With the completion of the new EWStudio comes the launch of The Warrior Network. Using the original name of our org (2015-2020), TWN is where you will find all of our latest on-demand digital content where each episode brings you face-to-face with battle-tested wisdom from the life experiences of Warriors and leaders from around the world. Get subscribed today!

As our lead team grows and as we begin to see streams of expansion happening, we've been working hard behind the scenes. From training leaders and creating new systems, to streamlining processes and creatively tackling challenges, we're fighting for growth that is both sustainable and healthy.

As you may have heard, 988 is the new Suicide and Crisis Lifeline phone number. Because of this and the fact that we want to spread that news far and wide, we decided to have a corn hole tournament. Making people aware of a resource like 988 is part of the fight for the mental health of our Warriors that we engage in.

Happening on September 24, we saw 19 teams enter the tournament that we hosted at D1 Sports in Shreveport. Over $2000 was raised that will be used as we continue to engage this fight.

Thank you to Designer Products & Installation and Shreveport/Bossier Cornhole Association for partnering with us to make this possible.

Thank you to our lane sponsors as well:

• Litton Mortgage
• Rusty Dog Design Company
• Team Stacy Berry, Realtor
• Pamela Britt, Realtor
• Forsythe Tractor
• Red River Hot Sauce
• Grace and Peace Wellness Center
• KA3 Stitch and Print

We we're shocked, to say the least, when we got a random phone call from a guy we did not know talking about wanting to do a concert series with the proceeds benefiting our mission.

We were honored to get to sit back and watch as Trent Daugherty's vision became a reality. On September 24, at Hurricane Alley at the East Bank District in Bossier, five bands came together from 2:00pm til 11:00pm and rocked it as the crowd packed into the area as the night pressed on.

The free event was combined with a raffle that included items donated from around our community. That, combined with the event sponsors, and a general encouragement to give, saw several thousand dollars raised to help further our mission, of which is already directly impacting Warrior's lives.

At the end of the event, as we were heading out, Trey was expressing our gratitude to Trent and, long story short, was stopped in his tracks when Trent's fiance actually thanked us for allowing us to partner with them. You can imagine Trey's thoughts... "I'm the one that's thanking YOU...we didn't do anything, you did everything!" Right then and there, she expressed how much Trent wanted to do something like this for so long, even from his time in the Navy, and had struggled through every reason not to for so long. This is the moment, after it was all said and done, that it became even more clear that this event was the product of someone getting out of their comfort zone, putting the right folks around him, and influencing their world. 

Thank you, Trent, for charging forward with your vision and fighting for the good of people you've never even met. Your work, alongside the selfless support of many others, will have immeasurable ripple effects.  

We we're excited and honored to be asked to give the keynote address at the 2022 Louisiana National Guard Office of Family Programs Conference in Baton Rouge.

Those in attendance range from military members, military spouses, and civilians who fight for the wellbeing of National Guard Warriors and Families all across the state.

• Helping them understand, grasp, and remember their "why" behind their service to others.
• The vital importance of taking care of themselves.
• Effectively engaging with and caring for Warriors/Families.
• Engaging with their communities.

We are constantly working to creatively engage with Warriors both locally and around the world. The pandemic saw us adapt with the creation of the official EW Mobile App.  Now it's time to take that to the next level, along with our website experience as a whole.

We've already added things like:

• Our new online chat directly to our app' main navigation.
• A revamped latest news section called "Hoofbeats" right on the landing page. 
• Easy access to subscribe to The Warrior Network podcast and Youtube channels.

As we speak, we're actively working on the brand new everywarrior.org...which will bring even more updates to the app as well. Be watching, and if you haven't downloaded the App yet, get it today. 

During the early morning hours of September 11, 2022, a call came into the Arveda Police Department on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. One of the officers who responded to the apparent domestic disturbance was Officer Dillon Vakoff.

We came to know Dillon during his time as an Airman before he separated from Active Duty in 2019, chasing his dream of becoming a police officer.

That morning, at around 2:30am, Dillon was shot in the line of duty, sacrificing his life for those around him.

The response to his death is one like I have never seen before. The overwhelming outpouring of support for his family and friends was rivaled only by story after story after story detailing the impact Dillon had on person after person after person.

Dillon truly was a man who lived to serve others. While Colorado and Louisiana may be hotspots where he made an impact because of his time living in both, if you got a small glimpse of the posts on social media giving honor to his life, you saw that he truly did make a difference in lives around the world.

We were honored to get to walk with Dillon through his transition from military to civilian life.  In fact, he helped us realize how important it is to support Warriors as they are making that transition. The unique challenges in this season of life for Warriors is a place where help isn't just necessary, it is deserved.

In the week following his death, we were able to play a small role in helping our community get a glimpse of the phenomenal man Dillon was, while having the extreme pleasure of ensuring that one of our military families who has been close to him since the beginning of his military career was able to attend the funeral services in Colorado at Flatirons Church. 

These are two of our brand new Influencer Challenge Coins. If you look closely, you will notice that they are number 19 and number 27. Together, they represent Dillon Vakoff's badge number.

While the goal for our Influencer coins is for those who receive them to give them away to others they see who are making a difference and then share their story on our website, these two will be presented to Dillon's parents (through the Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation) and immediately retired. Our hope is that ten years from now, our original 100 coins will make tracks all around the world with story after story attached to them, we know that these two will hold a special place for our organization and the Warriors we fight for as they represent the story of a man who is a true hero.

While it's nearly impossible to put a number to the support we're able to give, we can easily share some of the amazing things we've seen this month.

Just a few ways we saw support given:

• Ensuring a military family got to attend Dillon Vakoff's funeral.
• Emotional support for several of Dillon's friends.
• Financial support for several Warriors.
• Multiple one-on-one counseling talks.
• Helping welcome a new baby with food for the family.
• Support for the command team of a  Warrior who fell victim to suicide.

We love helping meet needs around us, but we love it even more when those around us ask us to help them meet the needs around them! That's what happened when Ed Blanco teamed up with Claude Louis of the 2 Security Forces Squadron!

As many of us know, Jackson Mississippi has been without clean water for the past few weeks.  Louis and his team took the charge to collect and take 110 cases of clean water to to Jackson!  

While they did the hard work and heavy lifting, we were grateful to be able to partner with them. 

FUN FACT: This whole thing we call our Every Warrior Family was born out on a Thanksgiving dinner that happened back in 2014 when we took over an old abandoned boat store in south Bossier with a couple hundred Warriors and some good ole home cooked turkey and dressing! That night, after it was all said and done, a few of us were sitting around and the question was raised…”What would it look like if we did this all the time?!”

Fast forward to today…we’ve seen six Feasts come and go (and a couple tailgate parties where we lit up the sky with fireworks the past two years) and we are STOKED to see the return of what has simply come to be known as “The Feast!”

If you’re currently serving in the military and will be in and around northwest Louisiana on Sunday night, November 20…we want to have Thanksgiving with you (and your family!) Thanks to partners like Barksdale Federal Credit Union, we’ve got room for you and 999 of your closest friends! So, save the date and get ready for our flagship event of the year…and come expecting an experience with a big extended family that you won’t soon forget. If we’re being honest, this one night is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the love and support you deserve!

• Military reservations open Saturday, October 15. 
• Volunteer registration open Saturday, October 8.

COMMUNITY MEMBERS + FRIENDS: 
A $250 donation makes The Feast possible for EIGHT Warriors! You, your family, or your business/organization can help make it happen by becoming a Table Sponsor.

Click the link below to sponsor a table...or two...or three. In total, we have 125 tables...and we need YOU!

Meet Charlie Gage. No, seriously, I really do wish you could meet him...cause you're missing out if you don't know him. Here are a few facts about this man: 

• He's one of the most adventurous guys I know.
• He's the epitome of a loyal friend...the one you want around you when the crap hits the fan...even if you live across the country from each other. 
• He's taken challenge after challenge and grown more and more with each one.
• I trust him with my life...literally. I really do. He took me up through Rocky Mountain National Park on my first adventure up there, and I am terrified of heights and thought I was going to die. No sarcasm there...straight facts.
• Fun Fact: His son and my daughter were born 6 days apart.

• He is also the very first Warrior we supported when we started back in 2015.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. He posted on Facebook looking for a couch to sleep on when he returned from his deployment. I didn't know him well at all but I knew enough to know that he wasn't going to be hunting for some random couch under my watch. Long story short, we were able to get him a hotel for a couple weeks until he PCSed to Colorado.

If I am being honest, I didn't have a clue how we were going to pay for his hotel, but I knew we had to do it. In what would start a pattern that lasts to this day, when the need arose, the finances needed came.

Why do I tell you all this? Fast forward from 2015 to Wednesday morning, September 7 of this year, and Charlie and I got to meet for breakfast at a little diner on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. Charlie has taught me a lot over the years, but no lesson more valuable than the fact that friendships really can begin in the middle of a crisis AND that it is possible to withstand  distance, individual challenges, and the changes that life inevitably brings.

If you're out there letting loneliness have it's way with you today, I want to challenge you to look around you and connect with the "Charlie Gage" type people in your life. Those that you may not talk to every day or even every week, but you know they are there.

Oh, and never forget those humble beginnings and the people who helped you get where you are today. 

-Trey

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