“I have been involved with TMF before Travis’ story ever had to be told.” It has taken me almost 20 years to come up with this simple but oh so meaningful one-sentence response when anyone now asks me how I became involved with the Travis Manion Foundation.
TMF and its work on behalf of veterans, families of fallen heroes, and youth are deeply personal to me. Not just because I am a DoD civilian helping contribute to ensuring the safety of our warfighters, and not just because I have been a USNA Sponsor Mom for the past +20 years; but as “The Voice of Navy Wrestling,” I had the privilege of announcing Travis during his entire competitive career at the Academy. As I got to know Travis, I got to know his family as they came to every home match and often hit the road for the away ones. Wherever Navy Wrestling was, the Manion family was there in some capacity.
It has been a unique seat for me to both watch and contribute to the growth in impact and scale of TMF since its founding. Along my journey I have met more incredible people than I can count, one that so far has spanned being the Race Director for the Annapolis 9/11 Heroes Run, the co-coordinator for numerous Operation Legacy service projects, a speaker at several Manion WODs, a mentor to youth in the Character Does Matter program, launching and leading The Honor Project at the United States Naval Academy, a participant in TMF’s Extortion 17 Memorial Ruck, and now being the Chapter Leader for TMF Annapolis. In all of these opportunities and more, I have been given the most amazing gift; the ability to connect with and make a difference in people’s lives, even in the smallest of ways.
The beauty of what Travis’ mom Janet started in TMF, and that is carried on to this day by Travis’ sister Ryan and his father Tom, himself a retired Marine, is five-fold: 1) the unwavering support given to veterans, 2) the care given to surviving families of the fallen, 3) the instilling of character and leadership in today’s youth, 4) the notion that service to each other and community is important, and 5) providing the opportunity every year in 90+ locations around the the world to not just remember and honor all whom we have lost since 9/11, but to express our gratitude to and for our incredible first responders for what they do every day.
My hope is that we all endeavor to care for one another as humans and we choose to contribute something of meaning as part of the precious life each of us has been granted. I will conclude by simply saying this; TMF serves as a beacon of hope for many who thought they had none and strives to impact lives every day. Ask yourself “If Not Me Then Who,” and what you then do with the answer you come up with may just surprise you.