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Bootcamp Challenge Team:
Click the team member's name for bio, photo, and goal progress.
To Donate for Your Team Member:
Donate online using our secure server and any major credit card. When completing the form select the team member's name for proper credit.
Click here for online donation form.
To donate via US Mail:
Make checks payable to MarineParents.com, Inc. Put your team member's name in the memo field for proper credit.
Mail checks to:
MarineParents.com, Inc.
c/o Team Marine Parents
PO Box 1115
Columbia, MO 65205
MarineParents.com, Inc. is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) public charity. For tax deductable information, please visit the "Donate Online" link above.
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Well I asked them to post a very short bio: Old, fat, really not athletic at all, Marine mom who has apparently completely lost her mind and has signed up to participate (notice I did not say place or even finish) in the USMC Boot Camp Challenge to raise money for the best project on the planet=The Care Package Project.
But I guess I should tell the whole story of why I am doing this. My son, LCpl Trevor W. Sewell, surprised me on my lunch hour on a cold, January Monday in 2007 to tell me that he had enlisted in the Marine Corps. I fell apart. This was not what I had in mind for my son and it terrified me! I was very proud of him but not just for this. Trevor is an amazing and wonderful young man. I began a quest for information because after all, knowledge is power and I wanted to know all I could about this choice of his.
In March, I attended a poolee competition that he was in. I discovered Marine Parents.com at this function and I spent most of the next 3 months lurking online to learn all about this new chapter in his life. I found the most wonderful place and I finally started posting on the message board. This is without a doubt the most incredibly supportive group of people I have ever had the pleasure to “meet”! The moderators and fellow parents got me through boot camp since Trevor wrote only 4 letters the entire time he was gone! I lived vicariously through the others’ letters. They were there when I got my first call and there when I went to graduation and have been there ever since.
While Trevor was at boot camp, I was perusing this site one day and stumbled upon the Care Package page. They were having a packing day in August and I decided I would attend and help. So, my sister and I got in the car and headed to Columbia from St. Louis for the day. I had so much fun, that I have been back to every one since! The Marines truly appreciate the boxes and I feel like I’m doing a little bit to show my support of them by participating in this project.
In November, I was appointed Care Package Manager, much to my surprise. I just found the title under my name on the message board one day after telling Tracy, “what ever you need”. In December, I completed my training to be a Recruit Board Moderator. In April, I attended the Marine Parents Conference in Washington DC. While there, I did the Team Marine Parents Kick off at 6am on Saturday morning. It was so much fun!
The entire year, I’ve had various people suggesting that I join Team Marine Parents and do the Boot Camp Challenge. I met a very special Marine mom in DC that has become a very good friend and she and I were contemplating doing this together. When I talked to my Marine son about it, he simply said “I don’t think you can do it Mom.” WELL, them’s fightin words!!! So, I went to the BCC website, paid my money and signed up to do this. SEE I really did lose my mind! And yes, that Marine mom signed up too! (Trish Johnson)
In my life away from MarineParents.com, I am the Executive Director of Accessible Vans of America. We rent wheelchair accessible vehicles across the country and I facilitate that for a nationwide network of mobility dealers. I also just finished my bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Business Management. In addition to my Marine, I have an older son, Nathan who is married to Whitney. Nathan is also a wonderful and amazing young man and is a very successful businessman. Nathan chose well when he married Whitney because she is also wonderful and amazing. She is currently pursuing a teaching career.
A little more about my Marine...he graduated first in his class at MOS and received a meritorious promotion to Lance Corporal. Then he went to C School in North Carolina and graduated first in that class as well. He is a reserve Marine for now and is finishing his college education. Recently, Trevor signed a contract for Officer Candidate School and has aspirations to become a pilot. I just found out that he plans to be a Marine until at least 2020. So we are in this for the long haul. He is excelling in everything he does and the Marine Corps chose well when they recruited him!
If anyone had told me this time last year that I would be so involved in this wonderful organization, I would have laughed at them. Certainly I would never have dreamed that I would be participating in Team Marine Parents. This place has enabled me to give a little back to the people who are literally in the trenches for us everyday. I’m also able to connect and share with parents and other loved ones of Marines. Although I do not get a pay check for what I do here, I think it is quite possibly the best paying job I’ve ever had! I plan to stick around for a very long time!
We are supposed to do this in honor or in memory of a Marine. Well, I’m doing this in honor of all the Marines....currently or in the past, living or passed, and in honor of this fabulous organization Marine Parents.com. It is my small token of thanks for all they have done and will continue to do. I hope I can inspire people to donate to the Care Package Project fund in my name....you know the Old, fat, not really athletic at all Marine mom who has completely lost her mind—Monica May!
| Goal $1200 Raised thus far: $842 |
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