Additional presidential exhibits & projects

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Brian is a Marine blow up in his Humvee in Iraq with all his friends dead inside. Returning home as a near cripple he worked at the Post Office in pain every day until barely able to. The city of Rock Hill, SC turned off his power several times when we then became involved to work with the USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment on February 13, 2012.

Fundraising for Brian & his family brought the donations to pay the city who refused to hear the story. We attained coverage on television via Drum Hike when Troy Yocum called us and asked if he could stay at The Inn of the Patriots for a few days to rest while walking 7,000 miles across the USA for veterans issues. We  marched with him to Shelby for 11 miles out of Grover to the Ultra Armoring factory where the newest MRAP vehicles were being made. Senior Chief Mongiello (Chef Marti) and Sgt. Castle joined Troy and Sgt. Mike Mills were featured on CBS.  This became the precursor to the all-new Active Heroes Organization which recently won over $250,000.00 from Home Depot.  Mayor JD Ledford of Grover, NC donated $500.00 while visiting the Wish Upon a Hero Humvee that followed Troy on his marches.  The Shelby Star and Kings Mountain Herald ran stories. 

After radio shows by WLOS with veteran William (Bill) Jordan and more news articles via friends like Catherine Lash at The Examiner, Brian's new back disks were installed in Germany. Brian's surgery was not  authorized by the FDA so only by leaving his country could he ever return to it again. The German hospital performed the surgery to high acclaim for many injured and crippled.

As of 2021/22, we helped Brian get a mortgage-free home via Building Homes for Heroes - who delivers a free home every 11 days in America. Stay with us as we continue this 10+ year mission. Never give up. We are trying to help him get one of the free cars donated to vets.

In 2017, the Chefs helped raise $567,000.00 in one night serving dinner at Quail Hollow Country Club (site of the PGA Championship) for Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at the Dining with the Master Chefs event. This dinner served 328 people, and some of our Chefs worked for 16 hours straight. 

Featured top right is Chefs Alicia Guinyard (extreme right), Marti Mongiello (behind her), and Stormy Mongiello (next to Alicia).
 

In 2018, we went to the affluent lady's home in Charlotte who had also won us as a prize to have the Chefs cook in your home! 

She bid $4,000.00 for us to serve eight friends on Lenox china - a terrific, yet fun, dinner. 

In the end, Marti made a Kennedy presentation with the dessert of Strawberries Romanoff - which had been served for the White House luncheon hosting Prince Ranier and Princess Grace in 1961.

Through the years, the Mongiello's and their nine companies have amassed hundreds of letters of donation and help (600+ kept in three ring binders and plastic for guests to review). They showcase and share those, at their inn, to influence others. 

The reasons for opening and running a business are to change the world and help the human race on earth. Not to get rich. 

Because some confuse the bible and boasting on earth - with sitting around and doing nothing, and because many enjoy the filth of untold wealth instead of helping others - the Mongiello's are very public about sharing how to help. 

The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces respectfully submitted a package for a Section 106 Cultural Resources Review, and review by the US Commission of Fine Arts. They respectfully requested favorable consideration of honoring 25-additional fallen heroes, at no cost to the government, by adding their names to the Protestant Chaplains Monument currently located on Chaplains Hill in Section 2.

The goals are the preservation of the original World War I and II Chaplains Memorial Bronze Plaque as a contributing monument to Arlington National Cemetery’s status as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places; transfer the original 24” wide x 8” high gift plaque to the back of the monument; add to this living memorial 25-additional chaplains names on a 33.75” x 12” US Bronze Plaque, and replace the deteriorating cement and sand Die materials with the same size superior permanent Granite Die 42” wide x 76.5” High x 10” depth above ground, and 22.5” below ground for stability.

This harmonizes with the other existing chaplain granite monuments on Chaplains Hill, Section 2. This package included endorsement letters from all Service Chief of

Chaplains affirming the twenty-five new names and dates of death that are

to be added in keeping with the original criteria and intent of the monument when it was donated to Arlington National Cemetery.

Dignity Memorial, Murphy Funeral Homes, and Kline Memorial are the installation partners.

See the new 2021 press release for the four chaplains that died at sea giving their life vests to younger men here.

In 2019, we built a 24-hour Food Bank in front of our country inn, the museum, and center and expanded the library offerings with our Little Free Library system as an authorized library - Charter #27425. We had first started working on childhood hunger issues with President Biden in 1994 leading up to Childhood Hunger Day in 1995.

Our board and trustees decided that we are committed to stocking the Food Bank more like a blessings box with clothing, books, food, drinks, and more. The community has also pitched in by stopping by and dropping off food - which is the most magical thing to see ever! We continued donations to Clean the Ocean of Plastics, the Obama Foundation initiatives in Africa and major Africa Conference, the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, The US Navy Memorial, Heifer International, the TimesUp! fund, American Legion, and numerous churches. 

In 2020, we held a Free Blanket Week that went well and began to accept other items for distribution including clothes, shoes, belts, and advertising coffee mugs from Carolinas Commercial Realty. Anything to help a person in their home! By 2021, we had distributed more than 3,000 free books - many of which were put into other Little Free Libraries as far away as Chimney Rock, NC. A special thanks went out to Pastor Will Upchurch for donating 1,000+ books. In 2022 we added the Rotary Club of Global Impact Rotary International stickers to the bank.

To All The Little Girls (IMDB) is a film we financially contributed to by Rebecca Brubaker that uplifts the untold stories of the 65 million who were inspired by Secretary Clinton’s historic run. The film was released in 2018. 336 backers pledged $16,368 to help bring this project to life on Kickstarter.

During the election season, many amazing stories from the campaign were shared. Unfortunately, these stories rarely made it into the nightly news cycles. Hillary's historic run deeply inspired people across the country.  Rebecca released this introduction reel.

These people wanted to tell their stories more than ever, but the media rarely invites these folks to share them. This documentary serves as a record of a critical time in United States history. Secretary Clinton has told her story, now it is time to tell ours. 

This community is vibrant, diverse, kind-hearted, and driven. Becca hopes this film inspires all the little girls of today and tomorrow to keep fighting and remember their worth. 

She also strongly believes that storytelling has the ability to break down walls, bridge understanding, mobilize, and uplift.

Our CEO, Marti Mongiello, became donor number eight (8) for a Kickstarter campaign in 2019. 

"Inspired in part by a 6-year-old Arkansas girl’s letter, Imel (the owner of plastic toy company BMC) started a crowdfunding campaign to help launch the new line of 2-inch toy soldiers. He decided to offer them in pink after receiving messages from military women asking for the option, he said.

Military women have been the main supporters of the project, Imel said in a Livestream in the final hour of the Kickstarter campaign in December, as it surpassed an “insane” $55,000, nearly five times its initial goal.

“It’s meant a lot to military women who told me that, you know, they just want a little bit of recognition,” Imel said. “They’ve served for a long time in a lot of roles, and sometimes they feel invisible.” (Stars & Stripes, March 5, 2020).

The USPSC got behind the campaign and blew it out to almost nine million fans, followers, and colleagues. 1,238 backers pledged $55,401.00 to help bring this project to life. 

We were trying to raise $11,000.00 dollars and destroyed our goal four times over!

We are still trying to find a home for Garney Burleson's possible Bronze Star medal that was found in Pennsylvania at a friend's coin shop. It was turned in with a box of items. 

Tony Laverghetta contacted us from Drexel Hill Rare Coin to ship this down here to NC and refused to sell it. He wants it to go back to the family, possibly still living around Asheville, NC. At worst, possibly a local military post would accept it for display and interpretation? If you can help us it would be mighty of you and appreciated. I and others are always trying to be respectful and to get the right things off to the right places. 

For the time being, we were able to find some family on the web that had passed away and posted there to family websites at funeral homes. We have not been able to get any closer to finding any existing family living today. But, we are still trying. We were able to verify he served in Vietnam and is on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Many combat-related engagements qualify for the Bronze Star but to date, we have not been able to find proof that he was awarded the medal.

In December 2020 and February 2022, we proudly made financial donations to help defeat Guinea Worm Disease, in Africa. 

Since 1986, this disease had 3.5 million cases per year and has now been reduced by 99.99% due to help from the Carter Presidential Center Project. 

Since starting to work on it in 1986 it now had just 54 cases in 2019. 

We have begun to share this work with our strategic partners across Africa, America, and England. This is a new project (for us at the USPSC) and the first time we have ever worked with the Carter PC). Please see the video made in Chad, below.

In 2013, the Chefs were approached by Easter Seals, their United Cerebral Palsy (Easter Seals/UCP) efforts, and numerous other programs that Easter Seals helps. 

The Chefs welcomed the opportunity to march in Freedom Park in Charlotte and conduct a book-signing to provide a portion of the profits for Easter Seals/UCP. 

The Military and Veterans Initiative of Easter Seals/UCP is a helpful set of tools and programs for veterans. Linking to that portal will open up a world of opportunities for those in need of many things. Easter Seals/UCP was also covered by Marti with Miss America 2013 in his column at the Examiner.  

Over 68k was raised with Stormy and Rania Mongiello working and cooking. 

Chef Marti takes the Polar Plunge at Trump National Golf Club and cooks in the lake serving Eric Trump and others to raise money for Stop Child Abuse NOW.

On New Years Day of 2014, Chefs Marti and Stormy joined with Baby Rania to cook live in Lake Norman, cooking out in the water, during the 2014 Annual Polar Bear Plunge. Trump National Golf Club helped host the event.  After serving up a fresh pasta salad, they threw themselves into the cold lake with several hundred others to help raise money for Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN).  

Cooking in Trump's lake was terrific to do with Eric Trump and raising money for SCAN. 29 children were killed in our state the year previous alone, via abuse and hitting with fists and hands. The Presidential Culinary Museum, White House Chefs Kitchen Designs, Chef Marti and Stormy Mongiello, and The Inn of the Patriots Bed and Breakfast Hotel helped sponsor the Sixth Annual Lake Norman Polar Bear Plunge for Charity with 100% of all Donations to benefit SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) of Iredell County. 

In the sixth year now over $60,000.00 total has been raised and the Mongiello's also donated free meals, cooking classes and an overnight stay for the grand prize.

In 2013, CEO Martin Mongiello was photographed in a suit and tie on the front page of the Shelby Star in color, supporting the Catawba Indian Nation. This is the nation of American Indians who sided with the patriots He and colleagues later met with all of the Catawba Nation Chiefs in the longhouse at their reservation. 

Marti was quoted by Chief Bill Harris in U.S. Congressional testimony for the House of Representatives in Washington, DC (the only local historian quoted in testimonial records by name S.Hrg. 116-77 — S. 279, S. 790, AND S. 832, 116th Congress (2019-2020), and has run the petitions on Change dot org with thousands of signers for years. Mr. Laeeq Kahn, gathered thousands of petitions on clipboards that were mailed to the governor.
 

We sent sincere and celebratory news of the progress here as the shiny silver shovels went into the ground on Wednesday, July 22, 2019! This was an invitation only event for the Two Kings Resort and Casino. 

We are so happy to see Delaware North, of Boston, MA, fame, entering North Carolina much as Colonel Benjamin Cleveland did with the Cleveland family of Boston. It is no minor coincidence that Moses Cleveland is the progenitor of the entire Cleveland family in America. He is very famous in Boston, where the Jacob’s family owns the Boston Bruins hockey team and Delaware North. As our town of Grover is named after the most well known Cleveland in history, the President of the United States – Grover, Cleveland, we are excited. Continued below...

"For nearly five years, from 2015 to 2020, helping to restore the national parks has been a priority for The Pew Charitable Trusts, which has worked with organizations and communities across the country. 

So it was good news in August when a politically polarized Congress came together to pass the Great American Outdoors Act with overwhelming bipartisan support. The landmark legislation was quickly signed into law by President Donald Trump." (PEW) 

A signature piece of legislation was the signing by the Grover Tourism Development Authority (TDA) in Grover, NC supporting the Great American Outdoors Act. The USPSC supported the TDA and this historic Act.

Pew’s restore America’s parks campaign was initiated in 2015 at the suggestion of Lyda Hill, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who has partnered with Pew on a number of environmental, health, and science initiatives. An ardent fan of the national parks, Hill was dismayed by the park system’s maintenance backlog, which left many of America’s national treasures with washed-out trails, crumbling roads, decades-old water and electrical systems, and deteriorating historic structures.

“I saw an urgent need and wanted to do something about it,” Hill recalls. “Partnering with Pew meant I’d be working with an organization that could pinpoint what needed to be done and provide measures of success so that we could deliver the critical investment our national parks deserved.”