Local Veteran, Zachary Pascall, a retired Navy SEAL, was 21-years old when he was wounded in combat. Last week representatives from the Military Warriors Support Foundation were in Fallon to award him a car as part of their transportation program in partnership with Walmart and the Keurig Dr. Pepper corporation. The vehicle is part of the foundation transportation program that awards payment-free cars to combat wounded heroes or Gold Star spouses through the Transportation4Heroes program.
Making the presentation on behalf of the foundation was David Dougherty, who served as a Command Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army before retiring and is the Director of the Skills4Life program of the Foundation, along with John Hill, the Media & Marketing Coordinator.
Pascall, who served our country from 2007 to 2016 was accompanied by his family and Blue Heeler, Cody. He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity and how much the car means to him. “This is amazing,” said “it actually means we still have good Americans who love our military and support our veterans. That’s what made this happen is everyone still supporting guys who come back in pieces or who haven’t made it back.”
During the ceremony, Brian Sydney, local Walmart Manager, thanked the Fallon Walmart staff for their efforts toward winning the opportunity to make the donation to a local Fallon Veteran. “We were given the opportunity through Dr. Pepper through all 13 stores in the Reno area, to compete together and whoever could sell the most Dr. Pepper got the honor to host the event,” he said. “We said with the Navy base here, we weren’t going to lose.”
Tim Bell works for Keurig Dr. Pepper, and he said they, "partner up with Walmart all over the West Coast and put the store managers into the competition so we can bestow this kind of event. Brian came out of the gate strong; he took ahold with the store associates and said, ‘we’re going to win’ cause you guys have the base and here we are four months later.”
According to Dougherty, there is an application process for the foundation programs. “Once they apply, they are fully vetted and go to a considerations board after that.” A five-person board comes together and makes the selection based on who the award will help the most, needs, and other considerations. “What we see now, is for this vehicle there were five veterans who have applied, so now we have our next mission,” he said.
The transportation program has been a partnership with Walmart and Keurig who have been working together for the past four years.
“How many do you want to do,” Dougherty said they originally asked him.
“How many can you do?” he replied, laughing.
So far, the program provides 25 cars a year to veterans.
Dougherty said, “The foundation has been around for 14 years, the transportation program is in the fourth year, and we’re almost at 900 mortgage-free homes all over all 50 states.” The home comes with a three-year family and financial mentoring program. They work with Purple Heart veterans (wounded in direct combat) and Gold Star Families (unmarried whose spouse was killed in action) to provide homes, transportation, and recreational outings, and peer-to-peer mentoring.
Comment
Comments