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Young AFCEANs Raise Funds for Wounded Warrior Project

The Northern Virginia Chapter's Young AFCEAN committee raised $22,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project during the chapter-sponsored Army Information Technology Day in July. The committee allocated the funds to military patients at WalterReedArmyMedicalCenter in Washington, D.C. Donations included gift cards to restaurants and mass retailers such as Target in addition to monetary contributions.

Katie Gladhill, Young AFCEAN committee (YAC) chair, and the YAC members contacted Chuck Giasson, Northern Virginia Chapter member and a Wounded Warrior Project representative through the Northern Virginia Roundtable, for help in locating a program that supports returning warfighters. “The Wounded Warrior Project allowed [the YAC] to provide funding…in an extremely fast fashion. This just happened to be an excellent partnership opportunity at the time in our fundraising event schedule,” shares Jeff Li, Northern Virginia YAC member.

The YAC set up a donation booth during the Army Information Technology Day event with an expectation of receiving a few thousand dollars in donations. Master of Ceremonies Chuck Corjay, chapter member and special assistant to the president for chapter affairs, made regular announcements encouraging attendees to donate, helping increase the total funds received.

The YAC selected the Army Information Technology Day as an ideal venue to reach the largest audience for support. Li also notes that the majority of the YAC members work for military contractors or are in the military themselves, so the project was particularly satisfying. “[The Wounded Warrior Project] is a worthy cause that [enabled the committee to] be most helpful in giving back,” he says.

Li credits Corjay and Giasson for their guidance throughout the project as well. “Giasson was naturally a good candidate to [advise], and we give a lot of credit to [Corjay] in helping to lead this effort,” Li shares. Also essential to the event’s success were YAC members Kristen Klein, Leslie McIndoe, Chris McKee, Allan Pitch, Kelly Stephenson and Jason Stewart, in addition to chapter members Helaine Cooper and Louise Wilson.

The YAC aims to feature similar fundraising events at each of the military information technology days. The next event, Air Force Information Technology Day, is scheduled for December 3.

Visit Member Service's Region and Chapter Information page to read about other noteworthy chapter events.