WCC Charities Now in Third Year of Supporting Amputee Vets

For more than 25 years, Moreno Valley-based Wholesale Capital Corporation has provided mortgage services to home buyers throughout Southern California. Now the company is actively promoting its philanthropic arm, WCC Charities, which has established funds for a variety of military veterans causes for the past three years.

For Wholesale Capital Corporation president Ed Hoffman, the decision to pour WCC Charities resources into veterans causes was an easy one. “Without the sacrifices of our veterans and military families, we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we do,” he said. “Not only do we have a duty to honor them – when we create wealth, we should give back by taking care of them.” According to a press release, giving back to wounded military veterans nationwide is the number one cause of WCC Charities. Secondarily, the fund also supports the needs of a local VFW in Moreno Valley and conducts an annual Christmas drive for local foster children.

Hoffman states, “We support our nation’s most gravely wounded veterans first, and we do this by partnering with some of the most reputable veterans charities in operation.” According to the website WCCcharities.org, the groups WCC Charities partners with are the Independence Fund, the Boot Campaign, and the Gary Sinise Foundation. “We understand that the recent news regarding a very prominent veterans charity – one that advertises on TV – may have some people discouraged from giving to veterans causes,” Hoffman stated. “I want people in the Inland Empire to know that WCC Charities only partners with veterans organizations that have an impeccable record and a great deal of oversight.”

Hoffman stated that WCC Charities is run solely by Wholesale Capital Corporation employees who volunteer their spare time. “We began giving to wounded veterans in 2014 when my employees and friends used their free time to coordinate a surprise for me,” Hoffman said. “For months, they raised money to purchase an all-terrain track chair to be donated to the Independence Fund in my name; I learned about it during our company’s annual awards banquet, where they did a ‘big check’ presentation and brought in a representative from the Independence Fund to thank us. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Through that effort, the Independence Fund received $27,500 for the purchase of an all-terrain track chair; leftover funds were given to provide a retreat weekend for caregivers. “The track chair was given to a triple-amputee veteran who had lost both legs and an arm to an IED,” Hoffman said. “My wife and I were invited to attend the Lieutenant Dan Band Weekend event in South Carolina to see the presentation. After I saw what these chairs did to give these heroes their mobility back, I knew that every year, WCC Charities had to do something for vets who have given their limbs for our freedom.”

The following year, WCC Charities embarked on a partnership with the Boot Campaign by sponsoring a Push-Ups for Charity event. “2015 was the year of the push-up,” Hoffman said. “We raised more than $75,000 for the Boot Campaign so that wounded veterans could get job training, education and housing from an organization that understands them.”

This year, WCC Charities will partner with the Gary Sinese Foundation to retrofit a home for a triple-amputee veteran living in Southern California, former EOD specialist Andrew Bottrell, who lost both legs and an arm after encountering an IED. “He lost three limbs in Afghanistan for this country,” Hoffman said. “The least we can do is build him a home that’s retrofitted to give him back his physical independence.” The amputee-friendly Smart Home will have automated shelves, doors and other features so that Bottrell can access daily necessities independently.

“This partnership is vital,” Hoffman said. “The Gary Sinise Foundation is building the home, but they need WCC Charities to help retrofit it into a Smart Home. As president of WCC Charities, I’m excited and humbled to do this for an American hero like Andrew.” Hoffman encourages those interested in supporting the project to visit www.WCCcharities.org/donate. “We can’t do this without the help of the public,” he said.