Wounded Warrior Project Annual Report

The Wounded Warrior Project The Wounded Warrior Project (WAP) was started in 2003 in Ranked Virginia by John Amelia. During John’s 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 nation’s most recognized and fastest growing veteran service charities. Amelia brought together a group of people and raised ,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.

Get quality help now

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified

Proficient in: Education

4.7 (235)

“ Amazing writer! I am really satisfied with her work. An excellent price as well. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

P). Just like any other charity, the Wounded Warrior Project is to give help and bring awareness to people in need.

Wounded Warrior Project

In Wop’s 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. Underproduction’s. Org/programs. Since Wounded Warrior Project was founded in 2003 their finances have grown at an exponential rate. In Wop’s 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 That’s 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 “They’re more worried about putting their label on everything than getting down to brass tacks. It’s 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.