boatingonthehudson.com16 August 2012

Mighty Oaks from Tiny

Acorns Grow

By Capt. Brian T. Young

A seed was planted about a year ago when my daugh-ter, nurse and teacher, Laura Olisewski MS, RN, who teaches Community Nursing at Binghamton Uni-versity, asked if we could invite some friends of hers for a boat ride on the river. Well it turned out that her friends were a Wounded Warrior and a Gold Star Family. Gold Star families are families that have lost a loved one in the fight for our freedom.

Now that the seed had been planted, I happened to mention what we were going to do to some fellow members of our boat club, the Cortlandt Yacht Club in Montrose, NY. This innocent dockside chatter about a simple boat ride resulted in the growth of an all week-end event for 7 Wounded Warriors, their families and 6 Gold Star Families, a day of boating in the beautiful Hudson Highlands and picnicking and swimming in the club pool. Over 90 people wound up participat-

ing in this absolutely wonderful day. The first and most significant change to the original

plan was the volunteering by Mr. Robert Desiderio, who is not only an officer in the Cortlandt Yacht Club but an officer in the Ossining Elks Club Lodge 1468. Bob offered to provide a complete BBQ, courtesy of the Ossining Elks for all the military families and all those involved following the boat ride. This opened the door to inviting more deserving soldiers and fami-lies. My daughter Laura realizing that she could invite more soldiers and families got in touch with Ms. Jordan Murray of the “Hope for the Warriors” organization.

The mission of “Hope For The Warriors” organization is to enhance the quality of life for U.S. service mem-bers and their families nationwide who have been adversely affected by injuries or death in the line of

17boatingonthehudson.com August 2012

duty. “Hope For The Warriors” actively seeks to ensure that the sacrifices of wounded and fallen warriors and their families are never forgotten nor their needs unmet. My daughter’s goal and the “Hope for the Warriors” mission happened to coincide exactly.

“Hope for the Warriors” provided a list of seven (7) wounded warriors and Laura identified six (6) Gold Star Families through her work with the Patriot Guard and Rolling Thunder. These are both motorcycle groups that support our troops and their families. Laura and her husband Adam, an Iraqi Freedom vet-eran, were both motorcycle safety instructors in the state of Pennsylvania where they met.

Now our numbers swelled to 45 honored guests, so the call went out for more boaters to volunteer their time and expenses to pro-vide enough boats to handle the number of people. Ten boaters volunteered. The event was now taking on a life of its own, so my daughter gave the event a name, a “Salute to Freedom” and it was scheduled for June 23rd.

We started the day with a Cap-tain’s meeting in our main club-house and then as our honored guests arrived we welcomed them to our club and shared a Continental Breakfast with them. Before we left for our flo-tilla cruise up the river we had a brief ceremony during which the Commodore of the Cortlandt Yacht Club, Mr. Frank Rinato, wel-

comed our guests to the club with heart felt thanks for their service and sacrifices.

My daughter Laura also provided some words of thanks as did Bob Desiderio on behalf of the Ossining Elks. Mr. Desiderio was followed by Jordan Murray and Katie Tame of the “Hope for the Warriors” and then the CYC Chaplain, Mr. Robert Stofko, provided a very heart warming invoca-tion. With all our guests introduced to their captains of the day we proceeded outside for a group portrait in front of the Yacht Club mast and then off to the boats.

The flotilla cruised north through the beautiful Hudson Highlands sharing a little history of the area as we went. We passed West Point and at Cold Spring we did a float-by in front of the public pier and then north past Bannerman’s Island. From there we proceeded up the east shore to just south of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. John Vargo, who had been informed about our “Salute to Freedom”, sug-gested we float by the Newburgh Boat show at the River-front Marina. He promised a surprise.

Well, Mr. Vargo came through with the most endearing surprise ever. He made arrangements with the Captain of the US Coast Guard cutter, Hawser, which was on display at the boat show, to provide a military salute by the offi-cers and crew of the cutter. As all ten (10) boats drifted by at idol speed, the Captain and crew stood at attention saluting the wounded warriors, their families and the Gold Star families all of whom gave so much. This was such an emotional event that I’m sure no one on the boats will ever forget it.

From there we cruised back to the CYC where we were treated to a terrific BBQ by the Elks and then many of our guests took advantage of an invitation by Rob Seikovsky, the vendor of the High Tide Café at the CYC. Rob operates the pool club and marina. He invited our guests to use the pool and provided free ice cream for the children.

boatingonthehudson.com18 August 2012

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The weather for the day could not have been any better. It was an absolutely beautiful day and turned the Hudson High-lands into a magnificent venue for our guests to see. I know our soldiers and families really enjoyed and appreciated their day on the water but the joy and satisfaction that the boat-ers got from giving something back was truly an awakening.

Those of us who are not directly involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan seem to take for granted all the wonder-ful things that make our life and our freedom so special.

A day with the people who have actually stood up and fought and sacrificed for these freedoms and our way of life was the most stirring of days. We were all humbled by their sacrifices and the damage to their bodies, minds and families. We all realized just how fortunate we are and it is all because of the men and women in this country who have put themselves in harms way for our freedom and security.

Thank you soldiers and families! We will never forget you.

So, from the planting of an innocent simple request to share what we have been so blessed with, an awesome day of awaken-ing and gratitude for many grew from that seed to bring together those who have sacrificed the most with those who have ben-efited by their sacrifice. Truly, a remarkable day!

God bless America.