Bruce Graham

Location: Plano, Texas

When Bruce Graham, a Navy veteran, visited the Dallas VA hospital through a small project with other local vets to bring Valentine’s Day cards to the patients, he was shocked by the number of suffering veterans. “As a veteran myself, I did my time, and then life went on,” says Graham, who manages the watch inventory for J.C. Penney (No. 250). “I got a family, I got a job, and I had forgotten.”

Disturbed by the number of veterans who were not only injured by their service, but also homeless, Graham decided to organize a coat drive for the hospital. Since then, he’s collected and hand-delivered more than 1,200 coats from his colleagues and J.C. Penney’s overstock—enough outerwear to pass along to the hospital’s satellite facilities, too. But there’s one image that Graham still can’t shake from his initial visit to the hospital when he was interrupted in conversation by a veteran asking for a coat. “I stood next to this gentleman who served this country, and all he wanted was for something to keep him warm.”