May 23, 2024

Carry The Load stops in Fort Cavazos to uplift memorial memory

KDH News

FORT CAVAZOS — Carry The Load’s West Coast members visited Fort Cavazos on Thursday prior to the group’s last stop in Dallas.

The group of 10 participants is one of five teams traveling throughout the country and began its journey in Seattle, Washington. Carry The Load is a nonprofit organization that performs a march every year to celebrate heroes, embrace the fallen, and educate communities on how to respectfully observe Memorial Day.

The organization started in 2011 when a military man realized that nobody really knew what Memorial Day was for. He then went out rucking with his gear around the Dallas area. When he stopped to take a rest, an elder gentleman came up to him and said “Son, who are you carrying?”

Carry The Load became the name.

“Carry The Load means to carry the weight of the people that you lost,” Carry The Load’s Director of Events Dana Sider said.

The annual relay consists of five routes including the West Coast, Mountain States, Midwest, New England, and East Coast. The national relay covers about 20,00 miles collectively and hits all 48 states, all having the final destination ending in Dallas.

“Carry The Load’s mission is to provide an active way for everyday Americans to honor the sacrifices that has been made by our military, first responders and their families,” West Coast Relay Manager Colton Morrow said. “We want to make sure that these people that have made the ultimate sacrifice are not forgotten. We wanted to share their stories and say their name and keep their memory alive.”

The relay consists of mainly walking, which is something the organization decided to change being that the members would travel throughout the country cycling in past years.

“Cycling was kind of a fast paced thing,” Morrow said. “So we’re trying to slow it down a little bit, To make those more personal connections … When we stop we have more quality time.”

Carry The Load also has a Carry the Flag program. This program is designed to teach children what the American flag is. This includes explaining what the stars and stripes symbolize, what the colors mean and how to fold the flag. The program’s objective is to teach children what true patriotism really is.

rcliment@kdhnews.com | 254-501-7553

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Carry The Load stops in Fort Cavazos to uplift memorial memory

KDH News

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