Fighting for our Veterans
At a young age, it was ingrained into Brady Quinn ’07 that it was important to respect and support the military. His father was a marine in Vietnam. His grandfathers had both served. The lineage ensured he and his sisters never took for granted the sacrifices soldiers made for the good of the country.Because of that “strong appreciation for those who have risked their lives to protect liberties and freedoms for us,” he says, he was motivated to create a foundation dedicated to giving back to the armed forces. In 2011, Quinn formed 3rd & Goal – Veterans Home Aid to make homes handicap accessible for wounded veterans. It also expanded to help provide housing for homeless veterans, whose numbers top 107,000 in the United States.As the foundation progressed, Quinn wanted to be able to adapt to the needs of veterans. He noticed that poor financial management was a problem that kept reappearing.Quinn called his former Notre Dame professor Carl Ackermann to address the issue and the two created a four-session course on personal finance to include budgeting, saving and investing, to take place at the South Bend Center for the Homeless in June 2016.The two hope to execute this program on a larger scale in order to help more people, Ackermann says. Moving locations has been discussed, as has a video series which veterans could access online.
More from What Would You Fight For?
- 2:07Fighting to Protect the InnocentThrough collaboration with the National Immigrant Justice Center, Notre Dame law students are able to participate in an NIJC externship program allowing them to work on asylum cases of immigrants entering the United States.Law School alumnae Stephanie Torres and Christina Shakour took on the case of Maria and Ariel, immigrants from El Salvador seeking a safer life after receiving threats of violence from gangs. The team worked up to 30 hours a week on top of their course work to help the family in need. In total, they filed more than 300 pages of documentation to prove that the family qualified for asylum. After hours of preparation, Shakour and Torres presented the case before Immigration Court and obtained asylum for Maria and Ariel in the United States.*Because the well-being of Maria's daughters is still in jeopardy in El Salvador, and because gang retaliation could still occur in the U.S., actors were used in this What Would You Fight For video.*
- 2:01Fighting to Explore the MoonIn the 40 years since Notre Dame professor Clive Neal started studying the Moon and its wonders, many discoveries have been made, boundaries pushed and technology improved. But now he’s focused on making sure the next 40 years hold ingenuity, growth and adventure when it comes to the Moon. And he’s going to find the scholars, explorers and researchers who keep the Moon firmly in their sights.