Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Valour-IT: Giving a "voice" to OUR wounded



From Project Valour-IT:

The Valour-IT Veterans Day fundraiser, a friendly competition among blogs, will run through November 27, 2008 (Thanksgiving). See below for info on donating or joining the competition.

To donate, click the Donate button for your favorite team below. Division by service branch is for the purpose of friendly competition; all funds ultimately go into the same account.

As a Soldiers' Angel, I have been priviledged to meet the very first recipient of a Valour-IT laptop. Major Chuck Z is active duty, a blogger, and a returning wounded war hero. (Yes, you are, Chuck!)

This time last year, I wrote a piece on Tanker Bros and profiled just a very few of the wounded heroes whose lives were made a little easier, because of these special laptops. You can check that out on Tanker Bros here. Chuck Z:


"Patti asked me what I wanted," says Ziegenfuss. "I asked her if there was any way I could get my hands on a laptop so I could continue communicating with my soldiers and blogging."

Simply getting his hands on a laptop would not be enough to get him back online. So Soldiers Angels bought a computer for Ziegenfuss, and they located and purchased hands-free voice-activated software that would enable him - and similarly wounded servicemembers - to communicate with friends and family around the world....


The laptop which Ziegenfuss received was the first of many to be given to our wounded, as Soldiers' Angels has given back some small measure of communication. From that first gesture, this program has grown. Testimonials as to what the donation of Voice-Activated Laptops for OUR Injured Troops has meant to our heroes come into Soldiers' Angels on a regular basis.

In August 2005, seven laptops were given out at Bethesda, MD at the Naval Medical Center as a test site. By October, 2006, about 600 laptops had been given. To date, more than 1,800 laptops have given a "voice" to our wounded heroes.



Project Valour-IT is national. From that initial test site, laptops are now found country-wide:

Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego, CA

Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, TX

Madigan Regional Medical Center, Tacoma, WA

National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda Naval Hospital)

Naval Hospital, Camp Pendleton, CA

Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital (29 Palms), 29 Palms, CA

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington DC

This all costs money and lots of it.


That was the total last year. By now, over 2,000 laptops have been given out. Soldiers' Angels works closely with the VA facilities nationwide to ensure that we can give back in some small measure for what our wounded have given in service to their country. To read the profiles from last year, check out Tanker Bros post here:

This IS a friendly competition among all the military branches. I support the Army team, but you can choose your favourite branch and contribute.

From Project Valour-IT:

The Valour-IT Veterans Day fundraiser, a friendly competition among blogs, will run through November 27, 2008 (Thanksgiving). See below for info on donating or joining the competition.

To donate, click the Donate button for your favorite team below. Division by service branch is for the purpose of friendly competition; all funds ultimately go into the same account. To check out the Valour-IT page go here.





It is so easy to do this. Just click on the "Donate" button below. You can choose which team you want top donate to, even though I am giving you the Army team logo:




We only have until Thanksgiving which means time is short, for each of us to make a lifetime of difference to our heroes.

Let's get 'er done! Thank you.

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