I want to tell everyone who has contributed to the Veterans Green Bus Project how grateful I am to you.
I want to tell everyone who has contributed to the Veterans Green Bus Project how grateful I am to you.
Veterans Green Jobs Founding Executive Director and Board of Directors for believing in my concept of training veterans to make biodiesel from used cooking oil to fuel disaster relief vehicles and reconstruction efforts. They invested in my first bio diesel plant in 2009. And they purchased the Veterans Green Bus "Large Marge" for me to take veterans from across the country to attend the Veterans Green Jobs training programs in Colorado.
While I was with them veterans learned about energy conservation and sustainability, how to rebuild historic log cabins for the National Parks and Forest Service and they secured contracts and began weatherizing 1200 homes a year in 9 counties of the Alamosa Valley and the City of Denver, CO. By April of last year that ended for me because of funding dried up from the government with one months notice. Proving to me that my concept of the Veterans Green Bus Project would not be sustainable under federal funding contracts. So, I purchased the bus from Veterans Green Bus and folded the program under United Peace Relief, INC, who thankfully, has been helping me since 2006 when after hurricane Katrina. That is when I started to design my first biodiesel plant with Steve Richter. We fueled a tractor and cleared lots in the Lower Ninth Ward for people who wanted to rebuild. Eventually, Brad Pitt and his Make It Right NOLA program began building sustainable energy homes on the very lots we saved from being seized by the city.
To Team Rubicon USA for believing in my concepts of using my military RADMF Team development and Veterans Green Job experience to establish a energy sustainable disaster response efforts after hurricane Sandy at forward operating base Hope in Rockaway, New York. I also want to thank them be believing in my concept of building a WVO fuel system for The Veterans Green bus. Their investment has proven to reduce the cost of transporting the Veterans Green Bus full of tools supplies and volunteers by over 90%!.
I also want to thank everyone who has helped the Veterans Green Bus Project during and after hurricane Sandy. Rocky Mountain Truck Service in Denver, CO for getting on the road in time. To the Home Depot Foundation for the donations of tools to Team Rubicon, The original Team Rubicon crew David, Jake, Joe, Adam, and Jessica from Chicago. A special thanks to Kim and Mark Shelly and Don and Deb McCabe, Freddie Pacsina amd Ed Shevlin all of Rockaway NY. They have been helping the Team Rubicon crews and the bus since we arrived in Rockaway in Nov of 2012.
We recently had a set back in our plans to tour the country demonstrating these technologies and assisting when the next natural disaster hits. The electrical fire has forced me to cancel all the events we had with the Illinois Institute of Technology, EarthFair in San Diego, and most upsetting to me is that we won't be able to have the Veterans Green Bus at Willie Nelsons' 80th Birth Day Party in Austin Texas at the end of this month.
The bus and I are in Roanoke, VA. where our last event to gather instruments for Rockaway NY music students was a great success. We have over 30 instruments ready to go. As soon as I fix the bus, I will be returning to Rockaway to finish our final hurricane Sandy mission.
I want to thank Jake Kimmel who hitchhiked out of Montana to respond to Hurricane Sandy and stayed with the Veterans Green Bus an additional 3 months to help after Team Rubicon turned FOB HOPE operational control over to long term relief organizations New York Cares, Americorps and the Conservation Corps. He is now organizing earth day events in Montana as well as raising money to repair the bus and get the instruments to New York. He plans on getting back on the bus as soon as we are ready to roll.
I want to thank everyone in Roanoke,VA who has heard about our misfortune and responded with gracious hospitality and support to keep me believing that the bus can be repaired and I will be on the road again soon. The Roanoke Times and Dan Casey for his front page article and blog posts, Local VFW Post, The owners and management of The Colony House, Woods Towing, and individuals like Billy Vinyard for the use of his property in Vinton to store the bus and Suzan Osborne for the use of her Jeep. To Bill HUdson for storing the buses tools and supplies and to Greg Greenstein for the housing. The Salem Red Sox for inviting us to table at their opening weekend game and to everyone who called me to offer donations, encouragement and prayers for our successful recovery of Large Marge.
Thank You all for supporting this veterans continuing service to help other veterans learn they too can demonstrate a sustainable solution to a natural or man made disaster.
When we care enough about sustainability to learn and to teach our passion to serve can live on past our efforts and that is pretty sustainable.