Firefighters Donate $20,000 to Injured Veterans

Fairfield Firefighters donated $20,000 last week to be used for gift cards to help wounded military men and women at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.

For almost seven years, groups and individuals throughout Connecticut have sponsored trips to Walter Reed to visit wounded soldiers. They hand out homemade cards with gift cards from the military department store, known as the Post Exchange, tucked inside to as many soldiers as possible. The program is called Operation Gift Cards.

On July 10, Steve Lobdell and Steve Curry from Fairfield Firefighters Local 1426 presented Angel Cadena, a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom with the check for $20,000, according to an AMVETS release. The firefigthers raised the money from the proceeds of the annual Stratton Faxon Fairfield Half Marathon and 5K, the release said.

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The money will be used for two speific items with $10,000 being used directly for Operation Gift Cards and the other half towards "the purchase of a new large van with a wheelchair lift,"which will be used for the trips to visit wounded troops in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland," the release said. The van will also be used to help take veterans who are "shut-ins" on day trips. 

Since October 2005, "the Operation Gift Cards’ 83 monthly/bimonthly visits have presented 14,025 thank you kits which thank you kits, which
contained $280,500 in post exchange (military department store) gift certificates to our wounded troops," the release said.

Curry and Loddell are among the 199 representatives from 64 organizations who "have visited the wounded troops for Operation Gift Cards," according to the release.

For more information on Operation Gift Cards, contact Al Meadows by email at al.meadows@snet.net or by telephone at (203) 929-3357. 

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