TexVet and Partner Distribute Gifts to Disabled Vets

(ROUND ROCK, TEXAS)–The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine’s TexVet: Partners Across Texas program teamed up with The Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes (CSAH) to distribute $75,000 this holiday season to disabled veterans and their families in Texas.

Through a newly formed partnership with CSAH, TexVet identified 150 disabled veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom in need this year.  CSAH then mailed $500 checks to each veteran throughout the state from Brownsville to Denton and El Paso to Houston. Checks began hitting mailboxes this week, much to the surprise of many veterans.

TexVet Manager Tim Stroud cited partners such as Bring Everyone in the Zone, a program that helps veterans with peer-to-peer support, and Heroes Night Out, an organization that gives gift cards to wounded veterans and their families, which were instrumental in helping TexVet locate the veterans for this program.

“One wounded soldier, who is currently unemployed, said he had just lost his house and his car,” Stroud reported.  “When he got the news that he would receive $500 from CSAH, the soldier started crying and said that his family would now be able to celebrate Christmas.”

In 2010, thanks to support from the Texas Department of State Health Services, TexVet has become “The Hub” for federal, state and local organizations that assist veterans and their families.  For more information on TexVet and the Partners Across Texas, visit www.texvet.org.