More than 30 Marathon Jam VA Hospital Volunteers and Iron Pickers gathered at the American Legion Post 6 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina to play music for 10 hours to raise money for the Ft Bragg and Camp Lejeune Fisher Houses and honor the families of our military and first responders.
One of the most emotional aspects of the Marathon Jam is wrapping our honorees in our custom made red, white, and blue Marathon Jam Quilts Of Honor, and we wrapped more veterans and first responders than ever before (over 20!) in the course of the day. It was powerfully moving and emotionally positive for all involved.
Our Marathon Jam VA Hospital volunteers interact with and entertain veterans throughout the year, and we recognized the team leaders for the Fayetteville, Durham, Kernersville, Charlotte, and Salisbury VAs. Ron Mauer, the administrator of the Salisbury VA Hospital, told the audience at the Legion hall how important their work is to both the veterans and the staff of the VA.
He also renewed his commitment to help get Marathon Jam Hospital Volunteers in every major VA facility in North Carolina!
We are proud to announce this was also the best-attended Marathon Jam in our 16 years of working for the military and first responders, with almost 300 participants.
We wrapped 96-year-old Brig. Gen. Norman Gaddis, a Vietnam POW and a true American hero, our first Native American veterans (members of the Sappony Tribe, whose history of service to the US dates back to the Revolutionary War), as well as an active duty military for only the second time in Marathon Jam history.
We ended the night with over $10,000 in cash and checks and had substantially more pledged digitally. It was an amazingly wonderful and very successful day….
And now we are humbled and delighted to announce that because of your support:
Marathon Jam 2020 has reached our goal of $20,000!!!
With that, our 16-year total now exceeds $200,000, and all of that money stays right here in North Carolina for the families of injured soldiers and first responders.
THANK YOU.
Keep helping because it is what and how you give that makes it all possible!
