We Are Remembering Wins Inaugural Awesome Bend, Oregon Pitch Night

(Photo above Pam Stevenson Dean of Awesomeness with Tracy Miller)

Tracy Miller was the winner of the inaugural Awesome Bend Pitch Night with a proposal called We Are Remembering- Not Just a Number. Five finalists presented ideas to “make Bend more awesome” at the event held on April 21 at the Deschutes Brewery Tap Room. Miller walked away with the $1,000 grant from ten trustees who each donated $100, plus an additional $221 contributed by a 75-person audience, to make her dream a reality– remembering every single American killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during a 14-hour-plus reading of names broadcast live to the world via webcast from Bend’s Troy Field this upcoming Memorial Day.

Since 2008, a group of Bend area residents organized by Miller have come together on Memorial Day to conduct a continuous reading of the name, age, and hometown of every soldier (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard) killed in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003.

“I organized this Memorial in 2008, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, because local and national media, as well as our society at large, were largely ignoring the real loss and sacrifices being made by members of our military and their families, and just reducing it to numbers of KIA,” said Miller.

She went to the local library to research and print out the names. As the pages continued to spew forth from the printer, she thought she had mistakenly printed the list more than once. Sadly, she hadn’t.

In 2014, the reading took volunteers a little more than 14 hours. By chance it fell upon Patty Smith of La Pine to read the name of her grandson John C. Johnson, of Phoenix, Arizona. Corey, as his family and friends called him, died in Afghanistan on May 27, 2011. He was 28.

Each year, Miller has been updating the list and storing the pages in her garage. An emotional Miller said, “I live every day with more than 6,000 people.”

As she accepted the award, Miller said, “As far as I know, this will be the first time anyone in the world with an internet connection will be able to witness a live reading of every single name.”

Awesome Bend is now accepting applications for proposals that will make Bend an even better place to live, work or play for its next quarterly grant at www.awesomebend.org. The application deadline is July 1, 2015. Finalists will be notified and invited to present 3-minute pitches at the next Awesome Bend Pitch Night which will be held July 21, 6pm-8:30pm at the Deschutes Brewery Tap Room, 1044 NW Bond Street in downtown Bend. The event is free and open to the public.

What Is Awesome Bend?
Awesome Bend’s mission is to inspire and support ideas that make Bend an even better place to live, work and play.

The guidelines for grant selection include:

1. The project must be feasible and completed with $1000 within three months of the award.

2. The money cannot be used for personal expenses or general operating expenses for an established charity.

3. Grantees3. You agree to come back to the next Pitch Night and tell the community all about your project, thus inspiring future awesomeness. Grantees agree to return to the next Pitch Night and tell the community about their project, inspiring future awesomeness.

For more information about the Pitch Night, to apply for a grant or to apply to become a trustee, please visit www.awesomebend.org or email awesomebend@gmail.com