A year has past. Over a year, actually. 365+ days have gone by since we lost our son Jared, a Marine Lcpl, and the other 12 warrior souls on 26 AUG 21 at the Abbey Gate at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The withdrawal was a debacle. Information and answers are slow coming, if at all. 365+ days later and my my wife, children and I are all doing as well as can be expected. The interviews have settled down, but here is not a day that goes by that we don't remember all 13 amazing heroes lost that day.
We wanted to, knew we had to, do something. After much thought we decided the best way we can honor and remember The 13 was to create a non-profit with a simple Mission:
To Remember the Heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice by supporting the Veterans still with us.
Once had our Mission, our focus turned to “How?”
The answer? The Freedom 13 Recreational Retreat Village Program.
Each village will be a great place for veterans and their families to reconnect and recharge. To learn more or donate, click here.
We’re also planning the 2nd Annual Lcpl Jared Schmitz Memorial Pubcrawl, a nation-wide fundraising event held over Jared’s birthday weekend (2/25). Proceeds from the event directly supports the Recreational Retreat program.
Last years inaugural event was a huge success – 198 bars and restaurants from 25 states raised over $278,000! If you own a bar or restaurant, we'd love to have you be part of the crawl - click here for more information and to sign up. Click here to see who's participating.
More news and announcements are coming, so please make sure to bookmark TheFreedom13.org and sign up for our News Letter!
God Bless You, Our Troops & God Bless America.
Thank you for your support.
Mark Schmitz