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Transcript
Chris:
Welcome back to another episode of Let’s Get Personal with Kris Abella. That’s me. This time we’re talking to Bill dufour and Dale Russell of Rolling Thunder, New Hampshire chapter two. We’ll talk about their mission to help veterans and how anyone can help. So let’s get started. All right, guys. Well, I just want to welcome Bill de four and you prefer Bill? Yes, that’s fine. And Dale Russell to our podcast. Let’s get personal. So here, you guys are here from Rolling Thunder, and we really want to take today to get to learn a little bit more about the great things that you guys do, and so happy you guys made the trip down today.
Bill:
Well, thank you. Thank you for having us.
Chris:
Yeah, just going over all your online presence and reading about all the things that you guys are involved with. I was really blown away with the charitable giving, the way you help your veterans, and I think it’s a really important story to get out to people because I really hopefully will give the information by the end of this. But I hope to turn on a lot of people to donating to your cause and giving you more resources to getting out and doing all the good things that you guys are doing. So why don’t we start off, if you guys don’t mind introducing yourself, what your role in the chapter is, and then we can jump in from there.
Bill:
All right. I’m Bill Dufour. I live in Newport, New Hampshire, and we’re from chapter two, New Hampshire, rolling Thunder Incorporated. And we’re based out of Claremont, New Hampshire. And I’m the president of this chapter two. And you want to introduce yourself?
Dale:
Dale Russell, live in Claremont, New Hampshire. I’m the Vice President of Chapter two, and we’re honored to be here. Thank you.
Chris:
Awesome. And so how long have you guys been in those roles?
Bill:
Well, I started chapter two, New Hampshire was chartered December 14th in 2010. I missed the first year better. The first year I was a member. Second year I was a board member. Then I went into five years as vice president. Now I’m going on my sixth year as president. It’s just an awesome, awesome thing. See, because I’m not a veteran, so I didn’t serve my country. So I’m serving my veterans through Rolling Thunder, helping them out and rolling. Thunder National is from New Jersey throughout New Jersey. We have roughly 90 chapters throughout the country with 10,000 members, and we have nine chapters right here in New England, which is pretty awesome. And we’re like a big family right here in New England. So we support each other.
Chris:
Yeah, that’s amazing. I was reading how the Rolling Thunder got its name and just the backstory about the two gentlemen that started it back kind of post-Vietnam War era. I dunno if you guys want to speak to that a little bit. I thought it was an amazing story and the Rolling Thunder names is really neat how they thought of that.
Bill:
Yes, yes. Yeah, back, well, Artie and Ray, they got back in around 87, they met at a diner and they were just so disappointed that when they were in Vietnam and came back, they were wondering where all their friends were and the government wasn’t doing anything about it. So I just wrote myself some notes just to remind me because my brain isn’t memorable as usual. Yeah. They started in 1987, they met and then they was wondering about their friends not showing up. Any government wasn’t doing anything like that. So they announced the roar of the motorcycles, which made the Rolling Thunder. And they got the name from 1965 bombing campaign against North Vietnam dubbed Operation Rolling Thunder. So that’s how they got the name Rolling Thunder. They were incorporated in 1995, and National is a 5 0 1 C four nonprofit organization. And in 2007 they became a 5 0 1 C3, which is our chapters National is a 5 0 1 C four.
It’s just like a identification number for the government. And they used to do demonstrations down in DC every Memorial Day, and they stopped that in 2019. And now New England, we all get together on Memorial Day and we do an event, it’s a demonstration ride, basically, to let the government know that we’re not going to forget all our PO WIA that are still out there from all wars. There was like 82,000 M-I-A-P-O-W-M-I-A missing still. And there are some JPAC out there searching for bones and whatever like that. And they said there’s probably going to be 20% that aren’t going to be found because families, there’s no family to get DNA from, but they’re still out there looking.
Chris:
It is such an amazing, important mission. And just reading through the mission statement, as you already alluded to, where they all went down to DC and they said, well, let’s see how they react to a few thousand bikes. And the sound that it gives off is like thunder. And they just rolling through DC and really making a statement and getting their attention and for what better cause than you can to support the veterans, which is amazing. And keeping the spotlight on them, which I applaud you guys for doing not easy in this day and age, cutting through the noise and getting people’s attention. So how many people are in the chapter nowadays? The local chapters?
Bill:
Well, we have 357 in New England alone and throughout the country there’s about 10,000. But some joins, some retire or people ask about if they quit or anything. They usually don’t quit. We usually bury ’em. We lost two members last week.
Chris:
I’m sorry to hear that. So
Bill:
Yeah, in our chapter alone, we had 47, now we have 45 and 15 of those are veterans, and then 30 now are just civilians. But without the civilians, there would be really no rolling thunder because I mean, there’s men, women, young, old, and we try to, we have one junior member coming up and that’s what we try to do, get junior members, the younger ones. Most of us are all, you can see gray here, gray hair over here, getting there. So what we’re trying to do is get the young ones to come in and join us and
Chris:
Participate. Yeah, that’s definitely, the new generations have so many things going on, but finding them where they are and keeping them interested. I mean, it’s a great cause,
Bill:
Obviously.
Chris:
How did you guys get involved and how long ago was that you? So obviously you’d mentioned coming in and then jumping on the board pretty quick, but what drew you to Rolling Thunder in particular?
Bill:
Oh, it was just helping veterans. They’re not getting enough help from the government, so we figured we could do our part. And a lot of veterans, they’re too proud to ask for help. So every event that we have, we have a piece of paper and a sign saying, if you know a veteran that needs help, give us their name, number and address and everything, all the information. So we can contact them and tell ’em we’re here to help. If they need help with say heat for the winter, we’ll buy ’em some oil, electricity, rent, anything they need help with.
Chris:
So you solicit some of those people from your events, and do any people go to you asking for that and they find you online?
Bill:
Yes.
Chris:
Yeah. And what is the best way to seek you guys out for that? Is it Facebook? Is it
Bill:
Our website?
Chris:
Your website?
Bill:
Our website. If somebody needs assistance on the bottom of the front page, there’s a hardship form. They click on that, fill that out and hand it into me or send it in, email it. Even that would be faster.
Chris:
And they just Google your website or is it Rolling Thunder? I may even have it
Bill:
Rolling Thunder, the number two nh.org
Chris:
And they can make a donation right there.
Bill:
Absolutely. There’s a button to hit there too. Yeah.
Chris:
How’d you get involved,
Dale:
Dale? I’m a vet and I retired from another job about four years ago, and I’ve got several friends that are involved in Rolling Thunder. A couple of ’em are vets, and I mean, we’d talk a lot, but I’ve always worked second shift, so I had to wait until after I retired, before I could actually join because of all the night work that we do in Rolling Thunder. So the day I retired, I was a member. I was right in the first next meeting. It’s such an honor to work with our chapter. They’re all incredible. They work hard. Like Bill said, they’re not all vets, but they serve. They take care of the people that need taken care of. I’ve been in it four years now. As I said, I started out as just a member and then I went onto the board, and then I was a board member for three years. And then this past election I became the vice president, which is an extreme honor. I can even touch more, I hope. But yeah, we have an incredible group of people. You don’t have to ride a
Chris:
Motorcycle. You don’t?
Dale:
Okay. No. We only have probably 13, 14 members that ride motorcycles. It’s not a biker club. It is just a veteran support organization. And we like to tell people that you do not have to ride a motorcycle to be a member, and you don’t have to be a vet, you don’t have to be a veteran. So you just need to want to help
Bill:
Believe in the calls for the P-O-W-M-I-A issue.
Chris:
And so I did notice, I think on the website, it seems like you hold fairly regular meetings that are open to the public. Anybody can just drop in.
Bill:
Yes. Every second Wednesday of the month, we have our board meeting at six, which is a closed meeting, but our general meeting’s at seven, which anybody can join us.
Chris:
That’s great. See
Bill:
What we’re all about.
Chris:
And where’s that located?
Bill:
That’s located on Broad Street in Claremont, the American Legion Post 29.
Chris:
Okay, great. And that’s always where it is.
Bill:
Yes, every second Wednesday of the month.
Chris:
And just from looking at it, it seems like you guys do so many different great things from raffles to rides to barbecues. Can you tell us a little bit about what the organization as a whole does or different types of events they get involved with?
Bill:
Well, we do everything from fundraising all year long. We have different events. Our biggest events is the end of April. We have a Freedom Night dinner at the American Legion post 29, and people pay, I think $15 or something. And it’s all a potluck. All the members brings food and it’s a good time. We have raffle items and everything. It’s a lot of fun. And then our second biggest event is always the fourth Saturday in August at the Home Depot in Claremont. And it’s a tribute to the Fallen Ride. And that’s our biggest event. And then we do flag lines at funeral homes. We do escorts. We’ve escorted a veteran down to Arlington Cemetery before back in 2019,
Chris:
All the way up from New Hampshire.
Bill:
Oh yeah.
Chris:
Wow.
Bill:
Yeah. And actually he was a good guy too. He was back in, he was a bodyguard for George Bush once.
Chris:
Oh,
Bill:
Really? While and yeah, he was, had quite a life. I
Chris:
Had some stories, I bet.
Bill:
And then did a few escorts to the New Hampshire State Veteran Cemetery in Bosco in New Hampshire and up to Mount Kage where the family spread the ashes. And it’s just an honor to do this for the veterans and the families. When you get a hug from the family at a funeral line, man, it’s just one feeling. It’s awesome.
Chris:
Take your breath away, I’m sure.
Bill:
Yeah.
Dale:
Big honor to do.
Chris:
Yeah. And that’s why I think it’s so important for us to just get this story out and what you guys do and the more people that can get involved. And like you said, obviously you have anybody that joins, stays in until the end, and obviously it sounds like you’re concerned with getting some of the newer blood in to continue to grow this chapter. We certainly would love to support that. Wherever we can blast it out and bring attention to the cause, we will.
Bill:
Great. The more we get our name out, we’re all at Thunder. And
Chris:
Yeah, I mean it’s a cause that should sell itself. I mean, helping veterans have heat and electricity in the winter or help putting food on the table or giving ’em an event to go to. What challenges would you say that you’ve been present that you’ve faced over the last six
Bill:
Years? Mostly getting veterans to admit they need help. That’s why we ask. We go to the families now. Just put out there if you know a veteran, your husband, your father or son or whatever needs help, you’re too proud to ask, let us know. We’ll contact them.
Right. Yesterday we did a flag line at Newport High School. They do it every year at the last football game, the closest to Veterans Day. So they have a lot of veterans come in and we do a flag line across the field where they walk through, they get recognized, the veterans do. They get the names announced and everything like that. And just before that happened, I had a call from a veteran that just wanted to talk and vent. So right after that event, we went there and he seemed better. Me and my wife went and just, I asked him, I said, do you need assistance? What do you need? And just to talk.
Chris:
Oh God. I mean, giving your time is the most important thing you can give anybody.
Bill:
Yeah, absolutely. He’s having trouble with the VA or whatever, and he just wanted to bent. I mean, I’m not a veteran, so I listen and answer whatever I can help out. He seemed pretty happy when we left.
Chris:
What are the biggest things that you’re hearing from veterans that they need? Is it financial? Is it mental health needs? Is it
Bill:
More financial, but some mental, and then we have to, of course, steer ’em to the VA because we can listen and give our opinions, but we really can’t help that. Like yesterday, he had neighbors that light off fireworks and he’s got PTSD. I mean, it’s really tough for a lot of them.
Chris:
Is there a particular moment for either one of you that sticks out in your tenure with Rolling Thunder that’s particularly memorable? You’ve already mentioned a couple really amazing ones, but any other memorable moments over the course of your time?
Dale:
For me, we’ve done several escorts, and that is just huge for me. Bill mentioned the one up to Mount Ard. The family reached out and they wanted four motorcycles, and we carried the hashes up to the mountain with the family. And it was just, the families are so appreciative when you do that. Like I said, I’ve done several and it just touches me hard because it’s really a big thing. We do finance help with who we can and who needs it. Bill’s talking about them reaching out, and a lot of them when they come back or they separate from the military, everything, one thing that you lose from separating from the military is the comradery that you have with your brothers. And then they come out of the military and they don’t have that, and they feel alone. They don’t have the brothers to be able to talk to all the time or play with or just hang with. And so they are alone. And so it’s a big thing to be there for ’em. And so
Bill:
It’s like rolling Thunder. We’re all a big family of brotherhood. It’s amazing. And I’m feeling because I wasn’t a veteran, I’m feeling that brotherhood with all my members, the veterans felt when they were all together. So Rolling Thunder’s an awesome
Chris:
Thing. It’s a great wade. Actually. Our marketing guy did a ton of podcasts with veterans over the years and used to just love collecting their stories and their life stories and their history and just memorializing that because it is such a special thing that these guys have done and sacrificed. And to have a trusted group of other veterans or people that care for their community that they can share that with, and that brotherhood is amazing service that you guys provide.
Dale:
Well, Saturday, we were asked to join a parade for a hundred year old turned a hundred Saturday World War II veteran. The family rolled him out in his driveway and there was fire trucks, there was all our motorcycles.
Bill:
He used to be a fireman in Claremont, so had Claremont Fire trucks, the valleys. He used to work for the Valleys, LA Valleys trucks, and it must have been maybe 1214 of us.
Dale:
Yeah.
Bill:
Smile on his face. A hundred years old. That’s awesome.
Dale:
It was awesome. And the World War II vets are almost all gone. They’re not too many left. And you got to kind of keep an eye on them and take care of ’em. Right. And so that was one thing that was a lot of fun on Saturday. It was just such an honor to do, like Bill said, the smile on his face when we all rode by the police were escorting. And I think there was eight fire trucks. It was just really a big deal, and I’m sure it was a really big deal for him.
Chris:
So how does something like that kick off? Does someone reach out to you guys? Do they just know that you offer that?
Bill:
Well, a friend of mine, I saw a post on Facebook, anybody want to join us for this parade for the a hundred year old World War II veteran? So I contacted her and said, you want some motorcycles? And she said, absolutely. And then she was so overwhelmed by the people that showed up. It was more than what she thought. And she was really overwhelmed by that. And it just was a great day.
Chris:
Well, that’s great that you’re kind of keeping your eye out for opportunities like that to jump on and take advantage of, because that’s a great way to spread the word about rolling Thunder and what they do, that you’re that proactive. That’s amazing. Any memories for you, bill that stick out?
Bill:
Yeah, the big one was, like I said, if you doing a flag line and you get a hug from the parent or the son or something, and then escorting a veteran down to Arlington Cemetery, that was big. Yeah, that was awesome.
Chris:
I’ve had the pleasure of being down there a couple times and that’ll bring your breath away, just absolutely the cemetery itself. And so you had mentioned flag lining and escorts, and just to dive a little bit deeper into those two things that Rolling Thunder participates in, can you tell us for those that don’t know what a flag line is and what’s entailed with a flag line?
Bill:
Okay. First, we’ll do a flag line at the funeral home. We’ll have maybe six on each side of the sidewalk where people walk or walking into the funeral home. And we just stand there until it’s all done and said, and then at the cemetery, the grave site service, we’ll have flags on the outer edge, outer edge of the stones so we can be seen. And people just really appreciate that. And then we have American flags, we’ve got A-P-O-W-M-I-A flag. And then we also have, if you served in the Army, we’ve got the Army flag and all the military flags. So it depends what service he was in.
Chris:
That’s great.
Bill:
And that’s about it for flag lines. Yeah.
Chris:
And then obviously you had said you had escorted, was it a member or somebody in the community to Arlington National?
Bill:
Well, the veteran was from Vermont, one chapter from Vermont One,
Chris:
Okay.
Bill:
Yeah. And some of Vermont one and some of New Hampshire two escorted him down. And it was just, oh, we had, how many bikes did we have? Maybe 10 bikes and two cars
Chris:
And just one, yes, one ride straight from Vermont.
Bill:
No, we stopped in Pennsylvania for the night and then we got to DC the next morning. And of course they had it all timed out. So we had it figured a time we had to be there and everything like that. And then we stayed in DC that night, or was it Pennsylvania on the way back again, and then just came home. So it was a three day event.
Chris:
And that’s all Rolling Thunder members? Yes. That participate in that.
Bill:
And some of him family follow along
Chris:
In cars
Bill:
And the close escorts from say Claremont or something to New Hampshire State Veteran Cemetery in Bosco. It’s just the same thing we usually have, depends how many bikes we have to join us. We’ll have three bikes in front and then the family in the car and then the bike’s in the back. So we’re kind of escorting the ashes in and the family, you know what I mean? It looks good. It works out good. And
Chris:
That’s amazing service. It’s probably one of the most sacred times in anybody’s life. And for them to want Rolling Thunder to be a part of that and for you guys to really participate, that is amazing.
Bill:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean there are other veterans organizations. You got the Combat Vets, which we support them. They support us and Nom Knights, same American Legion chapters. They have events. We support them. They come to our events.
Chris:
So if you guys were going to try and sell somebody, whether it was new or older or our age to try and get them into the organization, what would you tell ’em about why they should join Rolling Thunder or what you guys do or how they can participate? Why would somebody want to get involved?
Bill:
You like your freedom.
Chris:
Yeah,
Bill:
Yeah. Well join us and let’s help our veterans appreciate what they did for us. And yeah,
Dale:
It’d make you feel good. A lot of people don’t have something to pump up their own self, and this is a way for somebody to be able to help somebody and really feel good about what you’ve done. And it don’t take a lot of time, it don’t take a lot of money, but it really can help somebody feel good about themselves for helping out somebody that needs it. And there’s not enough help out there for the vets. Like I said, a lot of ’em are alone, so it’s nice to be there. And I feel good every time we get to do something for somebody. I said, I’m retired. I wouldn’t be doing much. This really for my self-esteem, it’s huge
Bill:
To be a member in good standings, you have to just do three events and three meetings a year. You have 12 meetings. I just do. That’s just be a good member in good standings. And we do 30, 40, 50, 60 events a year. So yeah, night and day. And if there’s for some reason you can’t make the meetings, then you would do like six events. If you work at night, some work at night that can’t make meetings. So it’s not much to join to stay a,
Chris:
And even if somebody doesn’t want to join, they can come and help. They can volunteer. Absolutely.
Dale:
Absolutely love to
Chris:
Him. I loved your response, Dale, because the older I get, you really get so much more joy out of doing something for somebody. And until you do it, I don’t think you really appreciate that. And it really rings. I can see, I can feel your feelings as you say, how proud and how much it means to you just by listening and seeing the expression on your face. And I think there is, some of my kids are doing some community service through school and they’re very resistant and then they do it and they’re like, wow, that really made a big impression. I think that I encourage anybody to participate. Let’s go to an event. Let’s do something with Rolling Thunder, try it. And you get hooked on that feeling, I think to a degree
Dale:
And to get to see, we’re not such bad people. We’re not a bunch of bikers. It ain’t about that.
Chris:
Do you run into that? Is there a misconception out there?
Bill:
Some call us. When do you have your meetings for your club? We’re not a club, we’re an organization. But otherwise, no, we don’t. We’re neutral because we’re a veterans support organization.
Chris:
Yeah. Well, I’m looking at two amazing gentlemen here and that are doing an amazing thing for all of our veterans. And I think we owe a debt of gratitude to, and I can’t imagine anybody thinking otherwise, but that’s probably one of the truest callings that you can have is what you guys are doing. It’s truly an honor that is not easy and you’re doing it of your own time. I mean, it’s one thing to write a check, which we’re going to do here for you guys today and furtherance of your cause, but it’s another thing to give your time. And that’s invaluable. And I think that you guys are giving that, and you’ve been present for six years and you’ve been, was it three or four, four years, four years, that that’s a huge amount of time that you’ve dedicated to
Bill:
This now stronger than the heart of a volunteer.
Chris:
And I really hope that we can keep pushing out this message and let us know if there’s anything else we can do to stay involved and we’ll continue to do that. Any events coming up or is it a seasonal thing? I mean, obviously bikes as we’re rolling down the nice months, although the weather’s great right now here in October, and we might have some more rise, but
Dale:
Hoping one of the big things that we’ve got on the horizon, it hasn’t set in stone yet, but the city of Claremont has a committee together to bring the moving wall, Vietnam wall to Claremont. And we have been asked to escort it. So if this does come to fruition, we’ll pick it up somewhere from another chapter or club or whatever and we’ll bring it on in. And I’m really looking forward to that.
Chris:
So I was reading about that, but speak to whoever’s listening about what that wall is and what it signified.
Dale:
It’s a miniature replica of the Vietnam wall that’s in Washington DC
Bill:
Third
Dale:
Scale. Yeah. What is the scale? Third. Third. Okay. And it is huge. It’s going to take up a whole football field. It is really big. I’ve seen it twice at other places. And when they started talking about bringing us into Claremont, we jumped right on. They asked if we’d like to help. And there’s three or four of us that go at all the meetings and we’re just ready to do everything we can for it. They’re shooting for next September, October. The paperwork has been put in, it hasn’t been finalized yet that the people that have the wall haven’t decided exactly where all it’s going to go, but our paperwork’s in and it looks good. So we’ll just have to wait and see. And once we find out for sure, we’ll get all the word out that we can.
Chris:
So that will get set up in Claremont to be there for a little while for people to come visit a
Dale:
Week basically. And being able to escort that is going to be, I just know how I’m going to feel. We’ve reached out to the other chapters in New Hampshire to see if they would like to and they jumped right on it too. So it’ll be hopefully a really big deal for New Hampshire.
Chris:
Wow. And when do you hope that might happen?
Dale:
They’re looking at October, first week of October or if that gets shot down a week or two in September, 2025. Yeah, you have to put in a couple choices and then they pick it for you.
Chris:
And this wall travels around the country.
Bill:
Yes. That’s why we don’t know where it’s going to be yet. Where they’re going to pick what part of country it’s going to be.
Chris:
That’s amazing.
Bill:
We escorted one in Hookset in 20 19, 20 20. And that was such an honor.
Chris:
What a great way to just continue that public awareness of sacrifice. And
Dale:
We are looking for volunteers to help once it comes in because we’re going to need 200 or so volunteers to help put it together, provide security. So we’re looking for anybody that would like to help. There is a website, the wall that heals that you can reach out to or reach out to us in Claremont or wherever. But like I said, it’s not finalized yet, but once it is, we’re going to be looking for. And once we started this, it’s pretty amazing how many volunteers have already spoke up and said, count me in, count me in, count me in. So I don’t think it’s going to be a problem at all getting the volunteers, but just
Bill:
It’s going to be under watch 24 7 while it’s in.
Chris:
So you’re going to have that man 24 7 for a week?
Bill:
Yeah, different chapters. We’re all going to take turns.
Chris:
That’s amazing. So that’s hopefully next year. And then do you have regular events that you do? So I know you have your regular meetings. Yeah. Are there regular fundraising events or things that you do on a regular basis?
Bill:
Yeah. New Hampshire one has one coming up November 9th. Every year they have it. That’s going to be a cage travel, of course. No bikes because it’s going to be cold
Chris:
Out. Yeah, sure.
Bill:
And then Vietnam nights have something in Concord throughout the winter. During the holidays it slows down a little bit, but then it starts picking up.
Chris:
So now you said what percentage of your organization is Veterans and riders? So there’s kind of a breakup for Mitch and match between all
Bill:
Those? Yeah. We’ve got 45 members and 15 are veterans.
Chris:
15 veterans. And how many ride in that group?
Dale:
There’s about 12 or 14.
Bill:
No, we got more that ride. That’s about all. There’s maybe 10 that don’t ride. So probably, maybe.
Chris:
And is there any motorcycle awareness or concerns of your members? Is there a conversation about motorcycle laws or is it more just veteran based?
Bill:
No, it’s veteran or non-veteran. It’s just ride. We stagger of course, in a ride and then all the officers are up front if possible. And yeah, it’s just a safe to be safe. And we always, before a ride, we always have a rider’s meeting.
Chris:
You guys both ride? Yeah. What type of bikes do you have?
Dale:
I have a Honda VTX 1800.
Bill:
I got a Harley Davidson Limited.
Dale:
Yeah, you don’t have to have a Harley to ride with us. No, you don’t.
Bill:
No, we got a lot of so many
Chris:
Options nowadays
Bill:
There is. We got a lot of them spiders too. Quite a few. Usually if we go on a ride, we’ll count how many two wheels and how many three wheels a lot of times outnumbered. The two wheels are outnumbered by the three wheelers.
Chris:
I tell you. If you ever get the chance or you have a Harley, I was going to a Green Bay Packers football game. We were driving from Chicago over and they have a Harley Davidson museum and they have every model bike from the first one to last you hear about, it’s unbelievable. They have every tank, all the different types over the years. And you just see the evolution of the Harley Davidsons really, really a beautiful setup. They have there. Really nice museum. If you ever have the chance, you’re down that neck of the woods, hear about that. But there’s been an absolute privilege. I’m so happy that you guys came on. We’re going to push your stuff out there as much as possible. Anything that you want to leave the audience with about anything else coming up or anything important they should know about your group?
Bill:
Just check our website out. It’s rolling Thunder, the number two nh.org. And we have a calendar on there with our events. And
Chris:
How far out does that go typically?
Bill:
Usually a month or two. Yeah, I think the webmaster said they can only go so far or something. I don’t know. But she keeps it up very well.
Dale:
I’d like to say a special thank you to all of our sponsors. We have some really strong sponsors that if we need anything, they’re right there for us. Small businesses. And they’re small businesses, but they are there for us anytime we need it. And I would like to say thank you to all of them.
Bill:
Yeah, we couldn’t do these events about them. They’re a big important part, mostly around Claremont area. Are they? Not Claremont area, because we don’t want to step on all the chapter’s toes.
Dale:
We got Newbury, Newport, Sunapee, Claremont, but a lot of the small towns.
Chris:
And if you are a small business, is there a way, should they reach out? If they do want to help and they want to give money, should they look at a chapter in their area? Can they reach out to you guys
Bill:
If they wanted to reach out to the chapter closest to them? Because we all do the same thing. We’re all there for veterans,
Dale:
But we’ll also take it too.
Bill:
Yeah, of course. But yeah, we’re all in the same boat for our veterans. We do a dining for a cause. We’ll go to a restaurant, make a set a date with them, and then they give us a percentage, 10% of what they make all night, which is
Chris:
Good. That’s great. Is that one of the sponsors?
Dale:
Yeah, we got several of them. And we’ll set up a tent with our stuff and with our pamphlets and pass out our stuff. And that also helps us get our name out too.
Bill:
We have a quartermaster tent, also T-shirts and hats and all kinds of merchandise. Own thunder merchandise.
Chris:
I tell you, one of the things that I see is a great attractor, especially for the younger groups. I’ve also attended a couple at some VFWs, is this corn hole. I dunno if you guys have ever played. A lot of the younger guys love to play. It’s a very mixed group. A lot of veterans, a lot of police. But great event. I’ve been to a lot of them. That definitely brings in a lot of good people. But there’s been an absolute privilege to have you guys on here, get your message out. I think it’s one that we should continue to do. We will continue to blast out what you guys are doing, what events you guys are up to. I implore anyone to get involved, to help out, to lend your support, whether it’s your time or your money. And it sounds like you’re always welcome and open to it and we’ll certainly some of the staff here. I know Wade’s already been out at one of the events that you guys have had and we’ll certainly be jumping out on that trail. I really am excited to hear about the wall and I hope you guys, your applications chosen. Do you know when you find that out? I
Bill:
Do not at all. The last email I got was they’re just not sure where it’s going to be yet in the country. So
Dale:
They have a couple of them, a couple different walls. So hopefully we’ll get one of them. But I want to say thank you to you all for doing this for us. We really appreciate it. This helps us a ton also.
Chris:
Well, it’s a great cause. I mean, it should be getting out there as much as possible. And I hope everybody’s liking and sharing and sending this to a veteran they know and let’s spread the word. Let’s get some money into you guys and let’s help take care of the veterans.
Bill:
And if anybody wants to know about any chapters that are near them, if they get on Rolling Thunder National, the national has all the chapters throughout the country.
Chris:
Oh, wow.
Bill:
So they can pick out what chapter they’re closest to.
Chris:
And you said 10,000 members
Bill:
Throughout the country.
Chris:
Wow. That’s a great block of people helping out.
Bill:
And new chapters are coming up and some aren’t making it, but the members are joining or retiring or dying. So it changes. You can’t really say, that’s why we say approximately.
Chris:
Yeah. You just got to keep evolving. It’s not easy. There’s so many things out there now for people to get involved with, but this is obviously a great one and hopefully we can help spread the word for you guys to keep doing what you’re doing.
Bill:
Thank you.
Chris:
Yeah, thank you. Thank you guys for joining us today.
Bill:
Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
Chris:
All right.