06/18/2024
Where it all began……
I’ve always had my mama’s gift of being able to picture something in my mind or have someone describe what is in their mind lol, and make it come to fruition. May not always be the orthodox way of doing it, but it always turns out exactly how it was pictured. Since I was a young mama and was able to stay home while my kiddos were in school, I quickly joined PTA/PTSA and became the chairperson for the hospitality and the teacher appreciation committees. These were the party and event committees!!! I got to plan, decorate, and host every school party and event, including celebrating the teachers and staff every year. It was so much fun and probably some of my best years. They would ask me why I don’t do this for a living, but my confidence wasn’t where it needed to be, so I continued just doing as a donation for all they did for my kiddos. That progressed into events outside the schools, birthdays, end of year parties, and even weddings. My mother and I did 5 weddings in about 7 years for friends and family. ALL FREE!!! They of course paid for the supplies. Lol The labor was a labor of love and it will continue to be, with minimal charge! Lol While it is a lot of work, the end results are so rewarding that I decided I wanted to learn more, so I would have the confidence. I went to school and graduated with honors for Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management with a focus on Event Planning and Floral Design.
I thought I was just going to be an event planner. Lol I was wrong about the “just”, and found myself being led on a slightly different but better plan.
I was being led by The Most High to start a nonprofit. Side note: Your personal beliefs don’t matter to us when it comes to planning your special event, but our path is to follow The Almighty where He is leading us. Our goal is, through Him, we provide you with an event that goes above and beyond your wildest imagination. Back to my story lol……
So, as I was graduating with my HRTM degree in 2016, I felt an urge to go into psychology. Lol Let me explain. No, I don’t need to know the inner workings of the mind to design floral arrangements and plan delightful events, however it does help when you may have a client with special needs or a disability. Lol
My husband is a 100% disabled veteran. We have been together 13 years and married 9. We were given our wedding as a Military Appreciation gift in May of 2015. We have struggled, like so many, with figuring out the ropes of managing disabilities after combat. After many years of therapy, me going to school for psychology - trauma and military family resilience, and figuring things out as we go, we felt led to start a nonprofit to provide a place for veterans to go when in crisis. We wanted to pay back for what we were given and all our many blessings!
I’m gonna break off here a bit to talk about the military and civil servant crisis we have in the US. I’m not sure of the statistics for all civil servants, but for military, there are 22+ su***des per day. I know it is increasing for civil servants, with good reason. We want to do whatever we can to help slow that process until they find a way to stop it. There are a few amazing treatment facilities across the country, but there is a wait to get in almost all of them. They need your medical and military/service records which usually take time to come up with. There are many needing help and few facilities that actually impact lives. The VA turns MANY away that are suicidal. My husband was fortunate enough to go to the best therapy program for PTSD and TBI’s, SHARE Military Initiative at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. Many don’t go because at the time they are willing to make the changes or need the help, they can’t get in. And when not in crisis, they don’t want to admit anything is wrong. When in that triggered moment of crisis, they seem to have no where to run to that is positive and not drugs, alcohol, and su***de. We have lost too many!!!
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury. These are a couple of the many invisible wounds that so many have but go undiagnosed or ignored. When in a triggered crisis, due to brain damage, they are unable to make real logical decisions and most of the time, all they can think about is negative. They get stuck in a loop of negative thoughts that they can’t get out of. Many times they have no idea what caused the trigger. Could even be caused by a nightmare they don’t remember having. Those closest people to them, get all the frustrations. Therapy can help but it takes months to retrain the brain and they have to admit there is a problem and then seek proper help. Since there is a shortage of proper help with a waiting list to get in, we wanted to provide a place they can escape to NOW, while in crisis! And then set up their next steps to get that proper help, hopefully streamlining the process so it takes less time to get in. We hope to build bridges with those facilities, as well as other nonprofits who provide education and support to veterans/civil servants and their spouses/family members. We want to provide family events where the families can get out with other families like them, to socialize and have fun. Then, when crisis arises, maybe they will think of us as a place to escape to, where they are safe and with people who understand what they are going through. We wanted to provide at least 1 Civil Servant wedding and 2 baby showers per year to help with those costs that aren’t in the budget for those working the low level government jobs, or those who were injured doing these selfless acts.
After graduating from Liberty in 2018, with the knowledge I felt I needed to run the nonprofit and help families, I felt a calling in February 2019 to host our 1st Military Appreciation wedding. With the help of our best friends and family, we pulled off a fully donated $25,000 gorgeous wedding, without having a 501c3! It was a struggle, but we all made it to the other side with smiles and tons of beautiful memories! Then, 2020 put a halt on everything!!!
During that time, we found property and our home, I was diagnosed with cancer, fought it for 2 years and won, and decided we didn’t want to run our nonprofit through the government (although that may change😘). We were able to pull together a spectacular marital event without their help and we can do it again!!!
So, Operation To Honor is our new baby, that we will work amazing things through Him who leads us and gives us strength, to use to help more selfless servants!
If you chose to hire us to handle all your event or wedding plans, we will use what we make to help others in crisis. In other words, we are working and running this business in order to pay for our nonprofit events and eventually lodging for those crisis moments. Our plans are HUGE and we can only do it through your support by hiring us!!!
There are big plans underway for Operation To Honor, where your event will go towards honoring others who have chosen to serve us all, via Operation Peacekeeper!
This is where honoring others begins as your journey continues beautifully!
Operation: To Honor, a SERVING company! We take “paying it forward” to the next level.
