West Newsmagazine 9-9-20

24 I
September 9, 2020
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
@WESTNEWSMAG
WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
LEAVING A LEGACY, from page 23
tion with Gold Star Mothers.
“We also did a Big Richard’s Hot Dogs
(St. Charles) event, raising $400 in one
day,” Tobey said. “My buddies and I went
there one night. There was a flier that read
‘Charity Day: 15% of proceeds go to local
charities,’ so we signed up.
“It’s all just shooting from the hip, creating
opportunities and taking opportunities.”
One event that greatly stands out for
Tobey involved a Special Forces vet who
lost his leg at the knee while training Nicaraguan
rebels as an airborne ranger.
“Ricky wasn’t able to mow his lawn
for four years,” Tobey recalled. “He
couldn’t get around and had a lot of
knee pain. He had bone cancer and
amputation. With his mother passing
away and with no family left, Ricky
was in a really rough spot. So, we had
20 guys come in, and this place was
an absolute jungle. We couldn’t get a
lawnmower on it. I had six guys walking
around with trimmers, just chopping
grass down enough so we could
barely fit a lawnmower on it. We took
about 25 full recycle bins. The guys got all
the brush inside and were stomping on it.
We hauled all that stuff off and cleaned up
his yard.
“He saw this group of 20 guys spending
all day in 95 degrees,
sweating and doing his
work for him. He saw all
these people really cared
about him. That’s one of
the biggest things we do.
It’s not the work we do as
much as the presence we
bring behind our work. As
we were packing up and
leaving, he was teary-eyed,
and you could see we made
a very distinct impact on
his life.”
That is just one example of dozens
of wonderful deeds performed by Serving
Servicemen that Tobey estimates has
encompassed some 5,000 to 7,000 total
hours of service.
Before and After: Serving Servicemen volunteers transform
a yard that had become severely overgrown.
(Source: Serving Servicemen)
Developing strong men
for tomorrow
Currently in his first semester studying
computer science at Missouri University
of Science and Technology, Toby shares
a room with fellow first-year friend and
Serving Servicemen associate Andrew
Barton, a mechanical engineering major.
“We’ll be able to run things easier in
terms of the administrative side by working
from the same house,” Barton said.
The nonprofit’s website was recently
updated to include a new copyrighted logo
with two hands shaking, plus
an American flag. There are
three stars beneath it representing
the organization’s three
listed goals: Help Veterans,
Educate Students and Provide
a Service Opportunity.
According to Tobey, those
three goals are perfectly stated
regarding the basic need of
recruiting both present-day and
future volunteers into the fold.
“You don’t need to motivate
somebody if what you’re doing
is meaningful,” Tobey said. He
added that, devoid of teachers
and other adult authority
figures, students truly learn to
thrive while doing something
personally meaningful.
“When you give students responsibility,
they flourish,” Tobey said. “We give
them more responsibility than they’ve ever
had before. That really develops them into
leaders, strong men for tomorrow, men of
character and integrity. What matters most
is not what you do, but the legacy of how
you leave that place.”
As for the organization’s future, Tobey
said his goal is making it a national nonprofit.
“It’s going to be huge one day!” he
exclaimed.
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