Teen raises $100,000 for veterans Honor Flight program

WENATCHEE – It’s a rare sophomore in high school who has a business card.

And it’s even rarer for that young man to have used it to raise $100,000 for others.

“We have other kids who raise money for us as a group but no one has had the initiative that Justin has,” said Dani Ellis, assistant director of Inland Northwest Honor Flight. “He has a heart as big as a house.”

The money Justin Peterson raised has allowed more than 100 war veterans to fly to Washington, D.C., and visit the memorials. The 15-year-old, who began his project while living in Chewelah, north of Spokane, started his fundraising campaign when he was 9. As part of a school paper on World War II, he interviewed 10 veterans.

“Just listening to their stories was amazing – the stuff they had to go through to survive,” he said. He asked each veteran the same question: If you could go back and serve again, would you?

“And every single one of them said ‘yes,’ they would go back and do it again. It’s just the way they are. They know what they did was the right thing,” Justin said.

Their stories impressed him, but the spark for raising money came when he watched an Honor Flight segment on TV.

“I just felt like i had to give back to the veterans because of all they did for us,” he said. “They gave us freedom, and I wanted to help them out and show them thanks and appreciation.”

At the time, Justin was living in Chewelah. His initial goal was to put on a dinner to raise $600, enough to send one veteran to Washington, D.C.

With help from his parents, Elizabeth and Larry Peterson, he put out plastic cups at businesses with notes asking for donations. Then he found a service club that would let him speak at a meeting. At the end of his talk, the group gave him the full $600.

From there, he put on a dinner at the local American Legion Hall and raised $2,000.

“I just kept talking to organizations and putting on dinners and even did a poker ride,” he said. The family moved to Wenatchee when Justin was heading into eighth grade. More talks to organizations followed and he also sold wrist bands and hat pins. He raised $50,000, then decided he’d try to raise $100,000 by the time he graduated from high school.

He reached that goal early – this past December.

“It felt amazing,” Justin said.

The Honor Flight program has also given back to Justin. He’s gone on two Honor Flights himself.

“It was really touching to see a lot of the guys talking to other guys and realizing, maybe, they were on the same ship together,” he said. “Watching the camaraderie was the best part of it, I think.”

Ellis, with Honor Flight in Spokane, noted that Justin didn’t just go on two Honor Flights; he also acted as a guardian for a veteran on each of the flights.

“He was every bit as good and attentive to the veterans as any adult guardian we’ve ever had,” she said.

Like he did in those first 10 interview with veterans, Justin found himself watching the veterans unload their emotions.

“For a lot of these guys, talking to me was the first time they’d opened up about their war experiences,” he said. “It was kind of touching because I got them talking and gave a final rest to it. It was that kind of nice.”

Somehow, Justin also finds time for academics – he “loves” math – and athletics. He plays varsity football at Wenatchee High School, played soccer, and is a competitive mountain biker racer. After high school, he wants to join the Navy.

The self-proclaimed shy person says his efforts for Honor Flight have given him some serious life skills. He learned to speak in front of people – “I know they aren’t just watching me, they are listening to my story” – and he has learned to talk, one-on-one with others.

“I’ve learned that the world is bigger than me,” he said. “It’s important to remember the past and be thankful for the good things in the past – like our veterans who saved us and be thankful for them and what they did.”