Books Without Barriers For Disabled and Student Veterans

If you are a US Veteran who is blind, has a visual impairment, a physical disability or a severe reading disability, you can get accessible books from Bookshare.

• 24/7 Access to the Bookshare Online Library.
• Over 200K eBooks and Periodicals, plus military collections!
• FREE for U.S. Vets who are students (minimal fee for non-students)
• FREE for Vets approved by VetsSuccess.gov.
• Unlimited downloads and FREE reading technologies!
• Read anytime, anywhere on computers, smart phones, MP3 players, and portable devices.

More information is available at http://communications.bookshare.org/vets2013-sign-up-now/ .

To learn more, please click on the above title.

To access the CDR Library catalog, please click on this link.

Veterans Getting a Little Help From Some PAALS

Veterans getting a little help from some PAALS

Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services has launched its Veterans’ Important PAALS program and is seeking interested local active-duty military members and veterans who need assistance dogs.

The program offers qualified rescue dogs that are trained by PAALS members for service members and veterans who need a safe, loyal and well-behaved companion.

Two dogs are available for immediate placement and more will become available on a regular basis. The animals are provided free.

PAALS routinely places service dogs with soldiers and veterans who have combat-related injuries, but some of the dogs in training do not meet all of the requirements to be full-fledged service dogs. The V.I.P. program was created to place these dogs with veterans.

PAALS does not receive government funding and relies on volunteers and private donations. Each service dog costs between $22,000 and $29,000 to train, based on specific client needs.

To apply for a V.I.P. dog or to donate to PAALS, visit the agency’s website at paals.org.

To learn more, please click on the above title.

To access the CDR Library catalog, please click on this link.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/08/2713195/veterans-getting-a-little-help.html#RSS=general_news#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/08/2713195/veterans-getting-a-little-help.html#RSS=general_news#storylink=cpy

Volunteers, Donations Needed to Build House for Disabled Veteran

The State (Feb. 3, 2011)- On Sept. 21, 2005, Staff Sgt. Ronell Bradley, then 26 years old, gave two legs and part of a hand for his country when the Humvee he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb.

Bradley was on his third deployment — twice to Iraq and once to Bosnia — as an engineer, clearing bombs so other soldiers would be safer.

“It blew off my right leg and turned my left leg into spaghetti,” said Bradley, now assistant chief of prosthetics at Columbia’s Dorn VA Medical Center. “It set off the ammunition in my weapon, and that blew up in my hands.”
Now, donations and volunteers — both tradesmen and regular folks — are needed to build Bradley a brand-new, handicapped-accessible home at Lake Carolina, through the Homes for Our Troops program. The Massachusetts-based nonprofit has built 90 homes for severely disabled veterans across the country since 2004 and has committed to building 100 more.

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