Founder and chief executive officer of Sussex-based technology consulting firm, Tuatara, Steve Cundy has made a mission out of helping fellow veterans – whether it is working to get them hired after coming out of the service or finding ways to support their families.
After working to help veterans here in the Milwaukee area, in part through his nonprofit Taskforce Uplift, Cundy recently joined forces with former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee business school professor turned Elpaso Water Utility executive, Adam Wickersham, Bryan Regnier of Milwaukee-based VetBiz TV, American GI Forum, American Veterans Mission, and volunteers from Kohl’s to hand out hundreds of refurbished laptops to veterans in Texas.
Cundy decided to launch the effort after speaking with officials at the El Paso Water Utility, who Tuatara had been consulting, and El Paso County officials about how he could serve veterans in the region.
Members of Kohl’s IT team, and corporate Kohl’s volunteers partnered up with Taskforce Uplift to clean, install fresh operating systems, package, and ship the laptops down to a Kohl’s store in El Paso where the Taskforce Uplift team picked up the computers.
On Oct. 29, Cundy, Wickersham, and Regnier – all veterans – flew down to El Paso and loaded the laptops into a rental van. The men spent two days on the road, delivering them to four four American GI Forum locations across Texas.
By the end of the mission, the volunteers had handed out 465 laptops to veterans and their families: 100 in El Paso near Fort Bliss, 100 in San Antonio near Fort Sam, 100 in Austin near Fort Cavasos, 115 in the Dallas area near Fort Worth, and 50 to the American Veterans Mission at Texas A&M University, which will be handing out the computers to veterans in need.
“The goal was to deliver as many laptops as I could (near) four major U.S. Army military bases and the easiest way to do this was to have them shipped to one location, load them up in a U-Haul, and road trip to each location,” Cundy said.
The overall goal of the operation was to assist in closing the digital divide within the veteran community, which is one of the core missions of Taskforce Uplift.
At the San Antonio stop, two female veterans, spoke about the impact the laptops would have on their lives. One woman said she would be using the laptop to help her in her quest to obtain her bachelor’s degree.
“This is going to make a huge difference for our family,” said another veteran, through tears.
