‘I was near tears’: Military support house gets brand-new, free transportation

A local organization that helps veterans and first responders receiving medical treatment received a big donation Friday.

An Edmonton group that helps military members and families support during medical or financial troubles got an upgraded, desperately needed set of new wheels on Friday.

Valour Place has been a temporary home away from home for RCMP and first responder families while receiving medical treatment in Edmonton since 2012.

Services include free transportation, but board president Connie Erker said the old van was on its last legs. On Friday, however, the charity became the recipient of a free Honda Odyssey passenger van.

Erker had called Wheaton Honda asking for any sort of deal or discount on a van. Valour Place runs entirely on private donations, she explained.

“(Honda) came back to me and said, ‘We got you covered, you can have the van,’” she told CTV News Edmonton.

“I was near tears. It was a very generous donation.”

The van will help usher families and veterans to where they need to be, including medical appointments, hospitals and treatment centres in and around the city.

Valour Place has 12 suites available and typically remains anywhere between 85-to-100-per-cent booked.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Galen McDougall