[October 09, 2014]

Paralyzed Veterans' 2014 Mission: ABLE Awards Honors Individuals and Organizations for their Contributions to Veterans with Disabilities

At its 2014 Mission: ABLE Awards, Paralyzed Veterans of America (Paralyzed Veterans) welcomed about 450 esteemed guests, including Washington dignitaries, distinguished service members, veterans, and their families, and friends and supporters of Paralyzed Veterans. Laura Schwartz, author, public speaker, and television commentator, kicked off the evening serving as Master of Ceremonies. The Honorable Sloan D. Gibson, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, gave the evening's keynote address.

The annual awards ceremony raised a record-breaking $900,000 from corporate supporters in advance of the event. Those funds will benefit Paralyzed Veterans' programs and services, all of which are provided free to veterans. Lockheed Martin (News - Alert) and QTC became the event's first-ever Presenting Sponsor and the Jeffrey M. Carlton Trust committed $275,000 to Paralyzed Veterans.

The Mission: ABLE Awards honor those individuals and organizations who have dedicated themselves to creating an America where our nation's disabled heroes are able to fully live the lives they deserve and access what they need most: health care, benefits and jobs.

The 2014 Mission: ABLE Awards honorees were:

• Deloitte (News - Alert): Recipient of The Achieve: ABLE Award-for leadership and financial support of Paralyzed Veterans' mission to ensure disabled veterans have access to Care, Benefits and Jobs.
  • Award accepted by Kelvin Womack, Managing Principal, Deloitte
• GE: Recipient of The Employ: ABLE Awar-for leadership to end rampant unemployment in the disabled veteran community.
  • Award accepted by Arthur L. "Chip" Cotton, National Operations Co-Lead, GE Veterans Network
• U.S. Paralympic Military Veterans: Recipient of The Unstop: ABLE Award-for inspiration and leadership demonstrating how adaptive sports can improve quality of life for veterans with disabilities.
  • Award accepted by Sean Halsted, Jen Lee and Patrick McDonald
• The Damon Family Foundation: Recipient of The Paralyzed Veterans Humanitarian Award-recognizing an outstanding contribution to help our disabled heroes fully live the lives their valor merits.
  • Award accepted by Karen Loder, Damon Family Foundation
• Ed Roberts Campus: Recipient of the Barrier-Free America Award-for accessible architectural design demonstrating the importance of equal access for disabled veterans and all people with disabilities.
  • Award accepted by Susan Henderson, Board President; William Leddy, Principal Architect; and Caleb Dardick, Project Manager

The many sponsors of the 2014 Paralyzed Veterans Mission: ABLE Awards, including Deloitte, CGI, GE, Leidos, Quantum (News - Alert) Rehab, Target MarkeTeam, Technatomy, United Concordia Dental & Highmark, UnitedHealth Care Military & Veterans, UPS and more, helped make the evening possible and were recognized throughout the night. The Mission: ABLE Leadership Committee Co-Chairs, John Peterson, Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton (News - Alert) and Chip Meyers, Vice President, UPS, played a pivotal role in planning the event and raising funds to support Paralyzed Veterans' mission through the Awards.

To obtain photos from the event visit: https://www.flickr.com/paralyzedveterans.

To learn more about the Mission: ABLE Awards: www.pva.org/awards.

To learn more about Paralyzed Veterans of America and its programs and services for veterans please visit www.pva.org.

About Paralyzed Veterans of America:

Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded by a group of seriously injured American heroes from the "Greatest Generation" of World War II. They created a nonprofit organization to meet the challenges that they faced back in the 1940s-from a medical community not ready to treat them to an inaccessible world. For more than 68 years, Paralyzed Veterans' national office and its 34 chapters across the nation have been making America a better place for all veterans and people with disabilities. (www.pva.org)

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