Veteran’s Family Receives Payment-Free Automobile

by Chuck N. Baker

  
(Las Vegas) — Apologies for the sports metaphors, but when a deserving disabled veteran hits a home run by being presented with a brand new automobile from a veterans organization inside a baseball park, he’s got to be a guy with a winning family who’s gone through life with runs and hits, but no recent errors.  

Retired U.S. Army National Guard Sp/4 Steven Stanley initially entered the guard in 2006. While deployed in Afghanistan, he was wounded in combat and presented with a Purple Heart. But that didn’t stop him. Returning to the States, he continued in the National Guard until 2014, when he was medically retired.  

A Las Vegas native who attended Mohave High School, he and his wife have 8 children. “My wife and I combined our families in 2004, and in 2017 we had our own child,” he beamed.  

The Military Warriors Support Foundation is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, but reaches out to deserving veterans across the nation. It provides payment-free homes, trucks, hunting and fishing and golf adventures. And for select transitioning veterans, they offer a two-year Leadership for Life program teaching them how to turn the skills they learned in the military into advantages in the civilian workforce.  

Stanley said he and his brother heard about the organization and filled out applications. A brand new automobile was just what the doctor ordered for a family of 10. Stanley was selected. Once the presentation was made in Las Vegas, the children were all over the white 2020 Kia Sedona Model L, crawling in and out of the windows, the doors and the rear opening. All that was missing was a swing, as the car substituted for a giant backyard child’s playhouse.

“We have awarded nearly 900 mortgage-free homes and assisted combat-wounded veterans, Gold Star spouses and their families in paying off more than $21.4 million in debt through mentorship," Genesis Eakes of the Support Foundation said. She made the trip to Las Vegas from San Antonio to help with the presentation. She was joined by additional individuals whose companies helped with donations — Chuck Johnson, the general manager of the Las Vegas Aviators where the presentation took place, Michelle Mercado, Wells Fargo Bank Region District Manager, and Tyler Corder of the Findley Automotive Group. Johnson was especially happy to be involved, and told the group that the Aviators organization always proudly helped the Southern Nevada veterans community.  

Stanley said that in addition to the Kia, he was grateful that his family will receive a full year of financial mentoring from the Foundation to ensure they learn the skills necessary to be successful new automobile owners. In the end it was a bright sunny day at the Aviators ballpark, picture perfect for baseball. And the attendees cheered for the smiling Stanley family who hit a collective home run over the fence as they gratefully had the keys handed over to them. After all, with a family of 10, they’ve got a ready-made major league team!  

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