“Run as One” with Team Rubicon
This Saturday, Service Nation coalition partner Team Rubicon will be hosting 5ks, BBQs, evenings out, and conversations in cities across America and even in Afghanistan. March 31st marks the launch of the inaugural RUN AS ONE campaign to support Team Rubicon’s new regional model, building service communities that engage veterans and civilians alike in all corners of the country.
Team Rubicon “unites the skills and experiences of veterans and medical professionals to rapidly deploy emergency response teams into crisis situations,” according to their mission statement. This young and rapidly expanding organization recognizes the potential offered by veterans and their teamwork, risk management, and decisive leadership skills. Disaster response is calling out for the benefit of this potential. Team Rubicon empowers its volunteers to “bridge the gap between disaster relief and conventional aid response.”
Just a few weeks ago Team Rubicon deployed teams to the Midwest to respond to an series of storms and tornados that blighted thousands of homes and wiped whole towns off the map. Communities in Harveyville, KS, Harrisburg, IL, Henryville, IN, West Liberty, KY, and Branson, MO were assisted by teams from Team Rubicon in the immediate aftermath of the event. For families across the Midwest, Team Rubicon was there to bridge the gap between complete despair and measured hope.
The RUN AS ONE events are raising awareness of a new structure at Team Rubicon designed to enhance their capacity to serve our communities. The work they’ve done sending teams to far off corners of the world at a moment’s notice, or responding to some of our nation’s largest, most high-profile disasters is only part of what they do. Team Rubicon is developing new possibilities for regional communities of veterans, medical professionals, and civilians to aide in disasters closer to home--those effecting our neighborhoods and families.
This is not your average veterans’ service organization. Team Rubicon issues challenges to our nation’s former soldiers, rather than just handouts. Amidst unemployment, indifference, and a disproportionately heavy burden on the military this past decade, Team Rubicon invests in the reintegration of veterans into our cities, towns, and communities. They facilitate and nurture the sense of purpose, community, and self-worth that accompanies service – whether in Kandahar, Afghanistan or Camden, New Jersey – a sense shared by civilians and veterans alike. This potential is begging to be leveraged into something more.
On Saturday you can be a part of that. Go to Team Rubicon’s website to find a RUN AS ONE event in your city. Team Rubicon needs your community’s advocacy, volunteerism, and donations to support returning military veterans. Their community is your community, and you can take steps today to support it and invest in its future. Together we can be prepared for anything, and be ready to bridge that gap.