This is WBEN's latest installment in a news series highlighting smaller organizations that are making a big difference in the Western New York community:
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - On April 4, 2005, United States Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Dill was killed during a mission in Fallujah, Iraq.
The Tonawanda native was 32 years old. Despite it being more than 16 years since his sacrifice, his memory lives on through Sergeant Major Jason Jaskula, who was often partnered with Dill while out on missions.
"I basically brought him home to Buffalo," Jaskula said, adding Dill's funeral was one of the most well attended he has ever seen due to Dill's service at home as a firefighter, too. "...(We're) both from Buffalo, both Bills fans, both Bandits fans. We used to have season tickets for that. We had a very close relationship. I was in his wedding, we knew each other's families. Unfortunately, when I got home from Iraq, I unfortunately came home to not having my best friend still."
From there, Jaskula started helping out local veterans and their families. Jaskula quickly learned Dill was not the only Western New Yorker killed in action. There were dozens of local military personnel who died in action.
In 2012, the VA hosted its Golden Age games in Buffalo. That year, Jaskula walked from the Town of Boston to Orchard Park. Jaskula was sponsored by several people and raised $4,000. The walk took him a few hours and he honored the memory of soldiers with their names on rocks.
"I decided I didn't want to walk three-and-a-half hours every year just to raise money," he said. "I said 'Let's open it up to the public and see what we get.' Instead of carrying rocks, we had somebody come up with the idea of canned goods. WE could do a dual-mission of honoring the fallen and help local food pantries."
That November, the first K.I.A. Memorial Roadmarch was held. Jason, who is the founder of the organization, walked 22 kilometers with 60 pounds of memorial rocks. He was joined by 100 people and raised 5,000 pounds of food. In 2013, both the number of people and amount of food was doubled.
Food pantries that benefit include the Gold Star Mother's Pantry, Feed More WNY, Buffalo State College Milligan's Pantry, and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 77 Pantry.
"The last nine years, we've averaged about 25,000 pounds of food each event, so I think we're almost at 200,000 pounds of food that we've raised for those pantries," Jaskula said.
The next march is not until August 2022. However, over the weekend, Jaskula's organization held a Masquerade fundraiser in Amherst.
Even though there are not many events coming up, Jaskula is hoping more people can be aware of their mission of honoring the 330 fallen soldiers in New York since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
"We have a donation page," he said. "We can turn however much you want to donate into more food just based on the sheer volume that we can buy and help out the local food pantries. The last year and a half hasn't been easy for a lot of people and the cost of things are going up a lot too. If somebody buys canned goods, your dollar doesn't go as far. If we can get more buying power behind it and go get food from large corporations through this, we can help them out."
Beyond canned goods, his organization is also now helping to pay for day care for the families of veterans.
Jaskula said the K.I.A. Memorial Roadmarch is 100% run by volunteers.
"We're a blue-collar non-profit," he said. "We're definitely not in the upper stratosphere of getting things. If you want to say we're check-to-check, sure. That's what we do. We definitely make the dollars count."
Hear our interview conversation with Jaskula and learn more about the K.I.A. Memorial Roadmarch in our interview below:
You can learn more information about the K.I.A. Memorial Roadmarch by clicking here:
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