Oscar Mike Foundation's 11th Annual Ball

Oscar Mike's 11th Annual Ball

This year, Anderson Manufacturing had the incredible opportunity to be in attendance for Oscar Mike's 11th Annual Ball, on Oscar Mike's 11th anniversary and was held on Veteran's Day, November, 11; There's a whole bunch of 11's going on here!

The crowd stares in amazement as multiple bids come in for $111,000!

Oscar Mike is building a new facility to house their world famous, all-veteran wheelchair rugby team and all of their adaptive sports/clinic activities and coinciding staff and team members. Their goal is to raise 11 million dollars to build their state-of-the-art, fully accessible facilities, which will include two of the world's only dedicated wheelchair rugby courts. At the ball, they showed some concept art of the new facility and it looks absolutely amazing!

Brad Snyder, Navy EOD Officer (retired), eight-time medalist (6 gold, 2 silver) and three-time paralympian

The event wasn't only about helping Oscar Mike achieve their goal, we also had the opportunity to hear from Keynote Speaker, Brad Snyder, who had lost his eyesight after he had stepped on a secondary explosive while conducting a medical evacuation for an Afghan Soldier who had stepped on a pressure-plate initiated explosive (IED), both charges were 40 pounds of homemade explosive. Snyder talked about these events and how adaptive sports have kept him on the move, chasing his dreams. When not competing, he is in pursuit of his PhD at Princeton University.

Noah Currier, Founder and CEO of Oscar Mike prepares to present awards and appears to be emotionally impacted by the flood of support

The evening's events include a very nice, three-course dinner followed by a presentation of awards for ongoing supporters and volunteers. The awards were followed by a beautiful presentation of art done by Ezekiel Crozier, Army (retired), who's Chinook helicopter was hit by an RPG and small arms fire causing one engine to fail and their team fell an estimated 100-150 feet with their Chinook. As a part of his rehabilitation, Crozier was inclined to hammer bottle caps, in turn, he began making beautiful works of art. The American Flag that he framed and brought with him sold for $11,000!

Ezekiel (Zeke) Crozier, watches the auctioneer as bids come ringing in on his American Flag bottlecap art.

Following the ceremonies, their was a silent auction and an open bar and dance floor where everyone laughed, conversed and danced the night away. Noah Currier said one thing in the ceremonies that rang to be absolute truth as I witnessed all of these amazing events unfold, he said that Oscar Mike is a family and as soon as I walked in, I too, felt apart of that family. Everywhere I looked, I seen people smiling, sharing laughter, sharing tears and best of all, sharing a beautiful night with one another for a great cause.

If you are interested in learning more about Oscar Mike, please visit Oscar Mike