One of the most recent advocates for R.E.D. Fridays is VA loan specialist Bill McDonald from Crossville, Tennessee. Shown here on the left with his marketing director Lincoln Ryan and Susie McDonald, his wife.
RED SHIRTS ON FRIDAYS
Thecia DeLap who runs VanDyk Mortgage Corporation in Elizabethtown has begun wearing a R.E.D. shirt on Fridays to help bring awareness to veterans and their families. The grassroots movement was started many years ago but has since re-surged in participation.
ELIZABETHTOWN – Wearing red shirts on Friday is a grassroots effort in America to bring awareness to deployed members of the military. Red Friday, or R.E.D. is a day designated for people to wear red to show support for military personnel and veterans.
The movement has been around for several years, but just recently Elizabethtown’s Thecia DeLap who runs a branch of VanDyk Mortgage Corporation, did a little research and discovered that it was her corporate mortgage company that was standing strong with the movement and one of their loan specialists has recently been a driving force.
Bill McDonald, from VanDyk Mortgage is a veteran advocate who specializes in VA (Veterans Affairs) loans, making sure American Veterans are able to secure housing via Veterans Affairs, which is the U.S. Department that offers loan programs to help veterans, service members and their families buy homes. Although VanDyk is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, McDonald’s branch location is in Crossville, Tennessee.
“The purpose of this day is to remind people of the sacrifices made by troops and veterans,” DeLap said. “It’s also to show that those who serve our country are in our thoughts and prayers. The way to participate is to wear red on Friday, tell friends why or submit a selfie to the R.E.D. Friday Facebook page. The benefits from this regenerated movement can be to boost morale, give service members a sense of purpose and to raise awareness of the men and women who are deployed. I felt strongly to bring this awareness to Southeastern North Carolina, since we have such a strong military presence here. We also have many who have served and are having trouble owning their own homes.”
McDonald who is a colleague of DeLap has flooded his Facebook market with pictures of R.E.D. shirts and since he is considered “the VA loan expert,” helping many to gain housing, DeLap wanted to bring that expertise into the neighboring state of North Carolina.
McDonald graduated from Walker high school in Louisiana in 1985 and went into the military where he served with the Army National Guard. Always a hard-worker and go-getter, McDonald learned a work ethic early in his life as he always had a job in addition to his educational studies.
“I started by working in a grocery store,” McDonald said. “I was working about 50 hours per week while I was going to school every day.”
His experience led him to Bible College in Portland and eventually into the mortgage business. His heart for veterans mixed with his understanding of the mortgage industry catapulted him to the top of his field in securing and helping veterans gain ownership through the VA.
“It’s funny,” he said. “When I first started doing mortgages, I would get a VA loan and refer it out because I didn’t know how to do those. Then I met a guy that specialized in VA loans and it got me to thinking and prompted me to start studying. I went to mortgage military boot camp and started going to the VA lenders conferences.”
He was a sponge and gained a lot of knowledge through experienced VA loan experts who had a lot of years of experience.
“Getting involved in that really educated me on the pitfalls,” he said. “I learned things that could blow up a deal – and I think now, that if you know about those on the front end, you can avoid that. There have been a lot of people hurt by the VA loan and there was a lack of understanding. So, I decided I was going to become an expert in it. I did put effort into learning it and specializing it and knowing what I am doing with it so I am never the cause of some veteran not able to get his home.”
Although R.E.D. has been out in the social space for a long time, McDonald just recently came across the movement and having a heart for veterans, his passion was fueled by the concept.
“I feel that over time we could build something special with R.E.D. Fridays,” he said. “So we started posting pictures of us wearing red on Fridays and then we had some shirts made and people started wanting the shirts, and then more people wanted the shirts and then our corporate office was wanting the shirts for everyone in their corporation, so it’s gotten a lot of traction. I told our owner, Tom VanDyk, ‘You can’t spell VanDyk without VA.”
McDonald said that he is happy with the recent excitement for the movement and he is overjoyed for Veterans. They are always on the front lines and very visible to an enemy that wants to harm them, but to have the visibility and encouragement from their friends, family and country goes a long way.
“When we first started doing it, we would get maybe five or six likes,” he said. “Now, last week we had maybe 20 people post pictures of themselves wearing red in our thread. In addition, they are going to their own Facebook and posting to their community. Also, to this date, all of our branch offices across the country have requested shirts.”
To post on Bill’s R.E.D. thread Facebook page or order the R.E.D. shirt, please go to: https://www.facebook.com/novabill and to support the cause here in Elizabethtown, you can go to Thecia DeLap’s page at: https://www.facebook.com/thecia.mauronetoth.7