OUR BRAVE WARRIORS ARE STILL DEPLOYING DESPITE COVID-19. THEREFORE, OUR MISSION NEVER STOPS. WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW MORE THAN EVER. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THESE FAMILIES. |
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Charles Humphrey Keating IV
2/26/1985 - 5/3/2016
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May will always be “The Month”. It will forever be an emotional cascade for me, it weighs heavy.
May 3rd marked 5 years since everything happened with Charlie.
Looking back on the last five years it seems an unquantifiable blur.
In some ways it has gone by so fast and yet, it seems like an eternity ago. These things seem to stay with all of us who knew him.
Five years ago on May 3rd 2016, the early morning started with a call that changed my life and so immeasurably, many others. On that dark day, the future looked impossibly bleak as the news was overwhelming and hard to comprehend. Looking back, it’s incomprehensible reflecting about how this community immediately came together and supported me and our family - this realization still makes me emotional. I remember driving down the streets of Coronado on our way to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, and seeing the streets completely lined with kids, families and patriots waving American flags and offering thoughtful words of kindness, care and remembrance. They were honoring Charlie proudly in the only way they knew how. It was immeasurably priceless and I want them all to know this.
Every year since we have celebrated his life. Whether it be a Chuck Heavy T-shirt on Mt. Everest, a Chuck Heavy T-shirt surfing, or a kid telling about the life of Charlie for a class project at school, his legacy lives on. Charlie lived his life to the fullest every single day and lived with positive energy and an optimistic attitude. He would never want us to sit idly by and not be out there living like he did with vital enthusiasm. It was through his spirit that The Charles Humphrey Keating IV Foundation began and the magnificent C4 Ranch was formed. The powerful ongoing legacy of Charlie lives on through the C4 Foundation and I am so very proud, it makes me truly happy.
Written by Brooke Keating, C4's wife and VP of The C4 Foundation
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SAVE THE DATE:
Hotel Del Coronado,
(Windsor Lawn)
1500 Orange Avenue, Coronado CA 92118
July 3 @ 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm PDT
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SAVE THE DATE:
David Wells
Perfect 33 Foundation Golf Tournament
October 8 - October 10, 2021
Sycuan Casino Resort
5469 Casino Way, El Cajon, CA 92019
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SAVE THE DATE:
National Wreaths Across America Day
December 18, 2021
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
1700 Cabrillo Memorial Dr.
San Diego, CA 92106
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Below is a testimonial from our SEAL families. |
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"Thank you so much for today! The kids came home with smiles on their faces and goat poop on their shoes 🤣 Everyone had a blast, we’re super grateful to the C4 Foundation ❤️💙"
- NSW Kids Day Trip
Navy SEAL Wife & Mother
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May Chuck Heavy Give Away |
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MAY 2021 GIVEAWAY
This month's Chuck Heavy Subscriber Giveaway features a Chuck Heavy Skateboard Deck! If you don’t skate, it makes for a perfect wall-hanger to show your C4 Pride. Measurements are 8” wide by 31.5” long.
Rules to play are the same as always:
- Must be a CHUCK HEAVY Subscriber
- Must have a US based mailing address
- Must comment on this post
- Must follow our account
- A winner will be chosen by the end of the month and announced here on our Instagram!
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Bashas' Military Promotion - Month of May
May 1 - May 31, 2021
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If you’re in Arizona, please visit your friendly neighborhood Bashas’, AJ’s or Food City grocery stores to donate at the register to The C4Foundation. We are proud to be one of 4 charities that will benefit from your support throughout the entire month of May. We would like to thank the Basha family for their generous support over the past 5 years! THANK YOU! |
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Gratitude and Wellness Workshop
At The C4 Ranch
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The C4 Foundation hosted an extremely successful spouses “Gratitude and Wellness Workshop” this weekend at the C4 Ranch, and I have to say that I am in awe of our SEAL spouses. SEALs of course are well known for being tough, but SEAL spouses are also a resilient group of women. In many ways this resiliency can backfire because the stressors of deployment, single parenting, loss, and even loneliness go unnoticed or unaddressed amongst the other stressors of daily life. This is why the C4 Ranch and our amazing F.R.O.G. program are so unique. The Ranch provides a retreat and much needed respite to these spouses, and their families - not to mention the unencumbered opportunity that the C4 ranch provides for SEALs to return to their families and reconnect.
The Ranch is a beautiful property, but it is so much more than just that. It is a safe place for SEALs and their families to go and take part in a program to help them to reflect, recharge, and decompress. I know that if you had the opportunity to ask any active-duty SEAL about their family life, most of them would say that it is a lot easier to go out and do the job that they need to do if their relationship with their spouse is solid, and their family is secure and thriving at home. On behalf of the ladies that joined us, we were honored to have you, and thank you for candid and emotional testimonies. We are already looking forward to your next visit to the C4 Ranch.
Written by Jennifer Cooper, MS Psychology, C4 Foundation's Director of Programs
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NSW "Kids Pod" Visit The C4 Ranch! |
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On April 21st, a learning pod consisting of NSW kids visited the C4 Ranch. You may be wondering what a “kids pod” is. Like all families – military families have also been affected by COVID-19 school shutdowns. This “pod” consisted of 15 kids from seven families whose fathers are all active duty Navy SEALS. Their teacher Shannon, was hired to teach the pod. These kids got to visit the C4 Ranch as their “pod” days slowly come to an end when school started reopening. This was a fun field trip for these deserving kids who made it through a school year that has been anything but normal. It was truly a blessing to watch these kids run free for a few moments and experience all that the C4 Ranch has to offer! The kids were joined by the NSW dads in the pod that were not currently deployed. It is important to remember that our these families need us more than ever as they too try to navigate all of the challenges COVID-19 has added, especially for their children's education and routines.
Testimonials:
“This was his first time taking the kids without me on a field trip and our daughter was beaming from joy that Daddy was taking them! She said that she dreamed she was surrounded by baby goats and a piggy, hahahahaha! I have paid for more petting zoos than I can count because my kids are farm animal crazy. This place is the coolest.”
👆🏻From a Mom & Navy SEAL Wife
“The C4 Ranch is accessible for SEAL families, yet far enough away from San Diego to offer country solitude and respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. My oldest daughter and I rarely get uninterrupted time together, and the day out in nature (e.g., lunch by the pond; hike; visit with the goats, chickens, horses, and pigs, etc.) was an excellent opportunity to make lifelong memories together while also celebrating C4’s life and remembering his ultimate sacrifice to the USA in preservation of freedom. Thank you to the C4 Foundation for making this field trip possible, as my daughter and the other NSW children who attended are still raving about their experience and asking to go back to see the animals and continue exploring.”
👆🏻From a Navy SEAL & Dad
Written by Rowlynda Moretti, Executive Assistant to the President C4 Foundation
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Lessons From The C4 Ranch |
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True Optimism
By Dr. Glenn Fox, PhD
C4 Foundation's Chief Science Officer
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We’ve all heard the clichés: optimists are just naïve people with rose colored glasses, thinking the glass is half full, living in denial of reality. The fact is, optimism – true optimism – is not about thinking that everything is great when it is not; true optimism is fully engaged with the present moment, looking for the cold hard facts, and working to make a better future under any circumstances.
Optimism is a thinking skill to see clearly. Research has shown that optimism is a thinking process of engaging with facts, and doing our best to respond. In one study, research participants filled out a questionnaire measuring their optimism, and then given a series of difficult puzzles to solve. They were told that not every puzzle was solvable, and their score would depend on how many puzzles they could solve. People higher in optimism scored higher than people lower in optimism, because they were much faster to quit the unsolvable puzzles and focus on the ones they could solve. In another study, participants were measured before and after they visited their doctors to receive a difficult diagnosis. The participants that were higher in optimism showed lower levels of denial, better recollection of their visit, and deeper resolve to address their health issues. Optimism is a key predictor of better health.
At the C4’s FROG program, optimism is a central focus. We know the situation facing families in the NSW community can be stressful to the max. Optimism is a way of handling that stress by changing how we think about the tools we have to stay connected, make good decisions to improve our future, and always find things to look forward to doing.
Practicing optimism is simple – it can be literally writing down something you’re looking forward to in the next day, week, or month. The key is to put something down that you are looking forward to doing that is up to you to do, and enjoy carrying out. For example, we can look forward to a beautiful sunset, which is a good start. To enhance the optimistic feeling though, we can look forward not only to a beautiful sunset, but to walking to the best place in our neighborhood with snacks and friends to view it fully. In so doing, we not only look forward to something that would be happening anyway, we exercise our own command of the situation.
In tough times, believe it or not, the practice of optimism can be the same. It can focus on exercising control over what is available to reduce stress or difficulty, or it can surrender to what’s around us and find things to look forward to doing anyway. The key is to take stock of our choices, and set ourselves up to have a little fun, connect with others, and give our minds something real to look forward to – that’s optimism.
Written by Glenn R. Fox, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, The C4 Foundation
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Thank You to McP's Irish Pub! |
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A huge THANK YOU to the folks at McP’s for having us after the annual C4 Paddle Out on May 1st. We appreciate your kind support for us and remembering and honoring Charlie's spirited life. And... Pete and Ted, the Budweiser banner was EPIC! McP's was always a go to for Charlie, and continues to be one for the Keating and C4 Foundation family!
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Thanks to Adrian Beard and the rest of the Pepsi crew for their continued support at all of the C4 Foundation events and for the never-ending supply of soft drinks, water and snacks for the SEAL families at the C4 Ranch! We are so grateful for your commitment to The C4 Foundation!
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The C4 Foundation is a 501C3 national non-profit charitable organization. Tax-ID: 82-2075362.
It is a non-federal entity and is not party of the Department of Defense or any of its components.
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