OpsLens Deck of 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders
In 2018, as a spin-off and salute to the original 2003 deck of 52 Most Wanted playing cards, let’s honor post 9/11 frontline leaders here at home. Once a week, for 52 weeks this year, OpsLens will post a card highlighting one of the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders. You’ll learn the top facts about their business or organization, as well as why they made the list, which comes down to impact, scalability, health, and unique value proposition.
I encourage you to look for these weekly updates, share the card with your network, and support or buy the products and services they offer. See the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders launch story here.
10 of Clubs| wear blue: run to remember
Have you heard the phrase runner’s high? It’s the feeling of euphoria, a feel-good chemical surge of endorphins, and is often at the top of the list as one of the benefits to running. Running is fantastic for mental health and runners tend to be happy people. For Lisa Hallett, running became a way to connect to her grieving and work through incomprehensible pain when her husband, U.S. Army Captain John L. Hallett, was killed in Afghanistan on August 25, 2009. The space that running provided was powerful, and she was inspired to make every future step more purposeful—to accept, remember, and move forward.
In 2010, she launched the national nonprofit running community wear blue: run to remember, an organization dedicated to creating opportunities for military service members, veterans, and their families, to heal, honor, and remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. This charity has six programs that support three unique, yet intertwined pillars – the fallen, the fighting and the families. These programs include: The Saturday Run, Gold Star Youth Mentorship Program, Gold Star Race Program, For the Fighting Program, Memorial Day Remembrance Program, and the breathtaking wear blue Mile at marathon races across the country.
wear blue is not an awareness campaign. It is empowerment, active remembrance, and a powerful call to action for our nation to live a life inspired and worthy of the service and sacrifice of our American military. And, it has made an indelible impact on thousands of lives across the country. The next Saturday you have open, don’t miss the opportunity to join the wear blue Saturday Run Communities, located in more than thirty states, and experience for yourself the Circle of Remembrance.
wear blue is a frontline leader that should be on your list of most-wanted charities to support in 2018.
Frontline Leader (Cofounder): Lisa Hallett.
Name of Company/Organization: wear blue: run to remember, founded 2010.
Location: Dupont, Washington.
Post 9/11 Service Connection: U.S. Army Spouse and Gold Star Family.
Tours of Duty: Captain John Hallett lost his life in Afghanistan in 2009.
One sentence tagline &/or mission statement: For the fallen. For the fighting. For the families.
Website: www.wearblueruntoremember.org
Ten years after her husband, USMC SGT Shawn P. Martin, was killed in Iraq, Mimi Ferritti ran not only her first marathon, but her first race through the Gold Star Race Program: “You really don’t know the impact you’re having. But when y’all chose me to run MCM I had a clear goal that forced me WAY outside of my comfort zone and made me dig down to find a strength I didn’t even know I had. Because of you I discovered a new level of determination and perseverance.”
