BENTON - A longtime officer in law enforcement in Lafayette County is raising money to build and maintain area veterans memorials.
For every T-shirt Michael Gorham sells as part of his "Team Lafayette Campaign," he'll donate proceeds and bicycle or run 5 miles.
He has a goal of trekking 5,000 miles in the surrounding area.
"And I don't have the bikes that Lance Armstrong uses," joked Gorham, a Lafayette County Sheriff's deputy, member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and EMT with ambulance services in Cuba City, Hazel Green and Benton.
"I want to see how far I can go. It'll be a challenge, that's for sure," he said.
Challenging himself like this isn't unprecedented. Since 2010, the 48-year-old Benton resident has biked and run more than 2,000 miles to raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
The Team Lafayette Campaign is currently selling T-shirts in remembrance of two area soldiers who died within the past year in Afghanistan: Sgt. Jakob Roelli, Darlington, and Staff Sgt. Jesse Grindey, Hazel Green.
Gorham knew both but was especially close with Grindey. They got to know each other in the 1990s when Gorham worked in the South Wayne Police and Fire Departments and Grindey was a freshman in high school. Like a lot of small-town kids with an interest in law enforcement, he hung around the police station.
Gorham mentored Grindey and eventually attended his graduation from military police academy at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Grindey died in Afghanistan this March at the age of 30.
"Mentor" is a word Gorham doesn't feel entirely comfortable with now.
"I feel like I stand in Jesse's shadow," he said.
There's no veterans memorial in Grindey's hometown of Hazel Green, and that's something Gorham wants to change with the Team Lafayette Campaign. In Shullsburg, Benton and Darlington, money raised will go toward maintaining existing memorials.
The design on the shirts mentions the Bible verse John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."
"There's probably for me, whether you're secular or not, no better philosophy or mantra to live by," Gorham said.
A T-shirt costs $15 (2XL and bigger are $17), with about $5 on each T-shirt sold going to the Team Lafayette Campaign. They're available through First National Bank in Darlington and Benton State Bank in Benton or by contacting Gorham directly at chiefgorham@yahoo.com or (563) 542-3867.
For every T-shirt Michael Gorham sells as part of his "Team Lafayette Campaign," he'll donate proceeds and bicycle or run 5 miles.
He has a goal of trekking 5,000 miles in the surrounding area.
"And I don't have the bikes that Lance Armstrong uses," joked Gorham, a Lafayette County Sheriff's deputy, member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and EMT with ambulance services in Cuba City, Hazel Green and Benton.
"I want to see how far I can go. It'll be a challenge, that's for sure," he said.
Challenging himself like this isn't unprecedented. Since 2010, the 48-year-old Benton resident has biked and run more than 2,000 miles to raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
The Team Lafayette Campaign is currently selling T-shirts in remembrance of two area soldiers who died within the past year in Afghanistan: Sgt. Jakob Roelli, Darlington, and Staff Sgt. Jesse Grindey, Hazel Green.
Gorham knew both but was especially close with Grindey. They got to know each other in the 1990s when Gorham worked in the South Wayne Police and Fire Departments and Grindey was a freshman in high school. Like a lot of small-town kids with an interest in law enforcement, he hung around the police station.
Gorham mentored Grindey and eventually attended his graduation from military police academy at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Grindey died in Afghanistan this March at the age of 30.
"Mentor" is a word Gorham doesn't feel entirely comfortable with now.
"I feel like I stand in Jesse's shadow," he said.
There's no veterans memorial in Grindey's hometown of Hazel Green, and that's something Gorham wants to change with the Team Lafayette Campaign. In Shullsburg, Benton and Darlington, money raised will go toward maintaining existing memorials.
The design on the shirts mentions the Bible verse John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."
"There's probably for me, whether you're secular or not, no better philosophy or mantra to live by," Gorham said.
A T-shirt costs $15 (2XL and bigger are $17), with about $5 on each T-shirt sold going to the Team Lafayette Campaign. They're available through First National Bank in Darlington and Benton State Bank in Benton or by contacting Gorham directly at chiefgorham@yahoo.com or (563) 542-3867.