BIG SKY BRAVERY WOULDN'T BE WHAT IT IS TODAY WITHOUT THE HARD WORK AND DEDICATION OF OUR VOLUNTEERS. TO CELEBRATE THEIR GENEROSITY & INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME INCREDIBLE INDIVIDUALS, WE INVITE YOU TO READ OUR MONTHLY VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT!

This month’s volunteer: Brandon Vancleeve

Why?  As I have grown in my adult life, I’ve tried to make sure I knew the “why” to everything I did.  Whether it was with my business, with my family, my coaching, my relationships, I have strived to make sure I knew the purpose to everything I do.  But when I was initially invited to step into a volunteer role with Big Sky Bravery, in the fall of 2018, I could not answer that question.

I can now.

When I first met Josh McCain, founder of BSB, we connected on a personal level very quickly.  I appreciated his amazing story of “why” he started this organization, and I felt his passion for his cause.  To be honest, though, that is initially where it started and ended with me.   I did not know how to relate to the cause and was truly intimidated by the people Josh was trying to help and did not feel worthy or significant to the cause. I grew up in a small town in Wyoming and really had very little connection to our armed forces.  I was a sports kid that lived and breathed anything and everything sports.  My grandfather was in the Navy, but I did not understand it, nor did he discuss much of what he did to protect our country.  I have always had an inherent love for our country, and I have always deeply appreciated what these men and women did to protect our freedoms but was very disconnected from it all.

When Josh asked me to become a volunteer and join him on a Winter Task Force, I initially asked that very question I have grappled with throughout my life.  Why?  Why me?  What could I possibly offer these amazing individuals?  I truly did not understand how I could benefit any of these recipients.  I have little connection to the military, I am not much of an outdoorsman, the boxes that I thought needed to be checked, I did not check them.  My daily life typically consisted of running a small IT business, coaching my kids in their youth sports, and squeezing in a round or two of golf, when I could.  What do I truly have to offer?  Josh, just simply said, “just be yourself, don’t do anything, but be yourself”.

After now just completing my 3rd Task Force this February, I have figured out “why” I am involved.  What I have found is that these amazing recipients want to see normal.  They want to feel relationships outside of the military that are real. They want to believe they are defending people that are worth defending.  They want to have connections to civilians that are genuine.  They want to learn from civilians on what “daily life” looks like for most of us.  They want to open up to people that are equally willing to open up and share in their own personal challenges.  In the two weeks of volunteering for 10 amazing recipients, I have created deeper lifelong relationships, grown as a person, learned more about myself than anything else I have done in my previous 40 years.

Josh and BSB always talk about “giving more than you take.”  That statement and philosophy has deeply changed my life.   I’ve been empowered by that statement, I’m addicted to that mindset and I’ve realized that is what I can offer these recipients and this organization. In writing this, I hope to inspire someone interested in this organization, to get involved, and help make positive change for these amazing individuals, while finding your own “why”.