Zanesville, Ohio, Chapter 29 spearheads $25,000 donation to Save a Warrior Foundation.
In August of 2023, Zanesville, Ohio, American Legion Riders Chapter 29 Director and Post 29 Executive Committee member Mark Loeffler was approached by state leadership about Post 29 hosting the department’s 2024 ALR ROMP, which brings together Legion Riders from all over the state together for a weekend.
Later on, the department began looking at ways to support the Ohio-based Save a Warrior (SAW), a nonprofit that uses evidence-based interventions for active-duty military, returning veterans and first responders to deal with their own trauma.
“At that time, I was just ramping up for the ROMP,” Loeffler said. “I took it to our post and said, ‘We’ll do this.’ We had a couple meetings within the Riders and a couple within the Legion. And then we started doing our fundraisers and everything.”
Between the fundraisers leading up to the ROMP and the activities at the ROMP itself, Chapter 29 and its post were able to donate $25,000 to SAW, presenting the donation in September.
“I never expected it to do what it did,” Loeffler said. “I was dumbfounded how the community and everything came together.”
Loeffler ran 50-50 drawing throughout the year leading up to the ROMP and also was able to solicit donations from members of the community.
Activities on the day of the ROMP included a ride, raffles, another 50-50 drawing and auctions. Loeffler said other Legion Riders chapters and posts provided items to use in the auction as well.
Post 29 also donated more than $6,000 to bring the total up to an even $25,000. But Loeffler made it a point to thank all aspects of Post 29’s American Legion Family.
“Yeah, the Riders were in control of it,” he said. “But my Auxiliary helped 100 percent. My SAL ran a gun raffle and helped donate to it. It was a family deal.”
SAW uses a residential 72-hour program at its 300-acre facility that has veterans engage in ceremony, ritual, storytelling and story listening, experiences that locate, identify and resolve the source of moral injury pain. The focus is addressing complex PTSD and distinguishing formative trauma from moral injury.
In August during The American Legion National Convention in New Orleans, the Legion’s TBI/PTSD Suicide Prevention Committee received a briefing from SAW President and founder Dr. Jake Clark.
“Their contribution alone saves five Warriors, nearly half a cohort, and THAT is a BIG DEAL!” SAW Director of Development Suzette Heller, who served as adjutant of the American Legion Department of Ohio for more than three years, said via email.
Loeffler said the cause of dealing with trauma and suicide prevention resonates with him. “Being a Desert Storm vet, I’ve seen a lot of my friends that suffered with PTSD,” he said. “I even know guys within the post, they’ve got to sit facing front doors. It struck close to home.”
- Riders