March 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Our mission would not be possible without the tremendous support and generosity from so many selfless Patriots across North America who go above and beyond to honor the service and sacrifices of America’s combat-wounded Veterans.
Today’s guest on the WWIA Podcast is one of these special Patriots who has proven time and time again that there is truly no limit to the good works that can be accomplished, and the contributions and impacts that can be made, when people work together for a common cause. WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel proudly welcomes long-time WWIA supporter and valued friend, Mr. Mike Davenport to the program.
Mike is the President of the WWIAF Southern Vermont Chapter, alongside his wife Debi, who serves as the Treasurer. Mike and Debi have both recently retired after having had wonderful careers with UNICORR in Bennington, Vermont; and they also relocated to warmer weather, having made the move to the beautiful state of Tennessee.
The WWIA Southern Vermont Chapter is a 2-time WWIA Medal of Honor Decorated Patron, having raised over $559,000 in support of our Purple Heart Heroes since 2013! That is just incredible! John and Mike discussed the early origins of this remarkable fundraising juggernaut, and how the local residents and businesses of Bennington, Vermont come together year after year in support of the mission of WWIA.
There’s a lot to unpack in this episode, and we are excited to introduce you to Mike and his story.
Takeaways:
- The WWIA Podcast aims to honor and support combat wounded veterans, emphasizing community involvement.
- Mike Davenport's fundraising efforts have raised over $559,000 for veterans since 2013, showcasing exceptional community spirit.
- The podcast highlights the importance of sponsor appreciation, fostering long-lasting relationships with community businesses.
- John McDaniel and Mike Davenport discuss their shared commitment to expanding the mission of supporting Purple Heart recipients.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
(00:25):
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Ourmission would not be possible without
the tremendous support andgenerosity from so many selfless
patriots across North Americawho go above and beyond to honor
the service and sacrifices ofAmerica's combat wounded veterans.
Today's guest on the WWIAPodcast is one of these special patriots
(00:50):
who has proven time and timeagain that there is truly no limit
to the good works that can beaccomplished, nor the contributions
and impacts that can be madewhen people work together for a common
cause. WWIA founder and CEOJohn McDaniel proudly welcomes longtime
WWIA supporter and valuedfriend, Mr. Mike Davenport to the
(01:13):
program. Mike is the Presidentof the WWIAF Southern Vermont Chapter
alongside his wife Debbie, whoserves as treasurer. Mike and Debbie
both recently retired afterhaving had wonderful careers with
Unicore in Bennington,Vermont. And they they've also relocated
to warmer weather, having madethe move to the beautiful state of
(01:33):
Tennessee. The WWIA SouthernVermont Chapter is a two time WWIA
Medal of Honor decoratedpatron, having raised over $559,000
in support of our Purple Heartheroes since 2013. That is just incredible.
John and Mike discuss theearly origins of this remarkable
(01:56):
fundraising juggernaut and howthe local residents and businesses
of Bennington Verm cometogether year after year in support
of the mission of wwia.There's a lot to unpack in this episode
and we're excited to introduceyou to Mike and his story. So without
further delay, let's join Jonand Mike now.
(02:21):
I am John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect and Heal.
So today I have with me atreasured friend and a great person
who's helped the foundationand our heroes as much as anybody,
(02:43):
if not more, in the past. Whatis it, 13, 14 years? Something like
that, Mike? Yeah, 13 years. 13years. So welcome to the program.
Mike Davenport out of Vermont.
Thanks, John.
Yeah, it's good to see you.We've been planning this one for
several years and are finallynow getting around to do it. Mike
(03:05):
came into town the other day.We're here in the office at the WWI
headquarters. And we're justchatting about lots of stuff for
the future. But, Mike, whydon't you tell us a little bit about
how this whole thing, therelationship with the WWI, began
(03:26):
dating back, whatever it is,14 years from now.
Yeah. Yeah. So it was. Theyear was 2013. My. My employer at
the time, I was working forUnicore Packaging Group. And they
asked each of our facilities,there was five of us, to take a $2,500
(03:47):
seed and turn it intosomething good, whether it be for
a veterans organization orsomething in the community. And it
was a competition. They wantedto see who could do the most with
that amount of money.
And so twenty five hundreddollars came from the company. Unicorn.
Yeah.
To how many groups there wasfive of us. Five of us.
(04:08):
Yeah. And part of the criteriawas they wanted as close to 100%
participation by the employeesas you could muster up. So, I mean,
and that's quite challengingwhen you think about, you know, what
group are you going to target?Who are you going to raise the money
for? You know, becauseeverybody has their own ideas. So
(04:29):
within the community ofBennington, it's a. It's a big hunting
and fishing environment. And Ihappened to be watching a program
on TV one weekend, and it wasa program of the Wounded warriors
in Action.
Nosler's Magnum tv.
That was the show, correct?
Right.
And I was like, well, that'sit. I mean, I can get. I know I can
(04:51):
get most of my employeesbehind this. So I brought the idea
into the. Into the plant, andI spoke to all of my. My employees
and said, you know, this iswhat we're going to do. They. They
have gave us a total of$2,500, and we got to turn that into
much more. And we're going to.We're going to send all the proceeds
to the Wounded warriors inAction. So I went out and I purchased
(05:15):
a UTV with. I financed itmyself, knowing that that would drive
me to sell tickets to pay it back.
Right.
And my wife Debbie and I spentthat whole summer of 2013 just, you
know, going to car shows andgun shows and swap meets and wherever
we could get the exposure tosell tickets and hand out brochures
(05:40):
of the organization and whatthey do and just get the. Get it
out in the. In the world.Yeah, in our world. And at the end
of the. At the end of thesummer, we decided we're going to
have a banquet dinner, we'regoing to have an auction, we're going
to raffle off guns, we'regoing to do all these things, but
one of the key components waswe wanted you, John, to come to the
(06:01):
event. We thought it wouldmake it special. And after much convincing,
we. We finally coerced John tocome to Bennington, and the rest
was history. After that, we.We turned $2500 into. I want to say
it was 23,000.
Yeah.
If I'm not mistaken, I thinkthat's the number. And it was. It
was a great time. And then itjust. It turned into something much
(06:24):
larger after that. We won thecompetition, I should say. And then
you invited me to go to theMOCAN event.
That's right. That same year,you met Brian and.
I met Brian Roderick. And youthought it would be a good thing
to, you know, expose me to theother side of.
So you could see the ground.Tactical piece, if you will.
(06:45):
Correct. And after that, I washooked. I was like this. I can't
be. Once and done with this.
Yeah.
That we. Then you and I spoke,and we. We did all the proper work
to become a legitimate chapterin the state of Vermont. Because
I thought that it would bebetter to. If I was going to be out
(07:06):
there asking for people togive us money, I didn't want them
giving it to Mike Davenport.
Yeah.
You know, I want. If theywanted to write a check, and I wanted
it to filter through me sothat we would. So Vermont. So Bennington
would be getting the creditfor the funds that were collected.
So that's when you and Idecided, okay, let's make this a
legitimate chapter. So. Whichwe did. So now we're going to fast
(07:27):
forward to this year will beour, I believe, our 13th banquet
dinner that we hold everySeptember. And It'll be our 13th
one in 14 years.
Yeah.
And it's just been anincredible ride. I just. I can't
even. It's hard for me to evenexplain to you the support in that
community. And you've beenthere every year. You've come every
(07:50):
year. You see it. It's. Youcan't even put words to it.
Yeah. Well, this year. Well,last year, rather, in 2024, we were,
you know, tabulating all ofthe proceeds that are credited to
your magnificent effort, youand your family's magnificent effort
and your community'smagnificent effort. And, you know,
(08:14):
I was like, holy smokes. Imean, you are the first entity, the
first individual, you know,period, dot. That ever broke the
$500,000 mark. So we put youin this. I was sitting here thinking
to myself, well, what could wepossibly do? I just couldn't believe
it. You know, and so what weended up doing was creating the 500k
(08:36):
club.
Right.
And we, you know, you're the,you're. Now there's one other one
in there that just hasachieved that. Brian. Of course,
you two have been battling itout for one, two for years.
Well, that's good company.
Yeah, that's very, that's goodcompany. Yes, very good company.
The two 500 pound gorillas.Right, right. But yeah, so it's really
(09:01):
amazing and what a greatcommunity. You have all kinds of
sponsors and you walk intothat room and you hold, you've held
at venues, but the one thatwe're kind of on now is the, you
know, the Elks Club there. Andyou walk into the Elks Club in Bennington,
Vermont. And you know, yousee, you know how many tables you
got there? You reckon?
(09:22):
We do. We try to keep itaround 20. 20 tables.
So 20 tables. And these are sponsors.
Most of them are sponsors.
Yeah, yeah. That have said,hey, I want a sponsor. So they, they
buy in a sponsorship that getsthem a table for their company or
corporation.
Well, what it does, asponsorship, there's different levels.
So a typical sponsor is like athousand dollars. And what that does
is that'll get the sponsor twoseats at the table.
(09:45):
Okay.
They typically will buy theother six seats for employees or
friends or whatever.
Okay.
And out of that sponsorship,they'll get a sign put up in the
room with their company logoon it.
Professional made,professionally made. Looks beautiful.
And then we give them the swagbag. And because different levels
(10:06):
of sponsorship they get, it'lldepend on what they get for swag.
But then what you and I cameup with early on was let's do something
a little more for them. Soanybody that sponsors $1,000 and
up for every thousand dollarsyou sponsor, you get put into a drawing
to do this weekend getawaydown here in Tampa with you and I
(10:27):
doing inshore fishing.
That's right.
And that's turned into apretty, a pretty good draw. People
really like that.
Yeah, so do I. I mean, you andI both like it. It's cool. You know,
you usually a couple comesdown and you and Debbie come down
and then, you know, there's meand you know, we go offshore fishing
or inshore fishing, you know,always somewhere. Now we're down
(10:49):
in, in Punta Gorda at theFisherman's Village. We like that
an awful lot. We've been herein Tampa, fish in Tampa Bay. But
it is, it's wonderful. Itgives us a chance to get to know,
one of your valuable sponsorsand let our hair down a little bit
and enj the sort of the fruitsof our labor. But yeah, it's a wonderful,
(11:09):
wonderful time. And, you know,if you could, you know, if you just
picture walking into this,this Elks Club, which just, you know,
just the ambiance that justreeks of history, and it's just a
wonderful club to begin with.But when you get in there and you
see all these tables that havegot purple cloths on them, and there's
(11:30):
always, you know, a headpieceto each table. And I mean, you guys
decorate it phenomenal. Andthere's all kinds of raff items wrapping
around the room, and thenthere's a live auction component
and you're raffling offfirearms and all kinds of cool stuff
from the community. And it's awonderful evening. And I'm just blown
(11:53):
away every year by that, bywhat your community is able to do
and what you've accomplished.And our promise to your community
is that 100% of the resourcethat's generated that evening goes
to direct, directly supportour mission set. And that's putting
combat wounded Purple Heartrecipients in the wood line or in
(12:17):
the waterway on one of ourmissions. And several of our missions
are underfunded. There aremissions that we love dearly, but
they don't have a fundingstream or a funding component to
them or very little funding.And we just say, we got your back
and we couldn't do that.There's no way we could have done
(12:38):
that throughout these yearswithout that support. So, you know,
I want to personally thankyou, your family, of course, your
bride Debbie, and that amazingcommunity of support because it has
helped, you know, change a lotof lives and maybe some cases saved
(12:59):
lives. But that, that resourceis very, very valuable to us because
this is an expensive business.I mean, you go on a lot of guided
hunts. You know, if you wereto say, hey, you're going to take
four guys or five gu. Fivedifferent locations across the country,
bring them together to onelocation to do a three day hunting
(13:20):
or fishing excursion, youknow, depending on what you decided
to do, you know, I mean, Iguarantee you, you would have a very,
very hard time doing that forunder 20,000 bucks.
Oh, sure, right.
I mean, you do it all the time.
Yeah.
You know, but it depends onwhat you want to go do.
Yeah. I mean, conservatively,you're going to drop $5,000 a person.
Easy, easy, easy. That's justfor the hunt.
(13:42):
That's not.
That's not getting there.
Right? That's, That' planeticket. And so we're able to do this
because a lot of wonderfulpeople are. The lodging is taken
care of, the food is takencare of, or we reimburse for the
food. So it's expensivebusiness. We've done a really good
job. I think the foundation ofleveraging a lot of in kind support
(14:05):
that makes this happen. Butthere's a lot of things that it takes
the almighty dollar toactually purchase. And we're just
very grateful. Grateful forwhat you guys have accomplished.
It's nothing, it's nothingshort of, you know, spectacular.
And your whole family'sworking in this thing.
(14:25):
Yeah, yeah. My stepdaughter,Jessica, she's, she's deeply involved.
She's sweetheart.
Yeah, she's, she's a gogetter. She, she never. There's no
grass growing under her.
No. That girl is getting itfrom day one and all in.
Yeah.
Your whole family is all in on this.
As we creep closer to theevent, you know, it's, it's many
(14:47):
hours leading up the weekprior to the event. There's hardly
any sleep. It's just gatheringeverything together, making sure,
you know, we have everythingset. And then the setup, we, we have
volunteers during the event.
Yeah.
And we do have volunteersduring the setup. But throughout
the year, it's just mainly thethree of us.
Yeah.
(15:07):
My wife, Debbie, Jessica andmyself. And then that weekend, the
Friday before the event, wehave, you know, maybe a half a dozen
people come in to help us. Andthen that night, and there's 220
guests seated at this thing.
Yeah.
And before we leave the ElksLodge at night, it's all torn down,
cleaned up and we go home.
(15:27):
That's right.
And it's like it never even happened.
Exactly right.
You know, so it's, that'swhere a lot of the work is, is when
it's go time.
Taking the gourds off thetable and, and cleaning up after
people.
After 220 something people.
I know.
And there's a lot of brownwater that goes around.
There's, there's some of thebrown waters. Yeah, yeah, it's flowing.
(15:49):
Yeah, it's, it's, it'sincredible. You know, so I wanted
to, you know, I wanted toshare with everybody a couple of
things because you and I have,you know, been around the block a
few times and you know, weactually went up to British Columbia
and hunted. Links will, youknow, get back to that in a minute.
(16:09):
I'd like to save that linkstory maybe to, to close with, because
we were up there in BritishColumbia with Doug McMahon and his
bride Julie, chasing links allover British Columbia. That was.
I know you've got a story ortwo to tell there, but, you know,
here you just. You and your.You and Debbie just retired from
(16:34):
your lay. Would you work. Youworked at Unicorn for what?
I was there for a total of 40 years.
40 years.
Debbie was there 30.
Yeah. So you guys have bothretired now, and you moved out of
Bennington. You relocated downin Tennessee, but you've got roots
(16:54):
and family back there inVermont, and you're not giving up
on Vermont. That banquet's gotwhat we would refer to as irreversible
momentum. You're going backmultiple times to help facilitate
all the things that have tohappen. Getting the products and
the firearms and the rafflethings straight, pumping it up so
(17:17):
folks have it in the forefrontof their mind that you're not giving
up on Vermont. If anything,it's getting stronger. But you physically
relocated to Tennessee, andyou and I, you're down here today,
and you were down hereyesterday. And we've been talking
about, you know, what we're.How we're going to leverage now some
(17:39):
of this extra. I say, extratime that you might have.
Right.
As, you know, supporting thefoundation. And we think we've got.
We think we're hitting on afew things that are going to be great.
So we are really excited towelcome you further into the team
and help us explore some spacein a region that we don't have a
(18:02):
lot of activity right now.You're not too far from Nashville,
not too far from FortCampbell, and we've got some ideas,
and that's. What we've beendoing, is kicking around a few ideas
and, and how we can, you know,continue to. To, you know, expand
and grow and strengthen theVermont effort and maybe a few other
(18:23):
things.
Yeah, no, I'm looking forwardto it. Nashville is a huge market.
Yeah. It's an animal. I mean,it's going to take some time to navigate
that animal. Bennington,Vermont, is not going to change.
I mean, that's, that's. Andthat's my heart and soul. That's
where it all started. I don'twant anybody to ever think because
(18:45):
we moved to Tennessee thatthat's going to diminish, because
it won't. We're just leaningon more people, boots on the ground
where we're not doingeverything anymore.
Yeah.
Still going to be facilitatedby my wife and I, but I have full
faith in the. In the familymembers that are left Back up there
to carry the torch while we'renot there. But I don't think anybody
(19:08):
will see the difference. Yeah,but I'm looking forward to expanding
what we do and get into the,you know, the Tennessee area or,
you know, working up at FortCampbell. I think there's a lot of
opportunity.
Yep.
And now that I have the timeto. To put into it, I think that
we can, we can do good things.
(19:29):
Yeah, well, you're a sportsmanyourself, so, you know, you're part
of the attracted attraction,I'm sure, was the fact that, you
know, you were a sportsman. Ithink your house looks like. Looks
like a Fred Bear museum insideof it. You know, you got a.
Some might say that.
Yeah, a lot. A lot of. A lotof stuffed mounts and I.
(19:50):
Don't know if I rank up therewith Fred Bear.
Okay, you've got some stuff.
I have some stuff.
That's correct. You're. You'rea firearm aficionado. Would you say
that?
Yeah, I can.
You ate up from the ground upwith firearms. Love it.
True.
Yeah.
Some say it's an addiction.
Yeah. And so, you know, Igotta, I gotta ask you on the, on
(20:10):
the topic. You know, you'vedone a lot of hunts, you know, you
know, everything fromalligator, you know, in the swamps
down here, to the lynx, youknow, and big cats up in British
Columbia. But would you sharewith us a little bit your, you know,
(20:30):
our adventures up there inBritish Columbia?
I, I will. So for my 50th birthday.
Yeah.
My wife decided to. Topurchase this hunt in British Columbia
to hunt a lynx. And shereached out to you and between the
two of you, as you set thiswhole thing up and you decided you
(20:53):
wanted to tag along for a few days.
Yeah.
So that we could. Because wenever really have time to.
Yeah.
Just do what friends do, youknow, it's always business when we're
together. So we met up. Ithink we met each other in Seattle.
Yeah.
And then we linked togetherthere and we, we traversed into the
lodge, which. That was anadventure all on its own. Remember,
(21:16):
there was weather and we couldn't.
And weather getting out too.
That's right. So when wefinally made it to the lodge, we
settled in and got geared upfor the hunt. What I didn't realize
is the terrain.
It's tough.
You know, the elevation wasone thing. That was one thing.
The terrain is something else.
(21:37):
You know, the black spruceblowdowns and.
The, you know, you're gonnaearn it up there.
It was a little more of aworkout than I anticipated. Yeah,
I had a great time. I stillcherish the picture of you and I
on the side of one of thesemountains, halfway up it, you know,
pulling our socks out of ourmouth as we're climbing this.
(21:58):
Yeah. I remember stopping andjust taking a little bit of a break
and. God, I gotta capture thison. I gotta. I need a selfie here.
Yeah, it's. It was one of mymore memorable hunts for sure.
Yeah.
I did harvest a good mature lynx.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Which was I, I was verythankful to get it done.
Yeah.
(22:18):
Because it was probablywithout a doubt one of the hardest
hunts I've ever done.
Yeah.
For one of the smallestanimals I've ever hunted.
Right.
Quite honestly. But thememories that I, I said this to you
over dinner last night. Youknow, I sit there and I look at these
trophies and it's like I'mback to every one of them. Adventures,
you know, it's, it's, youknow, my memory isn't as good as
(22:41):
it used to be, but when I lookat the taxidermy.
Yeah.
And that's what it's allabout. You relive the whole, the
whole hunt.
Yeah.
You know. Yeah, it was a, itwas a fun time for sure.
Yeah. And Dog and Julie upthere, Skinner Creek. Just wonderful,
wonderful guides and hostsand, you know, just making memories
(23:03):
every day. And we certainlyshared one. And I remember thinking
to myself, you know, well, ofcourse, you know, I've got that,
you know, we're all very busypeople, but your birthday gift from
your wife, Debbie. And I justthought to myself, well, sometimes
the best memories occur whenyou have that one on one experience
(23:27):
with a guide. And I just knowhow that is. I respect so much that
only you and he are going tohave that memory. And I kind of felt
like maybe I was a third wheeland I just didn't want to impact
in any way negatively thatexperience. I like to solo hunt myself
(23:52):
personally, but I also havebeen with a few guides in my day
too. And I just know howspecial that is. You're going to
have that memory with only oneother person and you're going to
share that with many peoplefrom there forward. And I was so
happy when you sent me thatpicture, picture of your, your links
(24:14):
ultimately that, you know, itjust, it just warmed my heart and
I was, I was very proud andhappy to help Debbie Planet. And.
Yeah, that, that's no small effort.
No. You know, and you, as youknow, we spent two days, you and
I spent two days chasing thesethings around oh, yeah. And never
even got a visual.
Never. No. Lots of good signs.
(24:35):
Yeah.
You know, but that, thatcountry, you.
Know, it's very unforgiving country.
It is. The sign ought to say,you know, as soon as you enter British
Columbia, it ought know, notfor the weak nor faint of heart.
And they're serious about it.Yeah, that's high country up there.
But yeah. So it's pretty neat.And then you and I fished together
(24:56):
and had lots of fun on ouradventures here in Florida. And,
you know, our relationshipjust keeps getting stronger and better
and, you know, it's great tohave you on the program. I did want
to ask you something. Hey,business is about the successful,
(25:17):
repeatable process, right? Soonce you got a process that's working,
that's profitable in businessor working in this case, we are a
business that's just not forprofit. And we help our clients who
happen to be combat woundedPurple Heart recipients. But it's
run like a business because ithas to be your business there in
(25:38):
Bennington. I mean, if you hadto put your finger. I'm putting you
on the spot here, buddy. Wedidn't rehearse any of this. But
if you had to put your fingeron one thing that has led to your
success, a piece of advicethat you might give to. We have 42
hosts out there, all of whomare. Most. All of whom are doing
(26:02):
some sort of fundraisingactivity which enables these missions
to happen. And serving over200 combat wounded annually in 42
missions across 30 somestates. You know, it's expensive
business, but what would you,if you had to put your finger on
one thing that has helped yoube or made you successful in your
(26:25):
enterprise there in Vermont,in Bennington, with your fundraising
activity for that, thatbanquet, what is it?
One thing.
Yeah.
I would have to say that thesponsorship program that funds our
(26:47):
event, showing theappreciation back to the sponsors
in a way where they feelspecial, not as a group, but individually.
You know, by putting a sign upin the room. A lot of my sponsors
will come to me and say, youknow, I can't believe the amount
(27:07):
of phone calls I got for jobsthat need to be done. It could be
a plumber, a carpenter,because somebody saw my sign in your
room.
As a result of the bank, as.
A result of the banquet, wehad I think 38 or 39 sponsors at
our last event. And, you know,we. There's some that can't sponsor
(27:30):
every year. There's some thatcome back. There's new ones every
year. And I believe thesuccess is because You've been there
for every one of them. Thereare people that come year after year.
I fill probably two thirds ofthe room with the same people. Now,
after 13 years, there's a lotto be said there. Oh, yeah. You know,
I mean, it's. We're therefundraising, so it's not like people
(27:52):
are just coming. They'resitting on their hands, right? So
that. To. To have people thatwant to come every year for the past
13 years, they have to feelpretty warm inside for doing it.
There has to be some valuethere, too. You know, value on. On
a lot of levels. Like, okay,you're supporting a worthy cause.
They wouldn't be there if thatwasn't the case. But you go above
(28:14):
and beyond. And. And, youknow, we here, when I talk about
entering into a relationshipwith another business or entity,
you know, because we do getapproached on things, and sometimes
it's a no, thank you. And may.I don't want to say, a lot of the
(28:34):
times it's a no, thank you.But we're very careful with whom
we do business. And when wesay do business, what are we doing?
And so I developed this ideaof the triple win several years ago,
and I said, okay. So in orderfor me to say yes to entering into
a relationship with anotherenterprise or entity, three things
(28:54):
have to happen. One, theheroes that we serve have to win.
And I could talk about thatfor days, but that's one leg of that
stool. The other is that thefoundation has to win. And I could
talk about that leg of thestool, but the third leg, and I put
it on the table every time, isthat I say you, that you, the contributing
supporter, have to win. And Iwant you to win. And we're going
(29:17):
to be good partners, I promiseyou. But I know that you're in this.
I know you're doing it forphilanthropic reasons, and I acknowledge
that, and thank you. But also,you're a business, and we're going
to make sure that you getrecognized. Now you're doing that.
You take that idea of thetriple win, and you're the one that's
actuating that at thecommunity level, and you're making
(29:39):
sure that these people arewinning. And by taking care of them,
by acknowledging theirbusiness, by treating them special,
they're your sponsors, andthat's really phenomenal. You guys
do better at that than anybodyI've ever seen. It's amazing what
you do. The value you createfor your sponsors and anybody who
(30:01):
attends that is a highquality, wonderful event. Every day.
There's A. Or every year,there's a line snaking out that door.
I know I'm, you know, I'mthere watching it, you know, chatting
with people, but they're.They're all, you know, dying to get
in that door and get. And getat it, you know, it's amazing.
(30:21):
It is amazing. It's in, youknow, it's. I talk to the people
that work at the Elks Lodge,and they just, they look forward
to it every year because it'slike the largest event.
Yeah.
You know, they. They holdweddings up there, receptions, and
there's a lot of people. Butnot for. For a nonprofit fundraising
effort.
Right.
To see the line of cars parkedon the street because the parking
(30:44):
lot's full and the people area block line trying to get in.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
And it's. And it's. It showsno signs of slowing.
No.
I mean, we've. It's just crazyto me, the. The support after 13
years. And it's. It hasn't. Ithasn't diminished at all.
(31:04):
Now Bennington has alsorecently been named a Purple Heart.
Town or city?
Town.
Yes, town. Purple Heart town.
Purple Heart town.
Yeah. So when I. When I was. Ifly in usually to Rochester and drive
the rest of the way. I thinkit's Rochester.
Albany.
I take it back. Albany. Thankyou. I fly into Albany and then I
drive. But I remember thislast year, 24. On that drive. I saw
(31:29):
the, you know, Purple Heartsign. It just. It warm, you know,
it warmed my heart. But yeah,that's. And I've made a lot of friends.
You, you know, your network isopen to me and, you know, and that's
an amazing thing. I've made alot of friends and really enjoyed
all the couples that we've metand spent time with and, you know,
broken bread and cut fish and,you know, when they come down here.
(31:53):
And of course, I see them whenI go back to the banquet every year.
And, you know, there's.There's just a lot of value there.
And. And I think that's thebest way that it could be described.
You know, I mean, you. But itstarts with this. Okay, that's the
other thing. You go. I startedthis conversation by saying, you
know, businesses mostly aboutthe successful, repeatable process.
(32:13):
Well, it assumes, of course,that statement that you've got, that
you've found success.
Right.
You got a formula that works.You're cranking out a widget that's
functional, that people want.Everybody demonstrated demand for
that widget. And then you justGot to repeat that. And you got to
sell your widget where you canmake profit. That's what business
is about. Or you can't be inbusiness or won't be in business
(32:37):
long if you're not making aprofit. So, you know, this is a nonprofit.
You know, we're not talkingabout profiting here, but we're talking
about defining the successful,you know, process. What is it? And
I've given this thought foryears about, you know, I'm like,
how in the world could Ireplicate in other parts of the country
(32:57):
what Mike and Debbie aredoing? And I have given that a lot
of thought, and finally Isettled on it. I'm like, listen,
it certainly could be done,but what it starts with is high quality
people like you and yourfamily that are connected to a community
and people. I say this atguide school, and I say it a lot.
(33:20):
People do business with peoplethat they know like, and trust. There
is no way in the world youcould pull off what you're pulling
off there if people didn'tlike you, if people didn't know you
and people didn't trust you.That's your hometown.
You're right. Right. That'sabsolutely right.
And they know Mike. They knoweverything about Mike.
Yeah.
You know.
(33:40):
Yeah.
And, and, and they trust you.
Well, you know, the majorityof the sponsors are close friends.
Exactly.
They're business owners. Andyou're right. I mean, there's, there's
a huge amount of trust there.
Yeah.
And we try to be astransparent as humanly possible with
everything. It's. And again,when, when you come up for the event
(34:00):
every year, that also helpssolidify. You know, this is why we're
doing it. Here's the manhimself. You know, but again, I,
I'll say it again. Every year,I mean, you see the same faces. It's
just incredible to me that wecan continually bring the same sponsors
back year on year. I mean,obviously we. We lose a couple every
(34:22):
now and again for whateverreason, but then we might get them
back. But it's, you know, I, Itold you last night over dinner that,
that, you know, there was alot of concern about us moving to
Tennessee. The community was,you know, all of these sponsors are
coming to me and, like, youknow, what's going to happen? It's
like, oh, nothing's going tohappen. We're.
We're.
We're still going to have theevent. It's going to be like any
(34:42):
other year. It's just we'regoing to move to a little warmer
climate.
Right? Right.
So, you know, that that makesme feel good, that that's what people
are thinking about, you know,is the function. Is the function
still going to have it?
You know, I just got a smileon my face because flashing through
the years and, you know,sitting at the, you know, one of
your beautiful tables there,watching this whole thing unfold.
(35:06):
I love the live auction, youknow, I mean, you know, that's just
so much fun to be. I lookforward to that more than anything.
And I usually try to bring acool item or two that I've personally
secured somehow. And so, youknow, this year for 2025, tipping
my hand a little bit, youknow, I had Trent McCall, who's a
(35:26):
good friend of Min, that alsoruns an event for the foundation
at Turkey Hunt. And he's acraftsman and he created a one of
one turkey call for theVermont chapter. And it's gorgeous.
I mean, it's a box call andI'm not going to say much more than
that, but that's one of them.And the other one is we got a relationship
(35:48):
building with peach hour cues.And these are some of the finest
pool cues made in the planet.And they're made out of Green Bay,
Wisconsin. And we ordered.They're doing a special series. I
think they made 50 of them.And we got a couple of them that,
(36:10):
you know, and they're allnumbered and they're made with purple
heartwood and they just willblow you away. And so, you know,
I'm bringing one of those withme. So there's always something super
cool. And of course, you know,all your sponsors are bringing their
wares. I mean, it's everythingfrom, you know, chairs to fine fire
(36:31):
arms to, you know, model, youknow, kit airplanes. I mean, you
name it. There's just, it'sthere, you know, and you know, we
try to always bring new thingsto this banquet so people have, you
know, an experience and getexposed to something they otherwise
never would would be. And allin name, in the name of a good cause
(36:51):
and you know, in charity that,you know, in case, in this case,
the wounded warriors inaction, it's. It's really an amazing
thing that, that you and yourteam and community have done. And
I just can't thank you enough, Mike.
I appreciate that, John.
Thank you. It really isamazing what people can do when they
(37:14):
put their hearts and mindsinto something. So it's really great.
Well, listen, I always like togive the last shot, the last whack
at the pinata to my guest. Andyou are certain certainly a super
Host, is there anything, Mike,that you'd like to share with us
(37:38):
or talk about before we closethe program?
No, John, I think we prettymuch touched on everything again.
I just want the folks back inthe community of Bennington to be
reassured that things are asnormal as they'll ever be. Maybe
even, maybe even better.
(37:58):
Maybe even better.
Who knows?
Yeah.
You know, this is a whole newadventure for me down in the mid,
mid part of the country andmaybe we can bring something new
up to Bennington.
Yeah. How hard is it going tobe for you to take your foot off
the gas pedal? That's going tobe the hard part.
Who said I'd take my foot off again?
That's right. Exactly.
Well, I don't think wediscussed that.
No, we didn't, we didn't. ButMike, I think Debbie ought to step
(38:22):
in there and help you out withthat a little bit.
But she might have somethingother to say about that.
You're one motivatedindividual and you are a results
oriented man and I canappreciate and respect that a great
deal. I mean, you do not needany motivation. You're the kind of
guy that doesn't need muchguidance, just a little bit of intent
(38:47):
and purpose and you're justoff and running. I mean, you're one
of those guys that, you know,that you just gotta, you gotta give
a lot of, a lot of lead and alot of open terrain. Just give them
the football, you know, andyou've done phenomenal for us and
you know, the countlessnumbers of heroes that, you know,
you guys have, whose livesyou've affected and, you know, it's
(39:11):
great because it takes a lotof pressure off from some of these
events that don't have anyfunding streams and, you know, it's
just remarkable. And I wantto, you know, publicly thank you
again.
Thank you, Jen.
All right.
Appreciate it.
All right, everybody, we, wehope you have a great day and thanks
for tuning into the podcast.
(39:35):
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit ourwebsite@wwiaf.org or follow us on
social media, on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
(39:59):
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us at. Podcast thank you foryour support and for helping us honor,
connect and heal our combatwounded Purple Heart heroes through
the power of the great outdoors.
Hello and welcome to the WWIAPodcast. We're honored to have you
join us in our mission tobring honor, connection and healing
to America's combat woundedPurple Heart heroes. If this is your
first time listening to thispodcast, we welcome you if you're
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
(00:25):
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Ourmission would not be possible without
the tremendous support andgenerosity from so many selfless
patriots across North Americawho go above and beyond to honor
the service and sacrifices ofAmerica's combat wounded veterans.
Today's guest on the WWIAPodcast is one of these special patriots
(00:50):
who has proven time and timeagain that there is truly no limit
to the good works that can beaccomplished, nor the contributions
and impacts that can be madewhen people work together for a common
cause. WWIA founder and CEOJohn McDaniel proudly welcomes longtime
WWIA supporter and valuedfriend, Mr. Mike Davenport to the
(01:13):
program. Mike is the Presidentof the WWIAF Southern Vermont Chapter
alongside his wife Debbie, whoserves as treasurer. Mike and Debbie
both recently retired afterhaving had wonderful careers with
Unicore in Bennington,Vermont. And they they've also relocated
to warmer weather, having madethe move to the beautiful state of
(01:33):
Tennessee. The WWIA SouthernVermont Chapter is a two time WWIA
Medal of Honor decoratedpatron, having raised over $559,000
in support of our Purple Heartheroes since 2013. That is just incredible.
John and Mike discuss theearly origins of this remarkable
(01:56):
fundraising juggernaut and howthe local residents and businesses
of Bennington Verm cometogether year after year in support
of the mission of wwia.There's a lot to unpack in this episode
and we're excited to introduceyou to Mike and his story. So without
further delay, let's join Jonand Mike now.
(02:21):
I am John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation. And this isour podcast, Honor, Connect and Heal.
So today I have with me atreasured friend and a great person
who's helped the foundationand our heroes as much as anybody,
(02:43):
if not more, in the past. Whatis it, 13, 14 years? Something like
that, Mike? Yeah, 13 years. 13years. So welcome to the program.
Mike Davenport out of Vermont.
Thanks, John.
Yeah, it's good to see you.We've been planning this one for
several years and are finallynow getting around to do it. Mike
(03:05):
came into town the other day.We're here in the office at the WWI
headquarters. And we're justchatting about lots of stuff for
the future. But, Mike, whydon't you tell us a little bit about
how this whole thing, therelationship with the WWI, began
(03:26):
dating back, whatever it is,14 years from now.
Yeah. Yeah. So it was. Theyear was 2013. My. My employer at
the time, I was working forUnicore Packaging Group. And they
asked each of our facilities,there was five of us, to take a $2,500
(03:47):
seed and turn it intosomething good, whether it be for
a veterans organization orsomething in the community. And it
was a competition. They wantedto see who could do the most with
that amount of money.
And so twenty five hundreddollars came from the company. Unicorn.
Yeah.
To how many groups there wasfive of us. Five of us.
(04:08):
Yeah. And part of the criteriawas they wanted as close to 100%
participation by the employeesas you could muster up. So, I mean,
and that's quite challengingwhen you think about, you know, what
group are you going to target?Who are you going to raise the money
for? You know, becauseeverybody has their own ideas. So
(04:29):
within the community ofBennington, it's a. It's a big hunting
and fishing environment. And Ihappened to be watching a program
on TV one weekend, and it wasa program of the Wounded warriors
in Action.
Nosler's Magnum tv.
That was the show, correct?
Right.
And I was like, well, that'sit. I mean, I can get. I know I can
(04:51):
get most of my employeesbehind this. So I brought the idea
into the. Into the plant, andI spoke to all of my. My employees
and said, you know, this iswhat we're going to do. They. They
have gave us a total of$2,500, and we got to turn that into
much more. And we're going to.We're going to send all the proceeds
to the Wounded warriors inAction. So I went out and I purchased
(05:15):
a UTV with. I financed itmyself, knowing that that would drive
me to sell tickets to pay it back.
Right.
And my wife Debbie and I spentthat whole summer of 2013 just, you
know, going to car shows andgun shows and swap meets and wherever
we could get the exposure tosell tickets and hand out brochures
(05:40):
of the organization and whatthey do and just get the. Get it
out in the. In the world.Yeah, in our world. And at the end
of the. At the end of thesummer, we decided we're going to
have a banquet dinner, we'regoing to have an auction, we're going
to raffle off guns, we'regoing to do all these things, but
one of the key components waswe wanted you, John, to come to the
(06:01):
event. We thought it wouldmake it special. And after much convincing,
we. We finally coerced John tocome to Bennington, and the rest
was history. After that, we.We turned $2500 into. I want to say
it was 23,000.
Yeah.
If I'm not mistaken, I thinkthat's the number. And it was. It
was a great time. And then itjust. It turned into something much
(06:24):
larger after that. We won thecompetition, I should say. And then
you invited me to go to theMOCAN event.
That's right. That same year,you met Brian and.
I met Brian Roderick. And youthought it would be a good thing
to, you know, expose me to theother side of.
So you could see the ground.Tactical piece, if you will.
(06:45):
Correct. And after that, I washooked. I was like this. I can't
be. Once and done with this.
Yeah.
That we. Then you and I spoke,and we. We did all the proper work
to become a legitimate chapterin the state of Vermont. Because
I thought that it would bebetter to. If I was going to be out
(07:06):
there asking for people togive us money, I didn't want them
giving it to Mike Davenport.
Yeah.
You know, I want. If theywanted to write a check, and I wanted
it to filter through me sothat we would. So Vermont. So Bennington
would be getting the creditfor the funds that were collected.
So that's when you and Idecided, okay, let's make this a
legitimate chapter. So. Whichwe did. So now we're going to fast
(07:27):
forward to this year will beour, I believe, our 13th banquet
dinner that we hold everySeptember. And It'll be our 13th
one in 14 years.
Yeah.
And it's just been anincredible ride. I just. I can't
even. It's hard for me to evenexplain to you the support in that
community. And you've beenthere every year. You've come every
(07:50):
year. You see it. It's. Youcan't even put words to it.
Yeah. Well, this year. Well,last year, rather, in 2024, we were,
you know, tabulating all ofthe proceeds that are credited to
your magnificent effort, youand your family's magnificent effort
and your community'smagnificent effort. And, you know,
(08:14):
I was like, holy smokes. Imean, you are the first entity, the
first individual, you know,period, dot. That ever broke the
$500,000 mark. So we put youin this. I was sitting here thinking
to myself, well, what could wepossibly do? I just couldn't believe
it. You know, and so what weended up doing was creating the 500k
(08:36):
club.
Right.
And we, you know, you're the,you're. Now there's one other one
in there that just hasachieved that. Brian. Of course,
you two have been battling itout for one, two for years.
Well, that's good company.
Yeah, that's very, that's goodcompany. Yes, very good company.
The two 500 pound gorillas.Right, right. But yeah, so it's really
(09:01):
amazing and what a greatcommunity. You have all kinds of
sponsors and you walk intothat room and you hold, you've held
at venues, but the one thatwe're kind of on now is the, you
know, the Elks Club there. Andyou walk into the Elks Club in Bennington,
Vermont. And you know, yousee, you know how many tables you
got there? You reckon?
(09:22):
We do. We try to keep itaround 20. 20 tables.
So 20 tables. And these are sponsors.
Most of them are sponsors.
Yeah, yeah. That have said,hey, I want a sponsor. So they, they
buy in a sponsorship that getsthem a table for their company or
corporation.
Well, what it does, asponsorship, there's different levels.
So a typical sponsor is like athousand dollars. And what that does
is that'll get the sponsor twoseats at the table.
(09:45):
Okay.
They typically will buy theother six seats for employees or
friends or whatever.
Okay.
And out of that sponsorship,they'll get a sign put up in the
room with their company logoon it.
Professional made,professionally made. Looks beautiful.
And then we give them the swagbag. And because different levels
(10:06):
of sponsorship they get, it'lldepend on what they get for swag.
But then what you and I cameup with early on was let's do something
a little more for them. Soanybody that sponsors $1,000 and
up for every thousand dollarsyou sponsor, you get put into a drawing
to do this weekend getawaydown here in Tampa with you and I
(10:27):
doing inshore fishing.
That's right.
And that's turned into apretty, a pretty good draw. People
really like that.
Yeah, so do I. I mean, you andI both like it. It's cool. You know,
you usually a couple comesdown and you and Debbie come down
and then, you know, there's meand you know, we go offshore fishing
or inshore fishing, you know,always somewhere. Now we're down
(10:49):
in, in Punta Gorda at theFisherman's Village. We like that
an awful lot. We've been herein Tampa, fish in Tampa Bay. But
it is, it's wonderful. Itgives us a chance to get to know,
one of your valuable sponsorsand let our hair down a little bit
and enj the sort of the fruitsof our labor. But yeah, it's a wonderful,
(11:09):
wonderful time. And, you know,if you could, you know, if you just
picture walking into this,this Elks Club, which just, you know,
just the ambiance that justreeks of history, and it's just a
wonderful club to begin with.But when you get in there and you
see all these tables that havegot purple cloths on them, and there's
(11:30):
always, you know, a headpieceto each table. And I mean, you guys
decorate it phenomenal. Andthere's all kinds of raff items wrapping
around the room, and thenthere's a live auction component
and you're raffling offfirearms and all kinds of cool stuff
from the community. And it's awonderful evening. And I'm just blown
(11:53):
away every year by that, bywhat your community is able to do
and what you've accomplished.And our promise to your community
is that 100% of the resourcethat's generated that evening goes
to direct, directly supportour mission set. And that's putting
combat wounded Purple Heartrecipients in the wood line or in
(12:17):
the waterway on one of ourmissions. And several of our missions
are underfunded. There aremissions that we love dearly, but
they don't have a fundingstream or a funding component to
them or very little funding.And we just say, we got your back
and we couldn't do that.There's no way we could have done
(12:38):
that throughout these yearswithout that support. So, you know,
I want to personally thankyou, your family, of course, your
bride Debbie, and that amazingcommunity of support because it has
helped, you know, change a lotof lives and maybe some cases saved
(12:59):
lives. But that, that resourceis very, very valuable to us because
this is an expensive business.I mean, you go on a lot of guided
hunts. You know, if you wereto say, hey, you're going to take
four guys or five gu. Fivedifferent locations across the country,
bring them together to onelocation to do a three day hunting
(13:20):
or fishing excursion, youknow, depending on what you decided
to do, you know, I mean, Iguarantee you, you would have a very,
very hard time doing that forunder 20,000 bucks.
Oh, sure, right.
I mean, you do it all the time.
Yeah.
You know, but it depends onwhat you want to go do.
Yeah. I mean, conservatively,you're going to drop $5,000 a person.
Easy, easy, easy. That's justfor the hunt.
(13:42):
That's not.
That's not getting there.
Right? That's, That' planeticket. And so we're able to do this
because a lot of wonderfulpeople are. The lodging is taken
care of, the food is takencare of, or we reimburse for the
food. So it's expensivebusiness. We've done a really good
job. I think the foundation ofleveraging a lot of in kind support
(14:05):
that makes this happen. Butthere's a lot of things that it takes
the almighty dollar toactually purchase. And we're just
very grateful. Grateful forwhat you guys have accomplished.
It's nothing, it's nothingshort of, you know, spectacular.
And your whole family'sworking in this thing.
(14:25):
Yeah, yeah. My stepdaughter,Jessica, she's, she's deeply involved.
She's sweetheart.
Yeah, she's, she's a gogetter. She, she never. There's no
grass growing under her.
No. That girl is getting itfrom day one and all in.
Yeah.
Your whole family is all in on this.
As we creep closer to theevent, you know, it's, it's many
(14:47):
hours leading up the weekprior to the event. There's hardly
any sleep. It's just gatheringeverything together, making sure,
you know, we have everythingset. And then the setup, we, we have
volunteers during the event.
Yeah.
And we do have volunteersduring the setup. But throughout
the year, it's just mainly thethree of us.
Yeah.
(15:07):
My wife, Debbie, Jessica andmyself. And then that weekend, the
Friday before the event, wehave, you know, maybe a half a dozen
people come in to help us. Andthen that night, and there's 220
guests seated at this thing.
Yeah.
And before we leave the ElksLodge at night, it's all torn down,
cleaned up and we go home.
(15:27):
That's right.
And it's like it never even happened.
Exactly right.
You know, so it's, that'swhere a lot of the work is, is when
it's go time.
Taking the gourds off thetable and, and cleaning up after
people.
After 220 something people.
I know.
And there's a lot of brownwater that goes around.
There's, there's some of thebrown waters. Yeah, yeah, it's flowing.
(15:49):
Yeah, it's, it's, it'sincredible. You know, so I wanted
to, you know, I wanted toshare with everybody a couple of
things because you and I have,you know, been around the block a
few times and you know, weactually went up to British Columbia
and hunted. Links will, youknow, get back to that in a minute.
(16:09):
I'd like to save that linkstory maybe to, to close with, because
we were up there in BritishColumbia with Doug McMahon and his
bride Julie, chasing links allover British Columbia. That was.
I know you've got a story ortwo to tell there, but, you know,
here you just. You and your.You and Debbie just retired from
(16:34):
your lay. Would you work. Youworked at Unicorn for what?
I was there for a total of 40 years.
40 years.
Debbie was there 30.
Yeah. So you guys have bothretired now, and you moved out of
Bennington. You relocated downin Tennessee, but you've got roots
(16:54):
and family back there inVermont, and you're not giving up
on Vermont. That banquet's gotwhat we would refer to as irreversible
momentum. You're going backmultiple times to help facilitate
all the things that have tohappen. Getting the products and
the firearms and the rafflethings straight, pumping it up so
(17:17):
folks have it in the forefrontof their mind that you're not giving
up on Vermont. If anything,it's getting stronger. But you physically
relocated to Tennessee, andyou and I, you're down here today,
and you were down hereyesterday. And we've been talking
about, you know, what we're.How we're going to leverage now some
(17:39):
of this extra. I say, extratime that you might have.
Right.
As, you know, supporting thefoundation. And we think we've got.
We think we're hitting on afew things that are going to be great.
So we are really excited towelcome you further into the team
and help us explore some spacein a region that we don't have a
(18:02):
lot of activity right now.You're not too far from Nashville,
not too far from FortCampbell, and we've got some ideas,
and that's. What we've beendoing, is kicking around a few ideas
and, and how we can, you know,continue to. To, you know, expand
and grow and strengthen theVermont effort and maybe a few other
(18:23):
things.
Yeah, no, I'm looking forwardto it. Nashville is a huge market.
Yeah. It's an animal. I mean,it's going to take some time to navigate
that animal. Bennington,Vermont, is not going to change.
I mean, that's, that's. Andthat's my heart and soul. That's
where it all started. I don'twant anybody to ever think because
(18:45):
we moved to Tennessee thatthat's going to diminish, because
it won't. We're just leaningon more people, boots on the ground
where we're not doingeverything anymore.
Yeah.
Still going to be facilitatedby my wife and I, but I have full
faith in the. In the familymembers that are left Back up there
to carry the torch while we'renot there. But I don't think anybody
(19:08):
will see the difference. Yeah,but I'm looking forward to expanding
what we do and get into the,you know, the Tennessee area or,
you know, working up at FortCampbell. I think there's a lot of
opportunity.
Yep.
And now that I have the timeto. To put into it, I think that
we can, we can do good things.
(19:29):
Yeah, well, you're a sportsmanyourself, so, you know, you're part
of the attracted attraction,I'm sure, was the fact that, you
know, you were a sportsman. Ithink your house looks like. Looks
like a Fred Bear museum insideof it. You know, you got a.
Some might say that.
Yeah, a lot. A lot of. A lotof stuffed mounts and I.
(19:50):
Don't know if I rank up therewith Fred Bear.
Okay, you've got some stuff.
I have some stuff.
That's correct. You're. You'rea firearm aficionado. Would you say
that?
Yeah, I can.
You ate up from the ground upwith firearms. Love it.
True.
Yeah.
Some say it's an addiction.
Yeah. And so, you know, Igotta, I gotta ask you on the, on
(20:10):
the topic. You know, you'vedone a lot of hunts, you know, you
know, everything fromalligator, you know, in the swamps
down here, to the lynx, youknow, and big cats up in British
Columbia. But would you sharewith us a little bit your, you know,
(20:30):
our adventures up there inBritish Columbia?
I, I will. So for my 50th birthday.
Yeah.
My wife decided to. Topurchase this hunt in British Columbia
to hunt a lynx. And shereached out to you and between the
two of you, as you set thiswhole thing up and you decided you
(20:53):
wanted to tag along for a few days.
Yeah.
So that we could. Because wenever really have time to.
Yeah.
Just do what friends do, youknow, it's always business when we're
together. So we met up. Ithink we met each other in Seattle.
Yeah.
And then we linked togetherthere and we, we traversed into the
lodge, which. That was anadventure all on its own. Remember,
(21:16):
there was weather and we couldn't.
And weather getting out too.
That's right. So when wefinally made it to the lodge, we
settled in and got geared upfor the hunt. What I didn't realize
is the terrain.
It's tough.
You know, the elevation wasone thing. That was one thing.
The terrain is something else.
(21:37):
You know, the black spruceblowdowns and.
The, you know, you're gonnaearn it up there.
It was a little more of aworkout than I anticipated. Yeah,
I had a great time. I stillcherish the picture of you and I
on the side of one of thesemountains, halfway up it, you know,
pulling our socks out of ourmouth as we're climbing this.
(21:58):
Yeah. I remember stopping andjust taking a little bit of a break
and. God, I gotta capture thison. I gotta. I need a selfie here.
Yeah, it's. It was one of mymore memorable hunts for sure.
Yeah.
I did harvest a good mature lynx.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Which was I, I was verythankful to get it done.
Yeah.
(22:18):
Because it was probablywithout a doubt one of the hardest
hunts I've ever done.
Yeah.
For one of the smallestanimals I've ever hunted.
Right.
Quite honestly. But thememories that I, I said this to you
over dinner last night. Youknow, I sit there and I look at these
trophies and it's like I'mback to every one of them. Adventures,
you know, it's, it's, youknow, my memory isn't as good as
(22:41):
it used to be, but when I lookat the taxidermy.
Yeah.
And that's what it's allabout. You relive the whole, the
whole hunt.
Yeah.
You know. Yeah, it was a, itwas a fun time for sure.
Yeah. And Dog and Julie upthere, Skinner Creek. Just wonderful,
wonderful guides and hostsand, you know, just making memories
(23:03):
every day. And we certainlyshared one. And I remember thinking
to myself, you know, well, ofcourse, you know, I've got that,
you know, we're all very busypeople, but your birthday gift from
your wife, Debbie. And I justthought to myself, well, sometimes
the best memories occur whenyou have that one on one experience
(23:27):
with a guide. And I just knowhow that is. I respect so much that
only you and he are going tohave that memory. And I kind of felt
like maybe I was a third wheeland I just didn't want to impact
in any way negatively thatexperience. I like to solo hunt myself
(23:52):
personally, but I also havebeen with a few guides in my day
too. And I just know howspecial that is. You're going to
have that memory with only oneother person and you're going to
share that with many peoplefrom there forward. And I was so
happy when you sent me thatpicture, picture of your, your links
(24:14):
ultimately that, you know, itjust, it just warmed my heart and
I was, I was very proud andhappy to help Debbie Planet. And.
Yeah, that, that's no small effort.
No. You know, and you, as youknow, we spent two days, you and
I spent two days chasing thesethings around oh, yeah. And never
even got a visual.
Never. No. Lots of good signs.
(24:35):
Yeah.
You know, but that, thatcountry, you.
Know, it's very unforgiving country.
It is. The sign ought to say,you know, as soon as you enter British
Columbia, it ought know, notfor the weak nor faint of heart.
And they're serious about it.Yeah, that's high country up there.
But yeah. So it's pretty neat.And then you and I fished together
(24:56):
and had lots of fun on ouradventures here in Florida. And,
you know, our relationshipjust keeps getting stronger and better
and, you know, it's great tohave you on the program. I did want
to ask you something. Hey,business is about the successful,
(25:17):
repeatable process, right? Soonce you got a process that's working,
that's profitable in businessor working in this case, we are a
business that's just not forprofit. And we help our clients who
happen to be combat woundedPurple Heart recipients. But it's
run like a business because ithas to be your business there in
(25:38):
Bennington. I mean, if you hadto put your finger. I'm putting you
on the spot here, buddy. Wedidn't rehearse any of this. But
if you had to put your fingeron one thing that has led to your
success, a piece of advicethat you might give to. We have 42
hosts out there, all of whomare. Most. All of whom are doing
(26:02):
some sort of fundraisingactivity which enables these missions
to happen. And serving over200 combat wounded annually in 42
missions across 30 somestates. You know, it's expensive
business, but what would you,if you had to put your finger on
one thing that has helped yoube or made you successful in your
(26:25):
enterprise there in Vermont,in Bennington, with your fundraising
activity for that, thatbanquet, what is it?
One thing.
Yeah.
I would have to say that thesponsorship program that funds our
(26:47):
event, showing theappreciation back to the sponsors
in a way where they feelspecial, not as a group, but individually.
You know, by putting a sign upin the room. A lot of my sponsors
will come to me and say, youknow, I can't believe the amount
(27:07):
of phone calls I got for jobsthat need to be done. It could be
a plumber, a carpenter,because somebody saw my sign in your
room.
As a result of the bank, as.
A result of the banquet, wehad I think 38 or 39 sponsors at
our last event. And, you know,we. There's some that can't sponsor
(27:30):
every year. There's some thatcome back. There's new ones every
year. And I believe thesuccess is because You've been there
for every one of them. Thereare people that come year after year.
I fill probably two thirds ofthe room with the same people. Now,
after 13 years, there's a lotto be said there. Oh, yeah. You know,
I mean, it's. We're therefundraising, so it's not like people
(27:52):
are just coming. They'resitting on their hands, right? So
that. To. To have people thatwant to come every year for the past
13 years, they have to feelpretty warm inside for doing it.
There has to be some valuethere, too. You know, value on. On
a lot of levels. Like, okay,you're supporting a worthy cause.
They wouldn't be there if thatwasn't the case. But you go above
(28:14):
and beyond. And. And, youknow, we here, when I talk about
entering into a relationshipwith another business or entity,
you know, because we do getapproached on things, and sometimes
it's a no, thank you. And may.I don't want to say, a lot of the
(28:34):
times it's a no, thank you.But we're very careful with whom
we do business. And when wesay do business, what are we doing?
And so I developed this ideaof the triple win several years ago,
and I said, okay. So in orderfor me to say yes to entering into
a relationship with anotherenterprise or entity, three things
(28:54):
have to happen. One, theheroes that we serve have to win.
And I could talk about thatfor days, but that's one leg of that
stool. The other is that thefoundation has to win. And I could
talk about that leg of thestool, but the third leg, and I put
it on the table every time, isthat I say you, that you, the contributing
supporter, have to win. And Iwant you to win. And we're going
(29:17):
to be good partners, I promiseyou. But I know that you're in this.
I know you're doing it forphilanthropic reasons, and I acknowledge
that, and thank you. But also,you're a business, and we're going
to make sure that you getrecognized. Now you're doing that.
You take that idea of thetriple win, and you're the one that's
actuating that at thecommunity level, and you're making
(29:39):
sure that these people arewinning. And by taking care of them,
by acknowledging theirbusiness, by treating them special,
they're your sponsors, andthat's really phenomenal. You guys
do better at that than anybodyI've ever seen. It's amazing what
you do. The value you createfor your sponsors and anybody who
(30:01):
attends that is a highquality, wonderful event. Every day.
There's A. Or every year,there's a line snaking out that door.
I know I'm, you know, I'mthere watching it, you know, chatting
with people, but they're.They're all, you know, dying to get
in that door and get. And getat it, you know, it's amazing.
(30:21):
It is amazing. It's in, youknow, it's. I talk to the people
that work at the Elks Lodge,and they just, they look forward
to it every year because it'slike the largest event.
Yeah.
You know, they. They holdweddings up there, receptions, and
there's a lot of people. Butnot for. For a nonprofit fundraising
effort.
Right.
To see the line of cars parkedon the street because the parking
(30:44):
lot's full and the people area block line trying to get in.
Yeah.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
And it's. And it's. It showsno signs of slowing.
No.
I mean, we've. It's just crazyto me, the. The support after 13
years. And it's. It hasn't. Ithasn't diminished at all.
(31:04):
Now Bennington has alsorecently been named a Purple Heart.
Town or city?
Town.
Yes, town. Purple Heart town.
Purple Heart town.
Yeah. So when I. When I was. Ifly in usually to Rochester and drive
the rest of the way. I thinkit's Rochester.
Albany.
I take it back. Albany. Thankyou. I fly into Albany and then I
drive. But I remember thislast year, 24. On that drive. I saw
(31:29):
the, you know, Purple Heartsign. It just. It warm, you know,
it warmed my heart. But yeah,that's. And I've made a lot of friends.
You, you know, your network isopen to me and, you know, and that's
an amazing thing. I've made alot of friends and really enjoyed
all the couples that we've metand spent time with and, you know,
broken bread and cut fish and,you know, when they come down here.
(31:53):
And of course, I see them whenI go back to the banquet every year.
And, you know, there's.There's just a lot of value there.
And. And I think that's thebest way that it could be described.
You know, I mean, you. But itstarts with this. Okay, that's the
other thing. You go. I startedthis conversation by saying, you
know, businesses mostly aboutthe successful, repeatable process.
(32:13):
Well, it assumes, of course,that statement that you've got, that
you've found success.
Right.
You got a formula that works.You're cranking out a widget that's
functional, that people want.Everybody demonstrated demand for
that widget. And then you justGot to repeat that. And you got to
sell your widget where you canmake profit. That's what business
is about. Or you can't be inbusiness or won't be in business
(32:37):
long if you're not making aprofit. So, you know, this is a nonprofit.
You know, we're not talkingabout profiting here, but we're talking
about defining the successful,you know, process. What is it? And
I've given this thought foryears about, you know, I'm like,
how in the world could Ireplicate in other parts of the country
(32:57):
what Mike and Debbie aredoing? And I have given that a lot
of thought, and finally Isettled on it. I'm like, listen,
it certainly could be done,but what it starts with is high quality
people like you and yourfamily that are connected to a community
and people. I say this atguide school, and I say it a lot.
(33:20):
People do business with peoplethat they know like, and trust. There
is no way in the world youcould pull off what you're pulling
off there if people didn'tlike you, if people didn't know you
and people didn't trust you.That's your hometown.
You're right. Right. That'sabsolutely right.
And they know Mike. They knoweverything about Mike.
Yeah.
You know.
(33:40):
Yeah.
And, and, and they trust you.
Well, you know, the majorityof the sponsors are close friends.
Exactly.
They're business owners. Andyou're right. I mean, there's, there's
a huge amount of trust there.
Yeah.
And we try to be astransparent as humanly possible with
everything. It's. And again,when, when you come up for the event
(34:00):
every year, that also helpssolidify. You know, this is why we're
doing it. Here's the manhimself. You know, but again, I,
I'll say it again. Every year,I mean, you see the same faces. It's
just incredible to me that wecan continually bring the same sponsors
back year on year. I mean,obviously we. We lose a couple every
(34:22):
now and again for whateverreason, but then we might get them
back. But it's, you know, I, Itold you last night over dinner that,
that, you know, there was alot of concern about us moving to
Tennessee. The community was,you know, all of these sponsors are
coming to me and, like, youknow, what's going to happen? It's
like, oh, nothing's going tohappen. We're.
We're.
We're still going to have theevent. It's going to be like any
(34:42):
other year. It's just we'regoing to move to a little warmer
climate.
Right? Right.
So, you know, that that makesme feel good, that that's what people
are thinking about, you know,is the function. Is the function
still going to have it?
You know, I just got a smileon my face because flashing through
the years and, you know,sitting at the, you know, one of
your beautiful tables there,watching this whole thing unfold.
(35:06):
I love the live auction, youknow, I mean, you know, that's just
so much fun to be. I lookforward to that more than anything.
And I usually try to bring acool item or two that I've personally
secured somehow. And so, youknow, this year for 2025, tipping
my hand a little bit, youknow, I had Trent McCall, who's a
(35:26):
good friend of Min, that alsoruns an event for the foundation
at Turkey Hunt. And he's acraftsman and he created a one of
one turkey call for theVermont chapter. And it's gorgeous.
I mean, it's a box call andI'm not going to say much more than
that, but that's one of them.And the other one is we got a relationship
(35:48):
building with peach hour cues.And these are some of the finest
pool cues made in the planet.And they're made out of Green Bay,
Wisconsin. And we ordered.They're doing a special series. I
think they made 50 of them.And we got a couple of them that,
(36:10):
you know, and they're allnumbered and they're made with purple
heartwood and they just willblow you away. And so, you know,
I'm bringing one of those withme. So there's always something super
cool. And of course, you know,all your sponsors are bringing their
wares. I mean, it's everythingfrom, you know, chairs to fine fire
(36:31):
arms to, you know, model, youknow, kit airplanes. I mean, you
name it. There's just, it'sthere, you know, and you know, we
try to always bring new thingsto this banquet so people have, you
know, an experience and getexposed to something they otherwise
never would would be. And allin name, in the name of a good cause
(36:51):
and you know, in charity that,you know, in case, in this case,
the wounded warriors inaction, it's. It's really an amazing
thing that, that you and yourteam and community have done. And
I just can't thank you enough, Mike.
I appreciate that, John.
Thank you. It really isamazing what people can do when they
(37:14):
put their hearts and mindsinto something. So it's really great.
Well, listen, I always like togive the last shot, the last whack
at the pinata to my guest. Andyou are certain certainly a super
Host, is there anything, Mike,that you'd like to share with us
(37:38):
or talk about before we closethe program?
No, John, I think we prettymuch touched on everything again.
I just want the folks back inthe community of Bennington to be
reassured that things are asnormal as they'll ever be. Maybe
even, maybe even better.
(37:58):
Maybe even better.
Who knows?
Yeah.
You know, this is a whole newadventure for me down in the mid,
mid part of the country andmaybe we can bring something new
up to Bennington.
Yeah. How hard is it going tobe for you to take your foot off
the gas pedal? That's going tobe the hard part.
Who said I'd take my foot off again?
That's right. Exactly.
Well, I don't think wediscussed that.
No, we didn't, we didn't. ButMike, I think Debbie ought to step
(38:22):
in there and help you out withthat a little bit.
But she might have somethingother to say about that.
You're one motivatedindividual and you are a results
oriented man and I canappreciate and respect that a great
deal. I mean, you do not needany motivation. You're the kind of
guy that doesn't need muchguidance, just a little bit of intent
(38:47):
and purpose and you're justoff and running. I mean, you're one
of those guys that, you know,that you just gotta, you gotta give
a lot of, a lot of lead and alot of open terrain. Just give them
the football, you know, andyou've done phenomenal for us and
you know, the countlessnumbers of heroes that, you know,
you guys have, whose livesyou've affected and, you know, it's
(39:11):
great because it takes a lotof pressure off from some of these
events that don't have anyfunding streams and, you know, it's
just remarkable. And I wantto, you know, publicly thank you
again.
Thank you, Jen.
All right.
Appreciate it.
All right, everybody, we, wehope you have a great day and thanks
for tuning into the podcast.
(39:35):
Thank you for listening to theWWIA podcast. To learn more about
the Wounded warriors in Actionfoundation and how you can get involved,
please visit ourwebsite@wwiaf.org or follow us on
social media, on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
(39:59):
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us at. Podcast thank you foryour support and for helping us honor,
connect and heal our combatwounded Purple Heart heroes through
the power of the great outdoors.
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