Dedicates $4 Million in Illinois Jobs Now! Funding to Help Build Wounded Warriors Education Center

URBANA - December 6, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today visited the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to announce $4 million in Illinois Jobs Now! capital funding to help build the Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education. The new center will help returning Veterans with disabilities readjust to civilian life and provide vital rehabilitative, counseling, academic and career services to support wounded warriors as they achieve higher education. The governor was joined by Assistant Secretary of the Army Thomas Lamont, philanthropist Ron Chez and university leaders including Provost Ilesanmi Adesida and Lt. Col. Eric Stetson of University of Illinois ROTC.

"Our servicemen and women sacrifice years of their lives to protect our country and when they return, they deserve support in earning the degrees and dreams that so many postponed," Governor Quinn said. "Our wounded Veterans face unique challenges, but they should not face them alone. The Wounded Warriors Center will keep Illinois a leader in helping returning members of our armed forces achieve their dreams."

The state-of-the-art Wounded Warrior Center will combine 24-hour comprehensive support to prepare severely wounded veterans to live independently and to successfully pursue their educational and career goals. The center will house offices for supporting programs, research spaces, a fitness center, residential units for up to 12 occupants, a teaching kitchen, a conference room, tutorial support spaces and a lounge. The facility will also be LEED Gold certified.

"More than 60 years ago, wounded WWII veterans began returning home only to find that access to a college education would be denied to them because of the injuries they had sustained in their service," said University Chancellor Phyllis Wise. "In 1948, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, under the leadership of Professor Timothy Nugent, began to address this wrong, founding the world's first comprehensive program of higher education for individuals with disabilities. That commitment has never wavered and we live in different world today because of his program and the dedication of all of those who have followed Dr. Nugent. The Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education will be the newest addition to that long legacy that began here and that will always be among our proudest accomplishments."

The $12 million facility also is the beneficiary of a $6 million charitable pledge by U.S. Army Veteran Ronald L. Chez, who graduated from the University of Illinois in 1962 and is now president of his own financial consulting firm and chairman of Champaign-based Epiworks. Chez has been a strong supporter of efforts to help students with disabilities succeed in higher education, previously pledging $1 million to establish a scholars program that provides financial assistant to students with special needs. Additionally, the University has been working with donors to raise the final $2 million for the facility.

"There is no way that we can adequately compensate for the courage and service of our wounded Veterans," said Chez. "It is our special opportunity to honor these heroic men and women and their families by helping to provide the services and facilities they require. I cannot think of a higher priority for private citizens and government than to provide opportunities for education and independence to those who have served all of us."

Since its inception in 1948, the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has sought to advance the educational, social and vocational participation of people with disabilities through the collaborative promotion, provision and/or pursuit of innovative accommodations and educational services, and interdisciplinary disability research. DRES has made historic strides in interdisciplinary disability research - including wheelchair bus lifts, curb cuts and accessibility standards - many of which resulted from the applied disability research and/or educational outreach of its faculty and staff.

This fall, Governor Quinn and the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs launched Illinois Joining Forces, a new statewide public-private partnership that will improve support for servicemembers, Veterans, and their families. Modeled after the national Joining Forces initiative, IJF is spearheaded by First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and seeks to increase collaboration and communication among non-profits and public agencies serving Veterans at the local, state and federal levels. Through IJF, participating organizations will work together to address gaps in services for job training and placement, healthcare, education and housing, actively refer veterans and servicemembers in need of assistance and offer better navigation of available resources and service to the public. To learn more about IJF, visit www.IllinoisJoiningForces.org.

For more information about other programs for Illinois veterans and servicemembers, visit www.OperationHomefront.org.

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Van Nuys, CA -- Operation Gratitude, the non-profit, volunteer-based Military and Veteran support organization, will have dual cause for celebration when the Milestone 900,000th Care Package rolls off the assembly line, and the special gift from the 800,000th Care Package (sent in June, 2012) is delivered to a returning Soldier on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys, CA.

Hundreds of volunteers will be joined by members of the Military, politicians, notable personalities, Motorcycle enthusiasts and representatives from several of the organization's Corporate Friends and Sponsors, to assemble care packages and to honor 800,000th Care Package recipient Spc. Samuel Mancilla, recently returned from Afghanistan, as he receives his custom-built Orange County Choppers' motorcycle donated in partnership with SJO Foundation for Hope and Torque Sports & Performance.

Operation Gratitude Director of Operations, Rich Hernandez, expects the "milestone moment" to happen shortly after 11 am.

The Doubleheader Celebration wraps up the organization's Deployed Troop Care Package assembly for the year, having made and shipped more than 100,000 Troop, Veteran, Family and Battalion Buddy Care Packages in just six months, since June 2012. Operation Gratitude volunteers will continue to assemble Veteran, Battalion Buddy and their new "Care Giver" packages on weekdays through the end of the year (see Volunteer Schedule for hours).

WHEN:
December 15, 2012
Care Package Assembly 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Milestone Assembly & Celebration: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:
California National Guard Armory
17330 Victory Boulevard
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Corner of Victory and Louise; parking available in adjacent lot

Pink's Hotdogs will be selling lunch on site for all volunteers and guests.

Financial donations are still needed to help pay the assembly and postage expenses of $15 per package.
Every tax deductible donation of $15 sends another care package, personally addressed to American heroes in harm's way, their children anxiously waiting at home, and to Veterans, First Responders, Wounded Warriors and their Care Givers.

Online donations can be made here: Donate .

Donations by check can be made payable and mailed to:
Operation Gratitude
16444 Refugio Road
Encino, CA 91436

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About Operation Gratitude: Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in harm's way, to their children left behind, to Veterans, to Military families in financial distress due to unemployment, to Emergency First Responders and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in transition units. The organization's mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$75-100 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship. For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 890,000 packages to American Military members and their children.

(DES MOINES) - Gov. Branstad is ordering all flags in the state to be flown at half-staff from 5 p.m. Friday, November 30, to 8 a.m. on Monday, December 3, to honor Sgt. Joseph A. Richardson, 23, of Algona, who died while on patrol with the U.S. Army in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on November 16, 2012.

Sgt. Richardson's funeral will be held Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Algona. Maj. Gen. Timothy Orr, adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, will be in attendance to represent the Branstad/Reynolds administration.

The governor's directive applies to all U.S. and state flags under the control of the state. H.R. 692, signed in 2007, requires federal government agencies in the state to comply with the governor's executive order that the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff in the event of the death of a member of the Armed Forces.

Flags will be at half-staff on the state Capitol building and on flag displays in the Capitol complex, and upon all public buildings, grounds, and facilities throughout the state. Individuals, businesses, schools, municipalities, counties and other government subdivisions are encouraged to fly the flag at half-staff for the same length of time as a sign of respect.