Military Bloggers Raise $180,000 Online for Wounded
Grassroots Fundraiser for Valour-IT Provides Wounded with Voice-activated Laptops
Pasadena, CA (November 13, 2006): Divided into “competing” teams representing Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, military and civilian bloggers spent the days leading up to Veterans Day 2006 raising over $180,000 to aid severely wounded troops. The funds raised will allow Soldiers’ Angels Project Valour-IT to continue its work of supplying voice-activated laptops to the wounded.
The Valour-IT fundraising competition is a yearly online event. The first friendly competition raised $100,000 in 10 days last year. This year it was extended to 13 days and the total raised, when donations by mail are counted, is expected to exceed $210,000. Depending on vendor discounts, this year’s total should fund the purchase and shipment of over 300 laptops.
Valour-IT’s inspiration, Army Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss, writes from personal experience:
I know how much it means to the guys who are stuck lying on their backs, unable to use their hands to so much as scratch…I know how humbling it is, how humiliating it feels. And I know how much better I felt, how amazingly more functional I felt [when I received a voice-activated laptop]. I can't wait to do the same, to give that feeling to another soldier…
Project Valour-IT began in August 2005 after Captain Ziegenfuss suffered serious hand wounds in Iraq. Friends realized how much having a voice-activated laptop could help and encourage him as he healed, and an idea was born. Valour-IT has since supplied over 650 laptops to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from severe injuries in military hospitals and at home.
About Project Valour-IT
Project Valour-IT is a project of Soldier's Angels. For more information, see the Valour-IT website. Soldier's Angels is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing aide and comfort to thousands of members of the armed forces and their families through care packages, help for the wounded, and support for military families. For more information visit the Soldier’s Angels website.
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