(copied from another forum - JH)
the painful death of WFTW
this is a copy of the e-mail Jason sent out to all of the clubs who were hosting or planned on hosting events for WFTW. This is posted per request and I do not hold jason any bad will towards his decision as I am sure it was painful for him.
-----------------
First, as some of you may have noticed, I deleted the WFTW MySpace page
the other day. This was a no-brainer. I posted a bulletin on there weeks
back stating the program was dangerously close to ending and some
donations would go a long way. Out of the over 1,550 "friends" on that
page, I received two donations for a few bucks each. Obviously the
MySpace thing was a big waste of time, so I got rid of it.
At any rate, the program is over. I can no longer keep going. I have
less than $300 to my name. Fortunately, the Virginia event host club
raised some funds and paid my Jeep payment for May, otherwise my Jeep
would have been taken by the bank in June. I told you all a few weeks ago
that I had no money to pay for that and I wasn't joking. I'll never be
able to thank them enough.
The nail in the coffin is that I have a bad tooth (molar) that's killing
me and I can't even afford to go to the dentist because I have no
insurance. I sprained my ankle about a month ago and couldn't go to the
doctor because of the same reason. I'm surviving off the cheapest foods I
can find (usually sandwiches and hotdogs). As thin as I was when I began
the trip (6 foot, 155 pounds), I've even lost weight. This is no way to
live. I have to take care of myself and haven't been able to do so.
Currently, I'm staying with a friend in Nevada. This is a very good thing
because it's not costing me anything and he's letting me stay here for a
few more days until I have to drive up to the Rubicon event. By my
estimates I have just enough money for gas for that event. The host of
the Reno event is giving me a free room, and given its close proximity to
the Rubicon event, I might be able to make that one as well. After that,
I won't even have enough gas money to get me back to Florida.
Because of this, I will end the program there and return to my friend's
place where he said I can rent a room from him for cheap. I'll then get
some random job to get me back on my feet and hopefully keep the Jeep from
being repossessed by the bank.
I hope you all know that I did everything I could to keep this going.
I've worked on this program non-stop, every day since February 2007. For
it to have to end early sickens me. I know many of you have put in
numerous hours, so I'm disappointed in myself for letting you all down.
I'm sorry. Despite my failure, I will sleep fine at night because I know
that it was worth the effort. Broke or not, those we honored deserved the
chances I took.
Certainly you all who have events planned may continue them if you so
choose to do so. I know first hand that this program works, so it would
be good if our country's wounded service members could attend an event I
know a lot of them have been looking forward to...only, it will be in
memory of an organization that is no longer up and running.
I'm not writing this email to you all in order to get money from you. I
don't want any. The economy is in shambles, you all have families to
support, and you should put that money towards them rather than trying to
get me from event to event. I never expected any of you to pony up the
cash to keep the program going...I expected corporate America to do that
for us...they chose not to, so it's that's that.
For the rest of today I will be emailing the program's sponsors to let
them know that this is over. I'll then explain it to various other people
who have been helping me out with accomplishing various tasks. I'll then
have to tell my family, as well as explain to them they won't be seeing me
for quite some time yet...not looking forward to that conversation at all.
The last order of business will be the forum and website. I will delete
all the forums sometime around the Reno event, if not before. You all who
still want to take wounded service members out for a weekend of fun don't
really need that forum anyway. As for the website itself, I'll most
likely delete that around the same timeframe. I would just delete it now,
but I want to keep it up a bit longer so that you all who want to continue
with your event will still have a little more exposure. As I've been
doing, I'll keep forwarding you all the emails I get pertaining to people
wanting to attend and/or help out with those events still being planned.
For those of you no longer wanting to hold your planned event, please let
me know and I'll delete it from the schedule ASAP.
Thanks for everything you all have done. If you feel I've let you down, I
apologize...just know that whatever ill will you have towards me for
failing doesn't even hold a candle to the way I feel about myself right
now.
Jason
the painful death of WFTW
this is a copy of the e-mail Jason sent out to all of the clubs who were hosting or planned on hosting events for WFTW. This is posted per request and I do not hold jason any bad will towards his decision as I am sure it was painful for him.
-----------------
First, as some of you may have noticed, I deleted the WFTW MySpace page
the other day. This was a no-brainer. I posted a bulletin on there weeks
back stating the program was dangerously close to ending and some
donations would go a long way. Out of the over 1,550 "friends" on that
page, I received two donations for a few bucks each. Obviously the
MySpace thing was a big waste of time, so I got rid of it.
At any rate, the program is over. I can no longer keep going. I have
less than $300 to my name. Fortunately, the Virginia event host club
raised some funds and paid my Jeep payment for May, otherwise my Jeep
would have been taken by the bank in June. I told you all a few weeks ago
that I had no money to pay for that and I wasn't joking. I'll never be
able to thank them enough.
The nail in the coffin is that I have a bad tooth (molar) that's killing
me and I can't even afford to go to the dentist because I have no
insurance. I sprained my ankle about a month ago and couldn't go to the
doctor because of the same reason. I'm surviving off the cheapest foods I
can find (usually sandwiches and hotdogs). As thin as I was when I began
the trip (6 foot, 155 pounds), I've even lost weight. This is no way to
live. I have to take care of myself and haven't been able to do so.
Currently, I'm staying with a friend in Nevada. This is a very good thing
because it's not costing me anything and he's letting me stay here for a
few more days until I have to drive up to the Rubicon event. By my
estimates I have just enough money for gas for that event. The host of
the Reno event is giving me a free room, and given its close proximity to
the Rubicon event, I might be able to make that one as well. After that,
I won't even have enough gas money to get me back to Florida.
Because of this, I will end the program there and return to my friend's
place where he said I can rent a room from him for cheap. I'll then get
some random job to get me back on my feet and hopefully keep the Jeep from
being repossessed by the bank.
I hope you all know that I did everything I could to keep this going.
I've worked on this program non-stop, every day since February 2007. For
it to have to end early sickens me. I know many of you have put in
numerous hours, so I'm disappointed in myself for letting you all down.
I'm sorry. Despite my failure, I will sleep fine at night because I know
that it was worth the effort. Broke or not, those we honored deserved the
chances I took.
Certainly you all who have events planned may continue them if you so
choose to do so. I know first hand that this program works, so it would
be good if our country's wounded service members could attend an event I
know a lot of them have been looking forward to...only, it will be in
memory of an organization that is no longer up and running.
I'm not writing this email to you all in order to get money from you. I
don't want any. The economy is in shambles, you all have families to
support, and you should put that money towards them rather than trying to
get me from event to event. I never expected any of you to pony up the
cash to keep the program going...I expected corporate America to do that
for us...they chose not to, so it's that's that.
For the rest of today I will be emailing the program's sponsors to let
them know that this is over. I'll then explain it to various other people
who have been helping me out with accomplishing various tasks. I'll then
have to tell my family, as well as explain to them they won't be seeing me
for quite some time yet...not looking forward to that conversation at all.
The last order of business will be the forum and website. I will delete
all the forums sometime around the Reno event, if not before. You all who
still want to take wounded service members out for a weekend of fun don't
really need that forum anyway. As for the website itself, I'll most
likely delete that around the same timeframe. I would just delete it now,
but I want to keep it up a bit longer so that you all who want to continue
with your event will still have a little more exposure. As I've been
doing, I'll keep forwarding you all the emails I get pertaining to people
wanting to attend and/or help out with those events still being planned.
For those of you no longer wanting to hold your planned event, please let
me know and I'll delete it from the schedule ASAP.
Thanks for everything you all have done. If you feel I've let you down, I
apologize...just know that whatever ill will you have towards me for
failing doesn't even hold a candle to the way I feel about myself right
now.
Jason
