Introducing Team USA Cares: Marquardt

We have all heard about "Army Buddies" and I am fortunate to have one too. Jim and I have followed each other's careers and lives since 1979. He went off to the first gulf war, where he served with distinction. He rode in airplanes, jumped

 out of them with the 82nd Airborne but it wasn't until after he retired from the Army that he took to being a pilot. 

Since we started USA Cares in 2003, Jim, I and others have traveled to locations all over America telling the USA Cares story and making the case that military families deserved a extra effort from all of us that live in peace and freedom.

Lined up in the landing pattern in New York with jumbo jets, or landing in a little field in Georgia, Jim has shown a level of professionalism and savvy that I would have never guessed. But his passion for flying is equally matc

hed by his passion for USA Cares. I wish I had a nickle for every hour that we have spend on the phone or together talking about strategy and what to do next and how can we do things better. 

15,000 military families have come to  USA Cares for assistance, and we have dispensed over $5 million in grants, so Jim's original process, which remains the base plate for our process remains true. Protect the dignity and privacy of our clients. Provide a hand up and not a hand out. 

Jim gets very animated about caring for our guys, he has a son who has served multiple tours in Iraq with the Air Force and will again. So for Jim, it is personal. The fact that he has friends who are now leading the Army serving and doing so well is a source of quiet pride in this Allan Park, Michigan native.

And speaking of Allan Park, last week, Jim and I drove (weather wouldn't let us fly) to his old high school, Cabrini, where he told 800 students that one person could still make a difference and that all you had to do was believe. Jim believes that. The following week, the entire school all wore red to show their support for our troops. I think they got the message.

I have seen him at his worst and I have seen him at his best. Jim is not only my best friend, but he is one of my heroes. He would be the first to tell you that he isn't perfect, but I would be the first to tell you that while he isn't perfect, he has the passion of a warrior, and the compassion of a Priest. 

This is my introduction of Jim Marquardt.