Retiring Your Boots- Post #1

A little about us, The Heroes Thanking Heroes Program is part of the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes- which is a private non-profit organization dedicated to providing help to Veterans injured post 9/11 and their families. The Heroes Thanking Heroes Program specifically, is an employment opportunity. Veterans or caregivers who meet the eligibility requirements work part time from home in an online call center, calling and thanking our donors and giving updates about what their generous donations do for our wounded veterans and their families. This provides on the job training for those who are house bound to find more permanent positions with other call centers, and a supplemental income during hard financial times such as transitioning from Department of Defense pay to Veteran’s Affairs Pay.  

In this blog we will be sharing with you our veteran’s everyday life.  How this program’s flexible schedule helps them make it to their doctor’s appointments, and have more time with their family all while making an income.

The Urbany Family

One of the caregivers that work in our program and live in North Carolina is Jennifer Urbany; she is wife to injured veteran SPC Donald Urbany, who was injured by a car bomb in Baghdad, Iraq in 2005. They have 4 little boys and have been together for 11 years. Donald lost his right eye, has several shrapnel wounds and suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury as a result of the blast. Jennifer came to the program in 2013. 8 weeks after having her third child she suffered two severe seizures and was rushed to UNC Hospital. She stayed for nearly a week and had multiple tests to see what caused these seizures. A few weeks went by and the medical bills started piling up, panic set in! 

How was Jennifer going to pay for all of these medical bills and still take care of her family? Jennifer was talking to her friend Antoinette who had been with the Heroes Thanking Heroes program for some time and knew that they could help. Jennifer applied for a position with the program, and shortly thereafter was hired. Since her employment with the program, she has been able to make all of her and her children’s doctor’s appointments, take care of her wounded husband and his hectic schedule, and take care of her family with much needed flexibility (Which you know she needs raising 4 boys and having a family of 6!). If you ask Jennifer today, she would tell you her job with the ‘Heroes Thanking Heroes Program’ and the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes are more than job opportunities, they are blessings! The Coalition has done more for Jennifer and her family than just provide a job; they helped when her family needed it the most. Jennifer and her family also attended the Coalition’s Road to Recovery Conference which also provided a much needed vacation for her family that helped Jennifer and Donald understand each other better, and strengthened their relationship.

The Heroes Thanking Heroes program is an amazing program that has helped so many other veterans and their families provide an income while caring for them or loved ones.

We hope to share with our readers what it means to live in the life of a veteran or caregiver, so that you can better understand the struggles of day to day life living with physical or invisible wounds.