David Reid Executive Director of the Robert Irvine Foundation

The amazing story of how Chef Robert Irvine and David Reid met and how their journey together was #MintToBe.

As a boy growing up in California, David dreamed of one day serving his country and enlisted in the Army upon graduating from high school in 2008. After boot camp, he became part of the Army’s Special Operations unit, the 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Regiment.

David deployed three times to combat zones in the Middle East, once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. During his second tour of Afghanistan in 2010, he was seriously wounded; while clearing rooms of an enemy compound in the midst of an intense firefight, an IED exploded, badly injuring his lower left leg, which doctors were unable to save.

After medically retiring from the military in 2013, David completed his recovery. He is undeterred by his injuries and maintains a fit, active lifestyle with the help of a prosthetic lower limb.

He became a personal trainer and returned to college and earned a BS in Athletic Medicine from the University of Texas San Antonio. Shortly thereafter, he found his calling as an advocate for wounded veterans everywhere. He met Robert Irvine in 2017 while marching in the Cateran Yomp in Scotland, an extended hike that raises money for British soldiers and their families. Robert was struck by Reid’s boundless positivity and the two bonded.

“Dave is the perfect director for the foundation,” Robert said. “He’s a highly-accomplished, decorated soldier, but he’s humble, focused, and deeply passionate about the cause. If you didn’t see his prosthetic or hear his story, you would never know that he had been injured. Because he was able to come to terms with his new circumstances and find a new purpose and drive, he represents the ultimate success story for a wounded veteran. In short: Dave’s story is the exact kind of story the foundation hopes to duplicate with our work.”

Heather How One Convo Transformed Weekends for Kids in a Community

This #MintToBe story shows how one conversation was the conduit for one Pastor’s acts of kindness to live on through another kind soul decades later.

It all started when Heather had a conversation with a gentleman about how each of them grew up. The gentleman mentioned how he remembered a minister called Pastor Tony, that would come around the neighborhood and pick up all the kids to feed them and participate in different activities.

The conversations planted a seed in Heather’s heart and she began to write a Saturday morning church program for kids. Heather recalled, “Over the next few weeks I began jotting down ideas about a program where kids could learn about God, do different activities, get fed, and it would be open to everyone in the community and they wouldn’t have to pay to go. It never even dawned on me that when I was writing this out that I would be the one doing it.”

Heather and a group of other volunteers started meeting with the kids on Saturdays. The program grew and now they have a consistent group of kids between the ages of 5 to 12 that come every week. They go on educational trips to places like “Please Touch Museum” and have a Summer program.

It’s simply amazing how the baton of kindness was transferred from Pastor Tony to Heather just by a conversation she had with a colleague. The most amazing thing is the positive impact her and her team’s efforts will have on the children in her community.  

Rebecca An Unforeseen Parting Gift From Mother to Daughter

This #MintToBe story is about the unbreakable bond between a daughter and her mother. Rebecca, Maryland native, was always close with her mother growing up and into adulthood. They had the kind of relationship where they could share life’s experiences, passions, lessons, and even secrets.

One day, Rebecca came across a flyer with information to become a Pilates instructor. She didn’t know a lot about it, but found it interesting. So she went to a class and instantly fell in love.

After about 4 years as a student she was approached to become an instructor. She found out the cost of the instructor program and it was $10,000. Rebecca recalls saying, “Oh my gosh, really? I don’t have ten thousand dollars.” The interest in becoming an instructor would somewhat take a backseat.

Unfortunately, Rebecca’s mother became very ill and passed away. “We never came from a lot of money or had a lot of money; so I wasn’t expecting anything. But she did have a small life insurance policy and it turned out to be worth $10,000.” Rebecca took that as a sign from her mom saying, “go ahead” and further her passion for Pilates.

Rebecca would go on to take the one year course and become a Pilates instructor. Today she teaches classes continuing her passion.

“________ Was Meant to Be In My Life”

Some things in life are just meant to be together. Tell us about a special relationship that you have with a person, place, or thing. This can be any kind of relationship from a spouse, friend, or even the four legged friends. Tell us about a place where you find peace or an activity that you fell in love with and just knew it was meant for you.

We will pick our favorite stories and reach out to those folks to do a video interview to share with the world.

Some examples of the stories we are looking for:

Your bond with…

• Service Dog
• Spouse or Family Member
• Friend
• Fitness Activity
• Hobby
• Favorite Place
• Anything that was meant to be in your life