As Wheel House Warriors celebrated their 2nd Anniversary on January 29th, 2021.
I cannot believe the whirlwind it has all been!
So many amazing things have happened this last year!
First, our members! Wow! We have some of the most amazing, upstanding members and I am so truly thankful for them! They show up, they step up, they help one another out! That is only a part of what Wheel House Warriors is about, not just being a community for one another but being able to give back to our veterans, active military, law enforcement and our community.
During this last year, Wheel House Warriors has grown faster and larger than we ever thought possible in two short years! We have expanded our swag line as well. Introducing two new lines. The RED and the BLUE.
RED is for Remember Everyone Deployed. We wear RED on Fridays to show our support of our military deployed. The proceeds of this shirt go back to military families with someone deployed. This money helps these families with utility bills, child care, groceries, children’s sporting equipment or costs, whatever the need is, we try and help fulfill that need.
BLUE is for Back the Blue. We wear BLUE on Wednesdays to show our support to our law enforcement. The proceeds from this shirt go to a law enforcement non profit that helps the families of fallen law enforcement officers.
We are immensely proud of the things we are accomplishing, and we are also enormously proud that we are debt free this year, with our starting costs and overhead expenditures as well as growing our swag line. We are proud to say our bills are all paid. Our inventory is stocked and paid for and we are thrilled to be able to be ahead and that this next year we will be able to donate even more money to our recipients for the year!
Our Winter Event went well even though we braved -25-degree weather and froze our butts off! We still had a great turn out of vendors, food trucks and members!
We were able to donate to the following.
- $4,000 to Hometown Hero Outdoors
- $4,000 to Service Dog Non-Profit Organization
- $3,000 to Wheel House Warriors RED Program
This year April 1, 2021 to April 1, 2022 we have chosen the following three, 501c3 organizations to be our recipients.
- Time On The Water
This is an organization that wants to thank Military Personnel, Firefighters, Law Enforcement, Health Care Professionals, Teachers, EMT / EMS and all hero’s of the community for their dedication and service by taking them on all expenses paid fishing trips.Wheel House Warriors feels that our mission aligns with theirs and we want to support them.If you want more information about this organization or if you fall into one of those categories and would like to be considered to go on a fishing trip, please check out their website at https://www.timeonthewatermn.com/
- V.E.T. Service Dogs NFP
This is an organization that trains service dogs for US Military Veterans. They are in Lyons, Illinois where they have a training facility. These dogs are loved and cared for while being trained. They are then matched up with a veteran. Usually, the dog chooses their person. It truly is quite the experience to meet these dogs and the hero’s they serve. Wheel House Warriors from the very beginning has made it a mission to donate funding to provide service dogs for our Nation’s Hero’s and we are genuinely excited about finding an organization that goes above and beyond to provide quality trained animals to veterans in need. We are so excited about this partnership and we hope to raise money to provide multiple service dogs this year.If you would like to read more about this organization, please check out their website at https://vetservicedogsnfp.org/ - Association Retreat Center (ARC)
This organization is an old air force base that was purchased in 1978 by the Association of Free Lutheran Churches and Bob Dietsche who was a veteran spent the remainder of his life transforming and running the ARC. There are many things that the ARC does for veterans, but it also helps communities from far and wide to be able to congregate together, build morale and retreat together. We heard that the ARC was hurting this year due to COVID taking a huge hit on people having retreats and camps this last year. Therefore, Wheel House Warriors wanted to ensure that groups of ALL communities, veterans, military, law enforcement, schools, churches, youth groups, people of all ages and from cities all over. Would still have a place to go to camp. There are not very many retreat centers open any longer due to the pandemic and we wanted to take the ARC under our wing and make sure the ARC stayed afloat! We hope that our contributions this year will not only help them keep their doors open but allow them to do some changes to their property that will only increase its value and functionality for many years to come for the multiple communities that gather there. If you have never heard or been to the ARC, they are more than willing to take anyone on a tour! Just give them a call! Go out there and go camping! The ARC is going to be our home for the Wheel House Warrior Family Weekend in August, and I am so excited to share this place with you as it is near and dear to my heart. For more information on the ARC, you can visit their website at https://www.arc-aflc.org/
We have so many exciting things ahead for this year and we can not wait to share them with you!
Please know that every week of the year, Wheel House Warriors is helping someone in need. Whether it be a veteran, active military, law enforcement, fire fighter, EMS / EMT, a hero or member of the community. We are not about the pomp and circumstance of making known what we do for viral or social media glorification. We do what we do because there truly are people in need. We truly feel that when we help people it is out of the goodness of our hearts. We know that those we help may not be comfortable with being publicized for many reasons. We also stand firm in the belief that it is not our story to tell… it is theirs. There have been some that have stepped forward and shared their stories about how Wheel House Warriors has helped them, but again, we allow them to do that in their time, in their way.
But I assure you that we are helping on a weekly basis and it is because of our members, our vendors, and our community that we can do this!
I love our members!! I love our vendors!!
I am so excited about what the future holds for all of us, and I hope you continue with us to enjoy this epic ride!
Our Warriors are the Best!!
Warrior Strong for this coming year everyone and I hope to meet many more of you at the upcoming events this year!!
Thank you all for everything you do to make this community an amazing one!
Sincerely,
Karina Johnson
Founder / CEO
Wheel House Warriors