The Wounded Warrior Project Essay Example

The Wounded Warrior Project Paper The Wounded Warrior Project The Wounded Warrior Project (WAP) was started in 2003 in Ranked Virginia by John Amelia. During Johns tour his Marine Corps helicopter crashed killing four and injuring 14 more including himself. His experience coming home opened up many gaps in service delivery to wounded military members. To help fill in these gaps John created WAP in his basement with 50 dollars. Today WAP is one of the nations most recognized and fastest growing veteran service charities. Amelia brought together a group of people and raised $5,000. With that money they put together backpacks filled with comfort items (underwear, socks, calling cards, a CD player, t-shirt, and a pair of socks). For John it was easy to decide what to put in the backpacks because it is all the stuff he wanted when he returned home. In an article written by John he explains how the backpacks were a hit When I delivered those backpacks, they just caught on like wildfire, and got a call three or four days later from a guy at Bethesda and Walter Reed and he said, Can you get me any more of those? (Amelia n. P). The backpacks handed out by John and the WAP brought great success. John goes onto say how the backpacks was the major stepping stone to push WAP to the next level it just turned into so much more because every time we went there, warriors were inspired by stories that told them about other wounded veterans (Amelia n. P). Just like any other charity, the Wounded Warrior Project is to give help and bring awareness to people in need. We will write a custom essay sample on The Wounded Warrior Project specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Wounded Warrior Project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Wounded Warrior Project specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In Wops 2012 annual report they state their purpose To raise awareness and enlist the publics aid for the needs of injured service members; to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other; and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs (WAP 2012, p. 6). The Wounded Warrior Project focuses its programs under four categories, mind, body, economic empowerment, and engagement. Mind programs include Project Odyssey and Restore Warriors, which help soldiers readjust into civilian life. The main body program is Soldier Ride, which helps maximize rehabilitation so soldiers can return to their normal lives faster. Economic Empowerment allows wounded warriors to pursue their economic goals by providing higher education programs and information technology training. Last but not least the Engagement programs are focused on keeping the wounded warriors involved with the charity. All of the programs outlined above can be found and explained in greater depth at www. Underproductions. Org/programs. Since Wounded Warrior Project was founded in 2003 their finances have grown at an exponential rate. In Wops 2013 annual report on page 28 lies the financial report. Outlined where assets accumulated to $1 77,862,039 and the total liabilities and net assets equaled to SSL 911 Thats an imaginable jump from $5,000 dollars just ten years earlier. With everything that WAP has accomplished and all the money raised there of course will be doubts. An article written by Tim Make goes in depth about some veterans feeling like Wounded Warrior Project is too concerned with raising money, then with actually helping the veterans. An interview held by Make and an unnamed veteran brings some light on this topic Theyre more worried about putting their label on everything than getting down to brass tacks. Its really frustrating (Make n. P). The veteran then goes on to say that he has never oaten any real help from WAP, only a backpack with razors, shaving cream, and socks. This makes you wonder, with all of the money raised by WAP, why did this veteran get so little and no real help? There are many ways for someone to help add donations to the Wounded Warrior Project. For me the most successful would be to organize a state wide run through a major city (Detroit). To enter in this run you will have to donate at least $10 to WAP. I feel like a running event would be optimal due to the previous success of other organizations using fundraisers that are similar.