Horseshoe Indianapolis racing team makes donation to HVAF

The 2024 racing season brought in a record amount earmarked to the cause with a total of $10,582.30 raised from various events.

Over the past five years, the racing team at Horseshoe Indianapolis has held different fundraisers to assist Helping Veterans and Families (HVAF) of Central Indiana.

The 2024 racing season brought in a record amount earmarked to the cause with a total of $10,582.30 raised from various events.

“Lending our support to veterans has become very important to our team members and racing fans,” noted Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “We saw an immense need from HVAF a few years ago, and the requests and individuals who are searching for assistance continues to grow. We are committed to helping our veterans and HVAF cover the increased need annually and are very proud to donate a record amount to HVAF this season from our racing events.”

Halstrom, along with Rachel McLaughlin, Racing Broadcast Production Manager, and Tim DeWitt, Racing Security Manager, visited the facility Wednesday, Jan. 22 to make the official donation to HVAF. Ashlee Walls-Pierce, Vice President of Advancement, was available for the donation. She also attended one of the racing events earlier this season during Veteran’s Day, when more than $7,000 was officially raised for the cause.

“Over the past five years, we have seen both our need and awareness of HVAF grow,” noted Walls-Pierce. “We saw a jump in support before the fire (October 26, 2024). After we experienced that great loss, people have really stepped up to help. It’s given us a chance to educate folks on homelessness and needs of our veterans.”

Walls-Pierce noted due to the fire, 48 veterans were displaced from the housing section of HVAF. Within the past 10 days, the final 10 veterans have been placed in housing, which has freed up space to accept additional veterans in need.

“When the fire struck, we had to stop enrollment,” added Walls-Pierce. “Now, we are taking new applicants again. We dispersed more than 100,000 pounds of food and clothing last year, so there is a great need to assist veterans in our area. We serve between 240 to 260 veterans a month in our food and clothing pantry alone.”

The donation from Horseshoe Indianapolis will go directly to assist with various veteran needs that extend past basic food and clothing necessities. HVAF also provides workforce development which includes career training and placement for those veterans seeking employment. A total of 326 veterans received employment services last year. HVAF also provides street outreach to seek out veterans in homeless camps, providing delivery of essentials, such as food, clothing, and hygiene items.

“We have embraced the initiatives of HVAF, and we want to support them in any way we can,” added Halstrom. “We have already started working on our promotional racing calendar for 2025 and have identified a few new ways to raise funding and awareness for the organization. We have a lot of veterans on our work force and in our barn area, so this cause is very personal to many of us at Horseshoe Indianapolis.”