Posted October 6th - We learned that new member Corey Still served in the Air Force, so we proudly add him to our roster of Veterans and Corey we thank you for your service!
Posted October 5, 2024 this remembrance from Nathalie and Jim Roberson........enjoy!

Nathalie had me mopping the floor this morning so when the cleaning crew comes, they won’t think we are pigs.

I thought of my father, who would have turned 100 years old this year, not that he was a pig, but that he

was a stickler on mopping.

He joined the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor and retired 20 years later as a Chief Petty Officer.

It was around 1963, the family was loaded in the station wagon for a long trip, to where I don’t

remember. We were on a two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere. It was raining so hard that the

two speed wipers were not keeping up. Ahead you could barely make out a person walking. There was

no shoulder so the man walking in the ditch was being flooded by each passing car. Suddenly my

dad stopped, and I remember my mother saying, “What are you doing?”. “Picking up this sailor”.

“You don’t know that man”. “Yes, I do he’s Navy. No swabby is going to walk as

long as I’m alive”.


The sailor smelled like a wet dog. His wool jumper was beyond wet, and his sea bag must have

weighed double it’s dry weight. I don’t remember how long he was with us, but I do remember that

smell and seeing my father hand the man money as we dropped him off at a café. During this time my

dad was working as a school janitor, so I’m sure that whatever the amount, it was most of the money he

had. When I tell this story, I ask people to remember and learn from people like my father.

The club received thank you letters from both the Claremore and Sulphur Divisions of the Oklahoma Veterans Homes for our first of two $500 contributions to each of the Veteran homes in the state. Thank you for your support of our car shows which makes donations like this possible! We will make an additional $500 to each of the statewide centers between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
GIVE TO THE VETERAN HOUSING FUND.
If you would like to make a taxable donation to help house veterans who need a little assistance...


Consider writing a check made out to Food and Shelter...and on the "for" line, write Veteran Housing Fund. Then mail the check to : Canadian River Cruisers, 438 South Lahoma Ave., Norman, OK 73069 (that is Dave and Marilyn Saunders house). Dave will collect all of these checks and add them to our total donation from the car show.     Homelessness has become a world, United States, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and Norman problem. 

We choose to focus on former American Veterans who searched the sands of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, who held the line in Candahar, who may even have been fighting in Vietnam, but for whatever reasons, find themselves in Norman, Oklahoma with no means of support, or housing, no family or possibly even a lack of a car or a job....yet need someone, anyone to STEP UP and say WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY! And that, CRC members is us. Thank you for your donations.

July 1, 2024 The first $3500 of donation to the Oklahoma Veteran Center Transportation and Recreation Fund was released today to the 7 centers across Oklahoma. This money may be used to benefit any veteran in a VA center in Oklahoma who has no known family and no know visitors. A similar amount will be given in November, in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. On the right is CRC Veteran Affairs and car show coordinator Ray Langley. Ray and his team do an outstanding job with our car show and in raising money for our Oklahoma veterans!

This note from Food and Shelter:

Veterans continue to be our top priority.  We currently have 14 veterans in our shelter on Gray Street.  14 of 40 guests are veterans and are currently in a housing plan being connected to not only housing resources but medical care and VA benefits.  4 of our 12 single adults living at McKown Village are veterans.


Also, potentially interesting.  The average age of the women living in our shelter is 62.  18 women live in our shelter and 12 of them are over the age of 50.  Six use walkers or wheelchairs.  

There was a gentleman named John who came to stay with us last year.  John is one of the men you might see walking up and down Main street as he would visit Food and Shelter in the daytime and go to the library to read in the afternoons and evenings.  Though I did not see John with a shopping cart too often, he did have a large suitcase he pulled with him that helped protect his back from carrying everything he owned in a backpack.  

John suffered from severe anxiety and PTSD from his time in the service.  He served in Afghanistan alongside his army company.  This anxiety and PTSD often made him seem on edge when he was simply just anxious.  He was not dangerous but sometimes looked unkept.  This was simply part of being homeless. If you looked past his rough exterior and took the time to talk to John, you would find his mind was amazing.  He learned tactical things in the army that made him understand mechanics like a savant.  I really enjoyed listening to his stories.  

John and I started to communicate more regularly and we learned together he was eligible for many benefits he had yet to receive.  Using our partner we got him eligible for those benefits which included a HUD VASH voucher.  John was finally getting housed!!  Through our work we got him into a facility to help with his PTSD and anxiety.  He is so much better today.  He is like a different man.  

Stories like this are just as important for non-veterans.  Often what looks dangerous and unappealing (homelessness is dangerous and unappealing for the people experiencing it the most), are people who just need an opportunity.  They are people who grew up with abusive parents who never got a chance.  I often tell people none of the men and women I meet at Food and Shelter were dreaming of being homeless as a kid.  They were dreaming of being football players and doctors and army men.  Life and poverty and abuse got in the way of those dreams.  

Welcome to the updated CRC VETERAN RESOURCE CENTER: In the column to the left you will find a service by service listing of all of our cRc veterans. If you find you are not listed, please let us know. In the column to the right, you will find various buttons which connect you to websites that are Veteran related. If there is a Veteran website you use that is not listed, please let us know and we will post it. We do not list the many lawyers across America who are forming class action suits against the government for the Camp Lejeune drinking water issue. 


Serving in the United States ARMY


Chuck Angie

Ron Beeler

Fred Benenati

Paul Bettis

Howard Boss

Ed Braly

Seth Brown

Dusty Burnett

Jerry Camp

Glenn Curren

Ken Dewbre

Jim Dudley

James Dustin

Jerry Evers


Walt Gage - Korean War Veteran

Larry Hinton

Jim Hoffman

Brian Hunter

Jess Jaques, Sr.

Julie Jantz

Harold Jones

John Kuzmicki

Ray Langley

Doug Lassiter

Dane Marable

Larry Matlock

Michael Patterson

Roger Scott

Tim Scott

Ray Waldron


Members serving in the United States Navy:

Shannon Corkill

Jeff Day

Jack Galbreath

Don Garner

John Gray

Bill Morris

Terry O'Dea

John Peace

Dave Saunders

Cedric Wichmann


Members serving in the United States Air Force:

Fred Benenati

Ron Borum

Chip Chambers

Melvin Devore

David Elliott

Tony Fisher

Al Ginn

Dan Haggerty

Bill Harris

Billy Henry

Terry Kelley

Sam Klatt

Mike Kreft

BJ Longenbaugh

Jimmie Martin

Mack Mcintyre

Phil Neely

Ken Prewitt

Bob Pritchert

Ronnie Riddle

Kevin Sampson

Rod Smith

Jon Sutterfield

Ralph Stevenson

Corey Still

Lawrence Terry- Korean War Veteran


Members serving in the United States Marine Corps:

Duane Brosowske

Tony Lowe

Bob Price


Members serving in the United States Coast Guard:

Ron Folkes

William D. Roberson


CRC VETERAN HONOR ROLE 

(deceased club Veterans). 

We thank you for your service:


Al Ernst - U.S. ARMY


Curtis Fore - U.S. ARMY

Tom Hanson - U.S. NAVY

Charlie Lunsford - U.S. ARMY 
Glenn Mallory - U.S. ARMY

Zack McCain - U.S. ARMY

Chuck Norris - U.S. ARMY

David Palmer - U.S. NAVY

Ed Paulus - U.S. ARMY

Marshall Pierson - U.S. Navy

Bob Summers - U. S. NAVY

Bob Thompson - U.S. ARMY

Juan Villarreal - U.S. AIR FORCE

Herman Wilson - U.S. ARMY


Coast Guard rescue of a boat in stormy seas...
Air Force fighter jet fires a missile at enemy position
Army tank crew firing in desert climate
Marine platoon passes in parade formation
U.S. Navy firing broadsides in training exercise


WE SUPPORT A GREAT VETERAN CHARITY AS PART OF OUR CLUB MISSION:

The cRc actively supports the VETERAN RECREATION FUND, a fund administered by the Chaplain of the Oklahoma Veteran Centers. Our fund arranges gifts and surpises for those Vets who are in any of the Oklahoma Veteran Centers yet have no known relatives and no known visitors. 

All the money we make by putting on the annual Norman Veteran Center car show and what we make from the Moore Olde Towne car show goes into this fund. 


In January 2023, the CRC received $840.00 in donations for this fund. Shown above is CRC car show team leader Ray (right) who is giving DAV Chaplain Tommy (left) the checks from the club that were collected. 

Posted June 26 by Jim Roberson:

As many of you know Nath and I have had a sidecar for the last few years. As age gains on us all I realized that I could no longer be safe on this bike. It sat for 2 years before I could get the strength to sell it.

I listed it online and had a response from a guy in up north. He’s a 75 year old, Army Vet with cancer with no idea as to how much life he has left. He purchased the bike not knowing if he has 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years, only knowing that whatever time, he was going out on his terms.

He told me he’s as excited as a child at Christmas. May God bless us, in the gearhead group, with the same love and drive for our chosen rides, as this man, and do our best to pass on that passion to those who come after us.

CRC Member,
Jim Roberson

 
Posted April 8th 2020 NORMAN VETERAN CENTER 
On Tuesday, April 7th, 18 classic cars and trucks assembled along the entry drive to the Norman Veteran Center for the purpose of a unique drive-by car-show for our Veterans. It began with a lot of horn-honking and hooting and a slow march under the rotunda and around to their social-hall and patio. We made two laps in this fashion. 

The Veteran Center was fully onboard with this event and even had a number of Veterans in wheelchairs outside with their caregivers, masks in place during these unique times. Many Vets would try to name the year of the car as we slowly passed by, and most of them were "spot on".