Excerpt From:
Putting Their Best Foot Forward
Teresa Varley
steelers.com
https://www.steelers.com/news/putting-their-best-foot-forward-x1037
Alejandro Villanueva
Cause: Special Operations Warrior Foundation
As a former Army Ranger, Alejandro Villanueva knows the sacrifices those in the military make. And he knows many of them sadly make the ultimate sacrifice, often times leaving behind families, from young children to college age kids.
While there are hundreds of charities out there supporting the military, there is one that has really touched Villanueva. It’s the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, an organization that supports some of the military’s most elite forces who are often called upon for the most dangerous missions.
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides support for families of severely wounded and fallen forces, focusing mainly on providing educational aid to the surviving children of special operations personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty. The foundation also provides immediate financial grants to severely combat-wounded and hospitalized special operations personnel and their families.
“The way that the war has been fought over the past seven years has relied heavily on special operations forces,” said Villanueva. “They brunt a little more than their share of the fight than the rest of the units. That community is very small.
“I think what the foundation is doing is pretty remarkable. I know people on the board, it’s a well-run organization, the way they spend their money and allocate their funds is well done.
“I have always been in contact with the special operations community. They have been unbelievable to me. I feel extremely humbled to have been a part of them and obviously to still be welcome with open arms.”
Villanueva is hoping by wearing the cleat and bringing the organization to the forefront that it does nothing but help them, and in turn help those who have given so much for our country.
“It’s an organization that doesn’t spend a lot of money advertising themselves. The money goes the right way,” said Villanueva. “They are spending as much as they can on the families of the victims, on sons and daughters of soldiers who have lost their lives, kids that might not be able to go to college. It’s a very cool organization. I love the people who run and what they stand for. At the same time, it gives the recognition to the families and the victims of the foreign wars that people aren’t hearing about on the news because the war has taken a step back.”
