Villagers For Veterans Helping Hope Come Home

Villagers for Veterans salute quadruple amputee veteran of Afghanistan and Iraqi wars

Villages News
Larry Lentz
November 19, 2017

"Since its formation in 2014, Villagers for Veterans has raised more than $500,000. The organization has presented 19 all-terrain wheelchairs to paraplegic and quadriplegic veterans who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Besides the many fund raising activities, it sponsors educational initiatives such as PTSD seminars and provides respite services for care-giving families."

Marie Bogdonoff and John Peck, center, Saturday night at SeaBreeze Recreation Center. Also with them, from left, are Joe Bogdonoff, John Woodall, president of Camp4Heroes, Jennifer Peck and Shanda Taylor Boyce with Timber. 

With its goal of $10,000, a Villagers For Veterans fundraiser, Saturday evening, will help a military hero continue his incredible battle to return to a life of self-independence.

John Peck, then a 24-year-old Marine, had lost both arms and legs stemming from an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan, May 24, 2010.  He then spent two years in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center undergoing 27 surgeries, months of daily medical procedures, and endured countless hours of intensive rehabilitation. 

Peck became the third quadruple amputee of the Afghan and Iraq wars, and the first Marine to receive a double-arm transplant.  He also has the distinction of being only one of two people to ever survive blood contamination by the flesh-eating fungus, Aspergillosis.

Some 250 Villagers gathered at the SeaBreeze Recreation Center to honor his wartime service and financially support Peck’s on-going recuperation. The evening was spearheaded by Marie Bogdonoff, Villages for Veterans founder and president.
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