written by: Amber Richards

We gave away 45 beard care packs to 45 disabled veterans this past week! Here’s how it all started…

We were invited by Iron Men Outdoor Ministries to come and film an episode for a disabled veteran fishing trip in May of 2023 in Orange Beach, Alabama. It seemed like a great opportunity and time, but I was reluctant to go. I was hesitant because I haven’t spent much time in the veteran community. I didn’t grow up in a military family and I really didn’t know what I had to offer for men and women that I had such respect for because they have sacrificed so much.

My husband didn’t serve in the military either, but he has always had a desire to give back to those who have. He helped me to dive into my uncomfortable zone by going with him on the trip. We went, we filmed, we fished, and we were humbled.

Now let’s rewind back to 2021. We came up with the title of Operation Freedom Beard while sitting in our office one day, but had no clue what God wanted us to do with it at that time. So we did nothing. It wasn’t an idea we were trying to come up with, but something that God placed on our hearts unexpectedly. I remember this because I put it on my 2021 vision board. I write down everything. Now, fast forward two years, and God finally opened the door showing us what needed to be done with Operation Freedom Beard.

While we were on our six hour drive home from that trip, the mission for Operation Freedom Beard was evident.

We were to use the gifts that God has already blessed us with, Bearded Outdoors beard products, to bless these veterans. We knew wholeheartedly that when we go back next year to that banquet, that we are going to show up with enough beard products to give away to any veteran that wanted them.

However, we knew we had work to do in the next year. My talented husband designed a logo, made our nonprofit official, and I created an online veteran recipient form, as well as a donation link on our Bearded Outdoors website. A couple of months after the Iron Men banquet, we attended a different banquet that was put on by 10 Can Inc, where we introduced Operation Freedom Beard for the very first time and raised our first funds. We were able to send out the first 10 beard care packs to veterans who filled out the recipient form online.

Since then, we kind of halted because let’s face it, fundraising is not an easy task. We knew we’d have to get creative to be able to carry out this mission, we just didn’t know what that looked like yet.

A couple of months ago we realized it was time to begin preparing for the 2024 Iron Men Banquet in May. We made a couple of posts on our social media accounts to ask if anyone felt lead to support our mission. Through the couple of posts, we were blessed with enough resources to be able to accomplish the mission of giving away almost 50 beard care packs at this year’s annual Iron Men Outdoor Ministry banquet!

As soon as we were blessed with donations, we ordered the supplies needed from oils to labels to cool stickers. When they arrived I got right to work mixing all of the products into our well loved Bearded Outdoors beard oils and balms. We also were blessed with a beautiful banner to be able to proudly display.

The day finally arrived and we headed out to Orange Beach, Alabama. We arrived at the event center where they had a table prepared for us to set up.

(We know a guy. A guy who had a huge hand in all of this by the way. This guy only wants the credit to go to God and not himself. To “the guy,” if you’re reading this, we thank you so much for your obedience and helping hand.)

The doors opened and disabled veterans and their guests began to pour into the event center. This was the moment that God had prepared us for. They began to flock to our table and the conversations were flowing. If you could have seen some of their faces when we told them that they could pick out whatever they wanted at no cost! It was almost comparable to a child on Christmas morning.

In total, we gave away beard products to 45 disabled veterans! We also had a box of bibles that were given to us, and we gave 3 of those away! What an incredible gift it was to us to be able to serve these veterans in this way!

Beard products might seem silly to some, but to us, it’s a gift that God gave us that we are able to spread to others. That and the message of Jesus!