NAPE American Heroes Fund | Benefiting Severely Wounded American Veterans

Help Them...
Because they've earned it.

Severely wounded and disabled service members return home to confront extreme hardships, from physical disabilities to financial challenges, joblessness and homelessness. Since 2007 NAPE and its participants have donated more than $1.4 million to severely wounded soldiers. The NAPE American Heroes Fund (“the Fund”) was formed to identify deserving organizations that provide assistance to wounded veterans, and to oversee the distribution of the contributions from NAPE participants to those organizations. One hundred percent of donations go directly to soldiers with no deductions for administrative or overhead expenses by either the Heroes Fund or the receiving organization. The Fund is a 501(c)3 and contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Read on to see how NAPE participants have supported wounded soldiers through donations to the Heroes Fund in recent months and to find out how you can help.

Make a one-time donation
through PayPal

Make a monthly donation
through PayPal

Download our Donation Form

Hornaday and Wilson

Home Updates

The homes for SFC Alan Hornaday and Sgt. Levi Wilson and their families are well underway in Gunter, TX.

Bay Area Builders Association’s

Operation Finally Home

Through donations of materials, labor and cash, Operation Finally Home provides paid-for homes with clear title to wounded heroes and their families. The Heroes Fund has now participated in several of these homes, and has recently announced a partnership with Bluegreen Communities to build five homes for heroes in the same neighborhood in north Texas. To date, three homes have been presented and are under construction.

Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler had just returned to Fort Hood from his second tour in Iraq and was preparing to leave for Officer Candidate School, his life’s dream. He was in the personnel center filling out paperwork when a terrorist opened fire killing 13 and wounding 29. Zeigler was airlifted to the hospital with four gunshot wounds, including one that shattered his skull. The bullet left a hole the size of a softball. Zeigler’s family and fiancée were warned he that he might never recover. He has since fought a battle that he refused to lose, including several brain surgeries, and in December, the Fund and Operation Finally Home were proud to partner with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to provide Staff Sgt. Zeigler and Jessica (now his wife) with a new home.

Cpl. Donny Daughenbaugh, US Marines (Ret.), who has participated in several NAPE Expo’s helping to raise money for other wounded veterans, was the recipient of one of the homes the Fund sponsored. Donny was on a foot patrol in Baghdad when a vehicle attempted to speed past a nearby checkpoint. When stopped the driver opened fire on Donny, shooting him in the face. Donny subsequently killed his attacker and engaged in a firefight with the enemy for 45 minutes before being airlifted to a hospital, where they discovered the bullet had lodged between the base of his skull and his top vertebra, after fracturing his cheekbone and missing his vital nerves and brain by millimeters. The bullet cannot be removed and causes serious side effects.

Operation Homefront Village

Operation Homefront provides emergency and financial assistance to wounded warriors when they return. With its Operation Homefront Village (San Antonio), transitional housing and supportive programs are provided to service members and their families while they receive treatment and undergo therapy for their injuries. The Heroes Fund is proud to have sponsored Sergeant Jeremy Nicholson’s stay at the Village while he recovered from multiple injuries (broken ribs, shattered knee joints, torn ligaments and 2nd and 3rd degree burns) received when his vehicle hit a 300-pound explosive in Iraq.

Canine Companions for Independence

Wounded Warriors Initiative

CCI provides assistance dogs to war veterans across the country who have been disabled in combat. These dogs provide the task assistance and companionship that make it possible for disabled soldiers to regain their independence as they put their life back together after a life-changing injury. Breeding, training of the dog and the veteran and lifetime support services for the pair costs $50,000, and the Heroes Fund has now partnered with CCI to provide four such matches. Jason Morgan, a U.S. Air Force veteran with five children, parachuted into a target area with his Special Forces team only to be ambushed. Napal II, a handsome black Labrador, has opened a new world to him after the spinal cord injury received during the ambush confined him to a wheelchair.

Make a one-time donation
through PayPal

Make a monthly donation
through PayPal

Download our Donation Form