February 16, 2026 • 58 mins
Behind every WWIA event are countless individuals on the local level who go above and beyond to show their gratitude and appreciation to our Heroes for their tremendous service and sacrifice. They put in countless preparation hours throughout the year to ensure each event has everything it needs, pooling community resources and engaging others in the process to provide a world-class experience our Heroes will carry with them long after they return home. They do all this without fanfare, contributing their time and talents all in support of our mission to bring Honor, Connection, and Healing to our Heroes.
On this latest episode of the WWIA Podcast, WWIA Founder and CEO, John McDaniel welcomes Brook Sparks, of the North Carolina OBX Fins and Feathers event. Each year, the community of Currituck, North Carolina rolls out the red carpet for our Heroes, showing them the honor and appreciation they deserve.
Brook is a shining example of the many selfless volunteers around North America who make our WWIA events not just special, but life changing. Brook and her husband Brad are lifelong residents of Currituck and are deeply rooted in the community.
Brook grew up in the county when there was no grocery store, only two lanes, and small-town living meant everyone knew everyone. Currituck has grown and changed in many ways, but that sense of community has never faded.
The North Carolina OBX Fins and Feathers event is a perfect reflection of Currituck’s patriotism and love for our Veterans, and it’s the heart of why this event is truly remarkable.
For over fifteen years, Brook has worked in real estate and property management, gaining experience in nearly every corner of the industry. Today, she is the owner of a boutique real estate sales and property management firm in Nags Head, assisting domestic and international buyers and sellers in finding their forever homes or securing strong-performing investment properties.
When she isn’t working, you can usually find her and her husband on the baseball field with their two sons, Bradley and Jonathan. Their family is immersed in the outdoors, from hunting to fishing and Brook has been involved with the OBX annual event for well over a decade.
She explains that giving back through WWIA is deeply meaningful as it allows her to support an incredible cause, and creates a way for her friends, neighbors, and community to come together and make an impact where it matters most.
We are honored to spend some time talking with Brook and showing you how everyone can play an important part in the mission of WWIA, and in making a real difference in the lives of our Purple Heart Heroes.
Takeaways:
- The mission of the Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation is to bring honor, connection, and healing to America's combat wounded heroes.
- Community involvement is essential for the success of the WWIA events, as volunteers contribute significant time and resources to support the heroes.
- Brook Sparks exemplifies the dedication of volunteers who create life-changing experiences for veterans through selfless acts of service.
- The North Carolina OBX Fins and Feathers event showcases the patriotism and gratitude of the local community towards veterans and their sacrifices.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- North Carolina OBX Fins and Feathers
- NC Coast
- Red Sky
- Currituck Sports
- Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation
ABLEnow
This episode of the WWIA Podcast is sponsored by ABLEnow. ABLEnow is a national ABLE savings program designed specifically for people with disabilities. It allows eligible individuals to save and invest money in a tax-advantaged account without risking certain means-tested benefits, such as SSI or Medicaid. ABLEnow is available nationwide and serves eligible individuals in all 50 states. Learn more about ABLEnow: https://t.co/r5071ltB0G
Mentioned in this episode:
ABLEnow
This episode of the WWIA Podcast is sponsored by ABLEnow. ABLEnow is a national ABLE savings program designed specifically for people with disabilities. It allows elig
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(00:00):
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
(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Behindevery WWIA event are countless individuals
on the local level who goabove and beyond to show their gratitude
and appreciation to our heroesfor their tremendous service and
(00:42):
sacrifice. They put incountless preparation hours throughout
the year to ensure each eventhas everything it needs, pooling
community resources andengaging others in the process to
provide a world classexperience our heroes will carry
with them long after theyreturn home. They do all this without
fanfare, contributing theirtime and talents, all in support
(01:04):
of our mission to bring honor,connection and healing to our heroes.
On this latest episode of theWWIA Podcast, WWIA founder and CEO
John McDaniel welcomes BrookSparks of North Carolina OBX fins
and feathers Event each year,Brook the community of Currituck,
North Carolina rolls out thered carpet for our heroes, showing
(01:28):
them the honor andappreciation they deserve. Brooke
is a shining example of themany selfless volunteers around North
America who make our WWIAevents not just special, but life
changing. Brook and herhusband Brad are lifelong residents
of Currituck and are deeplyrooted in the community. Brook grew
(01:49):
up in the county when therewas no grocery store, only two lanes
and small town living meanteveryone knew everyone. Currituck
has grown and changed in manyways, but that sense of community
has never faded. The NorthCarolina OBX Fins and Feathers event
is a perfect reflection ofCurrituck's patriotism and love for
our veterans and it's theheart of why this event is truly
(02:12):
remarkable. For over 15 years,Brook has worked in real estate and
property management, gainingexperience in nearly every corner
of the industry. Today she'sthe owner of a boutique real estate
sales and property managementfirm in Nags Head, assisting domestic
and international buyers andsellers in finding their forever
(02:34):
homes or securing strongperforming investment properties.
When she isn't working, youcan usually find her and her husband
on the baseball field withtheir two sons, Bradley and Jonathan.
Their family is immersed inthe outdoors from hunting to fishing
and Brook has been involvedwith the OBX annual event for well
over a decade. She explainsthat giving back through WWIA is
(02:59):
deeply meaningful as it allowsher to support an incredible cause
and creates a way for herfriends, neighbors and community
to come together and make animpact where it matters most. We're
honored to spend some timetalking with Brook and showing you
how everyone can play animportant part in the mission of
WWIA and in making a realdifference in the lives of our Purple
(03:21):
Heart heroes. Without furtherado, let's join the conversation
with John and Brook now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation, and this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
(03:42):
So it's about the middle ofDecember 2025. I don't know when
this one's going to air, but Ihave with me a very special guest,
Brooke Sparks. Welcome to the program.
Thank you so much for having me.
So you are. Geez, you've beendoing this for about 12 years, is
(04:03):
that right?
I mean, I actually think it'slonger than that, but I don't. Yeah,
it's a while.
Been supporting the foundationfor about 12 or 13 years now. And
you are a member of the NorthCarolina OBX Fins and Feather event,
which is out of Currituck,North Carolina, is that right?
(04:26):
Yes, sir.
Cool. And so just, I mean, Isee all your work on. I've been admiring
it for years on, on Facebook.You do? I was like, is she like a
professional promoter or whatis she doing? What is this person
doing?
So we always joke that I havefamous friends and I have like minded
(04:48):
friends that want to give backin a way, and this is just such a
great vehicle to do.
You know, I was gettingfamiliar with your bio before the
show started and, you know,it's very well written and you've,
you know, you've got a greatfamily and a great community. And,
you know, I've been on the OBXevent. It's hosted by Tim Spence,
(05:10):
who's a combat wounded veteranhimself, Larry Beasley and Tim Brown,
of course. And in thebackground, and sometimes in the
foreground is, like, you andall the things that you're doing
to pull this thing togetherand make it really as great as it
is. So without much ado, whydon't you just tell us about how
(05:36):
you got involved in thefoundation and what you do that helps
to bring awareness to theNorth Carolina OBX event.
So, so many years ago, it wasbefore children and all of the busy
things in life, but I wasworking for a real estate firm and
(06:00):
I was in Kerala, which, youknow, is part of Currituck county.
And I got so lucky to answerthe phone and the person on the other
end of the line was Mr.Spence. And. Yeah, and I think around
that time they just weren'tseeing the support of the event that
(06:20):
they needed. But I hadn'theard anything about the event and
I am, you know, very involvedwith community efforts and I hadn't
heard anything about it. So Ifelt like. And I, and I told Tim
this, I said, I think thatmaybe you're just not getting to
the right people. Mr. Beasley,Larry is amazing, but he's not spending
(06:41):
a lot of time on social,social media and getting the word
out even then. I mean, thatwas before. That was probably 13
years ago. And so I, I toldhim, I said, you know, just give
me a little bit of time andwe'll figure it out. But it was so
close to the first event thatI was involved in. I think my husband
and I ended up. We didn't haveenough time to organize things the
(07:04):
way they needed to be. But Iwas made sure that everybody knew
next year is going to be itbecause we're going to get, we're
going to start earlier. Weknow who we're going to go to and
we're going to make this superspecial. And I, I really begged him,
don't 86 this event. It, itwould mean so much to our community.
But this event has grown somuch that it, it actually isn't just
(07:27):
part of Dare or Curry Tuckanymore. It's also part of Dare County.
So many of our donors arecoming from the beach and that kind
of organically progressed. Itwasn't that we started asking for
different people to donate. Wereally have always had some of the
beach folks that wanted topitch in, but now they're very involved
(07:49):
in delivering meals anddelivering supplies. And it's really.
Even if you don't have themoney to donate something, you may
have time to drop somethingoff on the way to work, or you may
have time to pick up somethingand drop it off to me so that I can
drop it off. And it's.Everybody gives in their own way.
(08:10):
And really if, if any of thesepeople stop donating, we would feel
it. And it's their, theirdonations are put to work.
You know, I was there on theevent. I don't know. I don't remember
exactly when it was. I thinkit was, it was just in its, its start.
(08:30):
It might have been like yearone or. I think it was year two or
three. It was early on, youknow, probably 12, 13 years. Probably
about the time that you, thatyou got on the team. And I was just
so impressed. I. I had, youknow, I'd been to North Carolina,
you know, in my mil, during mymilitary career, but I'd never been
(08:54):
to, like, the beach. Beenthere, been to the Outer Banks, and
I was just so impressed withit. It was such. Such a cool place.
I know. And you came in such abad time of year to enjoy the Outer
Bank.
It was raining sideways and,you know, really gnarly and. And
it can get cold in NorthCarolina. You think it. You think.
(09:14):
You know, I live in Florida.Gets cold here, too, but, you know,
with that wind in the oceanright there, it can get a, you know,
get a little nasty out theresometimes. But I. I thoroughly enjoyed
it. And. And then, of course,I was beginning to meet some of the
people that were on your teamearly on, and the food was tremendous,
(09:34):
the people were great.Obviously, the setting is incredible.
We caught some striped bass,we shot some ducks, and it was just
a really, really super coolevent. And then it started to grow,
like you said. I mean, you getlike, you're the little engine that
could. And I know you and yourfamily and husband and the community
(09:55):
members have really gone aboveand beyond now. And it's like a real
thing. When you see it onsocial media, you go, wow, it's a
real thing. And what I wantedto talk to you about is this idea
of one we say, honor, connectand heal. And so when I came up with
(10:19):
those three words years ago, Iwas like, that describes pretty well
in a very simple way whatwe're trying to accomplish. But one
of the pieces of the equationthat I really didn't think about
a whole lot was thecommunity's involvement and what
it means to the people thatare helping pull this off. Like,
(10:42):
this idea of meeting thesecombat wounded veterans that they,
you know, otherwise would havenever met and have come from a different,
you know, state that are hereto enjoy this event. And people are
pouring out to help pull itoff in some cases almost year round.
(11:03):
And that's just. It's justwhat. But what does it, you know,
what does it mean to yourcommunity? I mean, I will tell you,
patriotism. Patriotism inNorth Carolina is. Is high. If it
was a stock, I would. I would.I would definitely rate it as a buy
for sure. What does it mean to them?
I just think that, I mean,this event has gotten larger than
(11:27):
our annual Christmas parade. Ithink that got canceled due to weather,
but everybody was like, aslong as the Wounded Warrior in Action
escort is still going through,we still have something. Yeah, and
it brings, it brings everybodytogether. Politics. We don't talk
about politics. There's nopolitics really inserted in the event.
It is very much, how can Igive back to someone that sacrificed
(11:49):
so much and their familysacrificed so much? And I think I've
always been very, thesacrifice has always been very evident.
I've always made that apriority. When I can give back, that's
where I'm giving back. But Ithink it is a way for people to donate
(12:10):
something very small, but thenthey see it being used. It's not
like sending $10 once a monthto whatever this is. I gave red solo
cups for this event and I amwatching them be used. It was not,
we did not give it to otherpeople. We did not use them ourselves.
You are actually seeing yourdonation in work. And I believe wholeheartedly
(12:36):
that when people can see thedifference that they're making, it
feels good and they want to doit again.
Yeah.
So there are times where I,you know, it is challenging when
someone wants to donate waterand we split it up amongst four people.
But I want as many peopleinvolved and as many contributors
as I can get. And sometimesthat means that makes extra.
(12:58):
Work for us for sure.
You know, instead of stoppingto get one thing of waters at one,
one donation location, we'restopping at four different homes
to get them or having fourdifferent people drop them off. So
a lot of people don't realizethe logistics of tracking those,
those donations. And we've, Imean we've really evolved with that
(13:18):
to be just putting on an eventwith no budget type situation. We
have streamlined it so thatpeople can scan a code and then they
put their address in and theyput their phone number in and so
that we can be in compliance.But that's not, people don't, people
don't think about that.They're just so excited to donate
(13:39):
2 gallons of milk.
Right?
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah. Because we back here atthe, at the headquarters, you know,
we had to hire a full time.Well, I guess she's not full time
but she's, she's part time butshe's a full time part timer. But
her name is Caitlyn and shedoes all of the thank you stuff and
the donor recognition stuff,which used to be, for many years
(14:01):
it was a part time gig for Ithink three or four different people
had their hands in that. Butas, as our, you know, as our enterprise
grew, it became very evidentthat we needed to have somebody for
continuity sake just doingthat piece because the recognition
bit is very Very important.You know, we're required by law to
(14:23):
acknowledge your donation,whether that's an in kind contribution
or a, you know, cash donation.And so to get that right is like
the, is critical, you know, topeople don't. Mostly all they want.
I think most donors, whetherthey're cash or in kind donor, all
they really want. Most of themwill say, I don't even want that.
But it's our duty toacknowledge what you did and say
(14:46):
thank you. And that's soimportant. It's that, that thank
you piece, you know, thatmeans so much. A little bit of a
written word, you know, maybefrom the boss that just said, hey,
I appreciate what you did.Thanks a lot. Even if it was, you
know, even if it was like yousay two gallons of milk, I mean,
that, that might be allsomebody can give. And the fact that
(15:07):
they did do that is to me, youknow, very impressive. And, and I
think I know deserves to beacknowledged and recognized. So we
try to do our best, you know,at that. But let's go back and talk
about this escort because I'veseen it on video and I'm like, whoa,
daddy, what's going on there?
Yes. Is a lot. That's thehardest part of, of the entire event,
(15:30):
really. People want to give inleaps and bounds. You know, they,
there's no, no leash on that.Nobody. One problem we've never had
is not having enough stuff,right? We've never had that issue.
Not enough supplies, notenough meals. It doesn't matter.
And you, you know, when Timand I first started, I would start
back in September or October.Now I just need two weeks to figure
(15:55):
out who's still alive and can donate.
I mean, because they go there, right?
It's true. And I love seeing,I love seeing the new restaurants,
kind of whether it be a newrestaurant to the area and they,
they've heard about it andthey want to just chip in. Or it,
it went from being likedesperate and maybe we have to go
(16:16):
to the store and buy steaksmaybe to like, okay, we've got two
meals for dinner on thisnight. What are we going to do? How
are. Because I never wantpeople to think that their donation
is taken for granted. And youmentioned the piece about acknowledgement.
Sometimes I feel like I gooverboard on the acknowledgement,
but I want people to realizethat that gallon of milk.
Yeah, I think I go overboard.I don't think you do. I'm. I have.
(16:41):
I. Be honest, I don't knowwhat you do on your side other than
be great, but I'm saying I'm,I'm saying on my side, I feel like
sometimes the foundation goesa little bit overboard or I'm a little
bit too strict on or demandingin my standards for acknowledging
what people have done. Butthat's part of the culture of the
(17:02):
organization. So the fact thatit's okay, it's okay. It's way better
to overdo it a little bit thanto underdo it or not do it at all.
Absolutely, absolutely. Andyou know, these are members of my
community, most of them, mostof them I know, but not all of them.
And it really is a situationwhere I want a spotlight that we
(17:28):
can never give back what wewould like to give back to these
heroes that have sacrificed somuch. But if at this time I can give
2 gallons of milk and somesolo cups and that makes a difference
in their experience, itdoesn't matter that it's just a gallon
of milk. That's a big deal.
And that's the whole point, isthat what we're providing is an experience
(17:55):
to the combat wounded. Andthat experience is everything from
the solo cup to them holding aprized duck that they shot to tell
a story. There was a guy, andI won't mention his name years ago
(18:16):
who was pretty badly wounded,you know, he lost the use of his
right arm, he lost the use ofhis right eye and he was right handed
shooter. So in order for himto hold a shotgun up and have to,
you know, use his non dominanteye, which was the only eye he had,
(18:39):
you know, left after his, youknow, after he got wounded, but to
see him and the team rallyaround him, we do a lot of adapt.
You know, most of our work isin the adaptive sporting arena. It
just, you know, all these guyshave got something going on, you
know, and so we tried, theytried really hard, Timmy Spence,
(19:04):
you know, the main forcebehind it, to get this guy a duck.
And they worked all weekendlong for him to get a duck. And I'll
be darned if he didn't do it.I think it was like on the last day,
can you imagine holding ashotgun with the only one good arm,
(19:25):
which is your left arm, yournon dominant arm, that's the only
one you have now, and your nondominant eye and try to swing a shotgun
to hit a duck that's flying.And he, and he did it. And so I was
largely unaware of all of thatuntil it came such time that up in
(19:45):
Michigan, because the herohails from Michigan, so he brought
his duck home and he was goingto have it Mounted because he was
obviously very proud of it. SoI was invited to the Michigan. I
guess their National Taxidermyassociation event was held in Michigan
that year, not far from thishero's house. And somebody got wind
(20:07):
of this and they mounted that.They did a full body mount of that
duck for him and they weregoing to present it at this event.
And I showed up, you know,because I wanted to see it, you know,
and that smile on his face,you know, and it was just, it was
unbelievable. It was a very,very touching moment, you know, for
me. And it was, it was a duckthat normally somebody wouldn't mount
(20:29):
because it was, it was afemale duck and it was fairly nondescript
and it wasn't very, it wasn'tvery big. It was kind of a small,
a bit of an ugly duck, I suppose.
But the, it wasn't ugly.
It wasn't ugly to him. Andthat's the point. It was a major
accomplishment, a major teamaccomplishment. And it's that experience.
(20:50):
Right. And, and that's whatwe're looking to do is create an
experience for these heroes.But in, but one of the byproducts
of that is the experience thatthe community gets.
Absolutely. And, and you know,involving kids and churches. I will
never forget when we weredoing the escort and the entire JP
(21:15):
Knapp early college wasstanding out in front. And these
are, these are 15 year oldkids, 16. And they're out there with
their hands over their heartsas we drive by. And to hear like
the school call the parents.And I got the voicemail because my
(21:35):
kids are in school and hearthem say, because we stand with our
heroes. That's our schoolsystem saying that. So basically
they were saying, the escort'scoming through, your kids are going
to be late. But we stand withour heroes. That was my community
saying that. That's not justsomebody donating, you know, something
that is, that is a, that's afeeling that we all share.
So cool.
(21:55):
And I can't control the ducks.I did used to say that I was going
to dump corn until the gamewarden said maybe we should stop
saying that. But, but however,to make the experience amazing. And
so I know I can't bring ducks.My children try to call the ducks
in.
You got two boys that are avidsportsmen, aren't they? And you're
(22:16):
also.
(24:10):
Oh man, you. I think one of myfavorite pictures. I'll send it to
you when we're done. But Ihave a picture of Nick holding Bradley
when he was 2 years old. And Ihave a picture from last year where
they're sitting in Larry'slittle house out there around the
heater and Nick's telling himabout what he killed. And like that's
(24:31):
the same child, you know. Youknow, he. But literally he's been.
And my youngest is just asavid and loves these guys. Invites
them to baseball tournamentsand will text them. Bradley will
text Nick. I hit one out. Youknow, it's, it really is. He grew
up that being a part of hislife. Jonathan's nine. He's grown
(24:53):
up. That's a part of his lifearound Christmas time. And my kids,
my husband loves it. We alllove it. They all hunt, so it's,
there's common ground there.But I think, you know, to speak to
your point about honoring theheroes, what better way to honor
them than to just create anexperience that isn't just in that
(25:17):
moment, but last. And I feellike the relationships with a lot
of those guys have made heredidn't just end. You know, they,
we still keep in contact whenthey come on vacations. We try to
make sure that we take care ofthem on, on the beach and when they
come to visit, we try to find,you know, we don't. We want it to
be a relationship. I don'twant it to honor them for a week
(25:38):
and then forget about it.It's, it really is something that
we, how we live the whole, thewhole year.
Well, that's important isthat, that you know, consistent or
semi persistent engagement.Right. I mean that's what keeps the
whole thing alive. And it'swhat we as humans thrive on is that
(25:59):
idea of a connection, right,with, with people and with an event
and memories and, and thatplace, you know, in Kurituck and
all the people they met andthe bonds that they form in between
each other. I read atestimonial today. It was online.
It's Tuesday today. So withtestimonial Tuesday, David, our social
media guru, cranks thesethings out. And there was a, a quote
(26:26):
today that I was just. When Iread it, I was like, wow. You know,
and it was just basically ahero saying that, you know, to be
amongst people that know how Ifeel and I know how they feel. Just
that sharing of that commonfeeling of being safe and like minded,
(26:51):
focusing on. Yeah, that's it.Right? I mean that's.
Yeah. And I don't know whatthat feels like. No one's ever shot
at me. I've never lost anylegs. I don't know what. But I can,
I feel the utmost respect andI, I cherish them. And I, I look
forward to this event justbecause it's my small, tiny way of
saying thank you.
(27:11):
Well, you're doing great.You're doing great. You really are.
I mean when this thing rollsaround here, you got an event coming
up here. It's, it's. This is,this is the 15th year this January
and you guys are earlyJanuary, aren't you?
We are. We're a little earlierthis year. We, we try to find some
ducks. That's what, that's the goal.
So. And there's. There's acouple of really cool restaurants
(27:33):
and there's a chef involved inthis thing and he's famous. Famous.
And, and I've eaten it asrestaurant and, and that's. Can we
plug him here?
Absolutely. He deserves allthe plugging that. That we can give
him. So. He owns NC coast andit's right there on the curry duck
sound. It's beautiful.
It's so good.
(27:54):
It's.
He is a chef. He's like a chefchef. I mean that guy is it.
He really is. He's the realdeal. He's kind of like our celebrity
chef in the area. We see himon TV every now and then but you
know some. I call him afriend. I see him pretty frequently.
But he gets really excitedabout this.
Yeah. Doesn't he have like tworestaurants now?
He does. Red sky is also hisrestaurant. They're both delicious.
(28:15):
They're both wonderful.Located in.
Yeah. That's really cool.
I tell you to go there butthere's probably no parking and it's
probably full. You probably reserve.
I'm sure that. But yeah. Soit's this, it's just another, another
great memory for him. Youknow, this, this having that experience
with a world class chef, youknow and.
Absolutely. And you know with.No. I have no control over the ducks
(28:38):
and the fish and the weatherand like I can't, I can't control
those things. But what I cancontrol is the part of the experience
with the meals and thesupplies and how they're made feel
and the accommodations and youknow, just to give another plug.
The accommodations are beautiful.
I know they're like on thebeach. Like I, I was, I was, I think,
(28:59):
I think I was either on thebeach or one like the street away
from the beach. But it waslike really close to the beach. You
could.
Oh it's beautiful. I mean Isold the owner the home several years
ago and it's just stunning.It's. It is such a nice house. But
more than stunning and a greatHouse. It is the perfect configuration
(29:19):
for our heroes.
It's. It's.
And so we kind of don't it.
The.
The Wounded Warrior in Action house.
Yeah, well, it's, it's, it's.And thank you to the. To the owners
of that property. And speakingof property, you've been in the real
estate business for a longtime, haven't you?
I've done everything that isassociated with property management
(29:40):
and sales. So. Yeah. Clean thetoilet and sell the house and all
that.
Exactly. And so you're doing.Do you have your own business now?
What's that called?
Yep. Coast and Currents is asmall property management firm out
of Nags Head.
Where's Nags Head?
It is on the Outer Banks. It'sone of the towns that's further south.
(30:03):
Okay. South of Currituck.
Yeah. It's about 15 minutes,10. 15 minutes from the house where
the heroes stay in SouthernShores. So it's. We're pretty centrally
located, which is, which ishelpful because people can drop off
donations at our office or atthe house. And we also use Currituck
Sports. Sybil at Curry TuckSports donates all the ammunition
(30:26):
each year, and so she's alsoa. A donation driver.
Awesome. And how's the realestate market doing right now in
North Carolina?
It's good. Everything's.Everything's good. This is a time
where we see houses hittingthe market because rental season's
over, so things are.
(30:47):
What about, what abouthurricanes there? I mean, for years,
I'm not sure. I hope I don'tjinx you guys, man, but for four
years, I remember there was.The guys went through a run where
like, the Carolinas were justgetting started. Smoked, you know,
it was quite a few years ago,as I recall, but it was.
I was pregnant. I was givingbirth during those. Michael and Matthew.
(31:10):
And then Florida got its. Hasrecently had its turn. Of course,
we, we. Boy, we dodged themall this year. Thank goodness. Goodness.
But last year we took two and.But that's got to be. That's got
to be on everybody's mind, youknow, during the season. Right?
It is on everybody's mind.Most of it is precautionary because
(31:31):
we, we really. Everybody seesthe news with Buxton and Avalon and
they, they think, Excuse me,Avon. They think that that's where,
you know, we're here and thehouses are falling in around us.
That's really very far south,right? Yeah, it's not a problem that
we have.
Those are just older homesthat were. That were built too close
(31:53):
to the Water, right?
Yeah, well, and, and it'smoving. Everything's moving. So,
yeah, it's erosion and all the things.
It's just, hey, this earth ismoving, you know, I mean, the, the
ground that we sit, we standon is moving. Yeah. Constantly. Yeah.
So. But it's beautiful there.I mean, I just, I just loved it and,
and it was really neat. Well,you know, so tell me, I mean, is
(32:15):
there if we missed, you know,is if we missed anybody that you
want to, that you want togive. I know, I know that's a horrible
thing to ask somebo. Then assoon as you say the first name, then
you're going to have to say,try to say. And you can't because
it's just too many people. ButI'm sure that you've got a core of
people that, you know that,that have. You've mentioned several
(32:38):
already, but that are reallyhelping make your event possible,
you know. And to those people,I want to say thank you. Many hands
make for light work and youguys are all doing just phenomenal
there.
So it's. The event could nothappen at a better time because if
(33:00):
it were to happen inSeptember, I would not be available
to give my time to the eventand the attention that it needs,
especially with it getting alittle bit bigger and us adding things
to the event, adding events tothe event. So if it were to happen
at any other time of the year,I would not be able to give my full
(33:21):
attention. But thankfully it'sthe off season for us and we're able
to kind of rally the troops.My GM here, Heather Cater, she contributes
just as much of her time as Ido, especially creating the QR code
for making donations easierand the logistics behind that. But
(33:44):
really, law enforcement, JesseTaylor out of Currituck and then
Lance Robertson, we, we allwent to school together and yeah.
And so he is a Norfolk lawenforcement and he works with the
airport. Like the folks fromthe airport are not going to talk
to me. No matter what I say,I'm not going to get on the phone
(34:05):
with the right person that cando what Lance can. And so they, you
know, they put. Pull thebarricade up there right to the front
of the airport. We would neverbe allowed to do those things if
it wasn't for thoseconnections. It's really, really
helpful with law enforcement.Our county commissioners are super
supportive of this.
(34:26):
The Jeepers, boy, they just,they just, The Jeepers just incredible.
Pulled a big check out oftheir pocket for us. That was incredible.
They really did. God bless them.
Yeah. And so we couldn't do itwithout them. Marie is kind of their
spokesperson, or maybeunofficial, maybe just me. But, you
know, we are in constantcommunication. Mark this off the
(34:47):
list. We don't need this. Thisperson donated this. And so a spreadsheet
is what we're living by, butwithout her and Joe Evans, who is.
She owns a local cleaningcompany. Her husband is a painter.
Without them being able tobring items from like an hour away
(35:08):
from Moyach, which is inCurrituck, to the home that these
guys are staying in. Icouldn't make daily runs like that.
Right.
It's. They're just really,really important parts of the puzzle,
and there are so many parts.But those core, Core folks really
do. They do make sure that allof the pieces are received from.
(35:32):
From the county and, and the community.
I don't mean to call attentionto you here, but it just dawned on
me, you know, like, TimmySpence, who runs the event, is the
primary host. It was his idea.Again, he's a Purple Heart recipient,
and I've known Tim for. Geez.Coming up on 19 years or something
(35:52):
like, it's a long time. Buthe's got a North Carolina accent.
Yes, he does.
And it doesn't appear to methat you really do all that much.
I just think it's. It's veryinteresting to me how that, how that
is. I mean, you grew up there,right? That's your hometown.
(36:14):
Yes, it is.
Well, that's. That, that's really.
That.
That's really cool. I justalways find it fascinating because
the North Carolina accent,when you. When you find. When you
run across folks that. Thathave. It is a really interesting
dialect. It's. It's. It's.It's not like. It's not like any
other. I don't even know howto describe it. Not even going to
(36:36):
begin to try. I bet you couldsnap into it if you had to, though.
Yeah. And I, I think a lot ofpeople, when I talk to clients and
stuff that are from up north,they. They hear it. But yeah, my
children, it's a littleheavier for them, I think. Maybe
we change how we talkdepending on who we're talking to.
That's true for our jobs and,and things, but I'm still a curry
(36:57):
tuck.
Curry tuck girl. Yep. So get.Getting back to your. To your. To
your boys here a little bitnow. Now. What, what. What ages are
there? You said 9 and.
And 9 and 11.
Wow.
Mine are 9 and 11. Yeah. So.So both my boys are 9 and 11 and
6th grade and 3rd gradebecause Luke, the youngest, he's
(37:21):
an October baby and that hemissed that cutoff. I always say
he should be in fourth orfifth grade because he's just a brilliant
kid and he's bigger thaneverybody. But that's quite an advantage
in some cases if you're theoldest kid in the class.
That's right. Let them get alittle more mature.
That's right. But they're bothavid sportsmen, as we said earlier,
and they're baseball players.Are they both playing ball?
(37:43):
They are both travel ballplayers, so that's good. So we play
up and down the East Coast. It's.
Yeah, I saw, I saw. I wasstalking your Facebook page before
the program and I saw. I'mgoing to guess it's your oldest and
what's his name again?
Bradley.
(38:04):
Holding a baseball and he wassticking it towards the camera and
he was holding it like, like,it was like he was throwing a change
up. Like, is he a pitcher? Iknew it. I knew it. I had to. There's
only one way to hold thatchange up and. Well, there's several
ways, but there's one commonway of throwing it. So he was showing
off, had a baseball in hishand. Warmed my heart because I was
(38:26):
a baseball player. And the waythat he looked like he was, you know,
holding it like he wasthrowing a circle change.
Yep. He got the game ball.
Is that where that was?
Cool.
That's so cool. And nowthey're, they're, they're involved
and, you know, they've hadthe, the WWI experience and. Oh,
yeah, it's part of theirlives. That's so cool.
It's part of their lives. AndI have a. I just have so many pictures
(38:50):
of when they were little and Ihad them in the little basket, you
know, a little carrier thatyou put your kids in right out of
the car seat. I have so manypictures of Nick and Tim just carrying
them around.
Kids around.
Yeah. And now they're so bigand now they're just clamoring to
go, to go hunting with them.
That's all that's going tohappen, you know, sooner than, than,
(39:12):
Than you think.
I know I keep holding it overtheir head, but, you know, I do take
them out of school for any ofthe. This is more important to me.
This lesson to me is moreimportant than anything the school
is teaching them. So if wecan, we can reinforce this and live
it, there's. I will. They willunderstand honor and they will understand
(39:35):
sacrifice.
That's great that you're doingIt. I think more people, you know,
should do that.
There's so much I have to sendyou. The pictures of these, they
were so little, and they weresitting there waiting for the staging
at the. At the escort. And myyoungest is holding his hands in
prayer, and he has an Americanflag sticking up. And it just like
(39:58):
he was 4 or 5, you know, itwas. But it was important to him.
And we put substance behindjust saying it's important. We're
going to show.
I had. Speaking of patriotismand honor and respect this weekend
and Saturday, I told my boys,you know, the Army's playing Navy,
(40:20):
you know, the football gamesthis weekend. They know their dad
was an army guy. I wasn't aWest Point officer, but I still root
for the army, you know, and.But so it's getting ready. You know,
all the pre. The pre showstuff, I got it on. I'm cooking some,
you know, some chow orsomething, and all of a sudden, you
know, the next thing you know,the President of the United States
(40:43):
is on. You know, he's flippingthe coin. And so now it's got both
boys attention, and then theygo into, you know, the national anthem,
and it gets to that point andboth boys stand up and there's a
picture because it's amilitary event. So instead of everybody
(41:03):
putting their hand over theirheart in the military, when the national
anthem is played, we salute.When you're in uniform, you salute.
So there's this picture of allthese guys, cadets and the president
and these senior officerssaluting during the national anthem,
which I don't know thatthey've ever seen before. They probably
(41:24):
have, but not in mass. So thecamera, as soon as they see that,
they both stand up and they'relike, boom. And I would have never.
I would have never done that.I. I mean, if I was in uniform, I
would for sure, but I don't.When I'm in a crowd, they've seen
me put my hand over my heartmany, many times because I'm now
basically a civilian. I couldsalute and nobody would say boo to
(41:46):
me. But I try to be more of acivilian than a military guy today.
Well, that's hard sometimes.But there's my boys standing in my
living room at attention,saluting as this is playing on the
tv. And I stood up and Isaluted. The three of us stood there
and I was like, wow, man, thatwas hitting me hard. Hitting me hard.
(42:11):
That's amazing. Yeah, you did good.
You taught them well. That'sour job as parents and members of
a community to freedom isn'tfree. You know, those. These great
men and women went off toforeign countries and, you know,
and, And. And, you know, sworeto uphold the Constitution of the
United States and the ordersof the officers appointed over them,
(42:34):
you know, and. And sometimesin that process, they get hurt. Sometimes
in that process, they. Theyperish. And, you know, and they certainly
sacrifice, you know, andthey're still sacrificing in many
cases. And those that. Thathave never known that you can either
(42:56):
respect it or you can, Iguess, ignore it. There aren't a
lot of options there. But yourcommunity, certainly, Brooke, has
done an amazing job. You'vedone an amazing job. And I want to
thank you again for all thatyou've done. It's really, really
impressive. And, And I'm a bigfan of yours. And I want to know,
(43:18):
you know, what can I do foryou? You know, I mean, I really.
I really want to. I want toask you that question, and if you
don't want to talk about it ormention it here, you know, when the
show ends, please, by allmeans, let me know. But we're here
to help you and make you guys,Help you guys be as successful as
(43:40):
you can be. Although at thisstage of the game, I think it appears
to me like you guys got it anda lot of people are modeling what
you're doing, and it's really impressive.
I. I think the first couple ofyears when we were doing this, I
was. I was always checking inwith Tim. Did everything go like
(44:00):
you anticipated it? There's nochance this is going to get canceled
for next year, right? Becauseno one in the whole county is going
to speak to me again. It willbe on my head if that's what happens.
But no, I just appreciate youallowing us to have a vehicle to
give back and honor and thankthem. And we love seeing the new
(44:22):
group come in every year, butwe also love seeing the familiar
faces each year. And I thinkmore than anything, I don't think
that you. Only because you'renot here each year, but I feel like
you. You have created anevent. People talk about bringing
people together. This hasbrought people together. There is
(44:46):
zero conflict. There's zerotension. It is really about giving
back. And it brings them toget. I mean, these little kids standing
in the cold, in the rain, onthe side of the road, just waiting
to say thank you. The signs,the. You guys have created a culture
and an environment where it'sokay to say thank you and give back
(45:10):
and understand how muchsacrifice has been given. And there's
only. What do they say?There's only two. Two people. That.
The American soldier and Jesuswere the only two people that died
for me. And that doesn't. Thatdoesn't go without. I don't take
it for granted, and I don'tthink my community takes it for granted.
(45:33):
And we just know they signedup for something that we couldn't
or we didn't. And weappreciate that.
That's really powerful.Brooke, thanks for sharing that and
thanks for sharing your timeand. And I hope you guys have a.
A tremendous event this year.It's coming up, and I want to wish
you and your family and yourextended community a very Merry Christmas
(45:57):
and a happy New Year, Happyholidays, and I'm really proud of
you. You know, it's just, youknow, I'm just really, really am.
I can't. I can't say itenough. But to have people like yourself
and your supporting communitystep forward and be part of the honor,
connect, heal equation isvery, very meaningful to me. And
(46:22):
I know it is mostly, you know,to the heroes, and I'm sure when
they get off those planes and,you know, be part of that procession
from the airport and they seethese kids out there even in the
rain, you know, saluting themand waving flags and, you know, honoring
what they did, that. That'smoving. That's going to touch every
(46:46):
single one of them. And itshould, because there are times in
our nation's history when theyweren't properly recognized. And
I think we've done a lot, andthis country's done a lot to heal
some of those wounds. Andyou're making a huge impact, and
(47:08):
you're doing that. And that's,again, part of our equation. So thank
you very, very much, and I'llgive you the last word.
I just want to thank you forjust allowing. It's really a gift
that you've given ourcommunity. It's something that brings
us together in a way thatreally nothing else does. It's not
(47:31):
political. Nobody's fightingon either side. You know, they're
picking up somebody's paperplates to drop them off to Brooks
so that she doesn't freak out,because there's no paper plates where
they're supposed to be. Itreally is. You have created an environment
and a foundation that hasallowed all of us to give a little
something back. And not in a.Not in a crazy monetary way, because
(47:57):
not all of us can do that, butyou've allowed us. You've given us
a vehicle to make a differenceand our community salutes you and
thanks you for that. Becausewithout you, you know, we'd be putting
a stamp, sending it and neverknowing what really happened to it.
And as soon as I wasintroduced to this foundation, it
was something I believed in,and it was. The mission was something
(48:19):
that I believed inwholeheartedly. And there is nobody
more patriotic than me, Ipromise. When the national anthem
comes on at the football gameand we're at the house, you better
stand up. You better stand up.That's not an option when we're doing
remote learning at school. Youbetter stand up. Put the hand over
your heart. But my kids, partof what we know. But you really have
(48:40):
given a community a gift thatwe could never say thank you enough
for.
Thank you, Brooke. I, I, thatmeans a lot to me. I appreciate it,
you know, well, you guys arethe superstars, you know, you just,
you really are. You're theones that are making it happen. It
was just an idea, you know.
It was a great one.
And, you know, it's hard. It'shard to. It's hard to defeat a good
(49:02):
idea. That's, that's the onething that I've. I've learned over
the years, and I just.
Would you. I, I want to askyou a question. Do you do a lot of
the events, do they build onto what, you know, we've added fishing
to this, which is superexciting, and I'm. Yeah, I'm thinking
that's here to stay. And, ButI don't know if that's typical for
(49:23):
your events, but it'ssomething that allowed us to, to
allow someone else to be involved.
Well, that's a great question.And the ant. The answer is yes. They.
They, they. I don't want tosay all of them, but the vast majority
of them end up having. Theyall share certain, you know, phenomenon,
if you will, which is thisidea that, okay, we started with
(49:46):
this original idea. We weregoing to go hunt ducks, and we did
that. And, and maybe one year,the, you know, the duck hunting wasn't
so great because the weatherrolled in, and, and, and somebody's
like, you know, why don't wetake them fishing for stripers? You
know, stripers are here, and,and so then we go do that, and then
the next thing you know, youknow, the DNR guy gets a hold of
this, and he's like, you know,what about doing a trapping event
(50:08):
with them? You know, we. Icould do an afternoon to trap, and,
you know, and they go, yeah,that sounds great. The next thing,
you know, like, up at campHackett, our Northwoods Healing center
in, In Phillips, Wisconsin.You know, we're doing, you know,
we're hunting for whitetailwith our bows. You know, the waterfowling
goose and duck thing rolledaround. We were always hunting for
(50:31):
woodcock and, and, and, and,and, and the rough grouse. And then
we threw in the muskie. So,you know, it's yes. The short answer
is, and I'll tell you why,because great Americans have stepped
up to the plate and said, Iwant to help you. And that's. And.
And my job was. And, you know,if you looked at the foundation,
you just said, it's this bigbus, right? I've always thought about
(50:53):
it like this big bus. Well,the. Now there's more. You know,
you can either say it's eitherthe bus got bigger. You had to get
more buses. That's true, too.But at the end of the day, once upon
a time, there was just me,okay, with the steering and a big
bus with nobody on it and asteering wheel, and I might throw
my dog in the bus, you know,and then I drive down the road and
(51:14):
there'd be a bus stop, and I'dopen the door and see if anybody
wanted to get on. And, youknow, people would get on the bus,
and then we'd drive around awhile and, you know, the bus had.
Had a flat tire, and I'd getout and I'd change it, and somebody
else might help me change it,you know. And then now there's a
guy that's, you know, checkingthe engine oil. And, you know, I'm.
I'm not even, you know, I'mstill on the bus somewhere, you know,
(51:39):
but so many other people havetaken over the critical functions
of the bus, the health andwelfare of the bus, you know, the
maintenance of it, and, andmade improvements where now it's
like this super magic bus, youknow. Yeah. And. And we're all happy.
And the, you know, the radioworks, and when you get on the bus,
we're, you know, we know wherewe're going. You know, we like the
(52:02):
ride, and when we get off, wego. That was a great bus ride. And
that's really. That's. That'sreally what's happened. So to. The
short answer to your questionis yes, but the, the events have
morphed. They've grown. Butit's also because I've given people,
I think a lot, you know, thisidea of, you know, purpose and intent.
(52:24):
I've given you a mission, Igiven you purpose, and I've stated
my intent. And the rest is upto you guys. And you always are doing,
going to do it better than Iever possibly could have imagined.
And that's how I feel aboutit. I'm just very honored that, you
know, you guys are carryingthis mission and, and I'm, you know,
(52:44):
four or five states away and,and you know, it has very, very little
to do, you know, with meanymore, which is what I wanted in
the first place. I didn't hadno idea that great people like you
and this wouldn't havehappened if it wasn't for Tim Spence,
who's a combat wounded purplerecipient himself. He's like, you
know, I want to do an event,sir. He's like, I want to do an event.
(53:06):
I was like, fill your boots,man. Let me know how I can help you.
I mean, he's one of the bestsportsmen I know. And so. And he
had an idea and he came toyou, God bless him, saying, you know,
you know, I could, you know, Idon't know if he said he could use
some help, but, you know, hereached out to you and look at what
you've done. Everybody'sadvancing the football down the field
(53:28):
and that's right. And when youget tired, you can lateral it off
to somebody or somebody'sgoing to steal it from you and just
start running, you know, now,now we're just trying to control
the, you know, the chaos. Butif you step forward in my world and
say, I want to help you, whichis the critical piece. Right. Of
volunteerism, I. We don't payanybody out there, like nobody in
(53:48):
your circle of, in your, inyour enterprise there, you know,
in Currituck and in theextended community getting paid to
do this, you're doing it allout of the goodness of heart, and
that's what makes it sospecial. And I didn't ask you for
help. I never went to you andsaid, brooke, will you please help
me? You did it over your ownaccord. And you take that and multiply
(54:11):
it by, you know, 40 some oddevents across the country, leveraging
some 4,000 plus volunteers,and that's what you have. But not
one time did I ask anybody tohelp. They've all st. You all have
stepped forward and adoptedthis mission as your own and advanced
it far beyond what I wouldhave ever dreamed possible.
(54:32):
That's so interesting that youview it that way because I, I view
it similarly in my position.So I, I guess I'm driving the Curry
talk bus, but I, I'm just, I'mjust picking other people up and
they're bringing their piecesof the puzzle, you know, and so it
is. It's really. It really isjust such a beautiful thing. And
(54:56):
the. When I went through thelist of things that were donated,
if you looked at that list,you would. And didn't know what it
was for. You'd be like a portapot, right? Chapstick and sunscreen
bullets.
They got shotgun bullets.
What are they doing? But it.It really does. It really does. It's
(55:17):
a beautiful thing. And to beable to have other people on the
bus and make them just asimportant because of what they've
given is.
That's right. And that'sexactly right. I mean, I genuinely
enjoy meeting people andthanking them for. For what. What
they've done. Of course I lovethe heroes, you know, I mean, that's
(55:38):
why I'm. You know, that's whyI've done it, you know, to. To help
them. But, you know, whenother people start helping them and,
you know, this thing juststarts, you know, the momentum. Somebody
once, you know, recently, youknow, referred to the enterprise,
that is the foundation, ashaving achieved a condition of irreversible
momentum. And I had to thinkabout that, and I was like, how do
(56:01):
you know he's right? You know,he's right because, you know, the
sum of all of its parts aremuch greater than the whole. And,
like, you probably feel thesame thing on a different level.
Like you say, you know, thesepeople would be upset if I didn't
do this, you know, and if theydidn't have this outlet today, you
(56:24):
know, there would be somethingmissing. And that's when, you know,
you've achieved somethingreally great, in my opinion, because,
you know, as we said earlier,it's the experience. We're providing
an experience. And it goes farbeyond the heroes who are the objective
of that experience. They arethe ones that are the recipients
(56:45):
of that energy and the targetaudience for the experience. But
the experience is bled overinto the communities. And when you
get to that stage, you'vereally done something, and you demonstrate
it every year and to thehighest standard. So thank you for
all of that.
Thank you for allowing me todo it. It means a lot to me. It means
(57:09):
a lot to me, for sure.
Well, you're doing great. I'vetaken enough of your time, and I
want to say thanks. That was agreat interview. And again, Merry
Christmas. Happy New Year toyou and all of yours. Keep doing
it. And if you ever needanything, you just send up a star
cluster from Currituck, andI'LL be. I'll be seeing it. Okay.
(57:30):
All right. That's perfect.Thank you for having me.
Have a great day.
You too.
Thank you for listening to tothe WWIA 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
(57:53):
social media on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us@podcastwwiaf.org thank youfor your support and for helping
us honor, connect, and healour combat wounded Purple Heart heroes
(58:18):
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
(00:21):
a returning listener. Thanksfor coming back. Please be sure to
tell others about our podcastand leave us a review if you're enjoying
what you're hearing. Behindevery WWIA event are countless individuals
on the local level who goabove and beyond to show their gratitude
and appreciation to our heroesfor their tremendous service and
(00:42):
sacrifice. They put incountless preparation hours throughout
the year to ensure each eventhas everything it needs, pooling
community resources andengaging others in the process to
provide a world classexperience our heroes will carry
with them long after theyreturn home. They do all this without
fanfare, contributing theirtime and talents, all in support
(01:04):
of our mission to bring honor,connection and healing to our heroes.
On this latest episode of theWWIA Podcast, WWIA founder and CEO
John McDaniel welcomes BrookSparks of North Carolina OBX fins
and feathers Event each year,Brook the community of Currituck,
North Carolina rolls out thered carpet for our heroes, showing
(01:28):
them the honor andappreciation they deserve. Brooke
is a shining example of themany selfless volunteers around North
America who make our WWIAevents not just special, but life
changing. Brook and herhusband Brad are lifelong residents
of Currituck and are deeplyrooted in the community. Brook grew
(01:49):
up in the county when therewas no grocery store, only two lanes
and small town living meanteveryone knew everyone. Currituck
has grown and changed in manyways, but that sense of community
has never faded. The NorthCarolina OBX Fins and Feathers event
is a perfect reflection ofCurrituck's patriotism and love for
our veterans and it's theheart of why this event is truly
(02:12):
remarkable. For over 15 years,Brook has worked in real estate and
property management, gainingexperience in nearly every corner
of the industry. Today she'sthe owner of a boutique real estate
sales and property managementfirm in Nags Head, assisting domestic
and international buyers andsellers in finding their forever
(02:34):
homes or securing strongperforming investment properties.
When she isn't working, youcan usually find her and her husband
on the baseball field withtheir two sons, Bradley and Jonathan.
Their family is immersed inthe outdoors from hunting to fishing
and Brook has been involvedwith the OBX annual event for well
over a decade. She explainsthat giving back through WWIA is
(02:59):
deeply meaningful as it allowsher to support an incredible cause
and creates a way for herfriends, neighbors and community
to come together and make animpact where it matters most. We're
honored to spend some timetalking with Brook and showing you
how everyone can play animportant part in the mission of
WWIA and in making a realdifference in the lives of our Purple
(03:21):
Heart heroes. Without furtherado, let's join the conversation
with John and Brook now.
Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founderand CEO of the Wounded warriors in
Action foundation, and this isour podcast, Honor Connect, Heal.
(03:42):
So it's about the middle ofDecember 2025. I don't know when
this one's going to air, but Ihave with me a very special guest,
Brooke Sparks. Welcome to the program.
Thank you so much for having me.
So you are. Geez, you've beendoing this for about 12 years, is
(04:03):
that right?
I mean, I actually think it'slonger than that, but I don't. Yeah,
it's a while.
Been supporting the foundationfor about 12 or 13 years now. And
you are a member of the NorthCarolina OBX Fins and Feather event,
which is out of Currituck,North Carolina, is that right?
(04:26):
Yes, sir.
Cool. And so just, I mean, Isee all your work on. I've been admiring
it for years on, on Facebook.You do? I was like, is she like a
professional promoter or whatis she doing? What is this person
doing?
So we always joke that I havefamous friends and I have like minded
(04:48):
friends that want to give backin a way, and this is just such a
great vehicle to do.
You know, I was gettingfamiliar with your bio before the
show started and, you know,it's very well written and you've,
you know, you've got a greatfamily and a great community. And,
you know, I've been on the OBXevent. It's hosted by Tim Spence,
(05:10):
who's a combat wounded veteranhimself, Larry Beasley and Tim Brown,
of course. And in thebackground, and sometimes in the
foreground is, like, you andall the things that you're doing
to pull this thing togetherand make it really as great as it
is. So without much ado, whydon't you just tell us about how
(05:36):
you got involved in thefoundation and what you do that helps
to bring awareness to theNorth Carolina OBX event.
So, so many years ago, it wasbefore children and all of the busy
things in life, but I wasworking for a real estate firm and
(06:00):
I was in Kerala, which, youknow, is part of Currituck county.
And I got so lucky to answerthe phone and the person on the other
end of the line was Mr.Spence. And. Yeah, and I think around
that time they just weren'tseeing the support of the event that
(06:20):
they needed. But I hadn'theard anything about the event and
I am, you know, very involvedwith community efforts and I hadn't
heard anything about it. So Ifelt like. And I, and I told Tim
this, I said, I think thatmaybe you're just not getting to
the right people. Mr. Beasley,Larry is amazing, but he's not spending
(06:41):
a lot of time on social,social media and getting the word
out even then. I mean, thatwas before. That was probably 13
years ago. And so I, I toldhim, I said, you know, just give
me a little bit of time andwe'll figure it out. But it was so
close to the first event thatI was involved in. I think my husband
and I ended up. We didn't haveenough time to organize things the
(07:04):
way they needed to be. But Iwas made sure that everybody knew
next year is going to be itbecause we're going to get, we're
going to start earlier. Weknow who we're going to go to and
we're going to make this superspecial. And I, I really begged him,
don't 86 this event. It, itwould mean so much to our community.
But this event has grown somuch that it, it actually isn't just
(07:27):
part of Dare or Curry Tuckanymore. It's also part of Dare County.
So many of our donors arecoming from the beach and that kind
of organically progressed. Itwasn't that we started asking for
different people to donate. Wereally have always had some of the
beach folks that wanted topitch in, but now they're very involved
(07:49):
in delivering meals anddelivering supplies. And it's really.
Even if you don't have themoney to donate something, you may
have time to drop somethingoff on the way to work, or you may
have time to pick up somethingand drop it off to me so that I can
drop it off. And it's.Everybody gives in their own way.
(08:10):
And really if, if any of thesepeople stop donating, we would feel
it. And it's their, theirdonations are put to work.
You know, I was there on theevent. I don't know. I don't remember
exactly when it was. I thinkit was, it was just in its, its start.
(08:30):
It might have been like yearone or. I think it was year two or
three. It was early on, youknow, probably 12, 13 years. Probably
about the time that you, thatyou got on the team. And I was just
so impressed. I. I had, youknow, I'd been to North Carolina,
you know, in my mil, during mymilitary career, but I'd never been
(08:54):
to, like, the beach. Beenthere, been to the Outer Banks, and
I was just so impressed withit. It was such. Such a cool place.
I know. And you came in such abad time of year to enjoy the Outer
Bank.
It was raining sideways and,you know, really gnarly and. And
it can get cold in NorthCarolina. You think it. You think.
(09:14):
You know, I live in Florida.Gets cold here, too, but, you know,
with that wind in the oceanright there, it can get a, you know,
get a little nasty out theresometimes. But I. I thoroughly enjoyed
it. And. And then, of course,I was beginning to meet some of the
people that were on your teamearly on, and the food was tremendous,
(09:34):
the people were great.Obviously, the setting is incredible.
We caught some striped bass,we shot some ducks, and it was just
a really, really super coolevent. And then it started to grow,
like you said. I mean, you getlike, you're the little engine that
could. And I know you and yourfamily and husband and the community
(09:55):
members have really gone aboveand beyond now. And it's like a real
thing. When you see it onsocial media, you go, wow, it's a
real thing. And what I wantedto talk to you about is this idea
of one we say, honor, connectand heal. And so when I came up with
(10:19):
those three words years ago, Iwas like, that describes pretty well
in a very simple way whatwe're trying to accomplish. But one
of the pieces of the equationthat I really didn't think about
a whole lot was thecommunity's involvement and what
it means to the people thatare helping pull this off. Like,
(10:42):
this idea of meeting thesecombat wounded veterans that they,
you know, otherwise would havenever met and have come from a different,
you know, state that are hereto enjoy this event. And people are
pouring out to help pull itoff in some cases almost year round.
(11:03):
And that's just. It's justwhat. But what does it, you know,
what does it mean to yourcommunity? I mean, I will tell you,
patriotism. Patriotism inNorth Carolina is. Is high. If it
was a stock, I would. I would.I would definitely rate it as a buy
for sure. What does it mean to them?
I just think that, I mean,this event has gotten larger than
(11:27):
our annual Christmas parade. Ithink that got canceled due to weather,
but everybody was like, aslong as the Wounded Warrior in Action
escort is still going through,we still have something. Yeah, and
it brings, it brings everybodytogether. Politics. We don't talk
about politics. There's nopolitics really inserted in the event.
It is very much, how can Igive back to someone that sacrificed
(11:49):
so much and their familysacrificed so much? And I think I've
always been very, thesacrifice has always been very evident.
I've always made that apriority. When I can give back, that's
where I'm giving back. But Ithink it is a way for people to donate
(12:10):
something very small, but thenthey see it being used. It's not
like sending $10 once a monthto whatever this is. I gave red solo
cups for this event and I amwatching them be used. It was not,
we did not give it to otherpeople. We did not use them ourselves.
You are actually seeing yourdonation in work. And I believe wholeheartedly
(12:36):
that when people can see thedifference that they're making, it
feels good and they want to doit again.
Yeah.
So there are times where I,you know, it is challenging when
someone wants to donate waterand we split it up amongst four people.
But I want as many peopleinvolved and as many contributors
as I can get. And sometimesthat means that makes extra.
(12:58):
Work for us for sure.
You know, instead of stoppingto get one thing of waters at one,
one donation location, we'restopping at four different homes
to get them or having fourdifferent people drop them off. So
a lot of people don't realizethe logistics of tracking those,
those donations. And we've, Imean we've really evolved with that
(13:18):
to be just putting on an eventwith no budget type situation. We
have streamlined it so thatpeople can scan a code and then they
put their address in and theyput their phone number in and so
that we can be in compliance.But that's not, people don't, people
don't think about that.They're just so excited to donate
(13:39):
2 gallons of milk.
Right?
Yeah, it's great.
Yeah. Because we back here atthe, at the headquarters, you know,
we had to hire a full time.Well, I guess she's not full time
but she's, she's part time butshe's a full time part timer. But
her name is Caitlyn and shedoes all of the thank you stuff and
the donor recognition stuff,which used to be, for many years
(14:01):
it was a part time gig for Ithink three or four different people
had their hands in that. Butas, as our, you know, as our enterprise
grew, it became very evidentthat we needed to have somebody for
continuity sake just doingthat piece because the recognition
bit is very Very important.You know, we're required by law to
(14:23):
acknowledge your donation,whether that's an in kind contribution
or a, you know, cash donation.And so to get that right is like
the, is critical, you know, topeople don't. Mostly all they want.
I think most donors, whetherthey're cash or in kind donor, all
they really want. Most of themwill say, I don't even want that.
But it's our duty toacknowledge what you did and say
(14:46):
thank you. And that's soimportant. It's that, that thank
you piece, you know, thatmeans so much. A little bit of a
written word, you know, maybefrom the boss that just said, hey,
I appreciate what you did.Thanks a lot. Even if it was, you
know, even if it was like yousay two gallons of milk, I mean,
that, that might be allsomebody can give. And the fact that
(15:07):
they did do that is to me, youknow, very impressive. And, and I
think I know deserves to beacknowledged and recognized. So we
try to do our best, you know,at that. But let's go back and talk
about this escort because I'veseen it on video and I'm like, whoa,
daddy, what's going on there?
Yes. Is a lot. That's thehardest part of, of the entire event,
(15:30):
really. People want to give inleaps and bounds. You know, they,
there's no, no leash on that.Nobody. One problem we've never had
is not having enough stuff,right? We've never had that issue.
Not enough supplies, notenough meals. It doesn't matter.
And you, you know, when Timand I first started, I would start
back in September or October.Now I just need two weeks to figure
(15:55):
out who's still alive and can donate.
I mean, because they go there, right?
It's true. And I love seeing,I love seeing the new restaurants,
kind of whether it be a newrestaurant to the area and they,
they've heard about it andthey want to just chip in. Or it,
it went from being likedesperate and maybe we have to go
(16:16):
to the store and buy steaksmaybe to like, okay, we've got two
meals for dinner on thisnight. What are we going to do? How
are. Because I never wantpeople to think that their donation
is taken for granted. And youmentioned the piece about acknowledgement.
Sometimes I feel like I gooverboard on the acknowledgement,
but I want people to realizethat that gallon of milk.
Yeah, I think I go overboard.I don't think you do. I'm. I have.
(16:41):
I. Be honest, I don't knowwhat you do on your side other than
be great, but I'm saying I'm,I'm saying on my side, I feel like
sometimes the foundation goesa little bit overboard or I'm a little
bit too strict on or demandingin my standards for acknowledging
what people have done. Butthat's part of the culture of the
(17:02):
organization. So the fact thatit's okay, it's okay. It's way better
to overdo it a little bit thanto underdo it or not do it at all.
Absolutely, absolutely. Andyou know, these are members of my
community, most of them, mostof them I know, but not all of them.
And it really is a situationwhere I want a spotlight that we
(17:28):
can never give back what wewould like to give back to these
heroes that have sacrificed somuch. But if at this time I can give
2 gallons of milk and somesolo cups and that makes a difference
in their experience, itdoesn't matter that it's just a gallon
of milk. That's a big deal.
And that's the whole point, isthat what we're providing is an experience
(17:55):
to the combat wounded. Andthat experience is everything from
the solo cup to them holding aprized duck that they shot to tell
a story. There was a guy, andI won't mention his name years ago
(18:16):
who was pretty badly wounded,you know, he lost the use of his
right arm, he lost the use ofhis right eye and he was right handed
shooter. So in order for himto hold a shotgun up and have to,
you know, use his non dominanteye, which was the only eye he had,
(18:39):
you know, left after his, youknow, after he got wounded, but to
see him and the team rallyaround him, we do a lot of adapt.
You know, most of our work isin the adaptive sporting arena. It
just, you know, all these guyshave got something going on, you
know, and so we tried, theytried really hard, Timmy Spence,
(19:04):
you know, the main forcebehind it, to get this guy a duck.
And they worked all weekendlong for him to get a duck. And I'll
be darned if he didn't do it.I think it was like on the last day,
can you imagine holding ashotgun with the only one good arm,
(19:25):
which is your left arm, yournon dominant arm, that's the only
one you have now, and your nondominant eye and try to swing a shotgun
to hit a duck that's flying.And he, and he did it. And so I was
largely unaware of all of thatuntil it came such time that up in
(19:45):
Michigan, because the herohails from Michigan, so he brought
his duck home and he was goingto have it Mounted because he was
obviously very proud of it. SoI was invited to the Michigan. I
guess their National Taxidermyassociation event was held in Michigan
that year, not far from thishero's house. And somebody got wind
(20:07):
of this and they mounted that.They did a full body mount of that
duck for him and they weregoing to present it at this event.
And I showed up, you know,because I wanted to see it, you know,
and that smile on his face,you know, and it was just, it was
unbelievable. It was a very,very touching moment, you know, for
me. And it was, it was a duckthat normally somebody wouldn't mount
(20:29):
because it was, it was afemale duck and it was fairly nondescript
and it wasn't very, it wasn'tvery big. It was kind of a small,
a bit of an ugly duck, I suppose.
But the, it wasn't ugly.
It wasn't ugly to him. Andthat's the point. It was a major
accomplishment, a major teamaccomplishment. And it's that experience.
(20:50):
Right. And, and that's whatwe're looking to do is create an
experience for these heroes.But in, but one of the byproducts
of that is the experience thatthe community gets.
Absolutely. And, and you know,involving kids and churches. I will
never forget when we weredoing the escort and the entire JP
(21:15):
Knapp early college wasstanding out in front. And these
are, these are 15 year oldkids, 16. And they're out there with
their hands over their heartsas we drive by. And to hear like
the school call the parents.And I got the voicemail because my
(21:35):
kids are in school and hearthem say, because we stand with our
heroes. That's our schoolsystem saying that. So basically
they were saying, the escort'scoming through, your kids are going
to be late. But we stand withour heroes. That was my community
saying that. That's not justsomebody donating, you know, something
that is, that is a, that's afeeling that we all share.
So cool.
(21:55):
And I can't control the ducks.I did used to say that I was going
to dump corn until the gamewarden said maybe we should stop
saying that. But, but however,to make the experience amazing. And
so I know I can't bring ducks.My children try to call the ducks
in.
You got two boys that are avidsportsmen, aren't they? And you're
(22:16):
also.
(24:10):
Oh man, you. I think one of myfavorite pictures. I'll send it to
you when we're done. But Ihave a picture of Nick holding Bradley
when he was 2 years old. And Ihave a picture from last year where
they're sitting in Larry'slittle house out there around the
heater and Nick's telling himabout what he killed. And like that's
(24:31):
the same child, you know. Youknow, he. But literally he's been.
And my youngest is just asavid and loves these guys. Invites
them to baseball tournamentsand will text them. Bradley will
text Nick. I hit one out. Youknow, it's, it really is. He grew
up that being a part of hislife. Jonathan's nine. He's grown
(24:53):
up. That's a part of his lifearound Christmas time. And my kids,
my husband loves it. We alllove it. They all hunt, so it's,
there's common ground there.But I think, you know, to speak to
your point about honoring theheroes, what better way to honor
them than to just create anexperience that isn't just in that
(25:17):
moment, but last. And I feellike the relationships with a lot
of those guys have made heredidn't just end. You know, they,
we still keep in contact whenthey come on vacations. We try to
make sure that we take care ofthem on, on the beach and when they
come to visit, we try to find,you know, we don't. We want it to
be a relationship. I don'twant it to honor them for a week
(25:38):
and then forget about it.It's, it really is something that
we, how we live the whole, thewhole year.
Well, that's important isthat, that you know, consistent or
semi persistent engagement.Right. I mean that's what keeps the
whole thing alive. And it'swhat we as humans thrive on is that
(25:59):
idea of a connection, right,with, with people and with an event
and memories and, and thatplace, you know, in Kurituck and
all the people they met andthe bonds that they form in between
each other. I read atestimonial today. It was online.
It's Tuesday today. So withtestimonial Tuesday, David, our social
media guru, cranks thesethings out. And there was a, a quote
(26:26):
today that I was just. When Iread it, I was like, wow. You know,
and it was just basically ahero saying that, you know, to be
amongst people that know how Ifeel and I know how they feel. Just
that sharing of that commonfeeling of being safe and like minded,
(26:51):
focusing on. Yeah, that's it.Right? I mean that's.
Yeah. And I don't know whatthat feels like. No one's ever shot
at me. I've never lost anylegs. I don't know what. But I can,
I feel the utmost respect andI, I cherish them. And I, I look
forward to this event justbecause it's my small, tiny way of
saying thank you.
(27:11):
Well, you're doing great.You're doing great. You really are.
I mean when this thing rollsaround here, you got an event coming
up here. It's, it's. This is,this is the 15th year this January
and you guys are earlyJanuary, aren't you?
We are. We're a little earlierthis year. We, we try to find some
ducks. That's what, that's the goal.
So. And there's. There's acouple of really cool restaurants
(27:33):
and there's a chef involved inthis thing and he's famous. Famous.
And, and I've eaten it asrestaurant and, and that's. Can we
plug him here?
Absolutely. He deserves allthe plugging that. That we can give
him. So. He owns NC coast andit's right there on the curry duck
sound. It's beautiful.
It's so good.
(27:54):
It's.
He is a chef. He's like a chefchef. I mean that guy is it.
He really is. He's the realdeal. He's kind of like our celebrity
chef in the area. We see himon TV every now and then but you
know some. I call him afriend. I see him pretty frequently.
But he gets really excitedabout this.
Yeah. Doesn't he have like tworestaurants now?
He does. Red sky is also hisrestaurant. They're both delicious.
(28:15):
They're both wonderful.Located in.
Yeah. That's really cool.
I tell you to go there butthere's probably no parking and it's
probably full. You probably reserve.
I'm sure that. But yeah. Soit's this, it's just another, another
great memory for him. Youknow, this, this having that experience
with a world class chef, youknow and.
Absolutely. And you know with.No. I have no control over the ducks
(28:38):
and the fish and the weatherand like I can't, I can't control
those things. But what I cancontrol is the part of the experience
with the meals and thesupplies and how they're made feel
and the accommodations and youknow, just to give another plug.
The accommodations are beautiful.
I know they're like on thebeach. Like I, I was, I was, I think,
(28:59):
I think I was either on thebeach or one like the street away
from the beach. But it waslike really close to the beach. You
could.
Oh it's beautiful. I mean Isold the owner the home several years
ago and it's just stunning.It's. It is such a nice house. But
more than stunning and a greatHouse. It is the perfect configuration
(29:19):
for our heroes.
It's. It's.
And so we kind of don't it.
The.
The Wounded Warrior in Action house.
Yeah, well, it's, it's, it's.And thank you to the. To the owners
of that property. And speakingof property, you've been in the real
estate business for a longtime, haven't you?
I've done everything that isassociated with property management
(29:40):
and sales. So. Yeah. Clean thetoilet and sell the house and all
that.
Exactly. And so you're doing.Do you have your own business now?
What's that called?
Yep. Coast and Currents is asmall property management firm out
of Nags Head.
Where's Nags Head?
It is on the Outer Banks. It'sone of the towns that's further south.
(30:03):
Okay. South of Currituck.
Yeah. It's about 15 minutes,10. 15 minutes from the house where
the heroes stay in SouthernShores. So it's. We're pretty centrally
located, which is, which ishelpful because people can drop off
donations at our office or atthe house. And we also use Currituck
Sports. Sybil at Curry TuckSports donates all the ammunition
(30:26):
each year, and so she's alsoa. A donation driver.
Awesome. And how's the realestate market doing right now in
North Carolina?
It's good. Everything's.Everything's good. This is a time
where we see houses hittingthe market because rental season's
over, so things are.
(30:47):
What about, what abouthurricanes there? I mean, for years,
I'm not sure. I hope I don'tjinx you guys, man, but for four
years, I remember there was.The guys went through a run where
like, the Carolinas were justgetting started. Smoked, you know,
it was quite a few years ago,as I recall, but it was.
I was pregnant. I was givingbirth during those. Michael and Matthew.
(31:10):
And then Florida got its. Hasrecently had its turn. Of course,
we, we. Boy, we dodged themall this year. Thank goodness. Goodness.
But last year we took two and.But that's got to be. That's got
to be on everybody's mind, youknow, during the season. Right?
It is on everybody's mind.Most of it is precautionary because
(31:31):
we, we really. Everybody seesthe news with Buxton and Avalon and
they, they think, Excuse me,Avon. They think that that's where,
you know, we're here and thehouses are falling in around us.
That's really very far south,right? Yeah, it's not a problem that
we have.
Those are just older homesthat were. That were built too close
(31:53):
to the Water, right?
Yeah, well, and, and it'smoving. Everything's moving. So,
yeah, it's erosion and all the things.
It's just, hey, this earth ismoving, you know, I mean, the, the
ground that we sit, we standon is moving. Yeah. Constantly. Yeah.
So. But it's beautiful there.I mean, I just, I just loved it and,
and it was really neat. Well,you know, so tell me, I mean, is
(32:15):
there if we missed, you know,is if we missed anybody that you
want to, that you want togive. I know, I know that's a horrible
thing to ask somebo. Then assoon as you say the first name, then
you're going to have to say,try to say. And you can't because
it's just too many people. ButI'm sure that you've got a core of
people that, you know that,that have. You've mentioned several
(32:38):
already, but that are reallyhelping make your event possible,
you know. And to those people,I want to say thank you. Many hands
make for light work and youguys are all doing just phenomenal
there.
So it's. The event could nothappen at a better time because if
(33:00):
it were to happen inSeptember, I would not be available
to give my time to the eventand the attention that it needs,
especially with it getting alittle bit bigger and us adding things
to the event, adding events tothe event. So if it were to happen
at any other time of the year,I would not be able to give my full
(33:21):
attention. But thankfully it'sthe off season for us and we're able
to kind of rally the troops.My GM here, Heather Cater, she contributes
just as much of her time as Ido, especially creating the QR code
for making donations easierand the logistics behind that. But
(33:44):
really, law enforcement, JesseTaylor out of Currituck and then
Lance Robertson, we, we allwent to school together and yeah.
And so he is a Norfolk lawenforcement and he works with the
airport. Like the folks fromthe airport are not going to talk
to me. No matter what I say,I'm not going to get on the phone
(34:05):
with the right person that cando what Lance can. And so they, you
know, they put. Pull thebarricade up there right to the front
of the airport. We would neverbe allowed to do those things if
it wasn't for thoseconnections. It's really, really
helpful with law enforcement.Our county commissioners are super
supportive of this.
(34:26):
The Jeepers, boy, they just,they just, The Jeepers just incredible.
Pulled a big check out oftheir pocket for us. That was incredible.
They really did. God bless them.
Yeah. And so we couldn't do itwithout them. Marie is kind of their
spokesperson, or maybeunofficial, maybe just me. But, you
know, we are in constantcommunication. Mark this off the
(34:47):
list. We don't need this. Thisperson donated this. And so a spreadsheet
is what we're living by, butwithout her and Joe Evans, who is.
She owns a local cleaningcompany. Her husband is a painter.
Without them being able tobring items from like an hour away
(35:08):
from Moyach, which is inCurrituck, to the home that these
guys are staying in. Icouldn't make daily runs like that.
Right.
It's. They're just really,really important parts of the puzzle,
and there are so many parts.But those core, Core folks really
do. They do make sure that allof the pieces are received from.
(35:32):
From the county and, and the community.
I don't mean to call attentionto you here, but it just dawned on
me, you know, like, TimmySpence, who runs the event, is the
primary host. It was his idea.Again, he's a Purple Heart recipient,
and I've known Tim for. Geez.Coming up on 19 years or something
(35:52):
like, it's a long time. Buthe's got a North Carolina accent.
Yes, he does.
And it doesn't appear to methat you really do all that much.
I just think it's. It's veryinteresting to me how that, how that
is. I mean, you grew up there,right? That's your hometown.
(36:14):
Yes, it is.
Well, that's. That, that's really.
That.
That's really cool. I justalways find it fascinating because
the North Carolina accent,when you. When you find. When you
run across folks that. Thathave. It is a really interesting
dialect. It's. It's. It's.It's not like. It's not like any
other. I don't even know howto describe it. Not even going to
(36:36):
begin to try. I bet you couldsnap into it if you had to, though.
Yeah. And I, I think a lot ofpeople, when I talk to clients and
stuff that are from up north,they. They hear it. But yeah, my
children, it's a littleheavier for them, I think. Maybe
we change how we talkdepending on who we're talking to.
That's true for our jobs and,and things, but I'm still a curry
(36:57):
tuck.
Curry tuck girl. Yep. So get.Getting back to your. To your. To
your boys here a little bitnow. Now. What, what. What ages are
there? You said 9 and.
And 9 and 11.
Wow.
Mine are 9 and 11. Yeah. So.So both my boys are 9 and 11 and
6th grade and 3rd gradebecause Luke, the youngest, he's
(37:21):
an October baby and that hemissed that cutoff. I always say
he should be in fourth orfifth grade because he's just a brilliant
kid and he's bigger thaneverybody. But that's quite an advantage
in some cases if you're theoldest kid in the class.
That's right. Let them get alittle more mature.
That's right. But they're bothavid sportsmen, as we said earlier,
and they're baseball players.Are they both playing ball?
(37:43):
They are both travel ballplayers, so that's good. So we play
up and down the East Coast. It's.
Yeah, I saw, I saw. I wasstalking your Facebook page before
the program and I saw. I'mgoing to guess it's your oldest and
what's his name again?
Bradley.
(38:04):
Holding a baseball and he wassticking it towards the camera and
he was holding it like, like,it was like he was throwing a change
up. Like, is he a pitcher? Iknew it. I knew it. I had to. There's
only one way to hold thatchange up and. Well, there's several
ways, but there's one commonway of throwing it. So he was showing
off, had a baseball in hishand. Warmed my heart because I was
(38:26):
a baseball player. And the waythat he looked like he was, you know,
holding it like he wasthrowing a circle change.
Yep. He got the game ball.
Is that where that was?
Cool.
That's so cool. And nowthey're, they're, they're involved
and, you know, they've hadthe, the WWI experience and. Oh,
yeah, it's part of theirlives. That's so cool.
It's part of their lives. AndI have a. I just have so many pictures
(38:50):
of when they were little and Ihad them in the little basket, you
know, a little carrier thatyou put your kids in right out of
the car seat. I have so manypictures of Nick and Tim just carrying
them around.
Kids around.
Yeah. And now they're so bigand now they're just clamoring to
go, to go hunting with them.
That's all that's going tohappen, you know, sooner than, than,
(39:12):
Than you think.
I know I keep holding it overtheir head, but, you know, I do take
them out of school for any ofthe. This is more important to me.
This lesson to me is moreimportant than anything the school
is teaching them. So if wecan, we can reinforce this and live
it, there's. I will. They willunderstand honor and they will understand
(39:35):
sacrifice.
That's great that you're doingIt. I think more people, you know,
should do that.
There's so much I have to sendyou. The pictures of these, they
were so little, and they weresitting there waiting for the staging
at the. At the escort. And myyoungest is holding his hands in
prayer, and he has an Americanflag sticking up. And it just like
(39:58):
he was 4 or 5, you know, itwas. But it was important to him.
And we put substance behindjust saying it's important. We're
going to show.
I had. Speaking of patriotismand honor and respect this weekend
and Saturday, I told my boys,you know, the Army's playing Navy,
(40:20):
you know, the football gamesthis weekend. They know their dad
was an army guy. I wasn't aWest Point officer, but I still root
for the army, you know, and.But so it's getting ready. You know,
all the pre. The pre showstuff, I got it on. I'm cooking some,
you know, some chow orsomething, and all of a sudden, you
know, the next thing you know,the President of the United States
(40:43):
is on. You know, he's flippingthe coin. And so now it's got both
boys attention, and then theygo into, you know, the national anthem,
and it gets to that point andboth boys stand up and there's a
picture because it's amilitary event. So instead of everybody
(41:03):
putting their hand over theirheart in the military, when the national
anthem is played, we salute.When you're in uniform, you salute.
So there's this picture of allthese guys, cadets and the president
and these senior officerssaluting during the national anthem,
which I don't know thatthey've ever seen before. They probably
(41:24):
have, but not in mass. So thecamera, as soon as they see that,
they both stand up and they'relike, boom. And I would have never.
I would have never done that.I. I mean, if I was in uniform, I
would for sure, but I don't.When I'm in a crowd, they've seen
me put my hand over my heartmany, many times because I'm now
basically a civilian. I couldsalute and nobody would say boo to
(41:46):
me. But I try to be more of acivilian than a military guy today.
Well, that's hard sometimes.But there's my boys standing in my
living room at attention,saluting as this is playing on the
tv. And I stood up and Isaluted. The three of us stood there
and I was like, wow, man, thatwas hitting me hard. Hitting me hard.
(42:11):
That's amazing. Yeah, you did good.
You taught them well. That'sour job as parents and members of
a community to freedom isn'tfree. You know, those. These great
men and women went off toforeign countries and, you know,
and, And. And, you know, sworeto uphold the Constitution of the
United States and the ordersof the officers appointed over them,
(42:34):
you know, and. And sometimesin that process, they get hurt. Sometimes
in that process, they. Theyperish. And, you know, and they certainly
sacrifice, you know, andthey're still sacrificing in many
cases. And those that. Thathave never known that you can either
(42:56):
respect it or you can, Iguess, ignore it. There aren't a
lot of options there. But yourcommunity, certainly, Brooke, has
done an amazing job. You'vedone an amazing job. And I want to
thank you again for all thatyou've done. It's really, really
impressive. And, And I'm a bigfan of yours. And I want to know,
(43:18):
you know, what can I do foryou? You know, I mean, I really.
I really want to. I want toask you that question, and if you
don't want to talk about it ormention it here, you know, when the
show ends, please, by allmeans, let me know. But we're here
to help you and make you guys,Help you guys be as successful as
(43:40):
you can be. Although at thisstage of the game, I think it appears
to me like you guys got it anda lot of people are modeling what
you're doing, and it's really impressive.
I. I think the first couple ofyears when we were doing this, I
was. I was always checking inwith Tim. Did everything go like
(44:00):
you anticipated it? There's nochance this is going to get canceled
for next year, right? Becauseno one in the whole county is going
to speak to me again. It willbe on my head if that's what happens.
But no, I just appreciate youallowing us to have a vehicle to
give back and honor and thankthem. And we love seeing the new
(44:22):
group come in every year, butwe also love seeing the familiar
faces each year. And I thinkmore than anything, I don't think
that you. Only because you'renot here each year, but I feel like
you. You have created anevent. People talk about bringing
people together. This hasbrought people together. There is
(44:46):
zero conflict. There's zerotension. It is really about giving
back. And it brings them toget. I mean, these little kids standing
in the cold, in the rain, onthe side of the road, just waiting
to say thank you. The signs,the. You guys have created a culture
and an environment where it'sokay to say thank you and give back
(45:10):
and understand how muchsacrifice has been given. And there's
only. What do they say?There's only two. Two people. That.
The American soldier and Jesuswere the only two people that died
for me. And that doesn't. Thatdoesn't go without. I don't take
it for granted, and I don'tthink my community takes it for granted.
(45:33):
And we just know they signedup for something that we couldn't
or we didn't. And weappreciate that.
That's really powerful.Brooke, thanks for sharing that and
thanks for sharing your timeand. And I hope you guys have a.
A tremendous event this year.It's coming up, and I want to wish
you and your family and yourextended community a very Merry Christmas
(45:57):
and a happy New Year, Happyholidays, and I'm really proud of
you. You know, it's just, youknow, I'm just really, really am.
I can't. I can't say itenough. But to have people like yourself
and your supporting communitystep forward and be part of the honor,
connect, heal equation isvery, very meaningful to me. And
(46:22):
I know it is mostly, you know,to the heroes, and I'm sure when
they get off those planes and,you know, be part of that procession
from the airport and they seethese kids out there even in the
rain, you know, saluting themand waving flags and, you know, honoring
what they did, that. That'smoving. That's going to touch every
(46:46):
single one of them. And itshould, because there are times in
our nation's history when theyweren't properly recognized. And
I think we've done a lot, andthis country's done a lot to heal
some of those wounds. Andyou're making a huge impact, and
(47:08):
you're doing that. And that's,again, part of our equation. So thank
you very, very much, and I'llgive you the last word.
I just want to thank you forjust allowing. It's really a gift
that you've given ourcommunity. It's something that brings
us together in a way thatreally nothing else does. It's not
(47:31):
political. Nobody's fightingon either side. You know, they're
picking up somebody's paperplates to drop them off to Brooks
so that she doesn't freak out,because there's no paper plates where
they're supposed to be. Itreally is. You have created an environment
and a foundation that hasallowed all of us to give a little
something back. And not in a.Not in a crazy monetary way, because
(47:57):
not all of us can do that, butyou've allowed us. You've given us
a vehicle to make a differenceand our community salutes you and
thanks you for that. Becausewithout you, you know, we'd be putting
a stamp, sending it and neverknowing what really happened to it.
And as soon as I wasintroduced to this foundation, it
was something I believed in,and it was. The mission was something
(48:19):
that I believed inwholeheartedly. And there is nobody
more patriotic than me, Ipromise. When the national anthem
comes on at the football gameand we're at the house, you better
stand up. You better stand up.That's not an option when we're doing
remote learning at school. Youbetter stand up. Put the hand over
your heart. But my kids, partof what we know. But you really have
(48:40):
given a community a gift thatwe could never say thank you enough
for.
Thank you, Brooke. I, I, thatmeans a lot to me. I appreciate it,
you know, well, you guys arethe superstars, you know, you just,
you really are. You're theones that are making it happen. It
was just an idea, you know.
It was a great one.
And, you know, it's hard. It'shard to. It's hard to defeat a good
(49:02):
idea. That's, that's the onething that I've. I've learned over
the years, and I just.
Would you. I, I want to askyou a question. Do you do a lot of
the events, do they build onto what, you know, we've added fishing
to this, which is superexciting, and I'm. Yeah, I'm thinking
that's here to stay. And, ButI don't know if that's typical for
(49:23):
your events, but it'ssomething that allowed us to, to
allow someone else to be involved.
Well, that's a great question.And the ant. The answer is yes. They.
They, they. I don't want tosay all of them, but the vast majority
of them end up having. Theyall share certain, you know, phenomenon,
if you will, which is thisidea that, okay, we started with
(49:46):
this original idea. We weregoing to go hunt ducks, and we did
that. And, and maybe one year,the, you know, the duck hunting wasn't
so great because the weatherrolled in, and, and, and somebody's
like, you know, why don't wetake them fishing for stripers? You
know, stripers are here, and,and so then we go do that, and then
the next thing you know, youknow, the DNR guy gets a hold of
this, and he's like, you know,what about doing a trapping event
(50:08):
with them? You know, we. Icould do an afternoon to trap, and,
you know, and they go, yeah,that sounds great. The next thing,
you know, like, up at campHackett, our Northwoods Healing center
in, In Phillips, Wisconsin.You know, we're doing, you know,
we're hunting for whitetailwith our bows. You know, the waterfowling
goose and duck thing rolledaround. We were always hunting for
(50:31):
woodcock and, and, and, and,and, and the rough grouse. And then
we threw in the muskie. So,you know, it's yes. The short answer
is, and I'll tell you why,because great Americans have stepped
up to the plate and said, Iwant to help you. And that's. And.
And my job was. And, you know,if you looked at the foundation,
you just said, it's this bigbus, right? I've always thought about
(50:53):
it like this big bus. Well,the. Now there's more. You know,
you can either say it's eitherthe bus got bigger. You had to get
more buses. That's true, too.But at the end of the day, once upon
a time, there was just me,okay, with the steering and a big
bus with nobody on it and asteering wheel, and I might throw
my dog in the bus, you know,and then I drive down the road and
(51:14):
there'd be a bus stop, and I'dopen the door and see if anybody
wanted to get on. And, youknow, people would get on the bus,
and then we'd drive around awhile and, you know, the bus had.
Had a flat tire, and I'd getout and I'd change it, and somebody
else might help me change it,you know. And then now there's a
guy that's, you know, checkingthe engine oil. And, you know, I'm.
I'm not even, you know, I'mstill on the bus somewhere, you know,
(51:39):
but so many other people havetaken over the critical functions
of the bus, the health andwelfare of the bus, you know, the
maintenance of it, and, andmade improvements where now it's
like this super magic bus, youknow. Yeah. And. And we're all happy.
And the, you know, the radioworks, and when you get on the bus,
we're, you know, we know wherewe're going. You know, we like the
(52:02):
ride, and when we get off, wego. That was a great bus ride. And
that's really. That's. That'sreally what's happened. So to. The
short answer to your questionis yes, but the, the events have
morphed. They've grown. Butit's also because I've given people,
I think a lot, you know, thisidea of, you know, purpose and intent.
(52:24):
I've given you a mission, Igiven you purpose, and I've stated
my intent. And the rest is upto you guys. And you always are doing,
going to do it better than Iever possibly could have imagined.
And that's how I feel aboutit. I'm just very honored that, you
know, you guys are carryingthis mission and, and I'm, you know,
(52:44):
four or five states away and,and you know, it has very, very little
to do, you know, with meanymore, which is what I wanted in
the first place. I didn't hadno idea that great people like you
and this wouldn't havehappened if it wasn't for Tim Spence,
who's a combat wounded purplerecipient himself. He's like, you
know, I want to do an event,sir. He's like, I want to do an event.
(53:06):
I was like, fill your boots,man. Let me know how I can help you.
I mean, he's one of the bestsportsmen I know. And so. And he
had an idea and he came toyou, God bless him, saying, you know,
you know, I could, you know, Idon't know if he said he could use
some help, but, you know, hereached out to you and look at what
you've done. Everybody'sadvancing the football down the field
(53:28):
and that's right. And when youget tired, you can lateral it off
to somebody or somebody'sgoing to steal it from you and just
start running, you know, now,now we're just trying to control
the, you know, the chaos. Butif you step forward in my world and
say, I want to help you, whichis the critical piece. Right. Of
volunteerism, I. We don't payanybody out there, like nobody in
(53:48):
your circle of, in your, inyour enterprise there, you know,
in Currituck and in theextended community getting paid to
do this, you're doing it allout of the goodness of heart, and
that's what makes it sospecial. And I didn't ask you for
help. I never went to you andsaid, brooke, will you please help
me? You did it over your ownaccord. And you take that and multiply
(54:11):
it by, you know, 40 some oddevents across the country, leveraging
some 4,000 plus volunteers,and that's what you have. But not
one time did I ask anybody tohelp. They've all st. You all have
stepped forward and adoptedthis mission as your own and advanced
it far beyond what I wouldhave ever dreamed possible.
(54:32):
That's so interesting that youview it that way because I, I view
it similarly in my position.So I, I guess I'm driving the Curry
talk bus, but I, I'm just, I'mjust picking other people up and
they're bringing their piecesof the puzzle, you know, and so it
is. It's really. It really isjust such a beautiful thing. And
(54:56):
the. When I went through thelist of things that were donated,
if you looked at that list,you would. And didn't know what it
was for. You'd be like a portapot, right? Chapstick and sunscreen
bullets.
They got shotgun bullets.
What are they doing? But it.It really does. It really does. It's
(55:17):
a beautiful thing. And to beable to have other people on the
bus and make them just asimportant because of what they've
given is.
That's right. And that'sexactly right. I mean, I genuinely
enjoy meeting people andthanking them for. For what. What
they've done. Of course I lovethe heroes, you know, I mean, that's
(55:38):
why I'm. You know, that's whyI've done it, you know, to. To help
them. But, you know, whenother people start helping them and,
you know, this thing juststarts, you know, the momentum. Somebody
once, you know, recently, youknow, referred to the enterprise,
that is the foundation, ashaving achieved a condition of irreversible
momentum. And I had to thinkabout that, and I was like, how do
(56:01):
you know he's right? You know,he's right because, you know, the
sum of all of its parts aremuch greater than the whole. And,
like, you probably feel thesame thing on a different level.
Like you say, you know, thesepeople would be upset if I didn't
do this, you know, and if theydidn't have this outlet today, you
(56:24):
know, there would be somethingmissing. And that's when, you know,
you've achieved somethingreally great, in my opinion, because,
you know, as we said earlier,it's the experience. We're providing
an experience. And it goes farbeyond the heroes who are the objective
of that experience. They arethe ones that are the recipients
(56:45):
of that energy and the targetaudience for the experience. But
the experience is bled overinto the communities. And when you
get to that stage, you'vereally done something, and you demonstrate
it every year and to thehighest standard. So thank you for
all of that.
Thank you for allowing me todo it. It means a lot to me. It means
(57:09):
a lot to me, for sure.
Well, you're doing great. I'vetaken enough of your time, and I
want to say thanks. That was agreat interview. And again, Merry
Christmas. Happy New Year toyou and all of yours. Keep doing
it. And if you ever needanything, you just send up a star
cluster from Currituck, andI'LL be. I'll be seeing it. Okay.
(57:30):
All right. That's perfect.Thank you for having me.
Have a great day.
You too.
Thank you for listening to tothe WWIA 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
(57:53):
social media on Facebook,Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
If you'd like to comment oroffer feedback about our podcast,
or if you have a suggestionfor a future episode, please email
us@podcastwwiaf.org thank youfor your support and for helping
us honor, connect, and healour combat wounded Purple Heart heroes
(58:18):
through the power of the great outdoors.
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