[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18244-18245]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE COALITION TO SALUTE AMERICA'S HEROES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 5, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Coalition to 
Salute America's Heroes, a Virginia-based 501(c)(3), non-profit, non-
partisan organization, established in 2004 to provide severely wounded 
veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families, with 
emergency financial assistance and other support services to help them 
recover from their injuries and rebuild their lives. CSAH is 
headquartered in Leesburg, which in my congressional district in 
Loudoun County, and serves military veterans and their families living 
in the Commonwealth as well as nationally. All funds needed to develop 
and manage programs that advance its mission come from contributions to 
CSAH by individual citizens, corporate donors and foundations.
  The mission of the Coalition is to ensure that our war-weary nation 
should not lose sight of its obligations to those who are protecting 
our freedoms. These true American heroes often receive little or no 
support from the nation for which they sacrificed so much. Because of a 
shortage of funding and an interminable bureaucratic backlog at the 
Veterans Administration, they wait for roughly a year, on average, to 
receive disability pay and benefits. Thousands do not get proper care 
for PTSD because it is largely misunderstood.
  Under the leadership of David Walker, who serves as president and 
CEO, the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes helps severely wounded 
veterans and families of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi 
Freedom living in the Commonwealth of Virginia and across the country 
recover from their injuries and illnesses by providing emergency 
financial aid and other support services, in hopes that the veterans 
are able to transition successfully into civilian life. Additionally, 
the Coalition's emergency aid services responds to trends associated 
with suicide among veterans (24 per day), a sky-rocking divorce rate 
(60 percent among actives), and growing domestic abuse.
  Last year as one of his first acts, Walker restructured the 
Coalition's budget so that it could give more directly to veterans and 
organizations that support them, with programs that include: emergency 
financial aid to help through crisis situations (evictions, car 
repossessions, etc.); training seminars; a call center program to 
provide veterans and spouses the opportunity to work on a part-time 
basis (some of the program's participants have moved on to part-time or 
full-time employment in the private sector); equine-therapy programs 
and more.
  In 2013 alone, the Coalition will have donated nearly $1 million in 
direct aid to veterans, in addition to managing the many other

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CSAH programs that are available to wounded veterans (conferences, 
holiday gift checks, education and training, etc.).
  The Coalition has made eight grants totaling over $80,000 to 
organizations based in Virginia and Washington, D.C., including: Horses 
Helping Heroes Project, which provides no-cost, equine-assisted 
activities and therapies for wounded veterans in the Hampton Roads area 
of Virginia; Institute for Veterans Education and Training (IVET), 
which offers week-long training programs for veterans and their 
spouses; over $50,000 to complete the construction of transitional 
housing for formerly homeless veterans living in Washington, D.C.; 
Final Salute, Inc., to provide safe and suitable transitional housing 
for homeless female veterans; Boulder Crest Retreat in Bluemont, VA, a 
new retreat for veterans seeking physical, mental and spiritual 
recovery from the wounds of war; Dog Tag Bakery, a not-for-profit 
venture dedicated to helping wounded veterans re-assimilate to civilian 
life by providing on-the-job bakery training and a tailor-made 
curriculum at the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown 
University; etc.
  In addition, this year, the Coalition was nominated for the Virginia 
First Lady's Opportunity Hall of Fame Awards, which recognizes leading 
Virginia nonprofits.
  In April 2013, WTOP radio (CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C.) 
commended the Coalition by calling it a key resource responding to the 
problem of the growing back-log of U.S. Veterans Administration 
disability claims (which can take on average up to one year before 
veterans receive their disability payments).
  Virginia has a proud tradition of military service to our nation, and 
is the grateful home of millions of veterans and their families. I am 
especially proud of the work of the Coalition to Salute America's 
Heroes and the work it is doing to fill a terrible void in our society. 
I commend the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes, which honors and 
remembers our heroes by helping them transition into civilian life so 
they may prosper.

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