Thank You for Giving Back to Help Our Charities

The 2017 Past Presidents’ Charity Golf Tournament to Benefit the PTSD Foundation of America

“22 vets take their life every day.” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this statement and how horrible it makes me feel. I hope that number is down now. I was in the Navy just after the end of the Vietnam War. I know names on the memorial. We lost over 58,000 in that conflict, but we have lost over 200,000 since then to suicide. One of the biggest causes was, and continues to be, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

I remember the opening of the 2016 NARPM National Convention in Hawaii. I was sitting at a table in the back with a few friends and the opening session was starting. The first words from the podium were to ask the veterans to come up front to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Which we did. At the end, I walked back to the table and a woman I had just met had a tear in her eye.

She explained that she was an Aussie and that she hadn’t seen anything like that in her home country – where the audience respected the vets like that. She told me how it took decades for her family to finally realize that her father, a Vietnam vet, had undiagnosed PTSD and had a lot of trouble dealing with it. After I told her what my charity was for 2017, we both had a good cry, and I knew without a doubt at that moment that I had picked the right charity for me and the Past Presidents’ Charity Golf Tournament.

I am so happy that Danielle made it to Orlando this year and got to see us do it again. Amazing where you make your friends when you are in a great group like NARPM^®. Of course, I had to tell her that she is invited to any upcoming event in Texas where we say the Texas pledge right after the US pledge. Yes, it’s a thing.

I want to offer a sincere thanks to everyone who participated in the Past Presidents’ Charity Golf Tournament and Fundraiser this year for the PTSD Foundation of America. To all those who donated, volunteered to work the golf tournament, fundraised, and came out for a really great day of golfing and networking.

At this writing, we don’t have the final tally yet because the golf tournament expenses aren’t all in, but we will end up somewhere around $75,000. We will have the check presentation in Houston before the end of the year where we can get a few of the residents and staff from Camp Hope there. Visiting the main campus at Camp Hope here in Houston is an awe inspiring experience.

On a personal note, everyone needs help from time to time. Many of us are too proud or hardheaded to ask until it is too late. I had an especially hard year, with way too many unexpected heavy issues on my plate, and I needed help. I was determined to get through it myself. But I was failing and the charity was not getting the attention it deserved. Then Hurricane Harvey visited my city at the end of August and turned everyone’s life upside down. I knew the charity was going to suffer even more, so I made the call. Just one. To Robert “Bob” Machado, MPM^® RMP^®. And Bob fixed it.

So thanks to everyone for allowing me to have the extreme honor of chairing this worthwhile event this year, but please reserve the lion’s share of the thanks to Bob and the team he put together to pick up what I couldn’t and carry it over the finish line. Thank you NARPM^® Past Presidents, Robert Machado, MPM^® RMP^®; Chris Hermanski, MPM^® RMP^®; Raymond Scarabosio, MPM^® RMP^®; and Bart Sturzl, MPM^® RMP^®, who all took the ball and ran a great event. A special shout out to the memory of Robert Winger, MPM^® RMP^®, whose unselfish volunteerism and giving was an inspiration for many who worked this event this year. Finally, thanks to all the other NARPM^® Past Presidents, NARPM^® volunteers, and NARPM^® Staff that made this event work. You should all know that the donations you made and the time you gave will definitely save lives.

Once again, thank you.          

Mike Mengden, MPM^® RMP^®

Current editions of the award-winning Residential Resources magazine is sent eleven times a year to members. Join NARPM to receive all of the benefits of membership and receive current editions.

Residential Resources: December 2017 Issue | Volume 28 | Number 11