08/08/2025
So proud of Rylie, yesterday at breakfast in the hotel. A fella noticed Rylie's shirt and came up to her and thanked her for acknowledging what our service does for us. He told her it means a lot to see young kids with that understanding, he told her he was a Vietnam Veteran, Rylie with out hesitation thanked him for his service and again he was visibly shocked. He asked her if she had a connection to someone in the service. She proudly said her Papa is a 92 year old Korean War Veteran, and that she is a Jr. Auxiliary Member of the Orrville American Legion and they are her family and then asked him if he knew what 22 a Day/ Awareness 22 was? She went on to explain before he could say anything.
At that moment this fella was wiping away tears, Rylie had told him about her Lemonade Stand and that over the last 2 years she had donated over a thousand dollars to Awareness 22 and will be presenting another check soon. With tears running down his cheeks he thanked her. He had just lost a buddy to su***de recently and her shirt caught his eye, he said it gave him hope that our younger generation will hopefully see the value of what our servicemen and women give. He asked her for a hug and kissed the top of her head. I could hear behind me what I am presuming was his wife. And I could hear him say "Did you see her shirt?" It said "All Gave Some and Some Gave All!"
"What do you know about that, and she understood what that means!"
Just as we were finishing up this fella came back and shook her hand one last time and passed a $20 bill to her, he said you get yourself a treat on me!
As they walked out his wife stopped passed and smiled sweetly at Rylie and then me and said "Good job Mom, and then patted Rylie softly on the head and said "You don't understand what you did today, but you really gave him hope and I thank you..."
