Ironman in Training

A few weeks ago I posted about Bill Rollins, a man training for the Ironman race and his efforts to raise money for the Fisher House Foundation. Bill just sent me an update on all that is happening and I want to share it with you!

In the past couple of weeks I have raised $790. All of this money goes directly to the Fisher House Foundation. I feel more strongly now than ever before that the citizens of this country have an obligation to support our soldiers and their families. We cannot simply rely on our government to take care of everything and hope that it gets done.I do not doubt that most Americans care deeply, but I am not sure that they realize just how many people and families have been affected by this war. The combat injuries that these soldiers suffer can take years from which to recover.

Fisher House provides housing near major military and VA medical facilities that can be used by the families of these injured soldiers. I am raising money for them because I believe that the presence of family during their treatment and rehabilitation is essential. It is the least that we can do for these families.

Here is a message I received from Diane Briest, the mother of a soldier wounded in Iraq. She was happy for me to share this story with others:

“I am the mother of a South Dakota National Guard soldier, critically injured in Iraq on 12/4/05. We have had one horrible experience after another with the Army and the VA, but we have our wonderful and positive experiences with the Fisher House foundation to be thankful for. My daughter-in-law and I were able to stay at one of the two Fisher Houses at NNMC in Bethesda, MD for a month, and in Minneapolis, MN for five months. Just being close to the hospital was a relief, and also the Fisher House enabled us to have Corey’s children, who were almost 3 and just 13 months old at the time of his injury, at least be with us for short periods of time. This was crucial in my son’s recovery and in our ability to cope with it. We also benefited from Hero Miles through the Fisher House foundation on our many trips between South Dakota and Washington DC and now Pomona, California.

People frequently ask us what they can do – I’ll be directing them to your website and asking them to support you! Thank you so much for all of your efforts and wish you great success.

If people ever want to know some of the people who are benefiting from Fisher Houses, here’s my son: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/NEWS/70116046&template=theme&theme=COREYBRIEST”

Corey also has a web site where you can follow his recovery and leave him some words of encouragement. The site is at: http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=coreybriest.

Please help me support Fisher House and the families that need and deserve their help. My website is at http://www.billrollins.com and contains more information about me, my Ironman race and how you can support Fisher House.

Thank you!
Bill Rollins

P.S. I should mention that my Ironman training is going well. The volume of the workouts is starting to increase. I have been averaging about 10-11 hours of training a week. This will start to really pick up in about 2 months as I prepare for August’s race.

With all the bad publicity about Walter Reed Army Medical Center, it is more important than ever that we support the efforts of The Fisher House Foundation and all that they are doing for our military and their families. Please visit Bill’s site and that of Corey as well. Send your support whether financial or verbal…it ALL makes a difference!

About these ads