OCEAN CITY — The organizers of Ocean City’s newest event are excited to partner with the city to help out military families, specifically those of Navy SEALs.
The Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and the city hosted a press conference Friday, April 19 at the Ocean City Music Pier for the inaugural Stand Up 4 SEALs event, scheduled for May 25 at the Fourth Street beach.
Chad Gallagher and his wife, Kristin, along with former Navy SEAL Mark T. Baum, chief of operation for the Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey UDT/SEAL Association; and Gallagher’s friends, Mike Vaules and Pat Gill, who was not present, are organizing the Stand Up for SEALS event to raise money for the One Team One Fight organization.
The One Team One Fight organization raises funds for the Navy SEALs Foundation and the 31Heroes Project, which supports the families of all fallen military heroes.
“We are so excited to have with us Chad Gallagher and his wife who started this campaign,” said Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Chamber.
The sister of fallen Navy SEAL Brian Bill, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011, was supposed to speak at the press conference Friday, but was too emotional after being in Boston Monday during the explosions. Bill’s sister, Amy, wrote in a letter that she and her family were in Boston, watching and participating in the marathon for Team Brian on Monday, April 15, and were just two blocks from the explosions. Everyone in her party is safe, she wrote.
“It’s been a crazy week of emotions,” Amy wrote.
Kristin Gallagher said that people like Amy, family members of SEALs, and the wives of fallen soldiers, called Gold Stars, are tough.
“They get it done and they don’t complain,” she said. “The reason they get through it is because they believe that their husbands are coming home.”
But many SEALs, she said, never make it home.
“We’re asking you to help them, and that’s the key message,” Chad Gallagher said.
“Ocean City is the perfect place to do this. SEa, Air, Land,” Kristin Gallagher said, noting it’s the acronym for SEAL. She said Memorial Day weekend was the also the perfect weekend.
Vaules said that when he and Chad Gallagher first spoke about the event, he asked why Gallagher wanted to do it. Gallagher said, “Why not?”
“Why not. Why not get involved,” Vaules said, adding that he has never heard a better answer.
He encouraged everyone to “get in the fight.” Unlike other charitable organizations with generously paid boards and directors, 95 cents of every dollar raised for the One Team organization will go to help families in need.
“We still need more sponsorship support,” Vaules said. “If you can’t sponsor, we ask you to volunteer, to donate.”
