sacrifice themselves on the basic principle that we should live free. while the cause is the same everyone has a different reason for serving. maybe they are following in their father s footsteps or felt a calling after the terrorists tore down the twin towers. for me it was a patriotic parade or a series of them in a small town. motherly day and fourth of july parades in a tiny town in southern minnesota where my parents grew up. the whole town lined up on the tree sign side of the main street waiting for the veterans to walk by and when they came older vets and younger vets, crowd clapped and saluted. the reverence that town had for the veterans made me say, wow, those men really did something special. something bigger than this town. something bigger than themselves. these men were willing to put on a uniform and face danger for me, a kid they never met. it was just a handful of veterans, from one town. but every town in america gave men like that. out of sheer patriotism
Limbs, facing traumatic brain injuries, who were filling the ward at walter reed and 62 in particular, so as a reporter i couldn t sit by and watch and not try at least help and go tell their stories. there were different ways i got involved. one of the things that i m able to do is to emcee and give my time for those kind of events. so i started emceeing fundraisers and got more and more involved and that s how i met sarah and her husband, sergeant mike virardo, who had 120 surgeries up at walter reed. that s what got me involved and allowed me to know these incredible americans who ran into the fire, didn t ask where you were, they just went to find you, and they got you out and we re so grateful that they did, and that you re thriving today and back with your family. yes, absolutely. i think i speak for so many of them as well. they mean a huge amount to me and i understand what they have
Officers are killed in the line of duty or for those officers facing life-threatening illnesses. the founder says that these past few years have been some of the hardest to be an officer in this country. but that hasn t stopped anyone from putting on their uniforms of pride and doing the job to the best of their ability every day. sergeant, it s such an honor to have you here with me and it s a deep honor to be your friend. i have witnessed so many of the incredible works that they do and it s so varied. share with us a few of the examples of the leaves you have impacted, blue lives and other lives. this past year you attended the gala and you honored detectives mora and rivera. in the amount of 30 days we raised $60,000 which goes a long