Good morning this morning!
Hahah! I missed last week's cause I was on the grind!
Now this grateful message will hit your inbox before your oldest kid sneaks back inside before you wake up! lol!
Early February I shared some really exciting news, Save the Date! 04/15/2023...
Wanna guess what Saturday's date is?!
YUP! it's already 4/15!
Man! What a hot blur these past few months have been?!
I was very excited to share that I had been asked by Debbie Lee, founder of America's Mighty Warriors, to be this year's Event Coordinator for Marc's upcoming 45th Bday Bash.
Since Marc's passing in August of 2006, RIP, after the foundation was started in memory of his life giving sacrifice, the foundation has celebrated his birthday with a large fundraising birthday bash in his honor. All of the proceeds earned at this event go back to helping our troops and their families get better.
My family and I have attended the event for many years now, each one steps itself up with self inquired asked-for responsibilities.
I remember a successful man saying to me one time:
When you don't have any money to give, give your money to something bigger than yourself. When you don't have any time to give, it's those times that you give your time to something bigger than yourself.
This year I don't have any money and I sure as hell don't have any time. So what's a key component to being successful??
To give when you feel like there's nothing more to give.
Much like when you think you're down and out.. you keep going even when it hurts.
So here I am with no time at all and I've figured out how to invent just a bit more time to selflessly give to a cause bigger than myself, in honor to a man who stood in front of his team, to lead his team to safety and gave the ultimate sacrifice for the betterment of his brothers.
The first birthday bash my family and I attended had the privilege to meet a man who was in charge of Marc's group of SEAL's. While in the middle of a fire fight he was tending to another injured SEAL, it was then that Marc took the lead and said "on me".
Meaning, get behind me
It was then in leading his brothers to safety that Marc was fatally wounded. We got to hear the keynote speech from his leader say "that was supposed to be me in front"
Meaning, it should have been him who was injured, not Marc.
Talk about a moving speech. It's pushing 1am, I'm smoked like a mother!... the least I can do is share with a buddy why this is so important to me. And dammit is it ever... I've never met this man, however, I've met many who've had their life changed by his last letter home, and others who've survived days into the future because of Marc's sacrifice. The least I can do is help celebrate his birthday by giving. Damn. This coming Saturday at the Scottsdale Gun Club we will celebrate the Life and Legacy of Marc Lee, the first Navy SEAL killed in the Iraq War. Over the course of many weeks and hundreds of volunteer hours we have put together a very honorable event where our goal is to raise money to keep passing on the gift of human kindness and also helping our needed troops. Our keynote speaker this year is Navy SEAL, Remi Adeleke. A teammate who went through BUDs training with Marc.
It's going to be a great event this year, so should you feel like spending your Saturday evening with us, we'd love to see you. Me and my boys will be there serving our people. You can still buy tickets today before prices go up at the door on Saturday. Either scan that QR code, or you can buy tickets here: Not only will we have a great keynote we have a lot, like A LOT of really neat items for our silent auction AND live auction. :) Being the event coordinator has been a wonderful role! In addition to that, I'm a huge marketing nerd and one who's been known to pound out a few bomb ass websites in my time.. as if I didn't already make three websites this year, what's another?! Before a website can be made, you need to provide content!.. and that's by taking a shit load of incredible pictures! Me being the nerd I am, the bar requires a ladder to reach. Either take pictures or don't. There is no in between. So, the office turns into a photo studio! :)
*note Marc's last letter framed at the entry. It just happened to fame itself organically in this pic.
A big part of our event is also our silent auction site. While the event is going on, attendees can peruse the site online and bid on items. The neat thing is should someone not be able to attend the event, they still can participate in the silent auction.
You can too! hbdmarc.givesmart.com Silent auction closes at 7:45P Saturday Night
This year we have north of 100 silent auction items! And since there are also people across the country who can't attend, you best make sure the pics are dialed in!
That meant I needed to shoot over 300 pictures and then widdle them down to a usable quantity.
Once widdled down, they've need to be compressed in pixels and file size - shit needs to load quick - and then they each have to be named and titled or things are a mess. Once pics are taken they are then numbered accordingly so we can distribute them at the auction smoothly. This collection is at a nice 295 photos. There are still about 10-15 more items we need to get on here before Saturday. Here about 85% of the items are corralled in my office.
and numbered, ready to go!
It's a labor of love.
It's a labor of honor.
The final product is 100% professional!
We've got a stack of neat items, all different categories and price ranges for everyone.
If you can make it, we'd love you to be there.
If not, please consider participating in the silent auction... there's a lot of detailed pics in there, so you'll get a nice idea on what could come your way.
You can access here: hbdmarc.givesmart.com Or you can: text hbdmarc to 76278
Right now I've crossed the 1:30A mark and my ears are ringing with fatigue and I've got a stack of things I need to hammer on for tomorrow. Regardless of the fatigue, it was damn important that I get this grateful message out to my buddy. There's nothing short of gratefulness pouring through this post. Have a grateful Friday! For Marc
