Memorial Day is a day to honor the brave men and women who have died while serving this country. While this holiday acts as a time of remembrance for those in the U.S. Armed Forces who are no longer with us, we cannot forget the millions of military veterans who continue to enrich our country each day. 

During this Military Appreciation Month of May, Connected Dealer Services reflects on the retired military personnel who have fought for our freedom by highlighting a few key non-profit organizations that are helping veterans receive the care and support they deserve. 

Hope For The Warriors 

Hope For The Warriors, founded in 2006 by military families at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, NC, is a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping “restore a sense of self, family, and hope” for post-9/11 veterans and their loved ones. Hope For The Warriors focuses on offering military personnel and families access to a number of programs and scholarships centered around transition, health and wellness, peer engagement, and connections to community resources. To date, Hope For The Warriors has helped over 40,000 veterans and military personnel through a variety of support programs such as Military Spouse and Caregiver Scholarships, Resilient Warrior and Resilient Family courses, and the Run For The Warriors race series. In honor of Memorial Day 2022, the organization has kicked off the Hope For The Warriors Memorial Day 30×30 Virtual Fitness Challenge—a free, completely virtual fitness challenge open to individuals from all over the world. The goal of this challenge is to support individuals in reaching their fitness goals while honoring and remembering fallen service members.

Fisher House Foundation

Fisher House Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing communal housing to the families of service members and veterans while a loved one is receiving treatment. These houses are located near military and VA medical centers around the world where families can stay near a hospitalized military member or veteran, free of charge. Since its inception, the program has helped save military and veterans’ families nearly $547 million in out-of-pocket costs for lodging and transportation and in 2021 alone Fisher House served around 27,000 families. In addition to providing temporary lodging, Fisher House Foundation has multiple scholarship programs, offers airfare assistance with Hero Miles, assistance for hotel stays with Hotels for Heroes, and runs the Chairman’s Award grant program. Click here to view some of Fisher House Foundation’s upcoming events. 

Hire Heroes USA 

Founded in 2005, Hire Heroes USA is a non-profit employment organization focused on providing military members, veterans, and military spouses specialized career services. Employment services are the number one requested service from transitioning military members. In order to ease the transition period for veterans, Hire Heroes helps with one-on-one job coaching, resume revision, mentoring, workshops, access to hiring events, and other free job advancement services. Since its launch, Hire Heroes USA has more than 65,000 confirmed hires, has listed more than 36,000 jobs on its job board, and has organized nearly 1,500 volunteers. Visit their website for upcoming hiring events and ways to donate. 

Dealers for Veterans—Helping our Heroes 

Connected Dealer Services is honored to be able to give back to these phenomenal organizations through our Dealers for Veterans program. Dealers for Veterans is a non-profit program created with the goal of giving back to the veteran community by focusing on three pillars of need: employment services, wounded warriors and their families, and mental health and wellness. CDS is proud to partner with Hope For The Warriors, Fisher House Foundation, and Hire Heroes USA through a monthly donation system. 

For each new dealership onboarded to the Elo GPS system, money will be allocated to the Dealers for Veterans fund. Each month, these funds are distributed equally amongst our partner organizations. For more information regarding our Dealers for Veterans program or to find out about ways to get involved in the veteran community this Military Appreciation Month, connect with our team.