The Wounded Warrior Project
The Wounded Warrior Project
The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) was started in 2003 in Roanoke Virginia by John Melia. 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 WWP in his basement with 50 dollars. Today WWP is one of the nation’s most recognized and fastest growing veteran service charities.
Melia 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 I 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?” (Melia n.p). The backpacks handed out by John and the WWP brought great success. John goes onto say how the backpacks was the major stepping stone to push WWP to the next level “it just turned into so much more because every time we went there, warriors were inspired by stories that I told them about other wounded veterans…” (Melia n.p).
Just like any other charity, the Wounded Warrior Project is to give help and bring awareness to people in need. In WWP’s 2012 annual report they state their purpose “To raise awareness and enlist the public’s 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” (WWP 2012, p.6). The Wounded Warrior Project focuses its programs under four categories, mind, body, economic empowerment, and engagement. Mind programs include Project
The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) was started in 2003 in Roanoke Virginia by John Melia. 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 WWP in his basement with 50 dollars. Today WWP is one of the nation’s most recognized and fastest growing veteran service charities.
Melia 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 I 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?” (Melia n.p). The backpacks handed out by John and the WWP brought great success. John goes onto say how the backpacks was the major stepping stone to push WWP to the next level “it just turned into so much more because every time we went there, warriors were inspired by stories that I told them about other wounded veterans…” (Melia n.p).
Just like any other charity, the Wounded Warrior Project is to give help and bring awareness to people in need. In WWP’s 2012 annual report they state their purpose “To raise awareness and enlist the public’s 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” (WWP 2012, p.6). The Wounded Warrior Project focuses its programs under four categories, mind, body, economic empowerment, and engagement. Mind programs include Project