A Charitable Fight

Carrie Chesnut
In a few weeks they’re entering the battle zone.

Their guns will be loaded, and they’re taking no prisoners.

The Wicked Warriors will take on the Crushing Crusaders in the first HomeFront Paintball Tourney on June 28. Hosted by Jaegers Paintball Park and Ribbon Events, the competition is bigger than paint-slinging. It’s about helping our brave troops overseas. All proceeds from the event will benefit Operation USO Care Package (www.uso cares.org).

Ribbon Events, a local nonprofit, usually raises awareness and funds for charities. But its decision to donate to the troops came from close friends.

“We have several friends that have served, and they suggested USO Care Package,” says Carrie Chesnut, founder of Ribbon Events Inc. “Through this charity, you are able to give more than just money. You are able to be personal, to write a letter to someone who is serving overseas and send them a piece of home to where they are at.”

Registration is as simple as joining a team online at www.ribbonevents.org. A minimum pledge of $65 is required, which includes the competition, gun rental and ammo, a uniform T-shirt and one care package donation. And extra donations will help provide more care packages. You must sign up by Thursday.

Carrie got the idea to start Ribbon Events when she was planning a mission trip to Africa. To raise funds, she and a friend had a wine-tasting that was a huge success. It hit her, right then, that she could be doing more good for even more people if she explored the event avenue.

Through affairs like fashion shows, comedy revues and burrito projects, Ribbon Events has enticed people to volunteer and give not just their money, but also their time to important causes like Kamen’s Angels, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Human People to People.

“I don’t think people don’t want to volunteer,” says Carrie, 26, a paralegal at a Kansas law firm. “I just think they need an outlet. A lot of people don’t know how or where to start. And for some people, they volunteer and see a lot of pain out there and it’s too overwhelming.

“The events make volunteering fun, and it helps people at the same time. We want to give a stage to the organizations that get buried under the larger charities. We want to encourage people to get up and take action.”

It’s important to Carrie that people enjoy volunteering, but she never wants a cause to get lost in the event.

Reminding everyone of the seriousness of the situation is why Ribbon Events chose paintball as the theme for the USO Care Package fundraiser. It keeps it light but strikes a chord at the same time.

“I know it’s kind of silly, but if you’re out there playing some paintball, it brings it back to the fact that this is for the soldiers. It doesn’t take the fun out of it, it doesn’t have to feel like work, but it’s important to remember why you are doing it.”