VA Games Community Assessment Project

VA Games

Community Assessment project Part III

The VA wheelchair games are supposed to provide an opportunity for disabled veterans that are wheelchair-bound to engage in athletic activities and competitions and to build community between disabled veterans and their families. In order to cover the expenses of travel to these games and participation in them, there are funds available for the many disabled veterans unable to pay for the journey or their accommodations while at the games, however such funds are not available for anyone but the veterans -- not even their caretaking spouses, who are often essential in helping with the trip. This can be especially true for veterans with spinal cord injuries, who often need a great deal of assistance and whose spouses often provide such assistance. The problems created by needing to leave a spouse behind have caused many disabled veterans to cease participating in the wheelchair games, and there is a clear need to facilitate the travel of veterans' spouses with disabled veterans to the wheelchair games to provide moral and practical support.

In order to involve the Dallas, Texas community and provide the needed funds for the spouses of veterans with spinal cord injuries to travel to the wheelchair games, a fundraising meal and event should be held. To ensure greater turnout and a higher degree of success in the venture, corporate sponsorship of the event from AMR, the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, will be sought. This will help not only in the costs of planning, marketing, and carrying out the event, but could potentially lead to a compounding of benefits and a more lasting solution through a partnership with the airlines.

The primary goal of the plan would be to raise money that could be used to establish an ongoing fund that provided for the travel and accommodations of the spouses of disabled veterans to the wheelchair games. By six weeks prior to the date of the event, marketing pamphlets should be printed and mailed to a compiled mailing list of likely donors and attendees to the event. The essential outcome objective of this effort is the sale of at least three hundred plates to the benefit meal and fundraising event. A secondary goal would be to establish a long-term partnership with AMR that included discounted fares and other possible perks. The possibility of in-kind donations will be brought up at the earliest feasible meeting with AMR personnel, with the desired outcome of at least matching donations/half-price tickets using the funds raised at the event. With these goals in place and clear objectives in obtaining these goals, it is likely that the event could be a success.

The specific strategies that will be used to further ensure this success are both fairly straightforward. Lists of likely and potential donors can be compiled from a variety of sources, including other non-profits that would be sympathetic to the cause, such as the Texas Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Texas National Guard Association. Marketing materials could be developed and printed at relatively minimal cost, and follow up phone calls to non-respondents could also help. Careful, polite, yet eager requests of AMR for in-kind donations will likely yield success if applied consistently, and thus both goals could be met through the application of steady and appropriate pressure.

The initial marketing materials will be the biggest initial expense, and unless AMR is willing to pick up the bill (and they might be) will represent an up-front risk of at least several hundred if not a thousand dollars. The cost of the event itself should be borne entirely by the payments of donors and attendees made in advance, though partial underwriting from AMR would also be sought. Expenses for the event itself will include the cost of food, catering staff, the rental of a facility (unless AMR can provide something appropriate), event insurance, and entertainment. The total expense for the event is likely to be around $25,000 with an expected crowd of approximately 300 attendees; even at a donation of only $100 per plate, the event would run a profit of approximately $5,000. A slight increase in the per-plate could lead to increased revenue without losing donors, and other specific events throughout the evening could be used to encourage further donations to the cause.