Story I
SGT Jason A. Rowland is currently deployed to Korea for a year and his wish is to be able to fly home during his mid tour leave in late August to be with his family for 2 weeks. But unfortunately he does not have the funds to pay for his flight from Korea back to the United States. Our goal is to raise $2000 so we can help this hero be with his wife and kids.
Goal: $2000.00 Amount Raised: $10.00
Story II
Operation Once in a Lifetime has received multiple requests from units at Fort Hood Texas and Fort Bragg North Carolina that have
soldiers coming back from deployment very soon. Their request are to be able to provide a great welcome home for their
single soldiers living in the barracks.
Many people don't know that often single soldiers living in the barracks come home to empty barracks rooms, with just a bed, empty wall locker and bathroom. Our goal is to supply each barracks room with new twin sheets, pillows, pillow cases, towels, toiletries (soap, shampoo, razors, etc) and snacks so that when these soldiers return from war, they can relax instead of catching a ride to Walmart to purchase these needed items.
For every $30 we raise we can outfit one soldiers room and we have over 300 soldiers that we are trying to help.
Goal: $9000.00 Amount Raised: $200.00
Story III
Operation Once in a Lifetime receives multiple requests from military units asking if we can help create a great day for their soldiers and their kids. OOIAL has created some amazing memories for thousands of military families over the years by taking military families to MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA games and amusement parks like Six Flags.Operation Once in a Lifetime's goal this year is to take 100 military families to Six Flags in early August which would would also include transportation (such as buses since many times soldiers cannot afford to go to amusement parks even if the tickets are free because even the gas is too expensive) for the families. Many times these soldiers are preparing to deploy and these outings allow the families to experience a great memory prior to year long deployments.
Goal: $8000.00 Amount Raised: $0.00
Story IV
SPC Aponte had just moved into her post housing on Aug 1st this year with brand new furniture, clothing and much more! This past weekend, 3 short weeks later she lost everything in a house fire. SPC Aponte needs your help! We are collecting household goods for her here at the SGT Leevon Ritter Support your Troops Resale Center including queen beds, full beds, couches, tables, lamps, entertainment centers, pots, pans, dishes, cleaning supplies and much more. We are also collecting monetary donations to help her replace some of the things she lost in the fire. There are no children in her household. If you would like to help, please stop by our store located at 315 E Ave C in downtown Killeen with your donations. We have a receiving department located between Ave C and Ave B in the alley way. Monetary donations can be accepted in store or by phone with CC at 254-233-1441. You can also make a donation through our site. All donations are tax deductible. Let's join together as a community to help this Soldier rebuild the home she so suddenly lost.
Story V
Operation Once in a Lifetime has a dream to create a Once in a Lifetime Recreation & Rehabilitation Center free for
Veterans and Active Duty Service Members in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This center is a coming together of ideas of Combat Soldiers,
Veterans, Wounded Warriors and Members of the Elite Navy Seals. The premise is to build a facility that can provide mental
rehabilitation, along with physical rehabilitation, combined with the comradery that only the military can provide.
There are so many alternate rehabilitation programs that Service Members enjoy such as archery, wheel chair basketball, air gun pistol competitions, scuba diving, indoor rock Climbing, seated volleyball, skydiving (we want to build an indoor wind tunnel), swimming and more. However, there is no one facility that has all these things in one place. We want to provide all these alternate therapies in a single location and facility.
These alternate therapies and this facility was not the idea of expert doctors or clinical psychiatrists but rather Special Forces Service Members, Soldiers, Combat Veterans and Wounded Warriors. So often nobody ever asks our military what they want and what they think would benefit them. We asked our troops what would they want and this is what they came up with.
This facility would be primarily operated by Veterans. The Sky Diving Wind Tunnel would be operated and managed by former Navy Seals. Veterans, which would include our Wounded Warriors, would be trained by some of the world’s most elite Service Members to experience the feeling of floating through the air.
The number one idea that everyone had was a place that Veterans can hang out with fellow Veterans, to talk and to come together to accomplish a common goal. When you leave the military, you lose this and it is the one thing most Veterans try to find again.
For more details or to become a sponsor, please contact Patrick.Sowers@operationonceinalifetime.com.