All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fossone.
I'm the officer of the deck today.
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We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today a couple of board members of Folds of Honor
Motor City chapter.
This is going to be a discussion about what Folds of Honor is and does and what they're
doing in the state of Michigan in particular with these board members in an upcoming event
that they've got.
Let me start with get some introductions here.
John Peltier is a member of the board.
He served in the Air Force for, oh, it looks like seven, eight years.
John, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Thank you very much, Jim.
I appreciate it.
And thank you for having us on.
We're glad to.
And Bill Floor is the, he's got the fancy title.
He's the regional impact officer.
And we'll have him explain what all that means later.
But Bill, welcome to Veterans Radio.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for having me.
Appreciate it.
Well, I'll let either one of you take this first thing.
I think most people who are listening to Veterans Radio are veterans and friends and
that probably have heard of Folds of Honor because it's a big national organization.
But why don't you tell us a little bit about it?
Yeah.
So again, thanks a lot.
But so it was started right here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2007, when our founder, Lieutenant
Colonel Dan Rooney was coming back from his second tour duty and was on a flight with
unfortunately a fallen soldier and decided that he wanted to do something, had a small
golf event up in Grand Haven called the Grand Haven Golf Club, raised a little bit of money,
but for the family and then decided to create Folds of Honor.
And what Folds of Honor does is provide educational scholarships to families of wounded and fallen
veterans as well as first responders.
So and then, you know, look about, you know, 15 years later or so, we now have the American
Dunes Golf Course up in Grand Haven, which all the proceeds and profit from that golf
course go right into our scholarship program.
And in this, just after this year, we have donated over 62,000 scholarships totaling
over about $296 million.
Well and Folds of Honor is a 501C3 nonprofit organization.
Tell me about the, well, let's do this because I made fun of you a bit, begin with Bill.
What is the regional impact officer?
Are you the guys that go around and punch people if they don't contribute?
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If they don't support our mission, we go around, you know, slash entire, yeah.
No, so I handle the state of Michigan for the Folds of Honor and I work closely with
the Motor City chapter as well as the Michigan chapter and American Dunes up in Grand Haven.
So I kind of, I'm just support for all of them and I'm really a conduit between them
and the context with, you know, a lot of our corporate partners and fundraising efforts
all over the state.
It's really an amazing number of, you said it, I want to slow down and say it again because
it's so amazing.
62,000 scholarships.
Yes.
Over $290 million in all 50 states.
Yep.
Talk to us about the students who get these scholarships.
That's a whole lot of kids.
It is an amazing amount of kids and we continue to grow really every year.
You know, so we handed out in 2024, like just the end of this past year, 11,000 scholarships,
but we still had 8,000 applicants that we could not fill.
I mean, that's how much we're growing.
And so these students are all, you know, they can be the children.
They can also be the spouses of a fallen or wounded vet or first responders.
So it's really, you know, there's no better way than to help a family than just to provide
an educational experience.
And that's exactly what we do.
And tell us a little bit maybe about the, this is a scholarship educational support
in a whole lot of directions.
We're not just talking, hey, if you go to an Ivy League college, we'll help fund it,
is it?
No, definitely not.
No, it's, it's trade schools.
It's, it's a private education for elementary elementary.
Yep.
All the way down Michigan, Michigan state.
It's Lawrence Tech.
It's, you know, it's really any school that the child or spouse chooses.
One of the other things that I was sort of surprised at is the makeup of the scholarship
recipients, which I think something to brag a little bit about.
So can you talk about that some?
Yeah.
So like you said, there's 45% of our recipients are minority based.
So you know, we're very diverse just like the country we live in, right?
And you know, out of every dollar, 91 cents goes into that scholarship program.
So we're very high rated as far as the charity is concerned, but we're incredibly diverse.
You know, when you look at, you know, the military, the first responders, there's not
a single person that, that talk about, you know, race or anything like that, but we're
so diverse inside of all those units.
That's exactly the way our country is.
And that's exactly we are organization is as well.
Exactly.
It mirrors what the society is and what the, our, our base is with the military.
And you know, I think it's a, John mentioned, I think at the outset that he spent about
eight years in the Air Force and Air National Guard.
So I kind of know where you're coming from maybe in getting involved in this, but explain
to us, why did you get involved?
Sure.
As I'd mentioned to you prior to the call, I had worked at a company in Canton and we
have a gentleman who is our president, Russ Brunner, who is, he's a great patriot and he
just felt there was a need to do something around here.
There really wasn't that much presence for this type of organization.
So he had rounded up a few friends and kind of was kicking around the idea, made a few
calls to folds of honor.
They had said, well, here, just have a golf outing for us, which is, which is a very
common thing.
And maybe you'll raise $5,000 or such.
Well, we ended up raising about $35,000 at first year.
And my boss was a former Marine and he had mentioned to Russ that I would probably be
a good candidate with the number of contacts I have as well as my military experience.
So he'd asked me to join the board too.
So that all started in 2017 from the very get-go.
And since then, we have raised multi-millions of dollars with our board.
So we've really progressed through the tough times.
It's kind of tight right now.
We're really struggling for sponsorships, which is one of the reasons we're really trying
to hit the pavement this time of year while budgets are being created.
So in a nutshell, that's what I had done.
I'm a huge fan of the military.
My dad was a loadmaster, a 24-year Air Force veteran, a retired E-9.
I followed in his footsteps.
And here we are today.
He is still supporting our military men and women and first responders now.
Well, let's face it, your dad is a loadmaster.
He knew how to pack the station wagon for vacations, didn't he?
You would not believe.
Absolutely.
Absolutely he did.
And so John was volunt told to get involved in this organization and dove deep into it
and is doing a great job.
Bill, how did you get involved?
Well, John actually got me involved.
So I was a baseball coach for a long time at Northville High School.
We would do Armed Forces days there where we would just teach our players and stuff about
the sacrifices of so many that allow them to play high school baseball and be free.
And started raising some pretty good money.
We had a concert in downtown Northville that raised about $40,000 for our homes for our
troops.
And John got wind of it because I was working at Staples at the time and John was a customer.
And they brought me in, started talking about Folds of Honor and what I did on the side.
And John was like, hey, would you consider picking Folds of Honor?
And I'm like, sure.
So we had another event downtown Northville with the killer Flamingos raised about another
$45,000, I think, for Folds of Honor.
And then all of a sudden they were asking me to join their board.
And I've always had a great passion for the military.
And being in baseball, we went out to San Diego and saw how much the Padres were part of the
naval community out there.
And we wanted to do that here.
So we did.
And it's been a huge part of my life, that's for sure.
He's a little bit humble, Jim.
If you see his basement, he is a World War II aficionado.
And that's kind of what one of the events he put on in Northville High School, he had
displays out front of Northville High School.
And it was humbling.
It was very humbling.
And he is a true patriot.
And he does a ton for pretty much for everybody.
Well, I really think it's important that our youth get educated, if you will, on the value
of the military.
And few people serve right.
And so often it's a family tradition.
Your dad did it, and my dad did it, and I did it, and my wife did it sort of thing.
But there's just too many people who go through life in this country without realizing the
sacrifices that have to be made to protect our freedoms.
And as you say, they can't be playing baseball free of any worries unless there was a military
protecting those freedoms and liberties.
So this is a great melding of Bill's athletic experiences, educational experiences, and
military concerns or military knowledge.
So Bill, that explains why you're the regional impact officer.
And that also explains that you probably have a baseball bat in your trunk.
Back to my original thought of what the regional impact officer was doing.
So one of the things that has expanded over time is the families that are eligible for
these scholarships goes beyond just military members nowadays, doesn't it?
Yeah, it definitely does.
Again, in 2022, on September 11th, our CEO, Lieutenant Colonel Rooney, had made the announcement
that we are going to start supporting first responders, including the police, the fire,
and EMS, just for the simple fact that they do the same type of mission only internally
in the US, providing that blanket of safety and support for medical situations and fire
whenever called upon 24-7, 365.
So that need was great.
They have fallen officers, we've unfortunately seen that grow at certain times.
So the support there is needed.
We're trying to get that message out to many of the different units.
And we've had a lot of good luck with the folks up in the Linden area.
They've got the fire department very involved.
And we've got a few of the honor guards here that we have at all of our events, our golf
event in September and then our Gala again in March, which is kind of the repetition
that we've been using each year.
So yeah, they definitely need the support.
There is that need, and we are here to help fulfill it.
One of the things that I guess I wanted to get across, because this interview will be
heard all across the country, is talk to us, and Bill, maybe you're the best spot to do
it.
So, Fulge of Honor is a national charity, isn't it?
100%.
Yes, sir.
Yeah, so we're in 35 states right now, so we have 35 chapters.
We've got five more that should be up and running in a couple of months here.
So we'll be at 40.
So we have multiple, obviously in the state of Michigan.
So Lieutenant Kerr-Rumey is based out of Tulsa, so that's where our national is located.
But yeah, basically every state, pretty close, you should be able to find a Fulge of Honor
chapter.
Well, let's talk about how folks can go online and learn more about Fulge of Honor and see
if there's something in their state or see if there's a way for them to be in touch.
So where would they go to do that, John?
Well, we've got regional, each different Fulge of Honor chapter has their own website and
contact points and information regarding what their events are, as well as the national
Fulge of Honor webpage.
So you can, even the Fulge of Honor is FulgeofHonorMotorCity.org.
And they can reach out and take a look on our website and we try to keep that updated
with our events.
We've got swag that we try to sell.
We handle, go to different events that support our cause like the golf show and different
car events.
And just wherever we see a kind of a good fit, we try to attend those events.
So mainly we are on all social medias.
We've got a big presence on Facebook.
We've got a presence on Instagram as well.
So we can also be found just by using the search engine and going on there and looking
for Fulge of Honor MotorCity or Fulge of Honor, and Fulge of Honor national lists all of the
chapter locations.
So that's a good place to see if they're represented.
There's one in Toledo.
So if you're bandwidth spreads down Toledo, those people will know about it, the Motor
City and then again in Grand Haven or Grand Rapids.
So that's three within this region that are available for the people to focus their attention
on and look for opportunities for scholarship applications.
Yeah.
You'll also see, I'm sorry, didn't mean to catch you out there, but you'll also see
our logo on so many products out there.
Budweiser is obviously our biggest supporter.
They've donated over $23 million since we've started.
So you'll see our logo every summer on Budweiser and on their trucks all over the United States.
But Budweiser and Pretzel's catch up, Red Gold catch up and Coca-Cola.
I mean, you'll see our folded fly with the Fulge of Honor written right underneath it
on so many products across the nation.
Yeah.
I want to direct people to the Fulge of Honor dot org of the national.
There's a up on the banner.
There's a chapters and there's three in Texas.
For example, there's three in Florida, a couple in California.
So they're really spread from, that looks like Boston to Southern California, really
all across the state.
They got to get the Pacific Northwest involved a little bit and some other states, I suspect
those are the ones that are being worked on.
But you brought it up.
I want to expand on this a little bit because you can't do this kind of work without significant
support.
You have a lot of corporate sponsors at the national level and again, those are listed
on the national site.
Who are your sponsors?
Who are on the corporate side is helping folds of honor Motor City?
Yeah.
So you're so right.
We could not do this without any partner, corporate or personal private partner.
But so like locally Motor City lineage logistics is a very huge partner McDermott, Coppercraft.
We're coming out with a new folds of honor whiskey that's a, I probably should have said
that because I'm spilling the beans, but it's coming out this summer.
Where's your back?
Yeah, a little advance.
Yeah.
Okay.
In Michigan, but like Jacob Matthew Jewelers, Allied Insurance, Panasonic Automotive is
huge.
Eotech, Kendra Scott, BetTech.
And then coming on board soon is Meyer.
I mean, I think people in Michigan know Meyer a little bit.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
As well as Spartan Nash grocery stores, you're going to see a lot of stuff in 2025 and both
of those retail outlets.
They're just unbelievably patriotic, but community oriented as well.
Well those kind of corporate partners are really what help so many charities do good
work and you guys are doing good work.
Very highly rated by charity navigator and guide star.
So from somebody who's thinking about, well, if I make a donation, is it going to the right
place?
What's, how much of it's going to really the scholarship work versus promoting the organization?
So you can look them up there too.
But it's, you got to have corporate support, but you also have the individual support because
that's where volunteers come from.
And that's what that's funny.
You say that because we don't have a ton of paid employees like John here and Russ at
all of our board members.
They're all volunteers.
They're all volunteers and you know, being in Motor City, you know, you know how Detroit
is man.
Everybody wants to give and help and you know, we're looking for those motor partners, the
Ford's and GM's and all those tier ones to hop on board with all of our volunteers with
corporate sponsorship as well as, you know, their veteran giving and cause marketing that
they have.
But so many volunteers and that's why we're so good at the gold star, you know, 91 cents
is our rating.
It's just unbelievable.
Not the overhead.
Yeah.
Just memo overhead.
Yeah.
And where I'm trying to go is you got to get the individuals out and one way to get individuals
out is their participation in a couple of your signature events and you have a signature
event coming up in March of 2025.
One of you want to tell us about it?
Yeah.
So it's our Gala that we do.
It's right at St. John's, which is absolutely just one of the most beautiful resorts like
in Plymouth, Michigan.
It's great and they're really great partners.
But it's a red, white, blue Gala.
It's March 15th, rated St. John's.
You know, we'll have probably about 350 people in there and it's just great to learn about
our mission.
You'll hear stories of our recipients.
There's a ton of military and veterans that attend.
You know, Rich Luterman is our emcee.
He's been from day one.
And this will be our fifth one this year.
I mean, our fifth one so far.
And Rich, all I do is I call Rich and he's like, yep, I'm in because, you know, he's
an Air Force veteran himself, but he's our emcee and it's just an unbelievable patriotic
night.
Rich Luterman, I love the general and I worked with him many times, but I got to tell this
little story.
He is a local weatherman.
He was a meteorologist in the Air Force.
He was stationed in Hawaii.
I said, Rich, that's got to be the best job in the Air Force.
He goes, oh, absolutely.
You got up every day and said, it's sunny.
It chance a rain.
And then it's going to be breezy.
And then it's going to be sunny.
And that was it.
You're done.
It's the same forecast every day.
So Rich Luterman is a great patriot.
So that's a great person to have at your red, white and blue Gala on March 15th of 2025
at the Inn at St. John's.
If people are interested in attending or supporting Folds of Honor Motor City, John, what's the
best way for them to do that?
Go to our website, our initial, our Motor City website, and there is a link on there
to One Cause.
And One Cause is basically our platform that we use for the ticket sales and merchandise,
any type of financial functions that we try to, we route them through that One Cause.
And or you could reach out to Bill Floor.
Bill's email address is bfloorflohr at FoldsofHonor.org.
And Bill is, he takes, he fields a lot of those calls, especially from some of the higher-level
sponsorships.
But go to that location.
You'll see that information on there.
We try to keep it on our Facebook page as well, and it will take you right to ticket
sales.
It will also provide opportunities for sponsorships on there as well.
So that's one of the main things that we're looking for.
We generally get a decent number of individuals, but we're always, always pounding the pavement
looking for additional sponsors.
And I think that's a repetitive theme you've heard here today.
Absolutely.
That's why we like to give a little, give you an opportunity to talk about those corporate
sponsors because they're so important to an organization.
I want to thank both John Peltier and Bill Floor with Folds of Honor Motor City and Folds
of Honor Michigan for educating us a little bit about the great work that they're doing
in providing scholarships to those spouses and children of fallen military members and
also the first responders.
You guys are doing great work.
We wish you the best of luck on March 15th.
And if we can continue to promote you, both on social media and elsewhere, be assured
we will do so.
We greatly appreciate it and we greatly appreciate your time, Jim.
This has been a fantastic opportunity for us.
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, man.
Thanks gentlemen.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to Veterans Radio today.
I am Jim Fossone.
It's been a pleasure to be your host.
I'm a Veterans Disability Lawyer at Legal Help for Veterans and you can reach us at
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And PuroClean, a leader in property emergency services.
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