Supporting Fisher House™ and Hero Miles

When wounded service men and women return home for treatment, they often face weeks and months of rehabilitation at a veteran or military hospital. During this time, the closeness of family is essential to their recovery.  Fisher House Inc.™, one of the firm’s long-standing nonprofit partners, provides families a place to stay, free of charge, via ‘comfort houses’ located at most major military and veteran hospital campuses. 

Booz Allen Hamilton’s partnership with Fisher House offers staff a variety of ways to help. Last fall, Booz Allen volunteers in the San Antonio office cooked dinner for residents, packed boxes for an upcoming renovation of their facilities, supported the organization’s major fundraising event, and helped with holiday decorations.

Volunteers from Booz Allen's San Antonio office

“One soldier told me that he knew of Booz Allen’s work as a government consulting firm,” says San Antonio-based Associate Bethany Oday, “but was unaware of our commitment to relationship-building within the community—it was great to demonstrate another side of the firm to him.” 

In addition to onsite volunteering, staff also can participate in the Hero Miles program. Administered by Fisher House for the Department of Defense, Hero Miles allows individuals to donate frequent flier miles with participating airlines—enabling families to visit their wounded heroes. Starting March 2, Booz Allen staff can choose to support Hero Miles by voluntarily donating their unused airline miles. 

“I’m sure many staff are like me and have unused miles that are set to expire or a small number of miles with a little-used carrier that may go unused,” says McLean-based Principal Joe Suarez, community relations director. “What better way to use those accumulated miles than to donate them to help someone in need.”

story posted March 16, 2009