Since 2000, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF) has been working to build nine treatment facilities around the country for wounded heroes diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress as a result of their service to our country. What a cause! And IFHF has been doing the hard work to service these veterans too. IFHF first opened the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) in 2010 in Bethesda, Maryland, and has since completed their first satellite center, Intrepid Spirit at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and begun construction on two more satellite centers – one at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and one at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. IFHF is working toward a goal of raising $100 million to complete nine satellite centers across the country.
At WSD, we are so impressed with the work that IFHF has been doing, that we resolved to work to support the fund and our veterans. In June 2013 we partnered with Dexter Laundry on a fundraising campaign that would see a portion of every Dexter coin-op washer and dryer sold by WSD between July and December 2013, going directly towards IFHF’s efforts.
We chose to base our sales fundraiser on Dexter coin-op machines because they’re an employee-owned company and all of their machines are made right here in the United States. We figured, what better way to support our veterans!
The campaign launched at the 2013 CLEAN show in New Orleans. For every pound-rated capacity of each Dexter coin-op washer and dryer sold, one dollar would go to IFHF – so a 40 pound rated capacity washing machine would generate $40 for the campaign. Six months later, our sales team has worked with new and expanding coin-op laundromats, installing Dexter washers and dryers totaling over 40,000 pounds in rated capacity and a grand total of $40,700 going to IFHF.
At the completion of the drive, Thomas Marks, Executive Vice President of WSD, headed to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City – IFHF’s headquarters – on January 6. There, aboard the Intrepid warship, he delivered the check to IFHF President David Winters. This check represented the hard work our team of sales people put into helping the cause.
The real success of our fundraising campaign is that it involved the entire staff, Dexter Laundry’s staff, and it spread the word of IFHF’s work to coin-op laundromats across the west – seven states from Arizona to Alaska, to be exact. Each of those laundries was also encouraged to contribute individually to IFHF along the way. We believe that the awareness of IFHF’s mission and work brought about by this campaign is as important as the funds raised. And we hope you’ll be touched by the work IFHF does for our veterans and find your own way to contribute to their efforts.
To donate or become involved in IFHF’s mission, visit fallenheroesfund.org.
Read the press release here.