PUEBLO, Colo. – In 2011, Amy Cotta signed her then-17-year-old son over to the Marine Corps.

It was a moment that would change not just her own life but also the lives of countless military families around the country.

While Cotta was undeniably anxious about potentially sending her son off to war, she knew that her sense of loss was nothing compared to that of the families that had lost their loved ones.

It was from this place of compassion that Memories of Honor was born.

“As an organization, we strongly believe that our fallen and their families deserve to be honored and recognized more than one day a year,” Cotta said. “It’s our mission to make every day Memorial Day. We use athletics, entertainment, and special events to create living, breathing memorials so that no loss of life, while on active duty or due to service to our country, is ever forgotten.”

The concept for the nonprofit was born as Cotta began running races in combat boots and a military pack to raise awareness for a different organization. A friend of hers, an Army medic, had lost 13 teammates, and Cotta decided to run with their photos on her pack.

“This was my way of doing what I thought I could to help,” Cotta said. “I don’t know if you ever heal from that kind of loss, but to give him some power back through me.”

Through this gesture, Cotta met another military mom whose son, Sgt. Anthony Petterson, had always wanted to do an Ironman triathlon but was killed in action before fulfilling his dream. Three years later, in 2014, Cotta did the inaugural Ironman Chattanooga in her steel-toe Marine Corps combat boots and a weighted pack.

“At that point, I had 21 fallen service members’ photos on my pack because I kept running into families that needed and wanted a way to honor their loved one,” Cotta said. “So I did Ironman for Anthony. Other athletes knew what I was doing after the event and wanted to donate their medals and wanted to be able to race in honor and memory of fallen service members, and families started hearing about what we were doing and wanted their loved ones honored.

“So we were born on an Ironman course, and it ended up being Gold Star Mothers’ Day, that exact day.”

In 2021 and beyond, the PBR is partnering with businesses in the cities it visits. Memories of Honor is the league’s third community spotlight as the Unleash The Beast comes to San Antonio and the AT&T Center for the PBR U.S. Border Patrol Invitational, presented by Ariat, on Oct. 2-3.

On any given weekend, Memories of Honor has people all over the country wearing a bib bearing the name of a fallen service member, whether they’re walking their first 5k, doing an Ironman, or climbing a mountain. In these instances, someone running a race has the opportunity to donate their personal finisher’s medal, bib, and any other race paraphernalia to the family of the service member.

Memories of Honor has since expanded beyond just endurance sports and partners with leagues and teams of all kinds. Recently, Vanderbilt University’s baseball team played its whole season in honor of fallen service members.

“They’re able to take the memory of that service member with them, and, in essence, they’re creating new memories for that family that their loved one is no longer here to create,” Cotta said. “We have these bibs. We call them fallen hero memorial bibs, and they’re made out of the same paper as runner’s bibs. We have volunteers that hand-write the rank, first name, last name, branch, and date of passing on those. It’d be much easier to have them printed, but we intentionally have volunteers hand-write those names, so that family members know that somebody took the time to sit down and read and write their loved one’s name, and now somebody else is carrying that name.”

Since its inception, Memories of Honor has honored 28,745 fallen service members and sent 6,932 remembrance packages to families of the fallen.

At the PBR U.S. Border Patrol Invitational, presented by Ariat, Memories of Honor’s activation will be a gratitude wall. People will be able to come up to the booth and take a card giving the rank, first name, last name, branch, and date of passing of one of the fallen service members in the national database. On the front of the card is space to write a message of love and gratitude to that service member’s family. Memories of Honor will mail each card, along with a PBR challenge token and a photo of the event, to the family.

Memories of Honor recognizes the sacrifices made by service members and families dating back to World War II and those that lost their lives in action, in training accidents, in self-infliction, and due to medical issues due to service.

Another Marine mom Cotta had become friends with had sent her son to boot camp not long after Cotta’s son. After he finished his three years of service, he took his own life.

“I remember she reached out to me one day and said, ‘I was just at the bottom. I was just at the brink. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to function that day. My world was crumbling. And I went to the mailbox, and I got the package that you mailed, and it changed my day. It changed my world,’” Cotta said. “So it’s knowing that you’re bringing a little comfort and a little peace, even if only for a sliver of a second, because they’ve already experienced their worst nightmare. Their loved one is gone. Now their greatest fear is that they’re going to be forgotten. And as a mom of six and as the mother of an active-duty Marine, I can’t imagine the fear of your loved one being forgotten.”

This weekend in San Antonio, fans will get to do their part to bring that peace to military families across the country.

“Oh my goodness, there’s no one more patriotic and loving to the families and to our military and to our veterans than this community,” Cotta said. “This’ll be our second time with PBR, but even at just little local rodeos, they’re just the most incredible, most loving, caring community. And with and through the PBR, we’re able to expand our reach and make an even bigger impact in the lives of these families and to get their loved ones’ names read and seen and spoken. It’s almost beyond words, because how do you put a word on a mom or a widow wiping away a tear saying, ‘Thank you for remembering my son, my husband, my daughter’?”

But you don’t have to be in San Antonio this weekend to make a difference. Cotta encourages everyone to take action and give back, whether through Memories of Honor, a church, or a VA.

“Not all of us have served, but at some point, all of us can do something to help heal the lives of those who have served and those who have lost their loved ones,” Cotta said. “Please give your time, talent, and treasures, whatever that may look like, to whatever organization that you feel connected to. There’s so many needs that need to be filled, and it’s the least any of us can do to remember those who have paved the way and paid the price for our freedom.”