News

Operation Homelink Provides New Webbook Computers to 300 Chapters of Student
Veterans of America
Donated computers enable Internet Access for Student Veteran Organizations
Las Vegas, NV – December, 2011

Operation Homelink, in collaboration with litl, LLC provided 300 new webbook computers to student veterans attending the 4th Annual Student Veterans of America National Conference. While many student veterans have personal computers, their chapters or veteran centers do not. The donation of webbooks by litl and Operation Homelink will help improve chapter communication, cohesion, and above all else academic excellence.

The computers were donated by Boston Massachusetts-based litl LLC. "We are delighted to facilitate our Veterans' integration to the civilian life.” said John Chuang, litl’s founder and CEO. “The webbooks make a great addition to any SVA chapter,” said Michael Dakduk, SVA’s Executive Director. “The main purpose of each group is to provide peer support and nearly every chapter uses social media to do so.

These webbooks will help ensure that such support goes uninterrupted and that chapters have access to high quality information.” The webbooks were provided at a joint hiring fair hosted by SVA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and RecruitMilitary. The event featured 60+ employers and over 500 veterans, military spouses, and members of the Guard and Reserve. The hiring fair was a critical component of SVA’s 2011 National Conference, which was themed Combating Veterans Unemployment.

“We are very appreciative of the support from litl in our mission to utilized donated computer technology to support US veterans, wounded warriors, service members and their families,” said Dan Shannon, founder and president of Operation Homelink. Including this donation, Operation Homelink has distributed over 4,500 computers to military families located across the U.S.

Operation Homelink and Raytheon Provide Computers to 100 Fort Bragg Families
Donated Computers bring Deployed Family Members Closer to Home
Fort Bragg, NC – December 9, 2011

Today, Operation Homelink in collaboration with the Raytheon Company presented 100 refurbished laptops and new webcams to the families of junior-enlisted soldiers soon to deploy to the Middle East from Fort Bragg. All computers were distributed today at the Yntema Club on post. “This program is really great” said Zarah Uncangco, Specialist with the 1st TSC unit who was joined at the computer distribution event by her husband Patrick, 4 year-old Aveah and 1 year-old Ezra. “As I prepare for my deployment, this gives me so much comfort to know that I will be able to stay in touch with my husband and kids via Skype. Thank you so much.”

On Friday, December 9, 2011, Spc. Zarah Uncangro, husband Patrick, 4-year old Aveah and 1-year old Ezra ,  leave the Yntema Club with one of the 110 laptops and webcams presented to families of Fort Bragg soldiers who are set to deploy in the next 60 days. The donation was made possible by Chicago-based Operation Homelink and Waltham, MA-based Raytheon Company (Photo by Operation Homelink).

While most service members have access to e-mail while deployed including sites throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, the situation is often different for their families back home. Troops rely on correspondence from family members during demanding deployments, but the families of many junior enlisted members are often not able to afford computers and must rely on conventional mail or expensive phone calls to stay in touch. The laptop computers and webcams were donated by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon Company. “I can’t imagine what it would been like if wasn’t able to email my wife when I was recently deployed, said Specialist Brandon Stone who was part of the detail assigned to support the distribution event and is set to deploy again in February.

Tamela Edwards and 14-month old Richard, were one of 100 Fort Bragg, NC families to receive a Raytheon-donated laptop and webcam from Chicago-based Operation Homelink on Friday, December 11, 2011. (Photo by Operation Homelink).

“It’s Americans like those volunteering and supporting Operation Homelink that make me proud to wear this uniform……..proud to serve my country”. “I don’t have the words to express how much we appreciate the on-going support of Raytheon who with this donation have now made possible the donation of over 1,300 computers to military families and wounded warriors” said Dan Shannon, Founder and President of Operation Homelink.

To date, Operation Homelink has distributed over 4,500 computers to military families and wounded service members at active-duty, Guard and Reserve installations and military medical facilities all over the U.S. "We congratulate Operation Homelink for its efforts to help families and deployed soldiers stay connected," said Rebecca Rhoads, vice president and chief information officer, Raytheon Company. "Raytheon shares the commitment to our heroic men and women in uniform and their families. Operation Homelink provides a way for us to combine high tech with high touch for a very worthy cause."

Spouses of soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg, NC received 100 donated laptops today at the Yntema Club at Fort Bragg, NC. The computers were donated by the Raytheon Company and bring to 4,500, the number of computers that non-profit Operation Homelink has distributed to military families across the U.S. since 2003. (Photo by Operation Homelink)

By Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod, 1BCT, 82nd Airborne Division
(Article featured in the Paraglide newspaper, Ft Bragg, NC on May 19, 2011)

May 10, 2011, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina - Six paratroopers whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the April 16 tornados that struck south of post here recently received donated computers to help get their lives back online. Given mostly to lower-enlisted soldiers assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, the refurbished, high-quality, business-class notebooks came from Operation Homelink, a nonprofit outfit that traditionally provides computers to the families of deploying soldiers to keep in touch through email, chat and webcams.

Additionally, five laptops were donated to Marines affected by the same storm system at Camp Lejeune, located on the North Carolina coast. Dan Shannon, founder of Operation Homelink, explained that, while he typically needs 90 days to request and deliver computers from corporate donors such as Raytheon and Dell, Raytheon responded instantaneously to the emergency request in aftermath of Fayetteville's tornadoes. “As long as the mission is to take care of our troops and their families, it's an important mission to Raytheon,” said Robert Connors, Director of Preparedness at the defense contractor in an email to Shannon. It helped tremendously that the brigade's noncommissioned-officers support chain, beginning with its top NCO, Command Sgt. Maj. LaMarquis Knowles, was able to quickly find soldiers with the greatest need, said Shannon.

“This is really going to help,” said Spc. Desmond Marsh, a food-service specialist who, over two weeks after the storm, was still trying to get his life back together.

Marsh left his rented home with his daughter and wife just seven minutes before the tornado struck. He returned to find the house in shambles and his two-year-old daughter's room completely blown away. To help him get back on his feet, members of Marsh's company contributed clothing for his family, and two on-post facilities, the Airborne Attic and the Lending Closet, loaned furniture, small appliances and other household goods. Marsh will use the computer to organize his life and to help keep in touch with his family, among other uses, he said. Spc. Patrick Briody, a medic with his brigade's cavalry squadron, also received one of the refurbished Hewlett Packard notebooks.

Briody, his wife, Brittany, and the couple's 15-month-old child were huddled in a bathroom when a giant oak, felled in the high winds, split their home in two. He saw the family grill hurtling through the backyard at about 130 miles per hour, he said, and when the tornado had passed, his daughter's bedroom was gone. “Nobody was hurt. We were lucky,” he said, noting that he had to free his neighbors – a grandmother, her daughter-in-law and two grandchildren – from the rubble that was minutes earlier their home. The Louisiana native was impressed by the quality of the donated laptop. It was far from somebody's old junk, he agreed. To date, Operation Homelink has donated 3,565 computers to soldiers, Marines and their families, typically immediately prior to deployment, according to Shannon, a real estate manager from the Chicago area.

Shannon was familiar with 1/82 from his third visit to Fort Bragg, an event in 2009 for which Dell donated 100 “Netbook” computers to families of the soon-to-deploy paratroopers through his organization. Homelink's last major donation was 150 computers to soldiers and families of the Minnesota-based 34th Infantry Division. He is planning at least four more major donations in 2011, including one at Fort Bragg this fall, he said.

Spc. Patrick Briody, a medic with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, describes how he freed his neighbors, including a grandmother, her daughter-in-law and two grandkids, from underneath the wreckage of their house after it was thrown by a tornado against his rented Fayetteville, N.C., home (pictured) April 16, 2011. Briody and his wife, Brittany, are the recipients of a notebook computer donated by Chicago-based Operation Homelink, a nonprofit organization that more typically funnels new and refurbished corporate computers to the families of deploying soldiers as an easy means of communication. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod)