Battlefields To Ballfields Mission Accomplished!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Attending 50 professional sporting events in 50 days seems impossible, not only did my dad make it possible, but he honored over 200 military heroes in the process!

My dad is a 57 year old grandfather who has dedicated himself to honoring the service and sacrifices of the brave men and women who have served our country.  He gets paid absolutely nothing, sacrifices time away from family & often sleeps in the most random public places because he would rather save money on hotels to give back to more warriors.  These soldiers have sacrificed much more to give us our freedom, and my dad has chosen to use his freedom to put smiles on their faces by giving them a day of fun at a ball game.  He wants them & their families to know that their service and sacrifices did not go unnoticed and that they are appreciated.  My dad does everything he can to make each warriors experience special.

Over the past 2 and a half years my Dad and I have been honored to host over 1000 soldiers (Active Duty,Veterans, Wounded Warriors & Gold Star Families) at more than 250 sporting events nationwide.  Over the past 50 days he has been on the road making Warrior Wishes come true on our Battlefields to Ballfields mission.

Battlefields to Ballfields was our mission to honor warriors at Baseball, Basketball & Hockey games from the beginning of April Throughout Memorial Day 2015.

Throughout the mission, my dad honored over 200 Warriors & Gold Star families traveling over 11,000 miles, mostly by bus thru Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, Boston, DC, Pittsburgh, Philly, Baltimore, Charlotte, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Memphis, Dallas, houston, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix, Anaheim, San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland & San Francisco.

Thanks to early planning & the generosity of so many teams, businesses & people, Operation Warrior Wishes spent less than $5000 to honor & host all the warriors and their family members (more than 350 total guests & 8 service dogs) including travel to make it all possible!

TOGETHER WE MAKE WARRIOR WISHES COME TRUE!

My Dad will be home for the summer before hitting the road this fall to make Warrior Wishes come true at all 32 NFL stadiums in 1 seson for our 4th consecutive “All32in17” mission!  you can nominate your hero for an upcoming event here.

Learn more about our mission, nominate your hero, follow our blog, make a donation, get involved& buy warrior wishes gear at http://warriorwishes.org/

Here are some random facts from the Battlefields to Ballfields Mission.

*we honored more than 200 soldiers at a total of 51 games,

      *40 Gold Star Families

      * 8 service dogs

*We saw the home team win 23 times & lose 27 times.

*42 Baseball Games

*5 Basketball Games (Celtics won 3 of them)

*4 Hockey Games (all 3 ended with the home team losing by the score of 2-1)

*We never saw these teams lose- Cardinals, White Sox, Tigers, Reds, Yankees, Rays, Angels, Bulls Celtics, Wild, NY Rangers

*We never saw these teams win- Mariners, Braves, Blue Jays, Twins, Brewers, Cubs, Raptors, Nets, Cavs, Pistons, Penguins & Blackhawks

*We saw the Nationals score a total of 67 runs at 9 games (2nd most was Red Sox with 28 Runs in 5 games, 3rd most Rockies 26 runs in 6 games)

*We saw a total of 350 runs, 962 points & 9 goals scored,

*My dad travelled over 11,000 miles

      *spent over 150 hours on a bus

      *spent 15 nights sleeping on the bus

      *took a total of 4 flights

      *Slept in only 7 hotels in 49 days

      *went a full week without sleeping in a bed

The Itinerary….  (Click on any Team in red to see Warrior Wishes coming true!)

3/31 – Bus to St. Louis ($20) BLUES

4/1 – Bus to Chicago ($20)

4/2 – Train R/T to Chicago ($15) BLACKHAWKS

4/3-  Train R/T to Chicago ($15) BULLS

4/5-  Train R/T to Chicago ($15) CUBS (Opening Day)

4/6- 2 hour bus to Milwaukee ($20) BREWERS (Opening Day)

4/7- Drive to Chicago ($15 gas) BLACKHAWKS 6 hour overnight Bus to Detroit ($1)

4/8- TIGERS (day game) PISTONS (night game) 5 hour overnight bus to Cincinnati ($28.50)

4/9-  REDS (day game) 5 hour overnight bus to Cleveland ($1)

4/10- INDIANS (Opening Day) CAVS (night game) 4 hour overnight bus to Buffalo ($15)

4/11- 7.5 hour overnight bus to NYC ($15)

4/12- YANKEES (hotel $95.95)

4/13- NETS 4 hour overnight bus to Boston ($1)

4/14- RED SOX & CELTICS (donated hotel)

4/15- RED SOX 10 hour overnight bus to DC ($1)

4/16- NATIONALS slept at bus station

4/17- NATIONALS 7 hour overnight bus to Pittsburgh ($10)

4/18- PIRATES slept in rental car parked in the parking garage of the casino

4/19- PIRATES (hotel $84.61)

4/20- PENGUINS 7 hour overnight bus to Philadelphia ($1)

4/21- PHILLIES slept at bus station

4/22- PHILLIES 2 hour bus to DC ($1) slept at bus station

4/23- NATIONALS slept at bus station

4/24- 1 hour bus to Baltimore ($1) ORIOLES Stayed up all night working at hotel not staying at

4/25- ORIOLES (RIOT GAME) 1 hour bus to DC ($1) slept at airport

4/26- Flight to Tampa ($80.10) RAYS 5 hour overnight bus to Miami ($1)

4/27- MARLINS (hotel $72.51)

4/28- MARLINS 6 hour overnight bus to Orlando ($2) (missed connecting bus to ATL due to delay)

4/29- 8.5 hour bus to Atlanta ($2) BRAVES slept at airport

4/30- BRAVES 6.5 hour bus to Memphis ($20) 8 hour bus to Dallas ($20)

5/1- RANGERS (hotel $49.40)

5/2- RANGERS 4.5 hour overnight bus to Houston ($1)

5/3- ASTROS slept at friends house in Houston

5/4- ASTROS flew home to Chicago to surprise family for the day thanks to friends in Houston

5/5- 5 hour bus to St. Louis ($21.50) CARDINALS 4 hour overnight bus to KC ($23.12)

5/6- ROYALS slept at airport

5/7- ROYALS slept at airport

5/8- Flight to Denver ($62.10) ROCKIES donated hotel

5/9- ROCKIES (RAINED/SNOWED OUT) hotel thanks to our friend Joey

5/10- Flight to Phoenix ($38.09) (delayed due to snow storm) D’BACKS slept at warriors house

5/11- D’BACKS 6 hour overnight bus to LA ($18.50)

5/12- Bus to Anaheim ($2) ANGELS Bus to LA ($2) slept at airport

5/13- Bus to Anaheim ($2) ANGELS 4 hour overnight bus to San Diego ($25.50)

5/14- PADRES (RAIN DELAY) slept on park bench outside the bus station

5/15- PADRES stayed up all night working at hotel not staying at

5/16- 4 hour bus to Los Angeles ($25.50) DODGERS 10 hour overnight bus to Oakland ($10)

5/17- ATHELETICS Train to San Fran ($5) slept at airport

5/18- DAY OFF!!! (hotel thanks to our friend joey)

5/19- GIANTS slept at airport

5/20- GIANTS Flight home to Chicago ($88.09)

TOTAL COST FOR TRAVEL & HOTELS – $948.47

Operation Warrior Wishes would like to thank the following teams

for helping us make our #BattlefieldsToBallfields mission a big success

St. Louis Blues provided tickets in the owners suite

Chicago Blackhawks provided tickets & post game locker room passes

Chicago Bulls provided gift bags

Milwaukee Brewers provided tickets & pregame batting practice field passes

Detroit Tigers provided tickets

Detroit Pistons provided dinner, transportation & a suite for 12 

Cincinnati Reds provided tickets & honored warriors during the game

Cleveland Cavaliers provided a suite a giftbags for 12

New York Yankees provided tickets and a tour of the stadium before the game

Boston Celtics provided tickets 

Boston Red Sox provided tickets

Washington Nationals provided tickets to multiple games

Philadelphia Phillies provided tickets to multiple games

Pittsburgh Penguins provided playoff tickets

Baltimore Orioles provided tickets and pregame batting practice field passes

Tampa Rays provided tickets 

Miami Marlins provided tickets, t-shirts, pregame field passes & honored warriors at 2 games

Atlanta Braves provided tickets and pregame field passes at multiple games

Texas Rangers teamed up with Globe Life to provide a suite, jerseys & scoreboard message

Houston Astros provided tickets and honored warriors at multiple games

St Louis Cardinals provided tickets

Kansas City Royals provided tickets

Colorado Rockies provided tickets and honored warriors on the field

Arizona Diamondbacks provided tickets and pregame field passes 

San Diego Padres provided tickets, Camoflage jerseys & honored warriors at multiple games

Los Angeles Dodgers provided tickets & scoreboard salute

Oakland A’s provided tickets, gift bags and a scoreboard salute

San Francisco Giants provided tickets 

Operation Warrior Wishes would also like to thank these people & businesses

for helping us make these Warrior Wishes Come True

on our Battlefields to Ballfields mission!

New Era Caps

Billy Goat Tavern & Grill – Chicago

Whole Foods – Chicago

Honor America’s Valor – Chicago

Hockeytown – Detroit

Westin Book Cadillac – Detroit

Hard Rock Cafe – Cleveland

Hard Rock Cafe Yankee Stadium – New York

Whole Foods – Boston

The Constitution Inn – Boston

Gordon Biersch – DC

Atrias – Pittsburgh

McFaddens – Philadelphia

Onesti Entertainment – Chicago

Westin BWI – Baltimore

Dempsey’s – Baltimore

Sliders Bar & Grill – Baltimore

Burg’s Sports bar – Tampa

Hampton Inn – Miami

Whole Foods – Atlanta

Globe Life Insurance – Texas

TGI Friday’s – Texas

Hampton Inn – Houston

Colin & Vanessa Hulme

Joey Ossey

Cardinals Nation – St. Louis

Outback Steakhouse – Kansas City

Stewartsville School

Elways Restaurant

Denver Chop House

Whole Foods – Arizona

Game 7 Grill – Arizona

Bubba Gump Shrimp – Anaheim

Whole Foods San Diego 

Cloudeez – San Diego

Whole Foods – San Francisco