Giltner Gives

The leadership and employees across the Giltner companies recognizes the importance of a commitment to serving local communities and charitable causes. Through these efforts, we can enrich the lives of others and establish mutual respect among citizens in our community. These ideas are so important to us that we launched Giltner Gives to highlight organizations, causes, and advocacy in the spotlight it deserves. 

Giltner Gives shows the participation in causes and other charities with which the Giltner companies are involved. This includes Giltner’s Adopt-A-Family Program, Tough Enough to Wear Pink, America’s Mighty Warriors, 60 Hours to Fight Hunger, Boys & Girls Club, Make-A-Wish, and more.

America’s Mighty Warriors

While at a conference in Dallas, some leaders from the Giltner companies had the pleasure of meeting and getting to speak with Debbie Lee. Debbie is an author, public speaker, and political activist who created America’s Mighty Warriors, a non-profit corporation that honors our troops, the fallen, and their families with programs that improve quality of life.
 
Debbie started the organization in remembrance of her son, Marc Lee. He was United States Navy SEAL who was deployed in the Iraq War. As a part of SEAL Team 3, Marc was engaged in the Battle of Ramadi, particularly in South Central Ramadi one of the most dangerous insurgent-dominated spaces in the battle. On August 2nd, 2006, Marc was killed in combat, making him the first SEAL to lose their life in the Iraq War. He was awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Bronze Star with Valor for his heroic actions. Marc and his teammates from SEAL Team 3 are now the most decorated special ops unit since Vietnam.
 
Since Marc’s death, Debbie has dedicated her life through America’s Mighty Warriors to honor the troops and the families of the fallen. The organization’s advocacy includes doing random acts of kindness for troops and their families as was Marc’s request in his final letter. They are also dedicated to raising awareness and voicing the changes needed to be taken for service members who have suffered injustices. Lastly, America’s Mighty Warriors works close with veterans to improve their physical and mental health with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and hormone and vitamin therapy for those with Traumatic Brain Injuries, as well as providers of therapies for those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
 
The members from the Giltner team were honored to meet such a courageous and dedicated woman as Debbie. She provides inspiration for all of us to do better in our lives and partake in random acts of kindness within our daily routines dedicated to Marc’s memory. It is with this light that America’s Mighty Warriors brings us that Giltner is proud to donate $5000 to their cause and put forth towards their advocacy.
 
Please visit America’s Mighty Warrior’s website at https://americasmightywarriors.org/ as well as their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/americasmightywarriors for more information on the organization.

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Tough Enough to Wear Pink

Giltner is a proud sponsor of Tough Enough to Wear Pink - a nationally-recognized campaign and framework for rodeos and western events dedicated to helping the fight against breast cancer through spreading awareness and fundraising. 

Tough Enough to Wear Pink was created by Terry Wheatly, who is a breast cancer survivor, with the help of Karl Stressman, former Director of Special Events for Wrangler and former Commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association. It all started when Terry was excited to go to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2004 to see her husband and son both compete. Terry recently had breast cancer surgery and found that, “[i]t seemed as if everyone I knew was affected”. With her grandmother, mother, daughter, and herself all having been impacted by breast cancer she wanted to “take action.” 

Terry knew an early diagnosis was a vital aspect of successfully treating breast cancer so she wanted to raise awareness among women everywhere. The idea came to Terry to go against the grain of the typical rodeo culture and have the rugged competitors wear pink at the rodeo, but only if they were tough enough. Finding pink cowboy shirts were going to be a challenge, if not for the help of Karl who made it all happen. So finally, on the night of the rodeo, the arena was lit up with a sea of pink, and Terry’s message was heard loud and clear.

Fast forward to the present and the campaign is in its seventeenth year. Tough Enough to Wear Pink has fundraisers throughout the nation that raises awareness and donates money towards breast cancer charities such as the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (https://www.bcrf.org/).

Giltner participates in an Tough Enough to Wear Pink dinner fundraiser every October. Funds raised through raffle tickets, silent auctions, and dinner and drink tickets are all donated to the campaign.

Please visit Tough Enough to Wear Pink’s website at  https://www.toughenoughtowearpink.com/ and their Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TETWP for more information.

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Giltner’s Adopt-A-Family Program 2021

Giving was in the air this holiday season at Giltner! Every year our employees and drivers donate money to our Adopt-A-Family Program and Giltner matches all cash donations. The Salvation Army and Camp Rainbow Gold connected us with families that were in need and we were able to raise over $30,000 this year.
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We are so proud and thankful for our entire staff who make this possible. Every year our Adopt-A-Family Program grows due to the generosity of everyone involved. This year we were able to help over 14 families. With these donations, we purchased the following items and helped other organizations as well.
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Giltner's Adopt-A-Family Program 2021
Total Donations = $30,212 
  • 14 families – 66 people
  • 126 pants
  • 126 shirts
  • 42 pairs of snow boots
  • 40 winter coats
  • $4000 in WinCo GC
  • $3000 in Maverick GC
  • $1000 cash
  • 250+ pairs of socks
  • 500+ toys
  • 1 adaptive tricycle
  • Adopted 2 senior citizens from the Gooding Senior Center
  • Donated $2200 worth of toys to the toy drive for a senior project  
  • Donated $525 worth of blankets, toys, notebooks, etc. to the Safe House
  • Donated $220 worth of socks and gloves to the Rotary Club’s fundraiser​
Thank you again to everyone who made this possible. We love giving back to our community and hope that we made Christmas a little happier for several local families. Merry Christmas!