November 11, 2016. Veterans Day.
2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division is HOME from Afghanistan!
Totally impressed with the Company, the welcome, the love. So proud of you all!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1258539254239790&id=207199196040473
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Saturday, September 10, 2016
O beautiful for heroes proved
These "Beautiful" lyrics say so much in remembrance of 9/11/01
I am listening to Ray Charles sing it with the greatest of inspiration..
"O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
Saturday, September 3, 2016
He Did It! 100 holes in 10 hours!
Raised so far$ 6,925.00 | Fundraising goal $ 5,000.00
|
Jeff DeBenedetti, Las Positas Golf Course
Huge Kudos to Jeff for playing 100 holes of golf in 10 hours, for putting himself out there for our veterans and having fun while doing it. He's up for it next year to boot!
Here are the stats in Jeff's own words;
Here are the stats in Jeff's own words;
Hello All,
First of all, I want to thank all of you who generously donated to the PGA HOPE program. I appreciate your moral as well as your financial support! PGA HOPE is a great program that does great things. I wanted to let you know how my day went playing 100 holes in a day.
The day started at 9:55 am. I played and “warm up” of 1-10 on the Falls course at Blackhawk CC. I played from the Blue Tees throughout the day. After the 10th hole, I went back to the 1st hole to begin the first of 5 rounds. I have listed some stats below to let you know how I did.
Start time 9:55 am
Black hawk Falls Course
Blue Tees
Rating 70.9
Slope 133
Length 6257
- Score by round were 80, 75, 77, 82, and 70 (exactly what you’re thinking, last round…2 under Par!).
- 52 Pars
- 10 Birdies
- 35 Bogeys
- 3 Doubles
- 174 Putts
- 1 Chip in
- 4 Practice Swings
- 2 Advil
- 5 Gatorades
- 3 sandwiches
- 6 Bud Lights
- 3 Golf Cars
- Average time per hole 5 minute 15 seconds
End Time 6:41 pm
Playing fast, as you can imagine, I was not reading many putts very thoroughly. The day was fun and tiring, but I hope to do it again in the future. For those of you interested in PGA HOPE, the money raised, or would like to still donate, please use the following links:
For more information, visit: www.charitygolfchallenge.org
Or to donate click here
Thank you again for your moral and financial support!
He Did It! 100 holes in 10 hours!
Raised so far$ 6,925.00 | Fundraising goal $ 5,000.00
|
Jeff DeBenedetti, Las Positas Golf Course
Huge Kudos to Jeff for playing 100 holes of golf in 10 hours, for putting himself out there for our veterans and having fun while doing it. He's up for it next year to boot!
Here are the stats in Jeff's own words;
Here are the stats in Jeff's own words;
Hello All,
First of all, I want to thank all of you who generously donated to the PGA HOPE program. I appreciate your moral as well as your financial support! PGA HOPE is a great program that does great things. I wanted to let you know how my day went playing 100 holes in a day.
The day started at 9:55 am. I played and “warm up” of 1-10 on the Falls course at Blackhawk CC. I played from the Blue Tees throughout the day. After the 10th hole, I went back to the 1st hole to begin the first of 5 rounds. I have listed some stats below to let you know how I did.
Start time 9:55 am
Black hawk Falls Course
Blue Tees
Rating 70.9
Slope 133
Length 6257
- Score by round were 80, 75, 77, 82, and 70 (exactly what you’re thinking, last round…2 under Par!).
- 52 Pars
- 10 Birdies
- 35 Bogeys
- 3 Doubles
- 174 Putts
- 1 Chip in
- 4 Practice Swings
- 2 Advil
- 5 Gatorades
- 3 sandwiches
- 6 Bud Lights
- 3 Golf Cars
- Average time per hole 5 minute 15 seconds
End Time 6:41 pm
Playing fast, as you can imagine, I was not reading many putts very thoroughly. The day was fun and tiring, but I hope to do it again in the future. For those of you interested in PGA HOPE, the money raised, or would like to still donate, please use the following links:
For more information, visit: www.charitygolfchallenge.org
Or to donate click here
Thank you again for your moral and financial support!
Saturday, July 30, 2016
100 HOLE Golf Challenge for Vets
My golf instructor Jeff DeBenedeti (PGA Pro and Director of Golf at Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore CA) is doing something awesome for our veterans!
…he is going to play 100 holes of golf in one day with the goal to raise at least $5,000 dollars for veterans who can benefit from playing golf. One hundred holes…that's 5 1/2 rounds of golf in one day! Yahoo.
Here is Jeff's letter:
If the above "click here" link doesn't work, click below:
http://www.pgagolfday.com/sections/northern-california/2016/players/jeff-debenedetti/
…he is going to play 100 holes of golf in one day with the goal to raise at least $5,000 dollars for veterans who can benefit from playing golf. One hundred holes…that's 5 1/2 rounds of golf in one day! Yahoo.
Here is Jeff's letter:
To Our Las Positas Golf Family,
I am going to play 100 holes of golf in one day on August 30th to raise money for PGA HOPE. Yes, I have committed to participate in this year’s NCPGA Charity Golf Challenge. The NCPGA Charity Golf Challenge was established by local PGA professionals to raise money for local community programs and charities through the Northern California PGA Foundation.
PGA HOPE is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America. PGA HOPE introduces golf to all Veterans, disabled or able-bodied, in order to enhance their mental, social, physical and emotional well-being. This is offered free of charge to Veterans.
The Northern California PGA Foundation is working closely with the VA system across Northern California to assist veterans in their transition. Sessions are taught by local PGA Professionals with assistance from trained volunteers and include clubs and equipment if needed, training aids, range balls and weekly golf course access.
In a sport where relationships are everything, PGA HOPE helps veterans assimilate back into their community through the social interaction the game of golf provides. This program offers a moral boost and enables our patriots to once again be active in their community and participate in the game of a lifetime!
Please help me in this endeavor by sponsoring me for $1, $2, $5 or more per hole. This pledge is 100% tax deductible through the NCPGA Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization.
I really need and appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for making a difference.
PGA HOPE is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America. PGA HOPE introduces golf to all Veterans, disabled or able-bodied, in order to enhance their mental, social, physical and emotional well-being. This is offered free of charge to Veterans.
The Northern California PGA Foundation is working closely with the VA system across Northern California to assist veterans in their transition. Sessions are taught by local PGA Professionals with assistance from trained volunteers and include clubs and equipment if needed, training aids, range balls and weekly golf course access.
In a sport where relationships are everything, PGA HOPE helps veterans assimilate back into their community through the social interaction the game of golf provides. This program offers a moral boost and enables our patriots to once again be active in their community and participate in the game of a lifetime!
Please help me in this endeavor by sponsoring me for $1, $2, $5 or more per hole. This pledge is 100% tax deductible through the NCPGA Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization.
I really need and appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for making a difference.
For more information visit www.charitygolfchallenge.org or CLICK HERE to donate!
Jeff DeBenedetti, PGA
Director of Golf
Las Positas Golf Course
925.455.7822
http://www.pgagolfday.com/sections/northern-california/2016/players/jeff-debenedetti/
Yeah Jeff! Play away!
100 HOLE Golf Challenge for Vets
My golf instructor Jeff DeBenedeti (PGA Pro and Director of Golf at Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore CA) is doing something awesome for our veterans!
…he is going to play 100 holes of golf in one day with the goal to raise at least $5,000 dollars for veterans who can benefit from playing golf. One hundred holes…that's 5 1/2 rounds of golf in one day! Yahoo.
Here is Jeff's letter:
Here is his link to learn more and make a donation:
http://www.pgagolfday.com/sections/northern-california/2016/players/jeff-debenedetti/
…he is going to play 100 holes of golf in one day with the goal to raise at least $5,000 dollars for veterans who can benefit from playing golf. One hundred holes…that's 5 1/2 rounds of golf in one day! Yahoo.
Here is Jeff's letter:
To Our Las Positas Golf Family,
I am going to play 100 holes of golf in one day on August 30th to raise money for PGA HOPE. Yes, I have committed to participate in this year’s NCPGA Charity Golf Challenge. The NCPGA Charity Golf Challenge was established by local PGA professionals to raise money for local community programs and charities through the Northern California PGA Foundation.
PGA HOPE is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America. PGA HOPE introduces golf to all Veterans, disabled or able-bodied, in order to enhance their mental, social, physical and emotional well-being. This is offered free of charge to Veterans.
The Northern California PGA Foundation is working closely with the VA system across Northern California to assist veterans in their transition. Sessions are taught by local PGA Professionals with assistance from trained volunteers and include clubs and equipment if needed, training aids, range balls and weekly golf course access.
In a sport where relationships are everything, PGA HOPE helps veterans assimilate back into their community through the social interaction the game of golf provides. This program offers a moral boost and enables our patriots to once again be active in their community and participate in the game of a lifetime!
Please help me in this endeavor by sponsoring me for $1, $2, $5 or more per hole. This pledge is 100% tax deductible through the NCPGA Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization.
I really need and appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for making a difference.
PGA HOPE is the flagship military program of PGA REACH, the charitable foundation of the PGA of America. PGA HOPE introduces golf to all Veterans, disabled or able-bodied, in order to enhance their mental, social, physical and emotional well-being. This is offered free of charge to Veterans.
The Northern California PGA Foundation is working closely with the VA system across Northern California to assist veterans in their transition. Sessions are taught by local PGA Professionals with assistance from trained volunteers and include clubs and equipment if needed, training aids, range balls and weekly golf course access.
In a sport where relationships are everything, PGA HOPE helps veterans assimilate back into their community through the social interaction the game of golf provides. This program offers a moral boost and enables our patriots to once again be active in their community and participate in the game of a lifetime!
Please help me in this endeavor by sponsoring me for $1, $2, $5 or more per hole. This pledge is 100% tax deductible through the NCPGA Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization.
I really need and appreciate your support. Thank you in advance for making a difference.
For more information visit www.charitygolfchallenge.org or CLICK HERE to donate!
Jeff DeBenedetti, PGA
Director of Golf
Las Positas Golf Course
925.455.7822
Here is his link to learn more and make a donation:
http://www.pgagolfday.com/sections/northern-california/2016/players/jeff-debenedetti/
Yeah Jeff! Play away!
Monday, June 6, 2016
Pleasanton Military Families: Awesome!
Along with my buddy John Nelson (uncle to SGT Jeffrey Nelson now in Afghanistan) I had the opportunity to participate in a pack out organized by the Pleasanton Military Families organization, held at our Pleasanton Veterans Memorial Hall today. Talk about organized! These people have it together and I cannot praise them enough for what they are doing for our active military men and women. It was one of the best days of my life! This loving and down to earth group has been supporting our military and their loved ones since 2003.
What you ask is a Pack Out? It is a time to fill care packages to send overseas to deployed military men and women. So much work was done ahead of time so that the volunteers only have to show up and start filling boxes! Very smart.
The room was set up so that empty boxes with recipient names were stacked up front on the stage. The rest of the Veterans Memorial Hall was arranged with rows of items to be piled into the boxes and then shipped off. Each service person was to receive 6 boxes!!! Each volunteer went up to claim a box and start filling it with goodies galore…fill but not overstuffed was our command. I felt like I was a kid at a candy store who got to give all the wonderful stuff away for someone incredibly special.
The total number of boxes packed was 22x6 + 40 = 172 boxes filled with an incredible variety of things….peanut butter, almond butter, magazines, books, tuna, Vienna sausages, personal items, socks, tee shirts, red vines, gatorade bottles filled with goodies, sunflower seeds, water guns with balloons and so on and so on.
In addition to our 22 local soldiers, today we had 40 extra boxes to be filled for Special Ops the PMF wanted to support after learning they had lost 2 of their own in Afghanistan.
Individuals and businesses from all over the community donated items…Safeway, Pepsi, Pleasanton Farmers Market, Lyons, so many I can't remember.
But Pat Frizzel, the co chair of PMF…well I have to say, she is one awesome lady and the mom of a US Marine. She took the mic and directed the volunteers about the plan of filling boxes and what to do after the boxes were packed…all new to me so I really appreciated the guidance. But best of all, she read a prayer before we started. It so touched my heart, I asked her to email it to me.
PRAYER BEFORE PACKOUT
Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to gather together as one big family to show support for the brave military of this country far away from us today. Guide our hearts and hands as we fill these boxes with care and comfort from home. We pray our troops will feel our love and support as they open each box.
We ask you hold your military sons and daughters close to your heart. Protect them there and be with us here when we celebrate their return.
Until they all come home, we will all stand strong.
Amen.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Honoring Those Who Gave All
How can we who live now in a land of abundance, paid for by precious blood, ever show our thanks, our gratefulness for such sacrifice? Perhaps to continue to love our lives each day with a grateful heart. And to always remember.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and heath-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1861
First Inaugural Address
Saturday, April 23, 2016
A Thousand Words
A picture that says it all...
From the Pleasanton Military Families website
"Homecoming" page.
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Afghanistan Again
I hope you all remember Sgt. Jeffrey C. Nelson from back in our active Road Warriors days…I ran into his uncle John Nelson (our 1,000 miler) at our old stomping grounds, Sycamore Grove Park in Livermore CA. He let me know that his nephew Jeff has been
redeployed to Afghanistan.
redeployed to Afghanistan.
Keeping you in my prayers, sir.
Be safe.
I am proud to have this photo of you Sgt. Nelson in front of the battle zone flag
you presented to Road Warriors.
Can't thank you enough for putting yourself out there to defend America.
you presented to Road Warriors.
Can't thank you enough for putting yourself out there to defend America.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Building A Veteran's Memorial in Pleasanton
I am very excited to write about a very worthy project underway in Pleasanton California…the building of a dedicated space at Pioneer Cemetery to honor our city's veterans. More than 500 veterans have been laid to rest here dating all the way back to the Civil War. The Memorial website makes it easy to donate and learn more about plans for the Memorial. What a great way to mark Memorial Day, May 30, 2016.
Click here to visit the website and make a donation
Thank You!
Monday, January 11, 2016
The Year of Restoration
My husband and I started a New Year's tradition many years ago…We give a theme to each year and then wait and watch how that theme plays itself out. This year will be the Year of Restoration…restoring those things that have been lost to us (through natural events, injury or accident for example). We have always been surprised at what we learn by keeping a particular focus on the years events and so we will see what is restored in our lives and those of our friends during the coming year. In 2010, the Year of the Gift, the year we launched Road Warriors,
we imagined ourselves to be giving many things away to others, when in fact we were the ones who had gifts showered on us.
For anyone who has served or is serving in the armed forces, I can imagine there is a huge list of things needed to be restored. It is a good prayer for us all I think. I am looking forward to 2016 with great anticipation. So we say goodbye to 2015, The Year of Peace--the year I broke my wrist mountain biking while on vacation, the year Dave's 356 Porsche engine was blown up, the year we went to the Eastern Sierra to scout out a trail for backpacking but forgot our sleeping bags and were forced out by fire, the year Dave backed into two cars and lost his Omega wrist watch, an anniversary gift in the Year of the Child, 2005. We wondered where the peace was. The answer was clear…in this world there is no peace. In trial, there seems to be no peace at all, except when you are on the other side, able to see how much you were still being taken care of by a loving Father. Now I am healed, I can swing a golf club again, the car engine is repaired, insurance took care of the accidents, and I am looking to see Dave's watch restored to us.
For anyone who has served or is serving in the armed forces, I can imagine there is a huge list of things needed to be restored. It is a good prayer for us all I think. I am looking forward to 2016 with great anticipation. So we say goodbye to 2015, The Year of Peace--the year I broke my wrist mountain biking while on vacation, the year Dave's 356 Porsche engine was blown up, the year we went to the Eastern Sierra to scout out a trail for backpacking but forgot our sleeping bags and were forced out by fire, the year Dave backed into two cars and lost his Omega wrist watch, an anniversary gift in the Year of the Child, 2005. We wondered where the peace was. The answer was clear…in this world there is no peace. In trial, there seems to be no peace at all, except when you are on the other side, able to see how much you were still being taken care of by a loving Father. Now I am healed, I can swing a golf club again, the car engine is repaired, insurance took care of the accidents, and I am looking to see Dave's watch restored to us.
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