Record-Bulletin PROSSER
Special Veterans’ Edition November 10, 2021
Wounded Warrior Project
Gettysburg
Wounded Warrior Project (WWp) began as a small, grassroots effort to provide immediate assistance when a warrior of this generation was injured. “We felt we could do the best by providing more comprehensive programs and services to the newly injured, rather than spread ourselves too thin by trying to help all veterans,” said founder John Melia. Melia had been severely wounded in a helicopter crash while serving in Somalia in 1992. Melia assembled backpacks distributed to injured veterans at the former Bethesda Naval Hospital (now the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Wounded Warrior Project initially operated as a division of the United Spinal Association of New York, which adopted WWP as a program in November 2003. The WWP continued to support injured service members by providing them with free WWP Backpacks filled with comfort items. In September 2005, The United Spinal Association granted $2.7 million to WWP to “develop into
a stand-alone charity with its own identity and programs,” with the intent to expand its services from providing immediate comfort items to providing longer-term support for returning wounded veterans via compensation, education, health care, insurance, housing, employment, etc. The WWP Backpacks program remains a central activity of WWP, evidenced by the more than 65,000 backpacks the organization had distributed as of early 2018, in support of transitioning U.S. military veterans. CEO Steven Nardizzi and COO Al Giordano were fired from Wounded Warrior Project after it was revealed in 2016 that they spent massive amounts of the nonprofit›s money on lavish company retreats and personal enrichment for themselves. Several former employees alleged that they were fired because they raised concerns over the mismanagement. What percentage of Wounded Warrior Project goes to vets? 100% of your donation supports wounded warriors. 71% pays for programs, and the balance pays to support
those programs. Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is a charity and veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, services and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following September 11, 2001. It operates as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. As of August 22, 2021, WWP served 157,975, registered alumni and 40,520 registered family support members. The organization has partnered with several other charities, including the American Red Cross, Resounding Joy, a music therapy group in California, and Operation Homefront. WWP has also provided a yearlong Track program, which helps veterans transition to college and the workplace. According to Charity Navigator, WWP allocates 75.1 percent of its revenue to program expenses and 24.7 percent to fundraising and administrative expenses. The greatest casualty is being forgotten. For more information or to donate to WWP go to https://www. woundedwarriorproject.org/donate
Disabled Veterans National Foundation OMAHA BEACH
Viet NAM
AFGANISTAN
The Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) provides critically needed support to disabled and at-risk veterans who leave the military wounded—physically or psychologically—after defending our safety and our freedom. OUR HISTORY DVNF was founded in 2007 by six women veterans, each with years of experience as State Women Veterans Coordinators in various states around the country. At work, these officials were confronted on a daily basis with the inability of an already overworked Department of Veterans Affairs to adequately deal with the considerable increase of disabled and at-risk veterans coming home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. They created DVNF with the goal of addressing the chronic gap in services for these veterans. After several years of building its organizational capacity, DVNF hired Joseph VanFonda (USMC SgtMaj Ret.)
in late 2013 upon his retirement from a 27-year career in the United States Marine Corps. A recipient of the Purple Heart, VanFonda remained in the Marines after being injured in combat. His final assignment in the Marine Corps was serving as the Regimental Sergeant Major for the Wounded Warrior Regiment, responsible for the coordination of non-medical care for combat and non-combat wounded, ill, and injured Marines. Taking the reins at DVNF, VanFonda recognized the needs of veterans who weren’t yet categorized as disabled, but were still dealing with the psychological and emotional impacts of personal and family situations, which put them in a highly “at-risk” category. DVNF began to focus its efforts to meet the needs of veterans in this broad category through targeted programs and collaboration with other organizations in communities throughout the country. Today,
DVNF continues to grow in the services it provides veterans, and has added new key staff members with a wide range of experience, many of whom served in the military. We come to work each day knowing that we will make a difference in a veteran’s life; a great responsibility that we don’t take lightly. DVNF Launches New National Job Board Platform Disabled Veterans National Foundation Announces it’s Launch of a New National Job Board Platform that Connects the Veteran Community with Leading Employers WASHINGTON, DC – February 23, 2021 – The Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) (www.dvnf.org) has announced the launch […] Email:info@dvnf.org Phone: (202) 737-0522 Disabled Veterans National Foundation 4601 Forbes Blvd. – Suite #130 Lanham, MD 20706
Veteran’s Day History In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The “war to end all wars” was over. In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation’s highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe). These memorial gestures all took place
on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m.. Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was “the War to end all Wars,” November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe. Realizing that peace was equally preserved
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by veterans of WW II and Korea, Congress was requested to make this day an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day. A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.