Celebrate Code Platoon With Us During Our Third Annual Fundraising Event!

While we will miss seeing all our friends and supporters face-to-face, Code Platoon will be hosting the 3rd Annual Celebrate Code Platoon fundraising event online. On Oct. 28, we look forward to sharing all of the amazing stories and accomplishments from 2020! With the help of our friends and supporters, Code Platoon has trained more Veterans and military spouses to become software developers in 2020 than ever before. We are grateful for our community’s steadfast support, which has made our previous two fundraising events a success, and we hope to continue that support through this challenging pandemic!  

This year, we have set a goal to raise $80,000 to support our program to help Veterans and military spouses become software development professionals. Our Celebrate Code Platoon partners play a crucial role in helping us grow, enhance, and deliver our program to more students. 

The streaming celebration will be 30 minutes of pre-recorded videos from our staff and alumni, as well as two very distinguished guests! Both of our Illinois senators, Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, will be joining us for this event.  Watch a trailer for the event here.

After graduating from law school, Durbin started a law practice and was legal counsel to the Lt. Governor of Illinois and then to the Illinois State Senate Judiciary Committee. Following his work as a Southern Illinois University School of Medicine professor for five years while maintaining his law practice, Durbin was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982. In 1996 Durbin was elected to the US Senate, where he has served ever since, alternating as majority or minority whip since 2005.

A combat Veteran of the Iraq War, Sen. Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot. While serving in 2004, her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents. She is the first female double amputee from the war. Her grievous injuries did not stop her from serving her country as she sought and obtained a medical waiver that allowed her to continue serving in the Illinois Army National Guard until she retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2014. Duckworth also served as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and as Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2012, Duckworth was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where she served two terms and in 2016 Duckworth was elected to the U.S. Senate.

In addition to hearing from the senators, Code Platoon’s Executive Director, Rod Levy, will also be providing the latest news about the programs and we will award our Supporter of the Year. Be on the lookout for a cameo from a surprise guest! Most importantly, our alumni will share how Code Platoon and supporters have helped make an impact on their lives. 

Together, we can continue to serve those who have served us. 

Please join us online on Oct. 28, at 12 pm noon Central Time on Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube. Register for this FREE event here.  

Please share this post with your friends that support Veterans and military spouses! 

Lang Waters is a grant writer working in the Development department.  Lang comes from a military family and is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego.  He lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California where he can be found hiking, making music with friends, or enjoying the company of his family and spastic golden retriever.