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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, September 11,2019
Nonprofit helps bring veterans and kids together
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
Photos by Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
U.S. Army Sgt. T.J. Anderson slides into home plate during a whiffle ball game with the 9U baseball players at the Win for the
Warriors baseball tournament at Veterans Memorial Park March 10.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Young jokes with members of the North Georgia Ambush 9U baseball
team while on second base during a round of whiffle ball during the Win for the Warriors baseball tour
nament March 10.
Local baseball mom
Kimberly Maloney was in
the car with her 9-year-old
son Nash after they met
with a wounded veteran
earlier this year and had a
conversation that has since
inspired her to create a non
profit to help veterans and
kids in north Georgia.
After their meeting, Nash
asked his Maloney “Mom
those are the real superhe
roes right?”
“I was like ‘yeah, buddy.
Those are the real superhe
roes,’” she recalled.
It sparked an idea, an
idea to bring veterans and
children together in the
community through a base
ball tournament that has
now grown into a fledgling
nonprofit, BRAVE Beyond
the Call, that believes “You
don’t have to be a
Superhero to give back to
one.”
It all started with rec
league baseball. Maloney
organized the inaugural
Win for the Warriors base
ball tournament in March
as a way to support and cel
ebrate veterans across the
region as well as introduce
Nash and his North Georgia
Ambush 9U baseball team
mates to local warriors and
heroes.
Although the weather
was uncooperative and
caused the tournament to be
rained out, the baseball
players and veterans made
the most of a rainy day and
opted to play several rounds
of whiffle ball inside the
Veterans Memorial Park
gymnasium.
By the end of the day,
more than $11,000 was
raised for the For the
Warriors Foundation, a
nonprofit organization dedi
cated to assisting disabled
military service members as
they integrate back into
society.
“I kind of just thought
‘okay, that’s it.’ That’s what
we did. That’s what we
wanted to do,” Maloney
said. “The whole purpose
of doing that was to kind of
teach the boys about honor
and respect and sacrifice
and what that really
meant...as well as support
these veterans and give
back.”
After the baseball tourna
ment was rescheduled for
May, Maloney didn’t
expect to continue with
community events until she
began talking with the vet
erans and their spouses and
learned how important the
event was for them.
“I had one wife actually
say to me, she said ‘you
have no idea the positive
purpose this has now given
my husband,”’ Maloney
recalled.
Maloney sat down with
her husband and told him:
“We can’t just sit on this.”
“We’ve got to keep push
ing so we decided to roll
with it,” she said.
BRAVE Beyond the Call
is a nonprofit based in
Dawson County but is open
to the whole community.
Any veteran or child in the
north Georgia area that
wants to be involved is wel
come, Maloney said.
Currently, there are two
main aspects of BRAVE
Beyond the Call, the first
being events that bring vet
erans and the community
together.
The organization’s first
official community event is
the 22 Strike Out bowling
competition at Stars and
Strikes in Cumming on
Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. until
noon. Tickets are $30
apiece and include two
hours of bowling, shoe rent
als and pizza and soft
drinks after the competition.
The lanes will be filled
with teams of seven, each
led by a veteran, or warrior,
as the team captain. Only
spares and strikes will be
counted, and the first lane
to 22 will be declared the
winner.
Maloney said the bowl
ing tournament is meant to
be a fun and creative way to
approach a very serious
topic and bring awareness
to the fact that 22 veterans
commit suicide every day.
As part of the competi
tion, the veterans will be
bowling twice for their
teams but have an added
option to “reach out for
help” from a teammate or a
fellow veteran to bowl on
their behalf.
“They also have the
option to ‘reach out for
help’ to kind of signify that
we want to encourage the
veterans when they’re faced
with that decision... of sui
cide that they can reach out
for help,” Maloney
explained.
BRAVE Beyond the Call
is also initiating the
Tethered Heroes Program,
an idea straight from the
veterans who participated
in the Win for the Warriors
tournament.
Maloney said one of the
men told her “I don’t think
these kids realize the
heroes that they’ve become
to us.”
“That hit me with a ton
of bricks,” she said. “We
had no idea when we did
that, the connection that
these kids would make
with these guys and a cou
ple ladies that were
involved...that blew my
mind.”
The Tethered Heroes
Program pairs a veteran
with a child, connecting
them in a safe environment
so that “both now have a
hero they can depend on.”
“It’s really, really incred
ible watching the relation
ship and how they get
bonded real quick,”
Maloney said. “It’s just a
cool, cool thing.”
Veterans or children who
want to sign up to be part
of the Tethered Heroes
Program can apply on the
organization’s website,
www.bravebeyondthecall.
org. Maloney said she
hopes the program contin
ues to grow and gets more
local children and veterans
involved.
“I think that there’s such
a need for something like
this for twofold: one, to
help the veterans and also
two, because I feel like our
youth loses the value in
what these guys and these
ladies do for us but also
just learning about what it
means to be honorable and
to have sacrifice and dedi
cation,” Maloney said.
In the future, Maloney
has more ideas to bring the
community together.
BRAVE Beyond the Call
will be at Trunk-or-Treat
on Halloween at Rock
Creek Park and Maloney is
working on a Secret Santa
program for the Tethered
Heroes as well as a poten
tial com hole tournament
in the spring. The second
annual Win for the
Warriors baseball tourna
ment is already scheduled
for Memorial Day week
end next year.
BRAVE Beyond the
Call’s fundraising efforts
will go towards sponsoring
the organization’s upcom
ing events as well as used
to help local veterans
involved with the non
profit with personal
needs as they arise.
“It’s going to better
their situation. It’s going
to better their lives. It’s
going to better their fam
ilies,” Maloney said.
For more information
about BRAVE Beyond
the Call or to get
involved, visit www.
bravebeyondthecall.org.
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