When Michael Ahern ’28 was nine years old, he made an unusual birthday request: no presents. Instead, he wanted $400. The money wasn’t for him. He hoped to raise enough to treat the children of wounded veterans attending the Travis Mills Foundation retreat in Maine to ice cream. 

Seven years later, that $400 birthday fundraiser has grown into Scoops For Troops, a nonprofit effort that Ahern says has now raised more than $250,000 to support veterans, first responders, and their families. And Michael is nowhere near finished. “I just want to live a life where giving is prioritized,” he said.

Ahern’s connection to veterans began near his family’s home in Maine, close to the Travis Mills Foundation retreat. As a child, he noticed the construction underway and asked his parents what was being built. When they explained that it would be a retreat for veterans injured in service and their families, Ahern wanted to help.

He quickly met his initial $400 birthday goal, so he set a goal of $30,000. Soon he spent weekends outside bagel shops and grocery stores collecting whatever people were willing to give: pennies, dollars, anything. A local charity ice cream truck joined the effort at a Memorial Day 5K, bringing in about $3,000 in donations. By Veterans Day, Scoops For Troops had surpassed its ambitious first-year goal, raising approximately $32,000. “At nine years old, I had no idea how much $30,000 was,” Ahern said.

Today, the work has expanded well beyond ice cream. Through partnerships and fundraising events, including the annual Heroes Golf Classic, Ahern’s efforts help send injured veterans and their families to healing retreats, support programs focused on post-traumatic growth, and assist families of fallen first responders. Ahern said the organization has helped pay off two mortgages for families of first responders who died in the line of duty or from duty-related illness.

Along the way, Ahern met with veterans who have profoundly impacted him. Among the most important is Staff Sergeant Travis Mills, founder of the Travis Mills Foundation and one of the few quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive his injuries. Ahern now considers Mills a friend and mentor.

Mills’ example has changed the way Michael approaches his own life. A few years ago, Ahern recalled struggling with persistent headaches. Then he thought about Mills beginning each day by putting on four prosthetic limbs. “It kind of changed my perspective on how I look at things,” Ahern said. “I went from kind of more of a victim mentality to like, ‘Oh my God, look how fortunate I am.’” Mills has taught him about resilience, but also about family, humor, and the ability to move forward after extraordinary hardship. “He’s taught me a lot about myself as a person,” Ahern said. “I’ve definitely learned more about myself, more about the world. And I’ve learned how to care about people more.”

This September, as the country marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, Ahern wanted to do something tangible to ensure that a tragedy that occurred years before he was born would not become simply another chapter in a history book. His idea was striking in its simplicity: 2,977 American flags, one for each person killed on September 11, 2001. During the first night, Ahern and his father placed 2,000 flags on the lawn outside the Plainville fire department.  After he posted about the project online, roughly 20 to 30 people Ahern had never met arrived on the second evening to help finish the display.

Ahern’s service has already received national recognition. In 2022, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society named him its Citizen Honors Youth Service Award honoree for his work supporting wounded veterans. Yet what began as recognition of veterans’ sacrifices has become something broader for Michael: an idea of the kind of person he wants to become. He doesn’t currently envision military service as his path. “The plan is to give back to the country in other ways,” he said, “and that’s through doing charitable things. For me, it brings a different type of happiness,” he said.

To learn more about Michael’s work or support the organization, visit Scoops For Troops.