It might not be a traditional honoring of veterans, but the City of Royal Oak’s Ruck 22 March has become a beloved tradition for many within the community and beyond.

The annual Ruck 22 March, now going on 10 years, raises awareness and donations for veteran health and wellness. Participants walk while carrying weighted packs to raise awareness of veteran suicide and the physical and mental challenges many veterans face after service.

To date, the event has raised thousands of dollars for the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and filled nine trailers with food donations for Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154. It’s hosted by a unique structure of volunteers and City support that is a replicable model for other communities looking to make the most of involved community members and civic organizations.

“We have the City of Royal Oak Veterans Events Committee, which is a group of people who are appointed by the City commission. Their task is to organize the Memorial Day Parade and ceremony, as well as a Veterans Day Ceremony,” explains Judy Davids, community engagement specialist for the City of Royal Oak.

The Ruck 22 March and the work of this group reflect Royal Oak’s commitment to supporting veterans beyond traditional ceremonies and is the City’s submission for the 2026 Community Excellence Award.

Memorial events often start as a passion-project for someone, but that means their continued success entirely depends on continued leadership and involvement. “And that’s certainly the case in Royal Oak. A young woman lost her fiancé in Vietnam, and she began to organize the Veterans Parade, and she did it year after year until she could no longer do it,” says Davids.

The involvement, planning, and fundraising can be a lot for a small group to sustain, especially when they’re already struggling to retain and attract members. “And I know because in Royal Oak, we meet with all those [small] service clubs every month.” Eventually, the City took over the parade from the Memorial Society.

“It was the City’s way of showing that we’ve got your back. You don’t have to go out and find new volunteers. We’re going to do that for you. We’re going to appoint people to be on your committee. And guess what? You don’t have to do spaghetti dinners anymore to be able to put on the parade. We’re going to fund it.” The work is now taken on by the Royal Oak Veterans Events Committee, with the budget coming from the City’s General Fund. Their budget every year is $5,000.

Royal Oak already had a history of recognizing the importance of vets and their service.

Davids elaborates, “We have 189 individuals in Royal Oak who gave their lives and service to our country. That’s a lot for just one city.” Each year at the Veterans Day celebrations, the names on the Royal Oak War Memorial are read, which includes servicemembers and vets from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

“It’s our promise to them that we’ll never forget them,” she says. In conjunction with the Veterans Events Committee, the Memorial Society conducted extensive research to put a face and local address next to those names on a temporary display for the event. “If you live in Royal Oak, I guarantee that you probably live within five blocks of somebody [on the memorial].”

It had come to the Committee’s attention that veterans are more likely to commit suicide than any other group of people. At the time, the statistic was 22 veterans a day would take their lives in the United States. A shift happened. “We were really going to focus on what they need,” says Davids.

The Ruck 22 March was born and now takes place the Saturday before Veterans Day. Hikers walk 2.2 miles while carrying weighted packs to mimic both the weight those in the military carry physically as well as the emotional and mental weight that many active-duty veterans face. “We ask people to either pack 22 items in their backpack or donate $22 and we walk 2.2 miles, which isn’t that far, but it’s very symbolic,” says Davids. “So, we call it Ruck 22.”

About 250 people take part in the march, and the event grows every year; even veterans from other cities travel to Royal Oak to attend. “We have a bakery that supplies donuts. Biggby gives us coffee. And any money that we get goes towards our donation to the V.A. hospital. We don’t need any money to put toward this event anymore,” says Davids. But they do need boxes to put all the donations in. “That’s the only thing we need!”

Participation from elected and appointed city officials is also strong. “Our mayor is always there. Our city commission is always there. And it’s not unusual to have the Oakland County executive, Dave Coulter, at our event,” says Davids. “And the president of the Oakland County Board of Commissioner, Dave Woodward, is a fixture every year.”

Despite their leadership titles, they’re not there to give speeches. “They just participate quietly like everybody else. You wouldn’t even know who they were unless you knew what they looked like.”

“When the City made the focus on the Veterans Event Committee, gave them resources, and supported them along the way, it made a huge difference,” says Davids.

“I have had two city managers from other cities come to our Memorial Day service and our Veterans Day service. They say nobody does it like Royal Oak.”

Author

Ariel Ryan

Ariel came to the League with a background in marketing, video and written content, and asking a lot of questions. Throughout her career (so far) in nonprofits, associations, and business, she has never turned down the prompt, “Hey, could you write…?” This has led to professional adventures in corporate communications, content marketing, B2B2C marketing, publication writing, SEO and SEM work, and puns on social media. At the League, she enjoys crafting marketing and communication strategies that get members to the training, events, services, and ideas they need to serve and uplift their communities. Ask her about running at your peril.