Hi Laurie; as with anything of this nature, many challenges arise, and this is so far out of my wheel house that it’s rather taxing (sometimes all consuming, as I don’t wish to let anyone down). Having said that, we’ve come a long way, and learned a great deal.
To date we have fundraised 12k, which is a wonderful achievement in itself. I’ll also mention, that some of those funds came from pilgrims on my Camino in Sep/Oct 2015. Several pilgrims heard from others, and literally walked up and presented me with money for this initiative; that took me by surprise and gave me hope on my own camino journey.
The initiative is currently in the application stage and open until 01 May 2016, and soldiers are applying. As we have not reached our necessary funding goal as yet, this is a concern, so I have recently sent out letters to over 25 defence contractors, in the hope that they’ll help in some form, or perhaps sponsor 1 soldier. So far, 3 have declined and I’ve not heard back from the others.
Logistically, we are also reaching out to those agencies, who may be able to help us with travel arrangements and some other issues; so we are hopeful in this regard. Part of that will be about, handling earlier returns and/or injuries and such.
On a positive note, Soldier On Canada has reached out to us, and has offered $1000 dollars per participant for equipment purchases. So I am incredibly pleased about that. Additionally, a Psychologist has offered her services and provided a Pre and Post Questionnaire and will also help us choose candidates.
In essence I am trying to capture as much information as I can, so at the completion of this initiative, we’ll be submitting a project report that will include financial aspects and, with the assistance of the Psychologist Questionnaires, we can present everything that we’ve learned about what sort of individual (soldier) benefits most from completing this journey.
The projected dates are April/May 2017. We hope to have all tickets purchased and the dates finalised by mid to end Sept 2016.
So all in all and despite the personal challenges, which this has presented me, I am committed to making this happen. I’ll also be walking the Camino (at my own expense), as will some others who wish to support the soldiers.
A quick note: we had originally considered a group camino, but have now decided and feel that an individual camino may provide a better personal outcome. What changed in this regard, was when walking in 2015, I saw several groups, but noticed that they all depended on a leader and the rest just following without thought. This does not mean they can’t walk with others, but I am suggesting that they take time to walk by themselves and to meet other pilgrims enroute. Also some of the joys I found, was navigating the Camino myself and how in-tune you become to finding markers and such.
Anyway, we are hopeful it will all come together as planned.
Hope you are well.
Cheers,
Dave