ABOUT FLORIDA CHAPTER 8

 Rolling Thunder® Inc. Florida Chapter 8 was formally chartered in January of 2009 and is based in Volusia county east central Florida, home of famous Daytona Beach. We quickely became involved in supporting our local veterans and educating the public of the POW-MIA issue. In addition we have committed to helping and supporting the following local organizations.

·      Veterans living at the Emory Bennett Nursing Home, Daytona Beach.

·      Veterans in transition, residing at the Haven Recovery Center in Deland.

·      The Port Orange Chapter of "X Prisoners of War."

·      Gold Star Mothers and Blue Star Mothers and families.

·      Homeless veterans and other local veterans in need within the county.

 MAJOR EVENTS: Rolling Thunder® Inc. Nationally hosts several major events where all chapters across the United States come together for our cause.

 The Run to The Wall: Originally known as the 1st Amendment Demonstration Ride. Every Memorial Day weekend in Washington DC, hundreds of thousands veterans and non veterans gather to pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to those still unaccounted for “POW-MIA’s.It is estimated that 1.2 million will be participating in 2012, the 25^th anniversary of this Rolling Thunder event.

The Ride Home: Held each year on POW-MIA Recognition Day weekend, (beginning the 3rd Friday of September. Rolling Thunder® chapters host a special weekend to honor all former Prisoners Of War and to remember those still Missing In Action. This weekend is called: “The Ride Home”. The goal each year is to invite former POWs and the families of those still missing (MIA’s), offering a weekend of honor and recognition commensurate with their extraordinary courage and valor. Here we honor former POW’s and the families of those still unaccounted for.

 Chapter Events and Support   

• The Run to the Wall (Memorial Day weekend Washington DC)
• The Ride Home Poker Run (Chapter event)
• The Ride Home - Americas GA. (All Chapters Event)
• Annual Salute to Veterans - Seminole Harley Davidson. (Chapter event)
• Annual POW-MIA Golf Tournament. (Chapter event)
• Escorts for the Moving Viet Nam Wall.
• Local Support our Troop Rallies, deployments and homecomings.
• POWMIA flag raising: Chapter 8 throughout the county host POW-MIA flag raisings. The city of Port Orange kicked off our POW-MIA Flag Program with a formal POW/MIA flag rising. Since then our flag program continues to raise POWMIAS flags throughout the community. (Chapter event)
• Veterans Day parade (city of Deland).
• Knight out against Crime, (Port Orange).
• Port Orange veterans Appreciation Day.
• Flag Day Celebration and veteran’s appreciation day (Port Orange).
• Veterans Remembrance, candle light vigil (Holly Hill)
• Blue Knights 911 Memorial Ride.
• Support to the Wounded Warriors Project
• The Soldier’s Angels Programs. 
• The Honor Flight.
• T.A.P.S. Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, (Children who have lost a parent in the war).
• JPAC, The Joint Services POW-MIA Accounting Command.
• Operation Just Cause is a non funded assembly of persons from around the world, united in their desire to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing and unaccounted during the Vietnam War and all wars.
• Operation Missing Man in particular, is an ongoing project to coordinate all resources possible to identify recovered remains that have not yet been identified.
• Supporting VFW’s American Legions, AM Vets and other local organizations with similar focused missions.