possible, in recognition of the fact that most of those who attend have very limited resourses. Many live on partial military disability pension, never generous. During the first event, many lasting friendships were made, with an immediate consensus established that more such weekends could be rewardingly arranged, to the benefit of all participating.
During the inaugural event the twelve Veterans who attended were supported both emotionally and financially and the funds raised were used to continue to support other Veterans. As word of mouth spreads we anticipate increasing the number of Veteran attendees, and those supported by the events. Moreover, an effort will be made to accommodate some Veterans in need of a couple of fun days in the sun, by accounting for dogs and children: ‘dogs’, because some of the most needy Veterans, those suffering from combat related PTSD, for example, would like to bring service dogs; ‘children’, because some of those who would very much like to come identify this as the sort of an event at which they might establish new connections with children estranged by illness.
For more information please visit www.4wheeler4vets.ca or email 4wheelers4vets@gmail.com