Polar Bear Run for Military and First Responders
Donation protected
**Update Feb 12, 2019** Thank you so much to everyone who donated. Not only did I reach my $1500 goal and complete the run but with your help and support (and donations!) we ended up over double the initial goal. I'll be sending the money to St Joe's OSI later this week but truly, none of this would have been possible without YOU. Thank you again!
My name is Craig Bongelli and if I reach $1500 in donations I'll be running the Waterloo 8/13km Mile "Re-Fridgee-Eighter" Run in the outfit below to support Military and First Responders suffering from PTSD:
Here's why:
Last summer I joined the Canadian Forces. During my Basic Training I met, and was under the command of, Warrant Officer Tim Nightingale.
Warrant Nightingale was, and is, a major inspiration for me within the military and is an example of the type of person I joined the Canadian Forces looking to find.
Throughout my Basic Training I've had the opportunity to learn about a variety of subjects integral to military life including some of the realities of combat from Warrant Nightingale who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.
Going into the Military I had heard about, and thought I understood, the basics of PTSD - it was Warrant Nightingale's story that really opened my eyes to what brave men and women, both within the Forces as well as First Responders, go through and what inspired this GoFundMe.
Warrant Nightingale experienced extreme PTSD from his time serving overseas, but not from anything I would have expected, his came from an extreme sense of duty, courage and heroism.
Warrant Nightingale came home fighting demons from believing that he could have done more to save his fellow soldiers from an explosive blast - from survivors' guilt.
You can "meet" Warrant Nightingale in the video below and learn more about his story - which has a happy ending - but the idea that there are members of the Military and First Responders walking around, dealing with horrific mental injuries due to the fact that they didn't, or couldn't, save everyone is (and was) a shocking idea to me.
The level of courage and selflessness that it must take for someone to not only put themselves in harm's way to save someone else but to be tortured by the idea that they made it out alive without bringing everyone else along with them is awe-inspiring to me.
This is what made it so easy for me to support heroes like Warrant Nightingale.
Every penny donated here, regardless of the final amount, will be donated directly to charity so even if you're not in a position to donate even sharing this page would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for reading and for more information about Warrant Nightingale's story please click HERE.
My name is Craig Bongelli and if I reach $1500 in donations I'll be running the Waterloo 8/13km Mile "Re-Fridgee-Eighter" Run in the outfit below to support Military and First Responders suffering from PTSD:
Here's why:
Last summer I joined the Canadian Forces. During my Basic Training I met, and was under the command of, Warrant Officer Tim Nightingale.
Warrant Nightingale was, and is, a major inspiration for me within the military and is an example of the type of person I joined the Canadian Forces looking to find.
Throughout my Basic Training I've had the opportunity to learn about a variety of subjects integral to military life including some of the realities of combat from Warrant Nightingale who was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.
Going into the Military I had heard about, and thought I understood, the basics of PTSD - it was Warrant Nightingale's story that really opened my eyes to what brave men and women, both within the Forces as well as First Responders, go through and what inspired this GoFundMe.
Warrant Nightingale experienced extreme PTSD from his time serving overseas, but not from anything I would have expected, his came from an extreme sense of duty, courage and heroism.
Warrant Nightingale came home fighting demons from believing that he could have done more to save his fellow soldiers from an explosive blast - from survivors' guilt.
You can "meet" Warrant Nightingale in the video below and learn more about his story - which has a happy ending - but the idea that there are members of the Military and First Responders walking around, dealing with horrific mental injuries due to the fact that they didn't, or couldn't, save everyone is (and was) a shocking idea to me.
The level of courage and selflessness that it must take for someone to not only put themselves in harm's way to save someone else but to be tortured by the idea that they made it out alive without bringing everyone else along with them is awe-inspiring to me.
This is what made it so easy for me to support heroes like Warrant Nightingale.
Every penny donated here, regardless of the final amount, will be donated directly to charity so even if you're not in a position to donate even sharing this page would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for reading and for more information about Warrant Nightingale's story please click HERE.
Organizer
Craig Bongelli
Organizer
Kitchener, ON
