August 1, 2010

ATLANTA—Ford Motor Company will donate $200,000 to purchase seven new vehicles for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Transportation Network and provide $25,000 to the DAV’s youth volunteer scholarship program.

“The donations are part of a nearly 90-year friendship between Ford and the DAV,” DAV National Commander Roberto Barrera said. “Through this close partnership, the DAV has purchased most of the 2,367 vehicles, worth nearly $52 million, that we have donated to Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers nationwide since our transportation program began in 1987.”

The DAV Transportation Network volunteer drivers use the vehicles to take sick and disabled veterans to VA medical centers. Since 1996, Ford Motor Co. has donated 148 vans, worth more than $3.5 million, to the DAV Transportation Network.

“It is our privilege to help serve the needs of our country’s disabled veterans through the DAV’s Transportation Network,” said Jim Vella, President, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “Our unique partnership began not long after Ford Motor Company was founded, and we are delighted to see what our partnership of nearly 90 years has produced.”

The donation of $25,000 to the Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship Program helps the DAV provide 12 scholarships to deserving young men and women who have generously volunteered their time and compassion to the disabled veterans in their community.

“These scholarships allow DAV to invest in the future of our nation,” Commander Barrera said. “We are very grateful to Ford Motor Company for its continued support for this important program.”

The DAV’s National Director of Voluntary Services Michael J. Walsh said, “The DAV Transportation Network provides much-needed services to thousands of veterans. Our Transportation Network volunteer drivers log millions of miles on the road each year taking sick and disabled veterans to VA medical center appointments and returning them home.”

The 1.2 million-member Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit organization founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932, represents this nation’s wartime disabled veterans. It is dedicated to a single purpose: building better lives for our nation’s disabled veterans and their families. For more information, visit the organization’s Web site at www.dav.org.

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