Please donate to Home for Our Troops, selected by Rick Tucker for the 4th year as my charity for the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon

Bottom line up front: Please donate to Homes for Our Troops (HFOT) by clicking on the yellow "Support Rick!" button on the right at the top. Your donations help our severely injured veterans live their lives as they once did before they were injured.

Or, please click here to donate:
http://tinyurl.com/ricktucker2012donate


For the fourth year, I selected Homes for Our Troops as the charity for my run in the Marine Corps Marathon. I was training and was signed up to run this year's marathon on 28 October 2012, but I tore the meniscus in my right knee and will have surgery in October. After recuperation I will start training for the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon. I'm looking forward to it!

Homes for Our Troops uses the money you and I donate to prepare homes for our dedicated troops coming home who have been severely injured in their service to America. Homes for Our Troops addresses the individual needs of our military men and women returning home to America by either modifying homes or building new homes to accommodate their needs so they can enjoy their lives once home again. No barriers. Accessible. Our troops can manage their personal affairs without assistance. Just like you and me. We owe that to them.

In 2009, the first year I supported Homes for Our Troops, you and I raised $1740 for Homes for Our Troops. In 2010, we raised $2385. And in 2011, we raised $3,688.20 (I enjoyed the fact that one of my friends donated $26.20 as it was symbolic of my 26.2 mile Marine Corps Marathon distance!).

I must thank every one of you who have contributed on behalf of Homes of Our Troops in the past and also now. Thanks to you, we're helping severely injured veterans returning to America come home to new homes that work for them and are accessible and barrier-free.

Let me remind you that your contributions are tax-deductible in the U.S.

So, let me see now... we've collectively raised $7813.20 in the past 3 years. What a team! You have been very generous in your donations to a very worthy charity.

So now it's this year. My goal in 2012 is to raise last year's high bar. I'd like to raise more than $4000 this year! Let's do it! And my hearty thanks to you.

I invite you to contribute to the Homes for Our Troops charity to make a difference for our severely injured troops when they return and need a home that is a home that works for them and their families.

Once again, here's a link to donate right now: http://tinyurl.com/ricktucker2012donate

Please read on.

On the Run

I was looking forward in 2012 to running in my fourth Marine Corps Marathon, but now I'm looking ahead to 2013. I'm continuing in 2012 to raising funds for my favorite charity, Homes for Our Troops, for the fourth year in a row.

I ran my first Marine Corps Marathon in 2009 and then again in 2010 and 2011. I've enjoyed training for each marathon and also running in the marathons immensely! I also lost 20 lbs. in doing so. I achieved my goal each time, which was to finish the marathon! Everyone involved, and particularly the Marines, made the Marine Corps Marathon a great event, one that I will cherish and never forget, and one I look forward to running in each year forward. I enjoyed seeing runners along the route wearing their Homes for Our Troops running shirts and also the HFOT cheering section in Crystal City... and that was just 4 hard miles from the finish!

So here it is, 2012. Instead of running this year I'm planning to be out there cheering on the wheelchair, hand cycle, and running participants.

Well, that's enough about me and my newfound enjoyment of running in the past three and a half years!

Yes, You Can Make an Impact!

Homes for Our Troops builds homes tailored to the needs of severely injured military personnel. In the short time they've been doing so, they've built over 100 homes. As noted on their website, "It is our duty and our honor to assist severely injured Servicemen and Servicewomen and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor and to coordinate the process of building a home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently. The homes provided by Homes for Our Troops are given at NO COST to the Veterans we serve."

Please check out the Homes for Our Troops website at http://www.homesforourtroops.org! FYI, charity watchdog CharityNavigator awarded HFOT with 4 stars, its highest charity rating. And the American Institute of Philanthropy, which monitors charities, included Homes for Our Troops as one of its "Top-Rated Veterans & Military Charities".

Please donate to Homes for Our Troops by either clicking on the yellow "Support Rick!" above on the right side, or click here: http://tinyurl.com/ricktucker2012donate

Thanks to you for helping our returning veterans. You will help them rejuvenate their futures in America.

All the best,

- Rick

Hey, check out these videos about Homes for Our Troops on YouTube!

Here we see the runners raising funds for Homes for Our Troops during Marine Corps Marathon 2010: http://www.youtube.com/v/lOnJ3A8rkzQ

And check out all of the Homes for Our Troops videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/homesforourtroops