Villanova Student Honors Returning Veterans By Sending Them To Sports Events
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - As we observe Memorial Day weekend, a Villanova University student is working to honor veterans coming home from war with something fun to ease the transition.
Jack MacDonald is a rising junior, but he's been working to get sports tickets into the hands of returning veterans since he was in high school. He started a non-profit called the GI Tickets Foundation, and has connected with Villanova and the University of Pennsylvania students to keep the momentum going.
"We get the tickets by...one, we'll used monetary donations to buy them, two...season ticket holders will donate them, three...we'll work with teams directly, and the fourth way we do it through major corporations," explains MacDonald. "Most recently Goldman Sachs said they would be donating their unused corporate tickets."
MacDonald says then the foundation contacts the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and the base will select individual service members to attend the games. He says the Eagles, Sixers and Phillies have all come aboard.
So far, he says, 400 veterans have enjoyed that transition back to civilian life.