More than 500 volunteers helped refurbish the Camp Hope campus in northwest Houston April 30.[/caption]

More than 500 local Comcast employees and their family members volunteered April 30 to refurbish the PTSD Foundation of America’s Camp Hope campus in Cy-Fair. Camp Hope residents and staff worked alongside volunteers to plant 12 large oak trees, stain decks and furniture and make building repairs to an on-site family residence.

“It’s great to see so many people coming together for such a great cause,” Comcast’s Director of External Communications Michael Bybee said. “All the work being done at Camp Hope is just amazing, and we’re happy to have gotten the opportunity to work with them.”

Camp Hope, located at 9724 Derrington Road, Houston, offers interim housing for veterans suffering from combat related post-traumatic stress disorder. Residents participate in 90 days or more of a recovery program that includes support sessions with other combat veterans and individual mentoring sessions with certified combat trauma mentors.

Combat-related PTSD often contributes to isolation among veterans, said David Maulsby, executive director of PTSD Foundation of America in Houston. He said having so many volunteers come out helps veterans understand that there is a community that cares about them, which gives them a sense of purpose.

Camp Hope is also the only organization in the U.S. that provides a place for both veterans and their family members, Bybee said. With children of veterans often staying on the campus, making improvements to the on-site playground because an important part of Comcast's initiative, he said.

“We were able to cover the entire playground with a five-inch cover of fresh pea gravel and sand,” Bybee said.

The initiative was one of nine projects throughout the Greater Houston area as part of Comcast’s 15th Comcast Cares Day. For more information, visit www.ptsdusa.org