The Association of Fundraising Professionals in Cincinnati named me their 2015 Outstanding Youth Philanthropist and I attended a banquest at The Duke Energy Center to receive the award. Lt. Thomas was nominated by Captain Phillip McDonald and Captain David Fletcher. Lt. Thomas was able to address 900 people at the conference that are either philanthropists or invited honorees. There were opportunities before the awards ceremony to meet with fundraising professionals who deal with millions of dollars, while we were  only dealing with tens of thousands of dollars . 

The recognition was well appreciated and only inspired Lt. Thomas to continue along a path celebrated on a much geater scale in 2020.

Lt. Thomas learned very quickly that he enjoyed public speaking on a grand scale, which is in part  why he  studied  Government & International Relations and Political Science at the Citadel.

This was a great honor bestowed at such a young age, but there would be so many more.

On March 23rd, 2014  the My GI Foundation sponsored an Easter Egg Extravaganza at the beautiful Ohio Veterans Home in Georgetown, Ohio. We are proud to have been part of your residents celebration with their children and especially their grandchildren and they were everywhere. We were able to get enough candy for 1,500 Easter Eggs! It was awesome to see the amount of pictures seemingly everyone took with our extra large bunny.

We brought The Easter Bunny with us, so the celebration would be extra special. He has grown to 6'1" and 218 lbs. and carried a lot of eggs.

I would like to thank the 166 residents who served our country in crisis. I got to talk with many of you while the Easter Bunny was entertaining. I love my veterans and The Veterans Home in Georgetown was very impressive.

I personally took home much more than I brought by having been part of this celebration. I do what I can for my veterans and armed forces. This celebration was also great because my role was just funding and I just got to sit back and watch, which is not the norm at banquets or speaking engagements.

Thanks for having us, Hopefully, the bunny can make a return trip!