Stand Up for Heroes Report

The disconnect between civilian America and the military community is as real as it is palpable, but that doesn't mean there aren't good people and organizations out there trying to fill that gap. Bob Woodruff and the various organizations involved with Stand Up for Heroes are living proof (the Supreme Court believes corporations are individuals, so that adjective works in this modern age, yo) of such.

The evening got off to quite a start - on my way to dinner, someone jumped in front of a Subway, causing the entire line to stop while, uhh, the mess was cleaned up. Needless to say, I cabbed it, instead.

The fine people at Sears Holdings, ReMIND.org, Euro PR and the Woodruff Foundation hosted the dinner at an excellent restaurant in the Upper West Side, called Compass. (open bar + rare meat + potatoes = happy writer.) It was here I met up with some other guest milbloggers, such as Bouhammer and Colonel and Mrs. Kissinger of Military Avenue.  I also had the chance to speak with Tom Aiello, a Sears Holdings Division Vice-President, West Point graduate, and former Army combat engineer officer. Sears employs over 20,000 veterans, and its' Heroes at Home project is three years running, but Aiello said the company asked itself "how can we help those veterans still serving?" This question is what led Sears to team up with the Woodruff Foundation.

A very short walk separated us from the restaurant and the famous Beacon Theatre, the location of the official STFH event. (Even the non-Cav scouts were able to navigate their way there, amazingly. The infantrymen, of course, were disappointed to be unable to SMASH SMASH anything along the chosen route.) We strolled on in, walking past General and Mrs. Casey and Bob Woodruff (pictured) who were getting the red carpet treatment, and found our seats.

I know I'm guilty of hyperbole, but I don't think I've laughed so hard in one night in a long, long time. Jon Stewart, fresh off his Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear domination, struck the perfect balance for a charity event host between funny and substantiative. Though Joel McHale's stuff clearly was hit-and-miss for the crowd as a whole, I've always loved his off-beat and quirky approach. And Jerry Seinfeld, who closed the event, brought down the house in classic Seinfeld "are you kidding me?!" style. But it was Bob and Lee Woodruff who earned the top comedic prize for the evening, showing a comfort and understanding of military humor and camo culture that is frankly a pretty rare thing in the brights lights of NYC. Mrs. Woodruff constantly joked about leaving Bob for one of the active duty servicemen seated in the front three rows of the theatre, and Bob only shrugged his shoulders and went along with the ribbing.

And then there was the music. Tony Bennett (yes, that Tony Bennett!) crooned like it was 1960, and gave a shout-out to his fellow Grunts in the audience. And then there was Springsteen - I now understand why every woman with a pulse in the Western world shudders at the mere mention of his name. A very memorable experience, and as Mr. Aiello recalled the next day in a telephonic interview, "his music is just so soulful." Well said.

Beyond the festivities though, was an auction and fundraising for the Woodruff Foundation. The guitar Springsteen used this night went for $140,000 by itself (!), just the tip of the iceberg in a night of very generous donations. If one needed visual proof of where these funds went, they simply needed to walk amongst the many wounded warriors attending the event - men and women who wouldn't be capable of doing so without the support of organizations like the Bob Woodruff Foundation, and people like Bob and Lee Woodruff.

Thank you to all those involved in putting together Stand Up for Heroes - it was both an amazing and a humbling experience. Please support the Bob Woodruff Foundation if you can!

Photo credit - image taken by Marcos Rivera and is property of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR.