MICA Paws for Heroes Fundraiser

01/10/2025

A special shout out to Frank Merlock and Patti Merlock. Frank for all of the graphics he created, the pictures he took at the event AND for this amazing video he created memorializing the event. A huge thank you to Patti Merlock for ALL her amazing and creative ideas, partnership throughout the planning and work leading up to and at the event itself. Patti selected the music for the video and she was spot on, as always. Thank you to my amazing husband for being the MC but more importantly, he was with us every step of the way and he kept me sane.

On behalf of Hank Korker, The Merlocks and I, send a big thank you to ALL our volunteers, sponsors, donors, and to the MICA for all their support (in more ways then we can count) and for hosting the event. Thank you to Applebees in Manahawkin for the amazing food and for working hard cooking the food. We couldn’t have done this without the support of our amazing sponsors, musicians, and our amazing community. Our community and local musicians never fail to come together to support our Veterans. I can’t possible list everyone, but please know that we appreciate every one of you from the bottom of our hearts. God Bless.

This is a highlight video of the event that was held on 10.13.24 at the MICA Club in Mystic Island, NJThank you all so much for ALL your support!!! Thank you...

11/24/2024

Remembering Airman Ollie J. Faure. His celebration of life was today. He lost his battle just a couple of weeks ago. Technicalities with the VA - could not receive care. This should not happen. We are so sorry for the loss of Ollie, and will do our best to honor him. Please keep his family and friends in your hearts and in your prayers. 🇺🇸

10/14/2024

My heart is very full. Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to the Semper Fido fundraiser yesterday at the MICA! Special shoutout to the MICA for hosting the event, the MICA Kitchen Crew, Frank Merlock for ALL the amazing artwork, Applebee's for the food and the help cooking, ALL of our sponsors, the FABULOUS musicians (Todd Merideth, Captain Bill, Tommy Allen Jr AND Sr, Coyote Jack, and Dave Jones), Rick Que for doing sound, the Committee who helped all along the way, and the volunteers who worked with us for “months” in preparation for this special event. You all know who you are! A special shout out to the Stafford PD Color Guard, Tommy Allen Jr. for doing an amazing job on the National Anthem and Dani McCauley who brought the Semper Fido cards up north and raised $2200! I will announce the total raised sometime later tonight!!!! God bless you, God Bless our Veterans, and God bless America! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤️❤️❤️❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

10/13/2024

SSG George Mackulin IV Army
2 25 1985 - 10 12 2015
🇺🇸

10/13/2024

Please meet the amazing Dave Jones! We have known Dave for many years. He is extremely talented and more importantly, he is a great person. He is a worship leader by day and talented artist by night. You can find him playing at places all over the local area such as Applebee's and Surf City Hotel to name a few. Dave is donating his time and talent to perform at the MICA for the Paws for Heroes Veteran Su***de Fundraiser today. The event is $10 to get in and that includes food. Dave will be closing out the event starting at 5:15pm. We hope to see you there!!!

10/12/2024

10/11/2024

Getting organized!!! Two more days!!!! Come out and support our Veterans!!! ❤️🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸

10/05/2024

You got this.
How do we know?
Because we’ve got you.

10/05/2024

I would like to introduce you to Todd Meridith! Todd is one of the amazing musicians donating his time and talent to the Paws for Heroes, Semper Fido Fundraiser 10/13 1pm - 6pm at the MICA club in Mystic Island. For those of you who do not know Todd, he is a VERY talented artists. He was born in Buffalo, NY and then moved to NJ. After college, he took on the role of Buddy Holly in the musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at a small theater in NY. Todd has played in many productions of the musical across the country. He has also formed a band called the Rave-Ons, a Buddy Holly tribute band that performs on cruise ships playing Buddy Holly, 50's rockabilly, and classic rock. When Todd is not on tour or working on the cruise ships, he is doing solo gigs at Joe Pops, Black Whale, Lighthouse Tavern, Thirsty Piney, Applebee's, to name a few. Todd is a fantastic vocalist and an exceptional guitar player. The best thing about Todd is, he is an amazing person. He is talented, funny, and extremely kind. Todd will open up the fundraiser at 1pm. Stop in to say hello & enjoy some great tunes while supporting our veterans battling PTSD. ALL proceeds from this event go to Semper Fido, a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from shelters, trains them to be service dogs, and then pairs them with veterans.

10/03/2024

If anyone has raffle items or monetary donations, we will be at the MICA Sunday at 2 pm for a couple of hours. Please drop the raffle items off at that time if you can. We need to get everything together so we can make the signs and list what items we have, number them, etc. ALL proceeds go to Semper Fido, a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from shelters, trans them as service dogs, and then pairs them with veterans suffering from PTSD or TBI’s. Twenty-two (22) Veterans and 1 active duty service member die by su***de every day. A service dog can help them cope thereby saving the life of the veteran while also rescuing a dog. Help us to help them. God Bless. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

10/01/2024

Our sponsorship Banners are in!!!!! See one of them below! Thank you so much to everyone for our sponsorship banner!!!! You all rock! Please come to the event with you can and message me for details if you have questions or if you want to help out in some way!!!!!

09/29/2024

Attention all Veterans! If you are battling PTSD or suffer from a TBI and are in need of a service dog, you should come to the event on October 13th (See the below flyer). All proceeds go to Semper Fido. They will have a service dog team on site and volunteers that can explain about their organization. They will have applications with them so you can apply for a service dog of your own. When they pair a Veteran with a service dog, there is no charge to the Veteran. Please go to semper fido.org for more information about this phenomenal organization.

09/27/2024

Thank you to all of our sponsors!!!!! Some of you have been sponsors every year we have don’t this event and some of you are first time sponsors. Thanks to each and every one of you. You are making a big difference in the lives of our Veterans. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

09/27/2024

We are still looking for raffle items for the Veteran Su***de Awareness fundraiser scheduled for October 13th 1-6. Twenty-two (22) Veterans die by su***de every day. ALL proceeds will go to Semper Fido, a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from shelters, trains them to be service dogs, and then pairs them with Veterans at no cost to the Veteran. Please message me if you cans help provide a nice raffle item. Perhaps you can go in on a nice item with others.

I want to thank ALL of you for your support. Many of you are Gold Sponsors, silver Sponsors, Nad/or flag sponsors. We could not do this without you.

I hope to see you all on October 13th at the event!!!