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Maj. Dan Rooney and the Folds of Honor Foundation provide scholarships — and hope — for families of fallen and disabled veterans.
There’s something about the Wild Fork.
For Maj. Dan Rooney, it’s a place where magic happens. In the three years since starting his foundation, Folds of Honor, which provides education scholarships to spouses and children of injured and fallen servicemen and women, Rooney has found some of his most passionate partners and supporters through breakfast meetings at the Utica Square restaurant.
It is where he first met Ed Pulido, a decorated Iraq War veteran who lost his leg in the line of duty. After meeting Rooney, Pulido left his job at the United Way of Central Oklahoma to become Folds of Honor’s senior vice president of development. It is also where Rooneuy met Sanjay Meshri, managing director of Advanced Research Chemicals, who became not only a close friend but also one of Folds of Honor’s first board members. And, just over a year ago, the Wild Fork was the meeting place for Rooney, Thom Bowen and Barb Risenhoover, then-president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Oklahoma, whose members are in the process of building the foundation its first headquarters — donating all of the supplies and labor.
As Rooney sits in the Utica Square Starbucks, located just across the way from the Wild Fork, he says he is still amazed at the growth Folds of Honor has experienced in such a short span. Its signature fund-raiser, Patriot Golf Day, raised more than $3 million last September, and the foundation has distributed hundreds of scholarships to spouses and children of fallen and disabled veterans.
The foundation’s golf course, The Patriot, is in its final stages and will raise even more funds for scholarship recipients. Folds of Honor also boasts a “who’s who” of supporters from the national golf arena — from Joe Steranka, PGA of America CEO, to Golf Digest Editor Roger Schiffman.
In fact, Jim Remy, president of The PGA of America, offers this commendation: “There is no greater cause for Americans than the support of those men and women of our Armed Services who have put their lives on the line for the defense of our country. And the Folds of Honor Foundation ... has been an inspiration to us all.”
Yet, even with all this success, Rooney is as optimistic and forward-thinking as ever. Sitting casually in jeans and a short-sleeved polo shirt with The Patriot’s logo emblazoned on the front, he shares stories of the families he has helped and his desire to reach even more. He is looking forward to moving in to the new foundation headquarters to continue doing the work he calls his life’s “mission” and “purpose.” For Rooney, who served three tours in Iraq and continues to fly F-16 sorties as an Air Force reservist, a flight-oriented cliché is fitting.
“Once it’s gotten started, the sky is the limit,” he says of the foundation. “We’re only 29 months old … and we’re in a place where it’s really getting started.”
A call to action
There is one element of Rooney’s Wild Fork breakfast meetings that is, perhaps, most effective in drawing supporters to his cause. It is the story behind the experience that inspired Folds of Honor. And although he’s likely shared it countless times, he injects each retelling with description and emotion, making each listener feel as if he or she is the first to hear it.
A few months after completing his third stint in Iraq in 2006, Rooney was boarding a plane traveling from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Mich., where he and his dad owned “a sleepy little golf club on Lake Michigan in Grand Haven,” Rooney says. As he walked through first class to his seat in coach, Rooney noticed a young man in his dress Army uniform. He didn’t think much of it, other than appreciation for whomever secured the serviceman a first-class seat.
Just after midnight, the plane pulled into the gate, and Rooney heard the captain announce over the loudspeaker, “We have an American hero on board.” There was a slight pause and he continued, “We’re carrying the remains of Cpl. Brock Bucklin, who was killed in Iraq. His twin brother, Cpl. Brad Bucklin, has brought him the 6,000 miles home.”
The captain finished that sobering statement with a plea. He asked all passengers to remain in their seats until Bucklin’s body had been removed as a sign of respect for his sacrifice. As instructed, Rooney remained in place, watching the next events unfold through the airplane window.
He watched as the coffin was removed from the underside of the plane, draped with an American flag. He saw Bucklin’s family. Then his gaze shifted to an unforgettable, and, for Rooney, life-changing sight: a 4-year-old boy he would later learn to be Brock Bucklin’s son, held in the arms of his grandmother.
“Having daughters of my own, there’s a great deal of empathy,” Rooney says. “But there’s also a lot of fear. What if that’s my family? What if the tide ever turns on us? Who’s going to be there? What’s the next chapter?”
Shaken, Rooney turned to look back at the seats behind him. He says he was “blown away” to see that half of the passengers had departed the plane.
“At that moment, it hit me like a flash of light that this is what I’m supposed to do,” he says. “At the end of the day, everybody shares that common mind that we’re searching for a purpose; we’re searching for fulfillment as human beings. … I was so angry and so sad and all these things wrapped up into one.”
Rooney immediately called his wife, Jacqy, and shared his experience. She was supportive of his newfound mission, but neither of them was sure which direction this revelation would take them.
The following summer, Rooney, who is also a PGA professional, hosted a small tournament at his club in Michigan. He raised $8,000 and donated it to a nonprofit organization benefiting veterans. And while it felt fulfilling to raise the funds and share them with a worthy cause, Rooney says it was a “drop in the bucket” compared to the 90,000 dependents in the country who have had a family member killed or disabled in Iraq or Afghanistan.
He wanted to do something bigger.
The epiphany came seven or eight months later. Rooney woke up one morning with the idea for Patriot Golf Day: He would contact golf courses across the country and ask golfers to add an extra dollar or more to their green fees, with proceeds benefiting scholarships for military spouses and families. Rooney immediately captured his idea in a one-page e-mail that he sent to a variety of bigwigs in the professional golf arena — Golf Digest’s Schiffman; Jim Nantz of CBS Sports; and Brian Whitcomb, president of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA).
Unsure of whether he would even receive a return e-mail, Rooney waited. Then the responses came. Schiffman called it “a crazy idea,” but he loved it. Nantz loved the concept and would put his full support behind it. Whitcomb said he “couldn’t think of any more noble thing for the PGA to get involved with,” Rooney says.
“It’s divine in a lot of ways,” Rooney says. “It started here in Tulsa (and it) was the first time anyone ever heard one thing about Patriot Golf Day.”
Although national publicity about Patriot Golf Day was aired during the 2007 PGA Championship, Rooney expected only about 500 golf courses to get involved. However, that Labor Day weekend, when Patriot Golf Day is held, 3,300 golf courses across the country participated, raising $1.1 million.
In 2008, Patriot Golf Day generated double that amount. And Rooney says all indications point to the 2009 event, which included 4,480 courses, as being an even bigger success, raising at least $2 million.
As a result, Folds of Honor has distributed nearly 600 scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen and disabled servicemen and women.
The first scholarship recipient: Jacob Bucklin, the now-7-year-old son of the soldier who inspired Rooney to create the foundation.
But Rooney is far from done.
Making an impact
When deciding how he could best help military families, Rooney immediately thought of education. His father, John Rooney, was director of the geography department at Oklahoma State University for 30 years, instilling in his son an appreciation for the impact education can have on a person’s life.
Education will most certainly change the lives of Kaitlin and Kinsley Pulido, the 8- and 3-year-old daughters of Ed Pulido. The U.S. Army major was serving a combat tour in Baquoba, Iraq, in August 2004 when he hit a roadside bomb. The resulting injuries led to the amputation of Pulido’s left leg.
As he lay bleeding on 128-degree pavement, Pulido says he had an epiphany — he thought about his daughter and who would care for her (his second daughter was not yet born), and he thought about the other young servicemen and women who could one day be in his position.
“I thought that if I got a second chance at life from God that I would come back to help those service members and their families in providing the resources that they need to be successful,” he says.
Soon after his return to Oklahoma, Pulido met Dan Rooney’s brother-in-law, Bob Hartstad, with whom he discussed ways to help veterans. That led to a meeting with Rooney in Tulsa, where Pulido learned that his daughters would be the recipients of two scholarships. Although each child qualified for an educational benefit from the Veterans’ Administration, Pulido recognized that a Folds of Honor scholarship could make the highest-quality education possible.
“To me, that is the most important thing is for them to continue in the path of ... (being) educated,” he says.
Pulido says he realized during that meeting with Rooney that his calling was to help spouses and children through Folds of Honor. At the time, the foundation was focusing on families of fallen servicemen and women. Pulido wanted to broaden that scope to the disabled and wounded veterans and their families.
Now, the former Army officer, along with Rooney, is a spokesperson and fund-raising agent for the foundation, and is involved with recruiting eligible scholarship applicants. He and Rooney also travel together frequently to meet scholarship recipients.
The need is significant. As of Oct. 9, 2009, in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom alone, 5,217 American military men and women have been killed and 35,725 have been disabled. The average age of these veterans is 26, and more than half are married with an average of 2.5 dependents per family. However, 82 percent of disabled veterans’ families do not qualify for veterans’ educational benefits, and, Pulido says, if a veteran’s disability is rated 99 percent or below by the Veterans’ Administration, his or her spouse and family receive no educational support. This includes veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, amputations and other disabilities.
Pulido’s daughters would not have qualified for aid, as his amputation resulted in only a 90 percent disability classification when he was discharged from the U.S. Military in 2005. But Pulido was re-evaluated two years later and given above a 100 percent disability classification because of a traumatic brain injury.
“The family is always the one who has to deal with that service member, and at times, they’re the ones that struggle with how to deal with their loved one, understanding what they went through in combat,” Pulido says. “ … I serve this mission for those young service members that don’t make all the money in the world, and it’s been hard for them. I work for them, and that’s the commitment and the promise I made in the battlefield when that young combat medic saved my life on that day.”
Education is not the only service Folds of Honor provides. Pulido notes that when the foundation receives calls from families, he and other staff members also help them find services for their “mental, physical and holistic health,” he says. He visits veterans’ hospitals and medical centers across the country to tell veterans about Folds of Honor scholarships, provide information and referrals for veterans’ services and share information about medical services such as prosthetics. (He also serves as a peer visitor with the Amputee Coalition of America.)
These visits, along with Patriot Golf Day and speaking engagements, have resulted in national attention for Folds of Honor. Pulido emphasizes that efforts must continue to be made to educate Americans about the needs of veterans.
“What we can do as a country is change the world through education for (the families of) our nation’s heroes,” he says. “That would be my dream and my vision is that no one is left behind in the field of battle and that all spouses and children are educated and the Folds of Honor stands ready to deliver, along with the American people, on that promise.”
A sense of patriotism
Beyond providing scholarships for veterans’ families, Ginny Creveling, Folds of Honor president and chief operating officer, says the organization serves a broader purpose — a purpose evident in the foundation staff’s recent visit to a New York Yankees game.
Before the game, during which Yankees owner George Steinbrenner donated the Yankees’ suite for the foundation’s use, the announcer shared Ed Pulido’s story over the loudspeaker as Pulido, his family, Creveling, Rooney and wife Jacqy entered the field. Pulido then turned and saluted each side of the stadium, and the crowd responded with thunderous applause, Creveling says.
“That’s what we’re here to do is give Americans some opportunity to feel that (patriotism),” she says. “ … We know patriotism when we feel it, and we like it. It makes us all want to be better people.”
Creveling felt that patriotism when she first heard Rooney’s story more than a year ago. She knew that she wanted to help the foundation in any way she could, so when Rooney asked her to join Folds of Honor’s staff last May, she couldn’t say “no.”
“I like to tell people that he had me from ‘hello,’” she says. “It’s such a great cause.”
Sanjay Meshri was similarly moved when he met Rooney three years ago through mutual friends. Now, as a board member, Meshri helps monitor how the foundation is doing financially, helps raise awareness and exposure for the foundation and provides staff support. He says that before getting involved with Folds of Honor, he had no idea what happened to families of veterans, particularly in regard to education.
“It’s changed me, as it does a lot of people,” he says.
He says he continues to be inspired each day by Rooney’s dedication to helping others grow. And as he’s learned more about the need, Meshri feels further driven to raise additional funds to help the thousands of families who need support.
“I hope it goes from $2 million to $10 million and takes care of everyone,” he says of the foundation. “That would be our true rainbow.”
Reaching that goal may not be far away. On Memorial Day 2010, The Patriot golf course will open to the public in Owasso. Designed by renowned golf course architect Robert Jones Jr., The Patriot will feature holes named after great American patriots, from George Washington to Martin Luther King Jr. to the Wright Brothers. When a golfer joins the club, a percentage of his or her initiation fee will benefit the foundation and that member will have a scholarship named for him or her. Every day at 1 p.m. (1300 hours), a large bell will ring 13 times, symbolizing the 13 folds in the American flag handed to families of fallen soldiers, also the inspiration for the foundation’s name. At that time, everyone on the course will be asked to participate in a moment of silence and reflect on the sacrifices made by the country’s military men and women.
It’s a small gesture but one that Rooney hopes will make a big impact. And although Folds of Honor has only just begun providing scholarships for the families who need them, Rooney believes that every seemingly small token can make a big difference.
“You don’t make great strides,” he says. “It’s a little bit of progress every day. And I want to continue to make a little bit of progress every day, with the ultimate goal being that we don’t leave any family behind. And right now this country is leaving thousands of families behind who’ve been impacted by war. That’s the big goal. We’re not going to get there overnight. It’s every day getting up and dedicating yourself to a cause that’s greater than you.”
A new home
When Dan Rooney spoke at a monthly meeting of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Oklahoma in March 2009, there was an immediate response from members. They wanted to help Rooney’s cause, and they wanted to help in a big way.
So then-President Barb Risenhoover, owner of Advantage Glass, met with Rooney and asked how ABC could get involved. Rooney said he wanted to build a headquarters — Folds of Honor currently resides within the offices of the Tulsa Community Foundation — but he would not have funding for at least two more years.
Risenhoover’s response? “Let’s see what we can do to speed this up.”
And that they did.
With construction starting last May, ABC members, including lead contractors Crossland, Flintco, Key and LD Kerns, are working on a 3,500-square-foot, two-story facility overlooking The Patriot golf course. The facility features a large, living-room-like foyer; a decorative cupola with a flag; and, leading up to the building, tablets with names of Folds of Honor scholarship recipients.
And they are doing it all for free, the first time ABC has made such a large donation to an organization.
“ABC is one of the few organizations that still open with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance,” Risenhoover says. “ … This is a way for us at ABC to say ‘thanks’ to the people who give us the privilege to be able to say a prayer and the Pledge at our meetings.”
Although construction is set to be complete on the facility by March 1, Risenhoover says he looks forward to remaining involved with Folds of Honor and helping Rooney in any way he can.
“This man is on a mission,” he says. “And, fortunately, he’s letting some of us go along with him.”
For more information about the Folds of Honor Foundation, visit www.foldsofhonor.com.
