Tim Hortons - National Day of Honour Fail

The National Day Of Honour was on May 9th, 2014 to honour all Canadian men & women who served during the Afghanistan mission.   On May 6th Tim Hortons posted the following on their web page.

Their Twitter post was one of the most retweeted updates on the National Day Of Honour tag and not long after posting this on our "Thank A Soldier" Facebook page we began receiving messages & comments from military members (That were in full uniform) who went to their local Tim Hortons after the National Day Of Honour parades and were told that such a promo didn't exist and they would have to pay for their coffees.

The post on our Facebook page received 45 shares and was seen by 19,000 people.

Here's the update on their website.

Also the following was posted on their Twitter feed.

Numerous messages like this began to come in : 

I guess the "Memo" never made it to all Tim Hortons as we have reports now from over one hundred members of the Canadian Forces who went to Tim Horton's locations in eight different provinces and were told they never received any word of such a promotion from head office and were told they would have to pay for their coffees regardless of what day it was.

Almost 24 hours ago I posted the following on our @Thankasoldier Twitter feed but received no reply from @TimHortons on Twitter.

My question to Tim Horton's is that if you are going to post something on your web page & on your national Twitter feed wouldn't you make sure that every location in Canada is aware of it to avoid this kind of thing?

If you went to a Timmies on the National Day of Honour and were told the same thing feel free to leave a comment on this blog.

Thanks

Losing Weight To Help Homeless & at risk Veterans

In September 2013 I started a weight-loss challenge and as I have tried and failed many times I wanted to come up with a way to stay motivated and not fail again.  "Lose For Food" was born.  I decided I was going to help out two charities with my mission "The Calgary Food Bank" & "V.E.T.S Canada"

I pledged that I would donate $1.00 for every pound I lost in the next 365 days as well as one pound of food for every pound that I lose to the Calgary Food Bank.

Here we are almost nine months later and I have lost 70lbs so far.

Yesterday while checking my email I noticed an email from Anytime Fitness which is the gym where I currently work out.  The email stated they were starting a contest called "Get 10,000 & Give 10,000"

They're giving away $10,000 to the most inspiring story and that person receives $10,000 to pay it forward to someone.

I instantly thought of the folks at V.E.T.S Canada to receive the $10k as I have worked very closely with them over the past few years and have seen first hand the great work they do with Veterans who need assistance.

What would I do with the $10,000 I receive if I win this?  The first thing I will do is buy my lbs in weight-loss in food and donate it to the Calgary Food Bank and top that donation up to $500 along side of it.

I also found out back in November that me and my lady are going to be having our first child in the first few weeks of July.  This money would help us out a lot with things we're going to need for the little one.

A lot of people have asked how I'm losing the weight well the answer is simple, I'm working my a$$ off.  I go to the gym five times a week now and do cardio every day and some circuit training every 2nd day.  I have cut out junk food, pop and take out food and replaced with healthy meals & drink a lot of water.

The original pledge I made to the Calgary Food Bank & VETS Canada helps me stay motivated.  On days when I don't feel like going to the gym I think about the people I'm going to be able to help if I keep working hard and that usually lights a fire under me.

The "Give 10k Get 10k" contest is for all of North America so it's going to take a lot to help us take this one home and be able to donate $10,000 to V.E.T.S Canada as well.

Please consider going to the link below and sending a vote my way & sharing the link to this page on your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ ect.

If you have never heard of our "Thank A Soldier" page and efforts feel free to check out "The History of Thank A Soldier" 

Thank You
Dave M. - Calgary, AB

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR MY STORY 

Tweet

Losing Weight to help homeless Veterans http://t.co/1jbWZzHqS3 #Lose4food @AnytimeFitness
— Thankasoldier (@ThankASoldier) April 26, 2014

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR FACEBOOK POST AND CLICK THE SHARE BUTTON 

Sapper Brian Collier on Saturday Memorial Hockey Tournament

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to spread the word about the memorial ball hockey tournament my family and I are coordinating for my brother, Sapper Brian Collier on Saturday. Brian was killed on 20 July, 2010 at the young age of 24, in Afghanistan while deployed with the Canadian Forces. Brian was an adventurous, whole hearted, amazing guy and loved sports. 

Brian played hockey all his life, so we thought this was a perfect way to honour him.

 If anyone is around the area and would like to come out for it, you are more than welcome. It is being held in Bradford, Ontario on Brian Collier Way. It is an outdoor tournament with Tim Horton's (in the morning), a BBQ, a silent auction, special guests Johnny Bower (a WWII veteran), the Good Brothers and some of Brian's comrades from Afghanistan. 

All of the money raised on Saturday will be donated to the scholarship funds that we have set up at the local high schools, Heart of a Hero, the Wounded Warriors fund, and to the Bradford Ball Hockey Association. 

We hope you can come out and support this amazing cause, and watch some hockey.

Shannon Collier



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KISS Ticket Giveaway

Rock Legends KISS are coming to Calgary, Alberta on Saturday July 13th and we have provided tickets & passes to meet the band to give away to members of our military past & present.

WE WANT YOU....... to nominate military personnel to attend this concert and also if you are a Veteran or currently serving soldier you are free to enter yourself as well.  The instructions on how to enter and what email to send are below.

We met Shannon Tweed on Twitter several years ago and her and Gene Simmons submitted a photo for our “Gratitude Project” we did on YouTube over three years ago. Shannon has also been very helpful with retweeting a lot of our projects and missions on Twitter and we are very thankful for that.

Last year when KISS & Motley Crue played a show in Toronto they also gave away passes & tickets to our friends at Military Minds to give away for that show and they all had an amazing night so we’re really looking forward to this.

We will not be doing this through “Thank A Soldier” for any of their other dates just the Calgary show. Everyone is welcome to enter but travel costs to get here if chosen as a winner will not be included. 

NOTE : We'll be drawing the names on June 15th as the concert is on July 13th and anyone needing to make travel plans or time off work this will give them time for that.

Thanks 
Dave Murphy - TAS 

HOW TO ENTER : 

1. Answer the question below & email your answer to Kiss@Thankasoldier.net please also include the name of the military member you are nominating and they're contact info.

In November 2011 myself and a member of the Canadian Forces got to meet Shannon Tweed & Gene Simmons at the Grey Cup, what was the name of the soldier who attended with me? (Hint : Answer may be found here) 

2. Share our KISS – Calgary Facebook photo 

Rules & Regulations : - Contest is open to all members of our military past & present within North America. 
- Flight & other travel expenses to Calgary, Alberta is not included.

- One entry per person

- Contest only open to Veterans & Currently Military Personnel 

Fake Starbucks Email circulating again

Last night someone messaged me a post about how "Starbucks doesn't support the troops" and how they should be boycotted.  I knew this was instantly false with my work with the folks at Hero To Hero US & Hero To Hero Team Canada.

This is a write up from their site  you can read their full write up here from 2003

What?! You heard Starbucks doesn't support the troops? That is soooo 2003 ... And so not true! You've probably gotten a copy of that old email -- I can't get an e-mail out about the good things being done for the troops but that e-mail goes round & round! Here's the retraction to that original e-mail and the facts behind the whole fiasco.  

I noticed that the fake post had over 120,000 shares, I'm posting this to see how many the REAL story can receive.

The Hero to Hero US program is not currently in operation but the Hero To Hero Team Canada program does continue.  You can check them out here

Please consider sharing our Facebook photo and spreading something positive.

Guitars For Vets - Canada

Jim Lowther a veteran of two tours to Bosnia and part of the first wave of Canadian troops to enter Afghanistan after 9-11 is the founder of Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) a movement whose goal is to help veterans struggling to adjust to normal life.

Jim's new project Guitar For Vets Canada is a place for Veterans to come together with physical and mental disabilities to work through their problems through the power of music, while learning to play guitar at the same time.

I wanted to start Guitars For Vets because when I was at my worst with PTSD I started playing my guitar and I would just go away for awhile and it was a great way to clear my mind. I want to give every VET who suffers with PTSD A chance to get away from the noise in there heads for a short time, I mentioned this to a couple of my friends and they were all for it so I went on the net too look around to see if anyone else thought of this idea, this was before I started VETSCanada about 2 years ago.

I found Guitars For Vets in the US they were having great success with this idea and have helped many VETS through music because music is the key to healing yourself.

The Goal for Guitars4VETSCanada is to start up groups in every province so veterans with mental or physical injuries can learn to play guitar by an instructor, the groups will be no less than 3 VETS and at the end of the 10 classes each Veteran gets a new guitar and case and tuner and music book to keep going and stay on the road to healing themselves through music. Everyone who helps in this will all be volunteers and donations will go to start new G4VC's in new cities and to by Guitars 4 Vets"I wanted to start this earlier but VETS Canada was so busy I couldn't but our VETS need something to stop the noise and I feel the time is right, we are looking for anyone who would like to sponsor us so if anyone is able to spread the word that would be great."

 - Jim Lowther CD, CEO, Founder, VETSCanada.

CLICK TO LIKE G4V CANADA ON FACEBOOK 

Here is the video about the G4V program in the U.S.A 

Sgt Elton Adams - PTSD Awareness

In May 2010 we launched a video called "The Battle Of The Mind - Operational Stress & PTSD" with the use of the song "Hard" by Sgt Elton Adams.  That video to date has received over 57,000 views and Elton & I decided it was time to make a new one.  The video for Elton's song "Beat Up" features the faces of soldiers as a lot of our men and women come home injured & wounded but to most people their wounds aren't visible.

Sgt Elton Adams recently entered the CBC Searchlight contest and what started with over 3000 bands we were able to help him get to the top 8 but did not make it past that.  Even though the CBC chose to put the top 16 in a "Head To Head battle, for us it wasn't about that, it was about getting music with a purpose out there and I think we were successful with that.



Here is the video we launched together in 2010 :