Tom Appelbaum's life was changed forever when in December of last year he, his wife, LaDonna, and pal Craig Schneider, asked each other, "Hey, why don't we put on a parade to mark the end of the Iraq War?"
Appelbaum, an attorney who'd already been busy as a member of the Parkway School District's Board of Education, would work hard to get this new project off the ground. They created a Facebook page to seek donations and meet with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and potential marchers — all within 30 days.
The Jan. 28 parade was a resounding success with about 100,000 spectators watching as more than 20,000 participants marched through downtown St. Louis. The parade wound up costing only about $30,000 because of the volume of donations.
"The support we got was amazing, and, though we only had a 30-day turnaround time, nobody could say no as we reached out," Appelbaum said. "Everyone stepped up and helped out."
Now, the Welcome Home Foundation they founded is looking for funds to help out with more parades, working with other communities, and trying to help returning veterans find jobs and locate resources.
Potential welcome home parade organizers in San Antonio, Tucson, Richmond, Va., Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and even Guam, have sought out Appelbaum to get more information and help.
Appelbaum recently talked about the parade, the foundation and his hopes for the future.
QUESTION: How did you and your cofounders come up with the idea of the Welcome Home parade?
ANSWER: In talking about the national conversation in the media, about whether there should be a welcome home parade for the end of the Iraq War, we thought the discussion was ridiculous. Of course, veterans deserved a parade. We thought that if the powers that be will drag their feet we'll do it.
Q: Were you three surprised you got it together so quickly?
A: A little overwhelmed, but not that surprised. I knew this whole thing resonated with people. Obviously, we couldn't do this on our own. Everybody stepped up to help.
Q: What was the most unusual or striking entry in the parade?
A: What was really striking was seeing the float that was made as a replica of our Facebook logo which showed a vet coming home holding the hand of his daughter under the Arch. It was amazing. I know the girl that made this, Christel Tuha, and what really struck me about it was not just that it was our logo and a really neat float, but knowing the guy in the logo, Rick Radford, was on that float, and I knew Christel and how excited she was and how much effort she put into that float. She even had posted photos online of work in progress. To see that float come down the street, with everyone cheering it, was really great.
Q: What was the most satisfying thing about the parade for you?
A: That's tough, because there was so much. I'd have to say all the Vietnam era and older vets who waited at the end of the parade to welcome post-911 vets. That was one of the most satisfying things.
Q: How did you and LaDonna and Craig decide to start your Welcome Home Foundation, helping others to plan parades and veteran resources? How is the group funded?
A: We decided to do it because we saw the response we were getting from people all over the place, not just in St. Louis, but from New Jersey to California. And then there were the requests for help we started to get from other cities as well. Also, once we got involved with the process, it opened my eyes to issues we'd have with returning veterans if we don't do something to support them. Our foundation is funded primarily off donations and selling T-shirts from the event, which are available at the website. We printed up 500 shirts for the parade. Everything logistically went off without a hitch at the parade. Except we didn't have anybody selling those T-shirts! We've sold some since then to people asking about T-shirts, but we have a lot more and are hoping to come up with more stuff to sell.
Q: Do you think you've made a difference for returning veterans?
A: I think that we've helped start the conversation. A lot of things happened after we were featured frequently in the national news. Now, we hope to keep the momentum going.
Q: Was the parade here a one-shot event? What are your future plans?
A: Our focus right now is to get events going in other cities. With regards to the potential for future parades here, we're looking into that. And other events. For instance, on March 6, Brian Owens, the national recording artist formerly with Sidewinder, is having a concert at the Old Rock House in St. Louis and part of the proceeds will go to support the foundation. That's just an example. We plan on having other events to help the cause in the future. Right now, our focus is helping other cities to keep bumping up the level of awareness. That's important, because a small percentage of our population has been fighting our wars for us. We have a great responsibility as a society to show our appreciation for them and to take care of these people. But everybody has stepped up to the plate, and it's been really gratifying to see that happen.
