NASCAR lending hand to Armed Forces Foundation

NASCAR fans have seen an Army car, a Navy car, an Air Force car, even a Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard cars. But when David Reutimann finished fifth earlier this year in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the No. 00 was sporting a military logo who most in America were unfamiliar.

The Armed Forces Foundation was the primary sponsor on the Michael Waltrip Racing car, and Reutimann was ecstatic he could bring a little attention to this relatively new charity.

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"I think the AFF has been under the radar, so to speak, unfortunately, for what they do, and how they do it and how well they do it," Reutimann said. "When we got involved with Aaron's [his primary sponsor] and we started going to VA hospitals and seeing Aaron's involvement and finding out what the AFF really does, I was really impressed."

The AFF is a non-profit foundation created in 2001 by former Reps. Duncan Hunter and Jim Saxton to assist wounded soldiers and their families financially when the soldiers return home from war and begin the long process of rehabilitation.

"A lot of people don't realize when these guys get wounded, their families stop their jobs," said Patricia Driscoll, AFF president and executive director. "Everybody is a two-income family these days and the economy is really tough. So they leave their jobs, they take a leave of absence and they come to the hospital to be by their loved one's bedside, as they should be.

"But they have no income coming in so they start racking up some serious debt, especially our most critically wounded at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] and Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center]. So their families have to take a long leave of absence.

"So what we do is pay for their bills at home, their mortgage, their utilities; we try to keep them afloat financially because they've already suffered a big enough hardship by having someone they love so critically wounded. They shouldn't have to lose their house because they want to be by their loved one's bedside." (Continued)