Mckinney Courier-gazette > News
Charity concert raises money for wounded veterans
Photo Courtesy of Kellie Anfosso -- United States military veterans Augie Pena (center) and Andrew Litz (far right) will receive mortgage-free homes thanks to Operation Finally Home and Sunday's Smiles Charity Concert and Festival, a fundraising event started five years ago by McKinney orthodontist Jennifer Buchanan (in back) to provide homes for families in need.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
On the evening before millions of Americans remembered soldiers who have lost their lives fighting for freedom, thousands in McKinney remembered those still in the fight.
And some learned just how unfair that fight can be.
United States military veterans Augustine "Augie" Pena and Andrew Litz were recognized as the newest recipients of mortgage-free homes at the fifth annual Smiles Charity Concert and Festival.
"We owe everything," said Lee Kirgan, director of construction and corporate sponsorships for Operation Finally Home (OFH), the organization that's partnered with Smiles Charity the past two years to provide homes for wounded veterans. "We wouldn't be here talking about it if it weren't for these guys and girls willing to put their lives on the line for our freedom. There's not enough for us to do."
McKinney groups Lantic and The Maylee Thomas Band opened for headline country singer David Nail for another evening show on the hillside at Adriatica's outdoor concert venue. They entertained a continuous stream of fans, many of whom came in support of their American stars -- veterans.
In its first three years, Smiles Charity used the summer festival to raise money for Habitat for Humanity homes, awarded to area families who needed help beating their lives' odds. Local and corporate businesses sponsor the yearly event to provide a financial foundation through which 100 percent of net proceeds go toward the homes.
But Smiles Charity founder Jennifer Buchanan, a 13-year McKinney orthodontist, found a new mission last year. Thousands of U.S. soldiers were returning "home" facing a different battle: to provide for themselves and their family in spite of debilitating injuries.
In came OFH, a national organization founded in 2005 to aid service members who return to the U.S. severely wounded or disabled. The initiative has built accommodating homes for 13 veterans, including Sgt. Alan Hornaday, Sgt. Robert Aiken III and Sgt. Levi Wilson who last year received homes with the help of Smiles Charity.
They moved into their new homes at The Bridges in Gunter earlier this month, houses built thanks to the $75,000 that last year's charity concert raised.
"As long as there are soldiers who need homes, I feel like that's my mission," Buchanan said. "I like to have fun, I like to throw parties, and I can raise money, so that's what I'm going to do."
More than 15,000 area residents came to her party a year ago, and at least that many showed up Sunday, including Hornaday and his wife Sheila.
They met Pena and Litz, veterans who may also find hope through recent adversity.
Pena served as a U.S. Army Reserve in Iraq from June 2009 to May 2010, and Litz served three tours there between 2002 and 2005.
Upon returning stateside, over Thanksgiving weekend in 2010, Spc. Pena stopped to help 20-year-old Mary Elbring change her tire and was crushed by a drunk driver. He is now a paraplegic living in San Antonio with his mother and 10-year-old brother.
Sgt. Litz, of the U.S. Marine Corps., suffered a traumatic brain injury when his humvee struck an IED in April 2005. He began serving with the Dallas Police Department in 2006, but recurring headaches and seizures soon forced him out of duty.
As Pena and Litz met with Hornaday this weekend, they all shared the same story: the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), designed to help veterans through such trying times, has been of little help.
Because Pena was left in critical condition and never completed his transfer to the Chicago unit, he was deemed not on active duty and thus unable to collect disability from the Army. The VA refuses to recognize and treat Litz's brain injury, leaving him with little ability to provide for his wife Heather and their two children.
"We sign on the dotted line that says they'll take care of us," Litz said of his post-service treatment. "But they've been doing it for generations. They're doing the same thing to everybody."
What they're doing isn't enough, the veterans said. Hornaday was at the VA for 22 months, during which he was heavily medicated and relied on Sheila to "try to worm their way through, to cut through the red tape."
"The ones who were losing were the ones who didn't have someone to be an advocate, to stop and ask questions," Sheila said. "They were so overwhelmed, they were just trying to get [the VA patient population] down to a number they could manage."
Though the VA's strategic plan for 2011-2015 states it is an organization that "adapts to new realities, leverages new technologies, and serves a changing population of veterans with renewed commitment," its treatment of those veterans isn't always proof of its purpose.
Which is why OFH and Smiles Charity couldn't have partnered at a better time. And their mission couldn't be as consistently fulfilled without the annual festival.
"We just assume these people are taken care of," said Ronnie Lyles, OFH board member. "The general public would not believe some of the stories."
At least the Collin County public doesn't seem to share that assumption. Droves of concert-goers again enjoyed a show that to them wasn't free -- it was paid for in donations for Pena's and Litz's homes, to be built next to their fellow veterans in Gunter.
As Nail sang his hit song "Let it Rain" just a few hours before Memorial Day, his fans remembered the veterans' other fight.
And fought with them.
"I really can't describe how different here in Texas is compared with other places," Pena said. "Here, everyone's so generous with everything. It's the Texas way."
And some learned just how unfair that fight can be.
United States military veterans Augustine "Augie" Pena and Andrew Litz were recognized as the newest recipients of mortgage-free homes at the fifth annual Smiles Charity Concert and Festival.
"We owe everything," said Lee Kirgan, director of construction and corporate sponsorships for Operation Finally Home (OFH), the organization that's partnered with Smiles Charity the past two years to provide homes for wounded veterans. "We wouldn't be here talking about it if it weren't for these guys and girls willing to put their lives on the line for our freedom. There's not enough for us to do."
McKinney groups Lantic and The Maylee Thomas Band opened for headline country singer David Nail for another evening show on the hillside at Adriatica's outdoor concert venue. They entertained a continuous stream of fans, many of whom came in support of their American stars -- veterans.
In its first three years, Smiles Charity used the summer festival to raise money for Habitat for Humanity homes, awarded to area families who needed help beating their lives' odds. Local and corporate businesses sponsor the yearly event to provide a financial foundation through which 100 percent of net proceeds go toward the homes.
But Smiles Charity founder Jennifer Buchanan, a 13-year McKinney orthodontist, found a new mission last year. Thousands of U.S. soldiers were returning "home" facing a different battle: to provide for themselves and their family in spite of debilitating injuries.
In came OFH, a national organization founded in 2005 to aid service members who return to the U.S. severely wounded or disabled. The initiative has built accommodating homes for 13 veterans, including Sgt. Alan Hornaday, Sgt. Robert Aiken III and Sgt. Levi Wilson who last year received homes with the help of Smiles Charity.
They moved into their new homes at The Bridges in Gunter earlier this month, houses built thanks to the $75,000 that last year's charity concert raised.
"As long as there are soldiers who need homes, I feel like that's my mission," Buchanan said. "I like to have fun, I like to throw parties, and I can raise money, so that's what I'm going to do."
More than 15,000 area residents came to her party a year ago, and at least that many showed up Sunday, including Hornaday and his wife Sheila.
They met Pena and Litz, veterans who may also find hope through recent adversity.
Pena served as a U.S. Army Reserve in Iraq from June 2009 to May 2010, and Litz served three tours there between 2002 and 2005.
Upon returning stateside, over Thanksgiving weekend in 2010, Spc. Pena stopped to help 20-year-old Mary Elbring change her tire and was crushed by a drunk driver. He is now a paraplegic living in San Antonio with his mother and 10-year-old brother.
Sgt. Litz, of the U.S. Marine Corps., suffered a traumatic brain injury when his humvee struck an IED in April 2005. He began serving with the Dallas Police Department in 2006, but recurring headaches and seizures soon forced him out of duty.
As Pena and Litz met with Hornaday this weekend, they all shared the same story: the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), designed to help veterans through such trying times, has been of little help.
Because Pena was left in critical condition and never completed his transfer to the Chicago unit, he was deemed not on active duty and thus unable to collect disability from the Army. The VA refuses to recognize and treat Litz's brain injury, leaving him with little ability to provide for his wife Heather and their two children.
"We sign on the dotted line that says they'll take care of us," Litz said of his post-service treatment. "But they've been doing it for generations. They're doing the same thing to everybody."
What they're doing isn't enough, the veterans said. Hornaday was at the VA for 22 months, during which he was heavily medicated and relied on Sheila to "try to worm their way through, to cut through the red tape."
"The ones who were losing were the ones who didn't have someone to be an advocate, to stop and ask questions," Sheila said. "They were so overwhelmed, they were just trying to get [the VA patient population] down to a number they could manage."
Though the VA's strategic plan for 2011-2015 states it is an organization that "adapts to new realities, leverages new technologies, and serves a changing population of veterans with renewed commitment," its treatment of those veterans isn't always proof of its purpose.
Which is why OFH and Smiles Charity couldn't have partnered at a better time. And their mission couldn't be as consistently fulfilled without the annual festival.
"We just assume these people are taken care of," said Ronnie Lyles, OFH board member. "The general public would not believe some of the stories."
At least the Collin County public doesn't seem to share that assumption. Droves of concert-goers again enjoyed a show that to them wasn't free -- it was paid for in donations for Pena's and Litz's homes, to be built next to their fellow veterans in Gunter.
As Nail sang his hit song "Let it Rain" just a few hours before Memorial Day, his fans remembered the veterans' other fight.
And fought with them.
"I really can't describe how different here in Texas is compared with other places," Pena said. "Here, everyone's so generous with everything. It's the Texas way."
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