I had no idea what to expect this Veterans day weekend. All I knew was we had built a relationship with the NY Giants over this last year and we had secured a Hug Mug party with players and staff on Veterans day. We had 13 Volunteers of which 4 are veterans with us to help us set up and run the event. It was amazing to see the support in action. Everyone around us was getting the room set up it was like that scene in Fantasia where Mickey gets the whole room cleaning then it gets out of control... Well minus the out-of-control part.  We have built a very well-oiled team of supporters to help keep our mission moving forward and we are so grateful. 

Then out of the corner of my eye, I see Coach Brian Daboll and I realized ok this is happening.  Before I knew it we were in full HicksStrong Hug Mug swing. Players were asking questions about what we do while they took time to paint a Hug Mug for a service member to receive just two days away from game day. 

Shane Lemieux - OL, Daniel Jones - QB, Justin "Jelly" Ellis -DL, Ryder Anderson - DL, Stirling Shepard - WR and so many staff members painted HicksStrong Hug Mugs for our service members to remind them they are not alone. 

 After an incredible day of painting Hug Mugs with the team and staff. Our dear friend Allison "Ally" Stangeby VP of Community and Corporate Relations provided us with 7 tickets to the Salute to Service Game on November 13th 2022.  Ally then blew our minds away with an on field presentation of a $15,000 check to HicksStrong Inc.  It took everything in me to hold back the tears. 

As if that wasn't enough Ally put the seven of us in an amazing suite with food, refreshments and an amazing view of the field. Before we knew it a large group of high ranking service members file in to the room removing their covers.  Immediately I started handing out Macoys challenge coins and letting them know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. 

Eventually we begin to talk about our story, how we lost our boy, and more importantly how we are helping!  We had several very open conversations on how we can be a source for them to help keep our service members here. 

At the end of the awesome game. We were sitting in the parking lot waiting to leave. It was taking forever. When a parking attendant drives up and directs us to an opening. So I go but just as I do Jolee see's a sailor. She asks me to stop. Now in normal situations my anxiety would have had me pulling out of there and not stopping but this time I did for some reason.  

We pull over and on go the hazards. I walk around the back and grab a Hug Mug and an envelope from the trunk. Now as I do this my eyes pan to locate the sailor and I see about 100 sailors dancing out side of an RV blasting some sweet beats.  They were all having a great time.  I located a senior officer as I was looking for the lone sailor. I proceed to tell him who we are and what we do I gave him a Hug Mug and he asked if I would like to address all the sailors. I said YES!!!!!

He proceeded to get the music turned off and calls everyone's attention. I began yelling our story telling everyone of them how much we love them. How there is access to care should they need to talk.  They just got back from deployment. One sailor (not pictured) said "we didn't lose anyone this time but we have lost 16 in our unit to suicide". They then all rushed me for a hug as I was giving them Macoys challenge coins as fast as I could. 100 challenge coins were given out, 5 Hug Mugs all with information on how to get help. 

Jolee even stopped a bus so she could get a hug from each of them. It was such a powerful moment we didn't get to capture it because we were in the moment.

​However we did manage to take a picture with and give this sailor a Hug Mug.  

Our work is far from over please consider a donation and join our mission to save military live.
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