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Together... We're Giving Back.
Established by community-minded Realtors and businessmen and championed by one of the world’s best-known real estate companies, the 501 (c) (3) organization Texas Sentinels Foundation was founded in 2007 by RE/MAX of Texas. The foundation’s mission is to provide qualified members of the U.S. Armed Forces severely injured in the line of duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001 with new homes, debt-free and adapted for their needs.” The program’s support, dispensed in the form of a Life Scholarship, helps them readjust to civilian life and prosper in their hometowns or new communities, and has yielded powerful results. Three severely-wounded soldiers have received the Texas Sentinels Foundation Life Scholarship, and plans for their homes have already been finalized.
“We have a duty to honor and support the members of our Armed Forces who return to us severely wounded or injured, and we can do so by providing what they need most; not just houses, but homes,” says Richard Filip, the Texas Sentinels Foundation co-founder and CEO of RE/MAX of Texas in Houston where the foundation is headquartered. “It costs approximately $60,000 to $100,000 per scholarship to help these young warriors get the jump-start back into civilian life that they need. All proceeds go directly to providing for the selected Texas Sentinels, minus the foundation’s operating expenses.”
The foundation is working to counter that by holding fundraisers and building Texas Sentinel teams, groups of dedicated RE/MAX Realtors and business people who take on the task of raising funds and supported the selected soldiers. There are teams currently supporting Texas Sentinels in Arlington, San Antonio and Victoria. And they aren’t alone in their mission. In 2009, the Texas Sentinels Foundation joined with fellow non profit Bay Area Builders Association Support Our Troops in raising funds and vetting qualified soldiers for the scholarship. However, Filip insists that it is the generosity of the Texas community that drives the effort.
“Community involvement is key, be it by contractors, suppliers, artisans or everyday citizens” continues Filip. “The community has embraced and accepted this opportunity as a way of saying ‘We want to help. We can do this. “It is the right thing to do. We have room at the table in our Texas communities.’”. The three soldiers honored with the Life Scholarship, Johnny Wilson of Arlington, Jorge De Leon of San Antonio and Justin Rokohl of Victoria can attest to the power of that generosity. “We hope to have Sentinels all over Texas and perhaps the nation,” concludes Filip. “One community at a time, one Wounded Warrior at a time we can make a difference.”
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