21 August 2012

Project Valour-IT Update


Good news and bad news on the Valour-IT front:

Thanks to the generous donors who have participated in the 2012 Valour-IT fundraising competition, another 30 laptops are headed out the door to wounded heroes in the San Antonio area who need them!

However, there are 56 more people nationwide still waiting for a laptop.  They need a laptop to reconnect with their world and gain a bit more control of their environment as they face the long-term results of their sacrificial service to this country. 

With the lethality and sophistication of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) used against coalition troops in Afghanistan markedly increased this year, Valour-IT is needed more than ever--wounded warriors who have lost two or three limbs are not nearly as rare as they used to be. 

Project Valour-IT is more powerful than words can truly explain.  A wounded warrior who is coping with the catastrophic rearrangement of his body and his psyche needs the familiar reassurance of doing something he could do before--surfing the web, controlling a piece of his environment, and reconnecting with his support system.  Putting a voice-controlled laptop in front of a wounded hero gives him back a piece of his life and hope for the future that he WILL do what he did before, even if he has to do a it a bit differently, now.

Words are vital--they soothe the battered heart and soul... but Valour-IT goes further.  The gift of a laptop is not just warm feelings and needed reassurance of support; it's a powerful tool handed to a hero by dozens of Americans who gave what they could, did what they could when they could do nothing else.   It's a physical proof of two things: "We're here for you, and you are still a part of our world."

Please give what you can by clicking a "Donate" button, do what you can by emailing a friend or sharing it on Facebook with a  personal comment.   Don't forget to check with your employer about matching funds, too!

Together we can reach out to these heroes at the most difficult times in their lives, offering them a true hand up to the new life they are struggling to construct.  They have sacrificed pieces of themselves for us.  Can we sacrifice a few dollars for them?



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