Patriot Guard Riders - Wisconsin State Captain's Letter - Fall 2023 Note - If you need to copy/paste one of the below email addresses instead of clicking it, please click the link once before doing so. You won't notice anything, but the correct email address will unlock. This is a anti-spam measure. I don't know what to say except "HELP!!" We are nearing a critical failure point. We need ACTIVE members and we need Ride Captains all over the state. The Member Part A simple idea, we have about 1600 theoretical members but about a year ago I sent individual e-mails to each one and 400+ came back as no such e-mail. While it was a great Elvis tune, "Return to Sender" means we're in big trouble. At the same time we have over 1,000 on our Facebook page. Now for fancy figgerin'. If each of those 1000 would give our veterans one mission (8 hours start to finish) out of the 8760 they have in a year (that's ONE mission a year) we would have about 10 members at EVERY mission. If you read the mission reports on Facebook, you'll see 3-4 or maybe a few more at some missions but way too many where the Ride Captain is alone or has one other person with them. Will you pledge to do 1 mission? This post is on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WisconsinPGR If you will, go there and say "I pledge to do __ mission(s) this year." The Ride Captain Part We have 6 Ride Captains in mid to upper 70's (and one older). Two battled cancer in the past two years (and so far have it beaten down), one battling now. One who has a spouse needing nearly full-time care. One one medical for unknown amount to time. One RC for the whole NW quarter of the state, one for the whole SW quarter of the state. One working mostly out of state and another is a snowbird (who busts his behind when he's here). If you have 10-12 missions and have a willingness to serve others and would like to take on the best job you'll ever have, contact me or discuss it with a Ride Captain at your next mission. We'll train you and work with you until you're ready. We're at the point where we cannot promote the organization or we will burn out the 40 or so members that are active. Even they will not last long at this rate. We're open to suggestions. Put them on our Facebook page, talk to your favorite Ride Captain, or write me at the address below. Thank you. John "Tango" Curran State Captain Patriot Guard Riders - Wisconsin Email: SCREMOVE@patriotguard-wiREMOVE.org Website: www.patriotguard-wi.org