Katie Hoster, a sophomore at Southwestern High School in Hanover, Pennsylvania, came to Roots for Boots wanting to assist a veteran for her senior project. Katie was a former student of now CEO of Roots for Boots, Christy Lucas. The two worked together to come up with the perfect project that incorporated Katie’s love of dance and music … Operation Outdoors – a Mission to secure an all terrain action track chair for a deserving local Gulf War veteran, Sgt Michael Geib.
The fundraising began with selling tee shirts, one in blue to represent Sgt Geib’s love of the water and one in olive drab to represent his love of the outdoors and hunting. A Texas Roadhouse fundraiser brought in over $2,000 followed by a paint night and letter writing campaign. Operation Outdoors brought in over $15,000!
Operation Outdoors concluded with a Benefit Concert planned by Katie with the assistance of school faculty members that included performances from Southwestern students and other local talent from our youth! Leek Hunting and Mountain Preserve President, Colonel Edward Fisher assists Roots for Boots in securing the all terrain action track chairs and was present at the concert to present the chair to Sgt Geib with Christy and Katie.
It was a beautiful concert filled with love and support of our military, personalized for our Sgt Geib! Well done by all involved. Operation Outdoors … Mission Accomplished!