That’s a wrap, our Ruck 22 Veterans Day Heritage event is over! Thank you so much to everyone who came out and joined us this past Saturday on Veterans Day for Ruck 22! It was a huge pleasure to see everyone come out to show solidarity and support to our veterans.

As some may know, the objective of Ruck 22 is to raise awareness on veteran suicide by highlighting Veterans battling PTSD and promoting Health, Personal Wellness, and Fitness as a way to combat PTSD and Suicide. This is not a Veteran Community issue only, it impacts everyone! Ruck 22 embodies the fight we all can participate in to combat this issue!

The event overall was a success! The weather was rainy, but hey that’s Oregon for us! What is Oregon without some rain? We accommodated to the weather and continued with joy!

As the event began, everyone was able to pour themselves a delicious cup of coffee courtesy of Country Coffee Beavercreak along with some snacks and cookies thanks to our Outreach Coordinator, Yanett Garcia!

After that very much-needed morning caffeine boost, we welcomed all our attendees and then shared some general information about the event! It was beautiful to see everyone come out with their backpacks filled with their donation items ready to walk the 2.2-mile Ruck walk!

Before commencing the walk we had a couple of speakers speak, which included, Chad Brown (Founder and Executive Director of Love is King), Yanett Garcia (Love is King Outreach Coordinator), India Wynne (Marine Veteran), Grace Stratton (Senator Ron Wyden Feild Representative), and Lisa Horness (Do Good Multnomah)!

Chad spoke about Ruck 22 and the importance of the Heritage event, thanking everyone in attendance as well. Yanett Garcia did a phenomenal job of introducing our speakers and tabling partners at the event!

India Wynne spoke about their personal experience as a Marine Veteran, their struggle with mental health, motivation, hope, and their battle with Colon Cancer. Their speech was so touching and gave everyone in attendance the insight of what veterans battle behind closed doors! Truly inspirational and emotional!

Grace Stratton gave a statement on behalf of Senator Ron Wyden as he could not attend. Grace then presented Love is King with an official letter statement from Senator Ron Wyden himself, we are truly honored. You can see the letter on our social media!

From Do Good Multnomah, we had Lisa Horness speak about the phenomenal work they do to provide resources, services, and support to our local veteran community. They also were the beneficiaries of the Donation Drive and expressed their gratitude for everyone’s donations!

Before commencing the Ruck walk, we had Jay Ringer play taps on a trumpet to honor our veterans. Followed by the taps, was 22 seconds of silence to show solidarity and honor the 22 veterans that take their life every day on American soil.

After the silence, the Ruck walk started! 2.2 miles of walking, running, or crawling with 22lbs on our backs to show solidarity for our veterans! All attendees also had the opportunity to engage in a fun yet challenging obstacle course or a short yoga session hosted by Fulcrum Fitness.

Judy Myong, who is a local acupuncturist, provided attendees with information on acupuncture and its benefits. She also offered ear seeds to all attendees for them to experience a minuscule sample of what acupuncture is like.

Lastly, we had our Do Good Multnomah, where Lisa displayed information to all attendees about Do Good Multnomah and collected donations from the Donation Drive. Lisa has let us know that the donations have made their way to benefit our veterans in the Wy’east Shelter, how amazing!

Overall we all had a blast and a great time! This event displayed the support our community has in combatting Veteran PTSD and Suicide by actively coming out and participating! We cannot wait for Ruck 22 next year!

Missed the event? Join us on our upcoming events which will be announced soon!

Also a huge thank you to everyone who made this event possible!