GAMEDAY FOR HEROES INC

Who are we?
The concept for Gameday for Heroes was born in 2009 while Jana Tarleton was the president of the Columbus-Phenix City Auburn Club. The club had been searching for a community service project when Jana was approached by a member of the Army looking for Auburn University football tickets to give soldiers coming home from deployment.

The club decided to hold fundraisers to purchase six season tickets to give to active-duty military members with a focus on those wounded in combat.

The initial program was called Tigers for Heroes. There was such an overwhelming response, the club partnered with the Army Wounded Warrior Program, which provides assistance to combat wounded soldiers. Military personnel began asking about tickets for other college and university games, which led to the development of the national organization, Gameday for Heroes.

To date the organization has provided the military with tickets to more than 50 colleges and universities in states all over the nation, serving nearly 5,000 members in 2022 alone.

Gameday for Heroes has recently added a second line of effort. This is to provide mental health treatment and career counseling to military members that are transitioning back to civilian life and assist them in overcoming PTSD and TBIs.

What we do:

To provide active duty, wounded veterans, retired military and their families with premier college gameday experiences for all sporting events at colleges and universities across the nation in an effort to reduce stress symptoms associate with PTSD, TBI, Anxiety, and other disorders commonly associated with service in the Armed Forces.

How are we different than other veterans’ ticket sites? We focus on the Gameday experience as a whole and not just the event. Everyone knows that college athletics are just as much about the gameday experience as they are the event itself. What would an Auburn game be without a Tiger Walk? Or a Clemson game without seeing Howard’s Rock? How could you possibly get the full experience of a gameday at Ole Miss without visiting The Grove? Our aim is to partner with local sponsors at each location to ensure that our heroes get the opportunity to enjoy the entire gameday experience, regardless of where they are or who they root for. Additionally, our lines of effort allow us to help treat and overcome PTSD and TBI symptoms such as fear of loud noises, crowd avoidance and being generally uneasy or on guard.

What are our current lines of effort?
1. Provide college gameday tickets for multiple sports to active-duty members, veterans and retirees and their families across the country.
2. Set-up and run family friendly tailgate activities and provide information and experiences during gameday events at locations where allowed and available.
3. Match veterans and wounded warriors with mental health providers than can assist with overcoming mental health issues and TBIs.
4. Match transitioning veterans with career coaches and counselors in an effort to ease the transition process and help vets find direction and life after service.