Town rallies behind veteran, raises money for home in one day

By Aaron Hegarty

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Tuesday night, Ron Hernandez was fretting about his April first deadline.

“I have a very short period of time to come up with the money,” Hernandez said then. He needed $47,000 to keep his family’s Papillion home, where he lives with his wife and two grandchildren.

It turns out he would have been fine even if the deadline was the next day. Every penny was donated by late Wednesday afternoon.

Hernandez founded Moving Veterans Forward, which has helped more than 3,400 people move into homes.

He learned about a big chunk of it in a call from Cobalt Credit Union.

“You have touched so many lives, and we want to touch your life,” Robin Larsen, CEO of Cobalt Credit Union in Papillion, told Hernandez on the phone. “I want to let you know that Cobalt and our SAC Foundation are going to give you $25,000.”

“We are so thankful and honored to be able to honor him,” Larsen told KETV.

Cobalt and their veteran and financial literacy-focused SAC Foundation are each donating $12,500.

“He’s been doing good for many, many years, far longer than our foundation has been around,” said Keli Wragge of the foundation.

And the community has stepped up as a whole too. The foundation is raising the money on his behalf. Late Wednesday afternoon, they had about 360.

“The story last night broke at 10 o’clock,” said Joe Hunter of the Papillion Community Foundation, “and things just kind of exploded from there… I don’t think I’ll have another day like this in my career ever, to be quite honest with you… I think this is a great story that shows when you do give back to the community, it gives back to you as well.”

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