Group stands to raise money for military families
A group of people will be standing around the clock in Victory Plaza until they’ve raised $1 million for the families of fallen troops.
The effort is called Stand to Honor. It’s being put on by the owners of Milestone Electric and benefits the Folds of Honor organization, which provides educational scholarships to the children and spouses of fallen or wounded service members.
U.S. Army veteran Clay Spicer and Folds of Honor spokeswoman Sarah White stopped by Good Day to explain. They said individuals are standing in 13-minute increments in a non-stop rotation. The 13 minutes represents the 13 folds of an American flag given to the families of fallen soldiers.
“The passion behind this event has just been excellent,” Spicer said. “I’ve been out there with my family as well as the other families bringing kids out there because it is powerful. It shows the feeling across the country that the veterans and service men and women throughout the various engagements and throughout our history… people come out and have really gravitated toward that patriotic feeling and being able to give back.”
White said she knows what it’s like to be the child of a fallen service member. Her father, Captain Dennis White, was an F-15 fighter pilot who died while on a routine flight check off the coast of North Carolina in 1995. Folds of Honor later stepped in and gave her a scholarship to attend Auburn University.
“I always tell people, you know, the scholarship of course was a financial relief for my mom and I. But I think even more than that as a gold star daughter… I think a lot of times our gold star families feel like they are forgotten about or that their sacrifice wasn’t important or it shouldn’t matter and people just don’t care. Just to know that there is a group of patriots out there like the people at the Folds of Honor and the people associated with Stand to Honor… knowing that they’re committed every single day to wake up and remember the sacrifice that not only he made but we made as well is a gift that you can’t put a price on,” she said.
Organizers were hoping to meet their fundraising goal by Monday but they’re not there yet. Fortunately the people involved are committed to standing until the full $1 million is raised.
“Let’s donate and hit the number for 200 scholarships,” Spicer said.
LINK: standtohonor.org