A Soldier's Perspective

Valour-IT

For some odd reason unbeknownst to me, I've never participated in this project. It's not that I don't support it, I've just never been in a position to do anything about it when the project was going on. Even now, I'm getting into it late.

Valour-IT is a Soldier's Angels project whose goal is to provide laptops for severely wounded service members. Every cent raised through this program goes to just that. There's nothing like the ability to remain in contact with your family while recovering from wounds sustained on the battlefield.

I recently returned home from El Paso, TX where I attended the First Sergeants Course on Fort Bliss (more on that on another post). While I was there, a singer/songwriter named David Joseph visited our PX. He had just finished up a live set and was asking the audience to grab a copy of a DVD of his song "I'm Coming Home", even if they didn't purchase one of his CD's. I was sort of in a hurry and just went about my way. About 30 minutes later, he took the stage again and I had an opportunity to listen to him. This is the song he sang (stay with me there's a purpose to all this):

After hearing the song and watching the video play in the background, I couldn't help but immediately think about my own homecoming. David explained that portions of the proceeds from the sale of his music goes to Fisher House. Having visited Fisher House on a number of occasions, I naturally wanted to be first in line to purchase a copy. My original intent was to purchase a copy to raffle off to raise money for They Have Names. I introduced myself to David and explained what I was going to do with my copy of the CD and asked permission to place the song on my website so my readers could hear it. He agreed and wouldn't let me pay for the CD. We discussed it a bit and finally agreed that I'd accept a free copy only if he let me purchase another. He also gave me four free DVDs of his video.

When I got home I realized that Valour-IT was going on and I haven't done anything with it in the past two years to help. So, in an effort to help the cause, I'm raffling off TWO signed copies of David Joseph's "I'm Coming Home" CD and FOUR copies of the the DVD single of "I'm Coming Home" that is above. Raffle tickets are only going to be $5 each this time and I'll be accepting donations through Thanksgiving. At that time, I will announce the winners and present the money to the Valour-IT project. I will create a weekly update to announce how much money you have raised until then. These CDs and DVDs would make a great gift to those of you with adopted Soldiers (or keep them for yourselves). To purchase your tickets, just use the donation link on the sidebar. Any money collected between now and Thanksgiving will go directly to Valour-IT regardless of the donation size.

For my blogger and MySpace friends, please share this with as many people as possible. Those of you with hundreds of emails in your address, please spam them! ) Let's help Valour-IT make their goal and become a huge contributor to a great cause.

PS, for those that don't win the CD or DVD, you can purchase your own copy at David Joseph's website.