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OUR 2017 EVENT
2017 ARMED FORCES THANKSGIVING
$45,000 RAISED
for
$5,000 DONATED TO GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTAL MUSUEM
OUR 2017 EVENT
Our 2nd annual event was another huge success! We could not be more grateful for the support of our veterans, sponsors and attendees that represented 40 area schools and their 200 high school representatives, and over 125 military men and women.
Featured Keynote Speaker
Click here to see Noah's
interview with
Eva Aguirre Cooper
Our 2017 luncheon will be highlighted with a keynote address from Noah Galloway, who joined the military in 2001 following 9/11. Sergeant Noah Galloway was assigned to the 1st of the 502nd Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On December 19, 2005, three months into his second tour of duty, he was gravely injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack. Noah lost his left arm above the elbow and his left leg above the knee. His book, LIVING WITH NO EXCUSES, published last August, details how he lost more than limbs, but never gave up. It is a story of success and failure, courage and weakness, tears and triumphs.
Armed Forces Thanksgiving gives students appreciation of military service
May 06, 2017
"It was absolutely the best decision," Westerlund told Abdi Binti, an 11th grader at Union High School, about his four years in the U.S. Navy. The bonds he made during his military tour remain strong nearly two decades later.
2017 SPONSORS
2017 COMMITTEE
2017 Armed Forces Thanksgiving Committee
Honorary Chairman
Judge Joseph Rossi, USMC 1988 – 1992
Event Chairmen
Peter G. Ruppert, Fusion Education Group
John Irwin, Huntington Bank
Jeff Lambert, Lambert Edwards & Associates
Event Committee
Captain Catalin Bugan, Michigan Army National Guard
Kevin Cusack, Stifel
Bruce Courtade, Rhoades McKee PC
Joe DiBenedetto, Lambert Edwards & Associates
Tim Feagan, iHeartMedia
Denny Gillem, Frontlines of Freedom Military Talk Radio
Allison Kaufman, Kent Intermediate School District
Major John Keelan, Michigan Army National Guard
Brandi McBride, Move Systems
Don Mulder, Barnett Manufacturing Co.
Tim Parker, Business/Community Leader
Katie Pennington, Holland High School
Dan Zang, Rockford High School
Event Director
Suzanne Wickman, Cause & Effect Event Marketing