Wells Fargo Awards Grants to Rebuild Apache Veterans Homes
Throughout our nations’ history, we have been honored by the men and women who have stepped up and heeded the call of service in our armed forces. These brave heroes sacrifice their time, energy and devote their lives to protecting civilians, and sometimes are forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. This is especially true of American Indians who serve in the three branches of the armed forces, who despite various challenges have the highest representation of any ethnic group in the U.S Military. The American Indian Code Talkers were paramount to the United States’ success in World War II. Even with this level of sacrifice, often American Indian veterans faced incredible challenges when returning home, especially in terms of unemployment. In 2019, Bipartisan legislation was proposed to improve conditions for American Indian veterans, and now Wells Fargo has also stepped up to fund an essential project. This is not the first time Wells Fargo awards grants to rebuild but it is its first time giving to Apache Veterans Homes.
The Wells Fargo Builds℠ volunteer project is an event that will renovate and rebuild houses for military veterans of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. This event will take place on Saturday, September 14th at the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority. Wells Fargo, through the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation Wells Fargo Builds℠ program has awarded $140,000 to the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority for this purpose, but it’s not just money that’s in play here. Wells Fargo has also stepped up to fund an essential project for other communities in the past.
In addition to the funds, almost two hundred Wells Fargo Team and Community Members will donate 2000 hours “toward the renovation of four existing homes and the building of a new home over several volunteer days.” Each of the five veterans being assisted through this program is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. This program, which supplies the materials needed when Wells Fargo helps to build or renovate homes in low-income communities is part of Wells Fargo’s commitment to spend 1 billion through 2025. This is in order to address the crisis in housing affordability by reducing the cost of housing.
Affordable housing has become one of the great issues of our time, and it’s important to see more of a focus on action to help mitigate the problem. GrantWatch is a great resource that lists grants that are meant to help tackle the rising issue of homeless as well as affordable housing.