The Patriotic Pony mission has patiently waited its turn. From the day our first hero CW2 Christopher Thibodeau’s wife LeeSandra told us what a Fisher House was and how she wanted to “pay it forward” and wished the Fisher House at Dover could have one of our rockers, we have tried to find a way to fulfill her wish.
When we realized how many Fisher Houses there were, we decided to expand her wish and build custom rockers for any Fisher House that wanted one. Turns out there are 64 Fisher Houses across the country and 27 asked for a rocking horse for the children who visited them!
With that large of a project, we knew we had to get as many people involved as possible. And decided the rockers should be painted white with hand prints of red and blue of people from all across the country, showing love and support of our military and their families.
Just when we had worked out all the details our woodshop collapsed! With love and support of so many, we were able to rebuild, bigger and better than before, but the Patriotic Pony mission had a set back of over a year!
We made a promise and we intended to keep it! Once we were up and running, we jump started the Hero’s Rock Thank You Tour and hoped funding would follow.
With less than 2 months before our deliveries were scheduled to start, we had barely gathered 20% of our goal. It was enough to get wood for the horses and rockers, but was no where near where we needed to be.
The Patriotic Pony mission has been rocked with delays; from the woodshop collapse to my injury. Unable to even walk the distance to the woodshop, I cannot help set up for shows, let alone work the shows! The Old Hippie would have had to do it all………if it wasn’t for so many who jumped in to help! From the Gold Star father, Bob Thibodeau who has been here nearly every weekend and more…..to so many others; The Thibodeau Family, the entire Adam Hamilton family, the Logsdon family, Charlene “Charlie” Mann (who has been my arms and legs), Joe Leonard, Liz Eustace, Bob Maclearie, our own boys; Cody Snyder and Joshua Snyder-Hill and so many, many more! It is truly amazing!!!
Still time was running short, as good of toy makers that we are….we are not that good at fundraising! Hero’s Rock is so very unique and so very hard to explain, but you know in an instant when someone truly gets what we do……by the tears in their eyes!
Just as panic was setting in…….a miracle happened! We received a call from Joe Leonard asking us if we had heard about the 50/50 Queen of Hearts Raffle SkyLane Bowling was holding in Garrettsville, Ohio. We had no clue what it was, as he went on to tell us that he had gotten Hero’s Rocks name added to the charities list. Shortly thereafter, we were put in contact with Aaron King of SkyLane Bowling, who explained Hero’s Rock would be the charity to receive the 50/50 funds from their upcoming drawing Sunday, 7/24/2016.
So, when we say, “We have ANGELS watching over us”, we definitely mean it! They often have a warped sense of humor (much like us – lol) and love to torture us every chance they get! But somehow, someway……things just miraculously work out!
On July 24th, the raffle hit an all time high of over $17,000! Netting $8844 for Hero’s Rock…..ensuring the gas money for the delivery of 18 of the Patriotic Ponies across 21 states, over 7,500 miles….just as scheduled!!!
From the bottom of these two Old Hippies’ hearts…………….
THANK YOU ALL SO VERY, VERY MUCH!!!!
Scott & Trish Snyder
Hero’s Rock
God bless our Gold Star Families and all who serve and protect!
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