During its 25th annual trade show and conference recently held in Tampa, Fla., METALCON International partnered with America’s Fund, a program created to direct urgently needed resources and financial support to injured and critically ill members of the U.S. armed forces and their families.
At the 2006 METALCON, Show Director Claire Kilcoyne presented a new steel-framed ADA-compliant home to U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Paul Russell Marek of Satellite Beach, Fla. Marek’s parents, Paul and Rose Marek, were there to help him accept the home.
The partnership builds on a donation made during the 2006 METALCON in Tampa. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Paul Russell Marek of Satellite Beach, Fla., was awarded a new, ADA-compliant accessible home through METALCON’s annual giving-back program. Marek who was severely injured in 2005 while serving in Iraq spent more than a year recuperating at Tampa’s James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, which opened its Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in 2014.
The Tampa Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, which is this year’s recipient of METALCON’s annual giving-back program, is one of five facilities in the U.S. designed to provide intensive rehabilitative care to veterans and service members who have experienced severe injuries.
“Going forward, we want to ensure METALCON’s giving-back efforts benefit those brave individuals who’ve put their futures on the line to make all of us safer and able to enjoy all of the freedoms we have,” says METALCON Show Director Claire Kilcoyne. “By affiliating with America’s Fund, we open the door for more recipients and donations on an ongoing basis, not just at our annual event.”
Diane Layman (left), voluntary services specialist for the Tampa Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center, and Debra Jordan, East Coast case manager for America’s Fund, are ecstatic to receive a $10,000 check from METALCON Show Director Claire Kilcoyne. Funds were raised at the 2015 METALCON through contributions from exhibitors, attendees, show management, show vendors and staff.
Donations can be made to America’s Fund throughout the year and can be applied to specific programs or veterans upon request.
“We are honored to be chosen as the official charity of METALCON; their support will make a difference in the lives of so many service members and their loved ones,” says Karen Guenther, CEO and president, Semper Fi Fund of which America’s Fund is a self-funded program.
Contributions to America’s Fund were made in the exhibit hall during the trade show and can continue to be made through the METALCON website.
PHOTOS: METALCON INTERNATIONAL
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