One Year On The Books

Year One in the Books

Well, somehow we’ve made it through our first year.

When we started the Wisecrack Warriors Society, the idea was really pretty simple. Get veterans together, make people laugh, visit veterans who might not get a lot of visitors, and remind folks that just because somebody took off the uniform years ago doesn’t mean they stopped being part of the veteran community. We knew there would probably be coffee involved, and as it turns out, a truly unreasonable number of donuts.

What we didn’t know was just how much this thing would grow in a year, how many great people we would meet, or how many times somebody would say something during a visit that would remind us exactly why we started doing this in the first place.

It Really Is About the Conversations

One of the biggest things we learned this year is that what we do is not really about bringing stuff. Sure, we bring newsletters, cards, coffee, donuts and whatever else we can think of, but the most important thing we bring is time.

We’ve had the chance to sit with veterans in senior living communities and talk about everything from military service to family, jobs, old duty stations, places they were stationed, things they remember fondly, and things they haven’t thought about in years. There is usually a fair amount of inter-service abuse involved as well, which seems to be appreciated by everybody.

One veteran at another facility told us that he really appreciated the “leading questions” we ask because they brought back memories he had forgotten about. He said it was nice to think about those things again and have somebody genuinely interested in hearing about them. That comment really stuck with me, because sometimes you don’t realize what a simple conversation can mean to somebody.

We’ve had another veteran tell us that nobody had really talked to him about his military service since he served. That is a long time to carry around a bunch of stories with nobody asking to hear them. We intend to keep asking.

The Visits Have Become One of Our Favorite Things

Our veteran visits have probably become the heart of the Wisecrack Warriors Society. We’ve been welcomed into senior living communities around our area, and every visit seems to be a little different.

Sometimes we sit around a table and swap stories. Sometimes somebody tells a story that causes three other people to remember one of their own. Sometimes the Marine and Army jokes start early and never really stop. We’ve met veterans from different branches, different generations, different wars and completely different walks of life, but within about five minutes everybody usually figures out they have a lot more in common than they thought.

And the funny part is that we usually leave feeling like we got just as much out of the visit as the people we went there to see.

Wednesday Breakfast Has Become Part of the Mission Too

Every Wednesday morning we also get the privilege of spending time with a big group of veterans in Conroe at the weekly veterans breakfast. Depending on the week, there may be 50 or 60 veterans there drinking coffee, eating breakfast, catching up with friends and solving most of the world’s problems before 9:00 in the morning.

The Wisecrack Warriors help with the food, coffee, serving, cleanup and whatever else needs to be done. On the surface, it looks like breakfast, but it really is much more than that. For a lot of veterans, having somewhere to go every Wednesday and knowing there are people there who are glad to see them is important.

We are proud to be part of keeping that tradition going.

The Birthday Club, Cards and Little Things

We also started our Birthday Club, and that has turned into another one of those simple ideas that means more than we expected. We send birthday cards, get-well cards, Christmas cards and the occasional “we were thinking about you” card.

It isn’t complicated, and it doesn’t cost a fortune, but sometimes getting something in the mail with your name on it and knowing somebody remembered can make somebody’s day.

We’ve heard from families about how much some of those cards have meant, and that alone makes it worth buying a few more stamps.

And Then Somehow We Started Publishing a Newsletter

Somewhere along the way we decided we needed a newsletter.

I’m still not completely sure who approved that decision, but our monthly Wisecrack Warriors newsletter has become one of the things I enjoy the most. We get to share veteran stories, history, organization updates, pictures, terrible jokes, occasional useful information and a growing number of references to donuts.

The best part is that the newsletters don’t always stay where we leave them. We’ve heard about copies being passed around from veteran to veteran and even found out one ended up at the airport. That is exactly what we want. Read it, laugh at it, disagree with something in it, and then hand it to another veteran.

People Are Starting to Hear About Us

One of the coolest signs that the Wisecrack Warriors Society is starting to get noticed happened just yesterday, when we had the opportunity to do a radio interview and talk about what we’ve been doing.

Getting a chance to talk publicly about the organization, the veterans we visit, the Wednesday breakfast, our outreach programs and why this mission matters was pretty special. A year ago we were just trying to figure out how to get this thing started, and now we’re getting opportunities to tell a much larger audience about the veterans we serve and the people helping us do it.

Hopefully that interview introduces a few more people to the Wisecrack Warriors, but more importantly, maybe it reaches somebody who knows a veteran who could use a visit, somebody looking for a place to volunteer, or somebody who simply wants to help.

That is how this thing keeps growing.

Our Community Has Been Pretty Amazing

We’ve also been incredibly fortunate with the support we’ve received from the community. Senior living facilities have opened their doors to us, local businesses have helped us, people have donated, volunteers have shown up, and organizations have helped us make connections we probably would not have made on our own.

This year we were also fortunate enough to receive support through Walmart and Sam’s Club Spark Good grants, which will help us continue funding our veteran visits, breakfasts, Birthday Club, newsletters and other outreach efforts.

Those grants are important, but so are the smaller things. Somebody sharing a Facebook post helps. Somebody introducing us to a veteran helps. Somebody giving us a contact at a senior living facility helps. Somebody showing up for an hour and sitting down with a veteran helps.

It all adds up.

The Best Part Is Still the People

The Wisecrack Warriors Society would not be here without the people who keep showing up.

Some of them wear our vest. Some help once in a while. Some work behind the scenes. Some make phone calls, arrange visits, take pictures, write cards, keep records, help serve breakfast, distribute newsletters, talk with veterans, clean tables or haul boxes around.

And yes, somebody always has to be responsible for the donuts.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned this year is that most people have more to give than they think they do. You do not have to volunteer 20 hours a week or take on another full-time job. Sometimes an hour sitting across the table from another veteran is enough to make a difference.

That is really what we want people to understand.

So What Happens in Year Two?

Hopefully a lot more of the same, only bigger.

We want more veteran visits, more facilities, more birthday cards, more newsletters, more partnerships and more opportunities to connect veterans with other veterans. We want to keep supporting the Wednesday breakfast and finding new ways to reach people who could use a little fellowship.

And I’m sure there will be more donuts. At this point, I don’t think we could stop that even if we wanted to.

Most importantly, we want to keep reminding veterans that they have not been forgotten. Whether somebody served four years or thirty years, whether they got out last year or fifty years ago, they are still part of this community.

Looking back at everything that has happened over the past year, I’m extremely proud of what this little organization has become, but I’m even more excited about where it can go from here.

To every veteran who has sat down and shared a story with us, every family member who has welcomed us, every senior living community that has opened its doors, every business or organization that has supported us, and every volunteer who has given us their time, thank you.

Year One is officially in the books.

Now we get to see what kind of trouble we can cause in Year Two.

Semper Fi,

Curtis Cole
President
Wisecrack Warriors Society