The Stacks - Spring 2026

Our Community Manager has been getting new Stacks up and rolling with activities in her short time with us, already proving how much our in-person volunteer pods can do for their communities. Our Stack Leads have been stepping up their game and getting back into regular meetups along with other volunteer activities, doing good in their neighborhoods. This spring, our Indianapolis and Chicago Stacks met up for an Irreverent Warriors Silkies Hike, the Holloman Stack continued to hold regular tabletop game nights, and the Washington D.C. Stack as headed up by our Community Manager Kristyn Vaughan, aka Koin held a couple of events in Maryland.

Indianapolis Stack - Elf 'N Moon | March 29, 2026

The Elf 'N Moon tavern welcomed our Indy Stack back for a D&D game in late March.

This month, the Indianapolis Stack held our monthly game day! We played the tabletop RPG Dungeon Crawl Classics. This was a continuation of an adventure module that we started back in September 2026! We had other events (Stack Up and Life) that got in our way, but we were excited to get back to it and dive into the adventure!

We did struggle with overall participation due to a lengthy hiatus between scheduled game days and general health. We find that participation grows when we're consistent with hosting game days, so don't be disheartened if one month is down lower than others!

DJ Gregory

Holloman AFB Stack - Holloman Community Activity Center | April 8, 2026

Meanwhile, Holloman Stack welcomed back one of their regulars after a long deployment.

Tyler's back in town! He's rarely here as he's deployed 6-12 months a year. It's great to see the gang together. We started building cities in Machi Koro 2, which is quickly becoming a favorite! As a fairly simple dice roller, it's a fun way to kick off the night. However, sometimes people get hungry and want a New York Slice. Tyler put his pie together and was VERY protective and excited about it. He even pulled off the win by eating so much pepperoni he pulled ahead! Dixit is a great simple table game about offering themes and trying to trick your friends with art cards. Tyler dominated this one too, he's just too good at giving just enough information that we can all play off. We ended the night with The Chameleon. The table is given a theme and words to lead each other to. Each player gives a single word as a clue to lead to the theme word, except one player who is given no information. It's a great game to screw with each other! There's no real winner unless you really want to keep score, but much like Cards Against Humanity, the game itself is the reward. We're sad to see Tyler depart, but he's chasing the dream and meeting his goals!

Theo Wiseman

Indianapolis & Chicago Stacks - Vincennes, IN | April 11, 2026

Indy and Chicago Stacks are close enough they can meet up once in a while, this time they met up at the Irreverent Warriors Vincennes Chapter Silkies Hike.

The Indianapolis Stack set up a table at the Irreverent Warriors Vincennes Chapter Silkies Hike. The Chicago stack was also present!

This event was held in historic Vincennes, Indiana. The step off point was actually just across the river in Westport Illinois, but the hike went through several historic locations throughout the city of Vincennes, and was just over 8 miles!

It was a very early morning start time, we needed to have the table set up by 8AM EDT and it was a 2 hour drive from my house to get there. To help with that I drove down the night before and split a hotel room with Mike. Unfortunately, I was sick Saturday morning of the hike and was unable to participate but Mike rocked it out and completed the hike! He spread the word and showed out for Stack Up!

DJ Gregory & Michael Stern

NorCal Stack - Placer County Fair grounds | May 6, 2026

The Northern California Stack brought some games to the Placer County Standdown to share with some Veterans and others who wanted to learn more about Stack Up.

Placer County Standdown, 2 day and 3 night event we provided games of all kind for veterans visiting for services and staying the night. This included both veterans and homeless veterans. We also had some nursing students and medical staff come by to hang out and learn what Stack-Up is all about. We had 30 people coming in both days and about a dozen overnighters who we gave playing cards and dominoes to circle around a bon fire to play games through the late hours of the night. This event was held Monday May 4 through the morning of Thursday May 7th.

Advertising and informing people where we are located and what we do.

Brandon Hosman

Chicago Stack - The Forge in Lemont, IL | May 9, 2026

Chicago Stack did another hike event with Irreverent Warriors and had a nice dinner after.

Chicago Stack & Irreverent Warriors Chicago Small Hike event. The group of veterans hiked 3 miles on a walking trail and then went to a local eatery for dinner.

Meet up location had to change last minute because a recon of the location had not been done, so the original meet up place was unavailable and difficult for others to find.

Times also had to shift because there was unforeseen traffic.

Rain was possible, so the event had a back up location to go to if the event was rained out.

Michael Stern

Washington D.C. Stack - Baltimore, MD at Baltimore Station | May 13, 2026

Our D.C. Stack Lead and Stack Up Community Manager Koin partnered up with a food bank in Baltimore, MD to feed some Veterans.

Feeding homeless veterans at Baltimore Station Homeless Shelter for Veterans in Baltimore, MD. I partnered with M&T Bank volunteers for this event. We came together and brought food to make for the meal service at the shelter; my contribution was a few 5lb bags of french fries! We made fish and chips, salad, brownies, fruit cups, fries and tots. After making the food, we served the veterans as they came through the line, and then finally were able to sit down and eat with them after all veterans were fed.

Scheduling was quite hard, and finding parking at the venue wasn't easy. But overall, I feel like it was a positive experience without many hiccups. I can't wait to do it again!

Washington D.C. Stack - Firehouse 8 in Indian Head, MD | May 14, 2026

Then Koin went a step further and hit up a Veteran Community Resource Fair in Indian Head, MD to inform people about Stack Up.

I attended a Veteran Community Resource Fair down in Indian Head, MD. The event was held at a firehouse, and many vendors showed up to provide support for veterans. I helped support a few veterans with Stack Up's resources, and also made a few connections with vendors there like the VetCenter in LaPlata, a nonprofit called Serving Together, and a Veteran recover group called Alpas Wellness. All were interested in connecting to find ways to partner and bring our resources to more veterans.

The biggest obstacle for me personally was the drive. My GPS said it was 90 minutes, but in reality it took me a little over 2 hours one way. I arrived later than I planned, which I didn't like, and had to leave the event a little early to make it home in time for my kid's doctor appointment.

Interested in representing Stack Up or joining an already existing Stack and building community with other Veterans through good deeds and hosting and attending local in-person game nights? Hit the button below to learn more about our Stacks program.