User:Lukerval/The Independence Fund

The Independence Fund new article content ... The Independence Fund is a combat veteran run, 501(c)3 that supports severely injured veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Fund was established in 2007 by a Marine Corps officer with two combat action ribbons and was founded largely out of a sense of frustration felt by the officer following a tour of duty working wounded related matters in Washington DC. All Board members and staff of the Independence Fund repudiate financial compensation for their efforts.

The mission statement of The Independence Fund is to "provide the tools, therapies and guidance that those veterans severely injured in the War on Terror are otherwise not receiving." Most notably, the Independence Fund has provided twenty veterans with the $25,000 iBOT mobility system, created by and using much of the same technology as is incorporated in inventor Dean Kamen's sister device, the Segway. The iBOT ceased production in 2009 and servicing for those devices will no longer be provided by Parent Corporation, Johnson&Johnson, after 2013, essentially rendering the devices obsolete at that time.

Additionally, the Independence Fund has held seven seperate "Independence Weekends" in which a local community is designated to host a number of veterans for a bike ride and associated events. In October, 2010, The Independence Weekend took place in Beaufort, SC and incorporated a series of lectures at local schools led by decorated Marine Corps veteran, Nick Popaditch, and a free concert for the troops and community by celebrity Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. Because of his role of double amputee Lt. Dan in the 1995 film, Forrest Gump, Mr. Sinise has assumed an iconic stature in amongst veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

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