Financial Community Rallies for Wounded Veterans through Operation Healing Freedom
McCormick Foundation, program partner, matches funds raised and grants $1.4 million to 14 agencies across the nation in first round
CHICAGO, Sep 25, 2008
The McCormick Foundation’s Board of Directors has approved more than $1.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations serving veterans as part of Operation Healing Freedom, an initiative of investment firms and the broader financial community to assist wounded veterans and their families. These first-round grants were based upon the recommendations of an advisory board consisting of representatives from Chicago Growth Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, and Welsh, Carson Anderson & Stowe. The money will be granted to 14 nonprofit agencies across the nation providing adaptive housing, family care, employment training or TBI treatment to wounded veterans and their families. A complete record of grants awarded is provided below.
In March 2008, members of the financial community, specifically Chicago Growth Partners, GTCR Golder Rauner, Madison Dearborn Partners, and Welsh Carson, Anderson & Stowe reached out to the McCormick Foundation to establish Operation Healing Freedom, a national fundraising campaign assisting wounded service members, veterans and their families who have suffered injury and loss during current and previous U.S. conflicts.
Operation Healing Freedom has raised more than $950,000 to date. With matching dollars provided (50 cents on the dollar) and all administrative costs paid by the Foundation, approximately $1.4 million will be distributed this month to nonprofit agencies targeting veterans’ greatest needs. Future grants will depend on money that continues to be raised among the financial community.
“We would like to recognize the active engagement and profound generosity of the financial community for all the funds raised to date for our wounded warriors,” said Brig. Gen. (Ret.) David L. Grange, president and chief executive officer of the McCormick Foundation. “The funds raised, along with the matching dollars, will enable agencies to heal, comfort, and restore the lives of wounded service members and veterans. Our commitment is to ensure that all funds go directly to help veterans and their families, and that the agencies receiving grants have a track record of the highest quality service.”
“The financial community is honored to rally our resources and give to those who have served our country and made sacrifices of health, family and livelihood that most of us will never have to make,” said David Chandler, managing partner of Chicago Growth Partners. “We believe that it is the responsibility of every American to help those who have served and protected us and need our support.”
Operation Healing Freedom is driven by the profound need to provide injured soldiers the quality medical treatment and long-term assistance that they deserve. Currently the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has 300,000 - 600,000 claims in backlog, not including veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom, and estimates indicate more than 30,000 American soldiers that have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Below is the complete listing of the Operation Healing Freedom grants approved by the McCormick Foundation’s Board of Directors:
|
Operation Healing Freedom
Grants – Adaptive Housing
|
-
Home for our Troops (Taunton, Mass.)
For specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans
|
$250,000
|
|
Adaptive Housing Total
|
$250,000
|
|
|
|
|
Operation Healing Freedom
Grants – Family Care
|
-
Armed Services YMCA of the
USA
(Alexandria, Va.)
For the Children’s Waiting Room and Heroes Home programs
|
$25,000
|
-
Fisher House Foundation, Inc.
For general support of residential facilities for wounded
veterans and their families receiving treatment from VA hospitals and medical centers
|
$200,000
|
-
John
Marshall
Law
School
(Chicago)
For the
Veterans Legal Support Center
and Clinic
|
$50,000
|
-
Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago (Chicago)
For the Veterans Rights Project providing individual
legal advocacy for more than 150 disabled veterans from Cook County
|
$25,000
|
-
National Military Family Association, Inc. (Alexandria, Va.)
For the Joanne Patton Military Spouse Scholarship program
offering more than 300 scholarships each year to spouses of wounded veterans
|
$25,000
|
-
Operation Homefront, Inc. (Santa Ana, Calif.)
For Operation Homefront Villages, which provide up
to six months of transitional housing for service members as they await disposition
on their disability benefits
|
$150,000
|
-
Our Military Kids, Inc. (McLean, Va.)
For educational scholarships, including tutoring, academic
enrichment classes and SAT preparation
|
$25,000
|
|
Family Care Total
|
$500,000
|
|
|
|
|
Operation Healing Freedom Grants – Employment Training
|
|
-
Albany Park Community Center, Inc. (Chicago)
For Veterans Workforce Development program
|
$70,000
|
-
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of
Chicago
For Veterans Supportive Services, which includes residential
programs providing assistance with resumes, interviewing, job identification and
placement
|
$65,000
|
-
Easter Seals (Chicago)
For Operation Employ Veterans, a new initiative providing
re-entry and employment assistance for wounded veterans, as well as training, information
and resources to Chicago-area employers interested in hiring disabled veterans
|
$100,000
|
|
Employment Training Total
|
$235,000
|
|
|
|
|
Operation Healing Freedom Grants – Traumatic Brain
Injury
|
|
-
Casa Colina, Inc. (Pomona, Calif.)
For the Wounded Warrior / Traumatic Brain Injury program,
which supports continuum of care services that are not reimbursed through the Veterans
Administration and Tricare, the military’s managed-care system
|
$150,000
|
-
Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago
For the Mid Traumatic Brain Injury Military Patient project, which provides
screening and rehabilitation services to 300 service members
|
$115,000
|
-
Shepherd Center, Inc.
For the SHARE Initiative program, which supports rehabilitation
services that are not covered by Tricare, the military’s managed-care system
|
$150,000
|
|
Traumatic Brain Injury Total
|
$415,000
|
|
|
|
|
OPERATION HEALING FREEDOM GRAND TOTAL
|
$1,400,000
|
The McCormick Foundation continues to accept and encourages donations to Operation Healing Freedom. To encourage giving and strengthen the program’s impact, the McCormick Foundation will match the additional $1 million raised, at 50 cents on the dollar. In addition, the McCormick Foundation is paying all expenses associated with this initiative, so that 100 percent of the funds raised, plus the matching dollars, will go to programs and services for veterans
Additional Veterans Campaigns
The McCormick Foundation has also partnered with Major League Baseball to establish Welcome Back Veterans, an initiative designed to raise public awareness about issues facing today's veterans, and to raise funds to help returning service members and their families repair and restore their lives. This program will focus primarily on mental health and job needs.
About the McCormick Foundation
The McCormick Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to strengthening our free, democratic society by investing in children, communities and country. Through its five grantmaking programs, Cantigny Park and Golf, and three world-class museums, the Foundation helps build a more active and engaged citizenry. It was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The McCormick Foundation is one of the nation’s largest charities, with $1.2 billion in assets.
For more information, please visit
www.McCormickFoundation.org.
About the Sponsor Firms
The McCormick Foundation has partnered with several prominent investment firms to create Operation Healing Freedom. The sponsor firms include Chicago Growth Partners, GTCR Golder Rauner, Madison Dearborn Partners and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe. The sponsor firms have provided the initial funding for Operation Healing Freedom, and continue to work with the financial community to raise additional money for the fund.