MEET DAVID

I am an 11 year Marine Corps veteran and former Drill Instructor. In 2016 there was a 22 push up per day challenge for Veteran Suicide Awareness. I was challenged by a fellow Marine to participate and I accepted. A little background, in 2012 the VA released a study that on average 22 veterans per day commit suicide. So I started talking each day before I completed the push ups about how you should reach out for help and call the suicide hotline if you need help. I continued to video each day adding a different person to help me out. Around day 7 I had a facebook friend reach out that and tell me that a navy veteran was on the edge and really needed someone to talk to. I stayed on the phone throughout the night to help a fellow vet out. This made me realize that there wasn’t really any resources for veterans in our area (Brazoria County). During the push up challenge I talked a few times about possibly doing a walk with a few vets in our home town. So on day 22, Flag Day 2016, we announced that we were going to do just that, a small walk with a few vets in our home town of Lake Jackson. With the help on my wife Stephanie and a few friends, we planned a walk which we called a hike and it would be 3 miles. The decision was made to make this event family friendly and anyone in the community could join in. On the day of the hike around 150 people showed up to support us. After the event numerous friends, family members and community members reached out to us and asked when the next hike would be. We decided to start our organization and in January of 2017, our non profit was born. We stay dedicated to the veteran but we also find it just as important to help the entire family. We had our second hike 6 months later and approximately 500 veterans and supporters came to hike. Since the beginning, VOW22 has focused primarily on Veteran suicide prevention and awareness by getting veterans and their families the counseling that they so desperately need and deserve.