Military Appreciation Day (MAD)

Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject: Military Appreciation Day (MAD)

CALLING ALL BOAT OWNERS AND EVERYONE WHO ENJOYS FREEDOM !

My name is Richard, along with my wife Anita, we want to ask you for a few minutes of your time now that will provide you with a life time of good feelings and stories. I would like to introduce you to Military Appreciation Day, Inc. also known as MAD.

Military Appreciation Day, Inc. is a registered 501 (c) (3) Non-Profit Organization that is 100% volunteer based. No one takes a salary and 98% of all money raised goes directly to the benefit of our Honored Guests at our events. The remaining 2% is used for postage fees, insurance and other costs not incurred during our events.

History of MAD

In February of 2006 a newspaper in Wilmington, NC published a story about restaurants that were refusing entry to a group of Marines who had just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Rodney Carroll, Dan Smith and John Polosky were outraged and decided to do something about it!

Within a few weeks they raised almost $1000 and with the help of a donated van and a few marines they set forth on a mission to change this policy and pay tribute to those who have served America.

As they visited these restaurants and spent time with these young marines they were overwhelmed with the desire to show appreciation for our true American Heroes and thus the idea for Military Appreciation Day was born!

Within two short months, all of the planning for the event was completed and on May 20, 2006 men and women from all five branches of the Armed Services arrived for the First Annual Military Appreciation Day or MAD1.

The 225 service men and women who ventured out in volunteer and chartered vessels were greeted by pouring rain and howling winds, but the spirit of the day was not diminished as volunteers from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania were on hand for one reason...

One, Simple, THANKS!

Each year we organize events such as MAD 4 where we hosted over 600 active duty, guard, reservists and dependents at our annual “Take the Troops Fishing” event, followed by a cookout at Morehead City Park. Over 90 volunteer vessels participated along with almost 200 volunteers to make this day a tremendous success in showing the United States Military how much support they have!

We have a year round “Take A Hero Fishing” program where volunteers take the troops fishing all year long. This is facilitated via a forum on our website. If you wish to participate in this program, simply register on our site, go to the Florida Forums, click on the “Take A Hero Fishing” forum and state your wish to Take A Hero Fishing.

WE NEED YOU!

Our events are organized and managed by a group of dedicated volunteers and we need more! If you would like to volunteer to help us Thank Those Who Serve America, click on the Volunteer tab above.

We also need donations to help pay for these events for our heroes. No amount is too small! If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to MAD, click on the Donate tab above.

After over 20 years in the Army, my wife and I are moving to Panama City shorty, and we are hoping to expand MAD to the Emerald Coast.

As an Honored guest of MAD, I had the opportunity to feel the generosity and support from the volunteers of MAD. It made me stand a little taller and feel a little more pride for being in the Army. We want to keep this feeling alive and to spread it far and wide.

We are hoping to have a large event next summer, but as we are just starting out in the area there are many things to be determined at this time.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in helping with, please visit our website http://www.MilitaryAppreciationDay.org

The Florida area of the website is under development and will be available very soon. We will have a "Take A Hero Fishing" forum so we can get our local heroes on the water and enjoying our hospitality.

Thank you in advance for you generosity and support.

Rich Beaverson
rich_beaverson@militaryappreciationday.org
Military Appreciation Day, Inc.

Anita Beaverson
anita_beaverson@militaryappreciationday.org
Military Appreciation Day, Inc.

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 1636

I'm gonna make this a sticky so it will stay at the top...

Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject:

UPDATE

If anyone would like to post a trip on the MAD website, go to the "Take A Hero Fishing" forum, post a new topic. In the heading line make sure the first part of the title is the city and state you are going to launch from.

I am hoping to get the word out to the military posts within the next 2 weeks.

Make a hero smile and it will last you a lifetime.

Thanks for the sticky
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Support www.militaryappreciationday.org

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 225

I am VERY proud to say that FryingPanTower.Com and I have been VERY involved with MAD since Day one.

If there is ANYTHING Florida-Offshore.Com can do you for you guys....Feel Free to ask. We will make it happen.

Dave
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Capt. Dave
Continental Shelf
Morehead City, NC
910-458-3145

Life is SHORT....Fish Hard!

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject:

Dave,

We will need all the help we can get with fund raising, getting the word out, and of course volunteers. I will be the main contact person in the Panama City area. If you are able to help us in anyway, please feel free to contact me!

Thanks,
Anita

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 1636

I've briefly swapped info with Rich. If we're still around next year at MAD PCB event time we can help around the dock for sure or maybe volunteer our boat.

I am so/so understanding MAD's layout... & I have these questions:

Is this Panama City event open to ANY military member or just local to PCB?

Do boats leave from other ports along the Panhandle or just from Panama City?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:59 pm Post subject:

["BlueOceanEyez"]I've briefly swapped info with Rich. If we're still around next year at MAD PCB event time we can help around the dock for sure or maybe volunteer our boat.

I am so/so understanding MAD's layout... & I have these questions:

Is this Panama City event open to ANY military member or just local to PCB?

Answer: as long as they are active, reserve or national guard they are invited. We will be sending info on MAD to as many bases and units as we can from FL, GA, and AL

Do boats leave from other ports along the Panhandle or just from Panama City?

Answer: We are only able to hold the event in one place at a time. We are basing this event from PC due to the fact that Anita and I will be living in the area, we are already familiar with the area and have contacts there. In the future we are would love to look into different area's around FL. But we can only do as much as we have support for.

AND BTW...we would LOVE to have you're help, on land or on the water.

Site Admin Joined: Mar 07, 2008 Posts: 1636

Gotcha.

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:59 am Post subject:

Our first event will be July 31, 2010 at Bay Point Marina. We now need volunteers to help get the word out not only to the military but to the fishermen as well. I could really use some people who are willing to participate in our "Take a Hero Fishing" year round program.

If you are interested, the Hero's will have to come to you. There is no set home marina for this. If you go out of Destin, then that's where they will need to go. Please reigister on the web site or send me a PM and I can put you on the list.

Thanks so much,

Anita
PC FL Event Coordinator

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:44 am Post subject:

I know we haven't posted lately, but Anita and I have been busy working for the man. MAD held our smaller fall/winter event in Southport NC in Oct and put over 60 heroes on the water in an all volunteer floatilla. A wide variety of fish were caught with VERY few boats being skunked. The smiles were wide on every face to include the captains. Anita is busting her tushy in Panama City trying to get donors and volunteers to get things rolling for next July. The word is spreading to the heroes in the area slowly right now, but it is spreading. After the holidays we are hoping to blitz the bases with media to get the heroes more informed and involved. Right now we need help with all aspects of MAD from the local area, not just PC. If you are interested in volunteering some time, please feel free to shoot a pm to myself or Anita aka tandfish. Thank you for helping us support our nations heroes.
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Newbie Joined: Jan 13, 2010 Posts: 1

I have been contacted by a soldier that will be home around the first week of February on leave from Iraq. He would like to have the chance to really unwind like only fishing can do for a person. Do we have anyone in the Daytona Beach area that would be able to take him and perhaps one other person and treat them to a day on the water? If so contact me with your information and I will ensure that he gets in contact with you. My email is dgrayofmad@aol.com

Thanks
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Don Gray
www.militaryappreciationday.org

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 10:37 am Post subject:

Its already April and MAD 5 PC is what seems like right around the corner. Again, the event is July 31st at Bay Point Marina. The word has been getting out to the Troops in great numbers now and may are VERY interested. We need the boaters in the area to step up and help now. Registration for boat volunteers will officially open May 24th, but if you are interested in getting registered early go to www.militaryappreciationday.org and register on the website. After you have registered, sign in, click on the forums tab, click on the volunteer information link in the Panama City MAD 5 area and post a comment that you want to get on the list. I am the POC for volunteer boats for the event so if you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me and I will answer your questions. If you have a 50 Sportfisher or a 14ft John, we could use your help. We are looking to put 250 rods on the water this year. Lets make it happen. If you know anyone that wants to help on land with cooking, site ops, or as helpers for the family events, have them sign up on the website and post in the volunteer forum as well, we need all the help we can get. Thanks for your support and hope to talk to you soon.
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:40 pm Post subject:

We just had a great event in Morehead NC and now its time to ramp of for MAD5 PC. Though the Oil is causing cancellations all over the area, MAD is still planning on holding our event. As the closure bounce all over the place we are going to be optimistic and say fishing will be a go. As many in the area know, fishing on the panhandle is awesome, and the near shore fishing is always good. We are looking for enough volunteers to host 250 service men and women from all branches of the service fishing for the day, whether its offshore, near shore or in the bay. Please, check out the site www.militaryappreciationday.org, sign up and help us reach our goal. We will not cancel the event until we absolutely have to, and the only part we will cancel is the fishing, we are still going to give them a day of fun on shore with the dinner at the end of the day. We CANNOT do this with out help. Lets show the military and their families that regardless our hardships, we will always appreciate their sacrifices.

Thank you
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Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:31 am Post subject:

I saw in the PC News Herald there was an article about the 40/40 being cancelled along with their childrens event and the take the military fishing part of their event. That is in no way tied to the Mililtary Appreciation Day event on July 31st. Our event is still a go, INCLUDING the fishing, at least for now. The biggest problem we are having right now is getting local boat owners to step up and help us. I would hate for the fishing portion of our event to get cancelled because we dont have enough boats to take our heroes out fishing or worse, to have to tell some of our heroes they can't fish while others can. We are making EVERY effort to ensure this wont happen, but without the boats...the heroes can't fish. State waters are still open, the bay is still open and I am in contact with the powers to be about the bouy line being put across the pass. If there is a way to make it happen we want to, even if it is a catch and release event, trust me, the heroes will enjoy any time they can get behind a rod. I know this sounds like begging, but its all we have left. I have put numerous posts about our event here and on other sights to no avail. We are 30 days out and have FIVE boats, signed up, thats room for 16 heroes, we have 25 signed up right now with more to follow. PLEASE HELP US make this a great event, if the oil spill continues, this may be the last chance for a long time we have to show the military how much they are appreciated by the fisherman in this area. Call me, email, snail mail, I will even accept carrier pigeons if you must, but contact me and lets make this something for the heroes and their families to remember.

Richard Beaverson
Military Appreciation Day Inc
rich_beaverson@militaryappreciationday.org
910-263-4906
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Support www.militaryappreciationday.org

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:34 pm Post subject:

We now have 15 heroes on standby for fishing with more to follow in the future!!!!
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