Bigger Ed

Rough draft for our clubs website main page. What do you think?

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Central Cal Veterans Four Wheel Drive Club
A 4WD club for military veterans

The Central Cal Veterans Four Wheel Drive Club was established in July of 2016 and membership is open to anyone who served in the United States Military. It does not matter what brand of 4wd vehicle you own, or if you own one at all. If you want to help on trails, and get a rig eventually, you are welcome to ride along, as space is available.

Membership is ? (we need to decide on free, or annual dues)

Requirements to Join:

Membership is open to current members of the United States Military, veterans, and non veterans who are strong supporters, upon invite.


The Purpose of Central Cal Veterans Four Wheel Drive Club:

Central Cal Veterans Four Wheel Drive Club intends to provide a Family Friendly 4wd Club specifically for veterans of the United States Military. The intent is to provide a safe place with people that have been there, done that, and understand eachother. Also to support the U.S. Forest Service in maintaining local trails for public use, as we can. Through the use of the forum we are able to provide a support system for veterans. We realize it can be tough out there and want to provide a place with people that get it, even if they're not club members they are welcome to join the conversation.

The part below is intended for my buddy making the site. Read it too, maybe you can give feedback.

This is a very rough draft, had to start somewhere. I will send it to others interested and get feedback. What type of pictures do you suggest? We don't have anything with veteran club members on the trail. Scenery? Pictures from our deployments? I have the Iraq/Afghanistan group Thursday, and can run this by them then. They have been my biggest support. As for the color, start with olive drab and we'll see if we like that.

Canvas

I would suggest starting on Facebook to build members then think about starting a website because it does get expensive and from past experience most want some sort of app. Google play is really easy and inexpensive to build; however the IOS app will run you close to $20K for just the basics. Again that is what I found.

Good luck with starting the group. I would also look to see if there is a Chapter for Military Jeepers in your area. There is no need to have a competition of Veteran 4wd groups.

R/
Will

Bigger Ed

I don't do Facebook, others will spread it on there. We won't need an app, it's just something fancy that's not needed. There are no local military Jeeper chapters, I've been exposed to all the clubs in this area for some time. It wouldn't stop me if there were, I have no intention of excluding veterans because of the brand of rig they own. Veterans are getting excited about this, even those that had no intention of joining a club want to be a part of it when they hear about it. Thanks for the input.

Navy-Jeepster

Have you had any meetings or runs for this group.
Retired Navy, living in Hanford.

Todd

Shelby73

I think it's a great idea, and you should allow for chapters in the club. I know I for one would love to see this club in Pa.

Navy-Jeepster

When it gets more formal, what about making the club a Cal4Wheel member club?

Todd

Bigger Ed

No, it got put on the back burner. I was recently inspired to get back on it though. Last summer I discussed it with a veteran I served with in Iraq, he came back wounded and started a nonprofit for veterans. I was asking him to send people my way, he offered to host it on his website and bring us in under his nonprofit. He has the Veterans Community Response Corps, and offered to make us our own platoon and I would be in charge. They already have three platoons, one for each of three local counties. We would be the fourth, and for the Forest Service. I saw pros and cons in this, but still agreed. Right after the conversation they all put their efforts into a big ride they did to raise awareness of the veteran suicide rate, and couldn't give me any attention. I will really try to get through to them, but will also get our own website going more. It's existed since last summer, but not much on it.

Last summer I put in a lot of volunteer hours with the Forest Service OHV crew, High Sierra Ranger District. The crew leader is my strongest supporter. He has a son that did three tours Regular Army Infantry, and he gets it. He REALLY loved the idea of a veterans club volunteering with them. This is really significant too, as a well known local club I was in decided the difficulties I have processing information because of a Traumatic Brain Injury was really just me ignoring people and being rude, and they treated me like I had a behavior problem and made excuses. The OHV crew leader said in a very stern way he wasn't putting up with that on his crew.

It was put on the back burner because I was really busy volunteering and going on runs I already committed to, and because another local club welcomed me in. Although things seem to be going good with them, they're mostly non veterans. There's only one other that I know of. I think we're best hanging out with other veterans, we understand each other.

Bigger Ed

I plan on doing this, it will help get the word out too.

Bigger Ed

I talked to him today, he says they should get the website and logo up in a couple days. He wants us to be a "Platoon", not a club. The other three are platoons. They recently lost a few of their Veterans Community Response Corps coordinators due to medical reasons. A few others have stepped up, but not taking on as much. Being part of their program would give us a monthly operating budget, and they would also purchase equipment needed up front, in addition to the budget. Things like chain saws and PPE. Feedback welcome.

This is the guy I spoke with today, he was one of the people I hung around with in Iraq.
Valley veteran who helps other vets in need recovering after accident | abc30.com

Navy-Jeepster

Last year a couple of us talked about forming a Wheelers for the Wounded extension of the unit up north.
We would take wounded vets wheeling and camping for a weekend.
I think this is something this group could help coordinate.

Thanks

Todd