Learning to pace myself as we travel across the Country!

     One Month into this years tour and the emotional toll is quite exhausting, I battle trying to get the message out to all the media and leaders in the community, while trying to balance meeting so many people out there battling cancer. We are so much more than just an awareness campaign and our program is what the Country needs in a time where we have a hard time trusting our Leaders locally and nationally as well. I feel the pain in communities that have tried to work hard and around them their leaders have sold their labor of love.
     You would think that all fundraising done in our local communities, Counties and States would make it a requirement that we keep all the money locally, but very few States require that the money stays in their own State. Millions of dollars could be saved to generate jobs, save jobs and even provide immediate care for their own people, if we just kept the money generated by our labor of love.
     We have asked for nothing and give everything away because love has always been free, if we are in service to others it's never about the money. I love what it means to be an American, I love what it means to be in service to others based on true volunteerism, this is what has made America what it is.
Pink Heals! 

Becoming International sets the bar real high!

Now that we have visited our chapter in Quebec, we can officially say that we've become an International organization. We have firefighters in Iraq wearing our shirts and hopefully we will get some fire trucks painted pink and moving throughout the highways of Germany, Australia and the Philippines. These are the Countries that have showed interest in our program.
What Cities and departments across the Country still need to realize is that we are creating a movement with our program. We are branding this movement with our tour every year by building trust and spreading the same message over and over again. Putting our women first, not because she is sick but because she should be first. Men who are men realize this, leaders who truly have God given leadership abilities realize this. So that is why you see so many of our pink fire trucks with our symbol and our mission statement being driven throughout the Country. If you see a pink fire truck on the road and they don't look just like our National tour trucks, they aren't a part of our program.

Nothing like a platform to explain our movement!

We had a great stop in Hardin County thanks to Chief Steve New. He and his staff and firefighters along with the citizens of his community really put on a first class event. Now I know why in the old days Presidents went to small town USA to campaign, they truly know what community is all about and they still have that sense of serving others based on Love!
I have to say the parade and the placement of "Our Ribbon of Hope" statue was perfect. It was right in front of the American Flag, with a stage just in front of that. It really brought out a lot of emotion  for me and I really got the message out about our program.

We are going to create the Worlds largest brand to give away for free to help communities raise money, save jobs and even create jobs. What if the number one brand in the World was a symbol of love based on what our women mean to us and it was given to each and every community so they in turn could create funds to help people pay their unforeseen costs due to cancer. If we are willing to drive thousands of miles around the country imprinting this brand for free and we are willing to give it to you so you can use this brand to raise money and help your own people, it becomes perfect! This is the next evolution in fundraising, this is a program that all our Politicians can wrap their arms around and limits their ability to turn the other cheek. It brings them back to the front lines and lets them stand right with us as we celebrate our own people. What if we create an immediate care program in each community based on fundraising year round by our people in each community. You cannot tell me it won't work, I was told fireman wearing t-shirts wouldn't work and now we have forty pink fire trucks in three different countries and thousands of fire departments wearing our symbol all around the Globe. We will be the largest fire department in the World in the next five years and it will be all based on love and what our women mean to us! Pink Heals!

Making up stops as we go!

    I'm sitting in a Hampton Inn just outside Nashville in a town called Mt. Juliet. We have just eaten at a retired firefighters house in a Del Webb development whose wife is currently battling breast cancer. We met Mike and Jeanne George at our last event at a YMCA on the far West side of Nashville and they invited us over for some home cooked food. It is amazing when you travel the Country doing what we're doing, you get to meet great people and the stories you hear are amazing.
    It's amazing how many drivers, firefighters, real men and women that want to help us get across the Country spreading our program to so many afflicted with cancer and to so many Cities that need to establish new programs for their people.
When we pick Cities to visit we make contact with their local Fire Chief, Police Chief, Union Presidents, Mayor and if we have the time some of the Cancer organizations in each community. Very few tell us their not interested, very few of them once they see our press release and the videos of all the places that we've visited decline to celebrate the women, men and children that have taken the time to sign the trucks. Nashville's Fire Chief and it's City officials told us they where not interested, so that is how we ended up at the YMCA in Brentwood where we met a wonderful lady by the name of Nancy Brown. Nancy a survivor runs a non-profit program called ABC. They give survivors a free 16 week membership to the "Y", a trainer and offer all kinds of support information to help in recovery. Everything stays local and I think this is one of the many organizations we need to support as we inspire tax based organizations to raise money through our efforts. You can email Nancy at nbrown@ymcamidtn.org to get more information.  Pink Heals!

Picking up steam as we spread our message!

Gardendale AL was a great stop thanks to Rick Smith and Jennifer from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama. We had our best interview from Jeh Jeh on Fox 7 in Birmingham, who allowed us to really tell our story. This part of the Country we are making up a few stops as we go thanks to some help from friends on facebook.
James Wessell and gang from Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus really took care of us when we stopped by to say hello. They are located just off highway 231 in Union Grove AL and they are the best and most honest used fire truck dealer in the Country. We have been driving around without air conditioning in Tonya for two years, thinking that we needed a new A/C unit. James and crew got to work and all it needed was to be charged and to have belts put on the Compressor. But all aside from getting a little help, what I look forward to is all the love and support they give you by just spending time with them. I hope our friendship with them will last a lifetime and I recommend that you go by and say hello and get to know these great people if your ever in the area.