I no longer support the wounded warrior project.

[fullrutt]

Originally Posted by Finfeatherfur

As stated, I have almost completely stopped supporting all organizations from DU, CCA, United Way, and the list goes on and on due to the greed of so many. I now spend more time and money helping local things - fundraisers, clay shoots, benefits- and leave all the big time stuff alone just for my inner peace and sanity.

I 100% agree and do the same.. There are many local family charity events to be able to help.. then sending money to a big charity that has forgotten what they stand for... Instead filling there on pockets up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AceArcher]

Wounded War Heroes is looking pretty interesting, They are still a pretty small organization but they do clearly state in their bylaws that all there member positions (board & advisory members) are 100% voluntary positions (no pay) and it looks like they put on a some good stuff. Will email them and will post up reply's here as well.

[AceArcher]

copy of email sent to WWH (which is basically same as the one i sent to Heroes on the Water)

Hello Wounded War Heroes organization,

I and a few other like minded individuals have been supporting the WWP for quite a while. Due to various reasons we are all agreeing that we cannot keep supporting that organization.

We are searching for a new charitable organization to give both our time and money to. We would mainly be interested in making events happen in the Southwest LA area (mainly Big Lake).

We can potentially do veterans tourneys and have wounded vets fishing them (while being guided by area guides / knowledgeable anglers) And/Or we can hold regular tourneys to help raise funds for an organization (we would potentially probably like to do a mix of both)

Would your organization be interested in our support in the SW Louisiana area?

If you are interested are you willing to be very transparent in what you use donations for? Our distrust of the WWP is in main part due to its commercialization, and the rather disgusting fact that less than .30 cents of every dollar donated to it ends up benefiting a vet.

Please let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Alex

[Duck Butter]

Nice letter AA


As simplepeddler touched upon, don't lump all charitable or nonprofit organizations into the same category. Nonprofits such as DU, Delta Waterfowl, CCA, etc. have a much higher percentage of projects vs 'overhead'. In order to raise money, you have to spend money to fundraise, you have to have some secretaries, got to pay the light bills, gas bills, benefits, and yes salaries. These organizations have to compete with the private sector for employees, so they have to offer competetive salaries. If you want the best or at least a good staff, you have to pay them or else they will just leave and go into the private sector and make more money. When an organization can say that 60% or even 75% of funds raised goes to on the ground conservation, they are doing very well with what they have.

not defending Wounded Warriors as I have no idea about them, just conservation nonprofits

[AceArcher]

Thanks for the kind words DB.

If WWP was able to honestly say that 60-75% of their funds went back to vets.... well i would have never written this post. Everyone's best guess (due to number's being fudged) is that they Return somewhere around 25-30%. Between that, and them making the decision to not allow any pro-gun organization to use their logo (even if those organizations donate time money etc) well i decided it was time for me to look for something else.

I find no fault in anyone that chooses to continue supporting WWP, because facts are that they still do quite a bit of good. You can look at any Hunting / Fishing related board and find lots of recent posts about local WWP events where people are taking vets out and showing them a good time! I want more of that, and less of low % of $$ getting to benefit vets (as well as less political bs)

Hell to be honest, i might be living in a fantasy world looking for a perfect charity... but i do feel there has got to be something better out there.

[AceArcher]

Had a chance to speak with one of the Board Members of the Wounded War Heroes group.

Based on my discussion with them, they currently put on two bigger rodeo's each year (One in Empire, and the other is occurring in a couple weekends on Toledo Bend)(I am going to try to stop in to that one and at least say hello)

They give 100% of donations to directly benefit the vets by taking them fishing/hunting and paying the associated expenses related to that (transportation,gas,etc etc etc)

They have been looking to make something happen in the Southwest area of louisiana.

Many of the vet's that they currently work with come from the Ft. Polk area, The rest are spread out in various area's.

They are willing to ensure than all funds generated through a potential Salty Cajun Fundraising tourney, are used to put on a Salty Cajun Veterans Fishing spree / Tourney.


All in all they were quite impressive, There board member Mr. Watson will be jumping on here later tonight and contributing as well.


On a side note they are looking for a couple more captains to be in there Toledo Bend event here in a couple weekends, It's going to be a Thursday afternoon - Midday saturday type thing.

[jchief]

Originally Posted by AceArcher

Had a chance to speak with one of the Board Members of the Wounded War Heroes group.

Based on my discussion with them, they currently put on two bigger rodeo's each year (One in Empire, and the other is occurring in a couple weekends on Toledo Bend)(I am going to try to stop in to that one and at least say hello)

They give 100% of donations to directly benefit the vets by taking them fishing/hunting and paying the associated expenses related to that (transportation,gas,etc etc etc)

They have been looking to make something happen in the Southwest area of louisiana.

Many of the vet's that they currently work with come from the Ft. Polk area, The rest are spread out in various area's.

They are willing to ensure than all funds generated through a potential Salty Cajun Fundraising tourney, are used to put on a Salty Cajun Veterans Fishing spree / Tourney.


All in all they were quite impressive, There board member Mr. Watson will be jumping on here later tonight and contributing as well.


On a side note they are looking for a couple more captains to be in there Toledo Bend event here in a couple weekends, It's going to be a Thursday afternoon - Midday saturday type thing.

Dates for the toledo event and a contact name/number please

[AceArcher]

Jchief, I believe he stated that it would be two weekends from now so that would make it the evening of the 9th, the 10th, and then the morning of the 11th. I remember him saying it would be held at pirates cove.

I didn't get a contact number from him, but as i said he advised me that he would be on here tonight, responding to this post, and i'm sure he will be happy to provide all that info then.

[gckid]

we use operation homefront for our tournament. All money goes to service men family to help with exspense, while on tour or after getting home.

[AceArcher]

I'm not sure what the holdup is on the guy posting up information here from the Wounded War Heroes group. Hopefully we will here form him soon if he still needs help with the toledo bend tourney.

When i spoke with him he seemed very keen to work with Salty Cajun to make something happen on Big Lake.

Here is what i have received back from Heroes on the Water.

Y’all are fisherman and patriots. We like that sort of group!

We would love to hook up with y’all. Most of our supporters are outdoorsmen (obviously) and military vets. The need is pretty obvious. We are a kayak only organization for outings because the therapy of being on the water as captain of your own ship and being successful without anyone helping. We want to keep the mission pure.

Holding tournaments for support and providing a venue for outings is needed. Getting a group of wounded vets out over a weekend is amazing. They don’t get a chance to hang out with each other very often. Setting those sorts of outings up would be awesome. They can also get out on weekdays.

Here’s an org that can vet us - http://www2.guidestar.org/organizati...oes-water.aspx

Please let us know what other info you need. I attached a few pics and a story below from one of our wives that tells the story. Please feel free to forward.

All the best,

Jim

Jim Dolan | President | Heroes on the Water
101-C N. Greenville Ave. #55, Allen, TX 75002 | 214-295-4541
www.HeroesOnTheWater.org



Donate Here | EIN 13-4367788 | Heroes on the Water is a 501(c)(3)






From: Megan
Sent: Sunday
To: Jim Dolan
Subject: Here ya go

It's like a painting in my memory—a single, significant moment of this journey. A few street lamps cast a surreal glow in the dark, early morning fog. He barely even looked at me as I dropped him off and helped with his gear. He didn't tell me goodbye; he didn't kiss me. As I drove away, I looked back up at him, planted in the middle seat of the white passenger van. The van's interior lights highlighted his hunched form. His jaw was set and I could feel his scowl even though it was hidden by his ball cap. No one else was in the van yet, but he was ready. He was a man on a mission. He was a man going fishing.

Heroes on the Water runs a 10 week program for wounded warriors recovering at BAMC. As an avid kayak fisherman, it was a perfect first post-injury outing for him.

After he returned from his first Afghanistan deployment in 2009, he bought a fishing kayak. Many of the guys coming home were buying motorcycles and sports cars, so I was quite supportive of the kayak expenditure. On Saturday mornings he loaded up the yak on our little Toyota Corolla and headed off to the lake by himself. He was always more relaxed and easier to get along with when he returned from those early morning fishing trips. When he deployed the second time, he daydreamed about fishing just to keep himself sane. On his care packages I drew lakes and kayaks, reminding him of what he had to look forward to when he came home.

The night they called to tell me he was injured, I paced our back patio as I made phone calls and arrangements. His kayak was there in the back yard, its outline visible in the porch light. Each time it caught my eye I wondered, “Will he ever be able to go out on the water again?”

The days following my notification were filled with chaos. I left my home in the middle of the night a few days after he was injured. I just ran out the door with a suitcase and never lived in that house again. We were reunited at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC—the old hospital before it moved over to Bethesda. When I got too far away from him, my knees went weak and I had to hold the wall for support. It was an interminable cycle of surgeries and recovering from anesthesia and pain crises. I wasn't sure that things were ever going to be okay, that we would ever live outside those walls again.

I was waiting for an elevator one afternoon with my friends who were there to support me. When the door opened we stood in stunned silence. Unloading from the elevator was a double amputee. Thrown over his shoulder was a kayak. A man. Two prosthetic legs. Carrying a kayak. In an elevator. In a hospital. In that moment, my friends and I knew that things were eventually going to be okay. My question was answered: “He will be able to go out on the water again.” We tried to convey the significance of the elevator kayak amputee, but Ollie didn't quite believe us yet. In those days, I'm not sure he believed in the existence of anything outside of that hospital room.

It was several more months before I dropped him off that foggy morning. There was a lot more pain, more surgeries, a cross-country move, a reunion with our children and several changes in living arrangements. He did not cope well with his necessary dependence on me and others—not only was he mostly unable to walk, he couldn't drive, and even needed assistance in the shower. He was taking a multitude of drugs in order to tolerate the pain of having pins in each of his toes. Some of those medications made him insufferably belligerent. It was a dark, unhappy time for us both. On fishing morning, he woke up with his alarm for the first time since the injury. He got himself up and dressed, then went to gather his fishing gear that he'd prepped the night before. Chad Hoover and his kayak fishing buddies hooked Ollie up with some rods, lures, a PFD and other goodies. He meticulously organized it all and sat waiting for me at the front door, his milk crate on his lap and his PFD thrown across the back of the chair. Resentment flowed out of him—at the time I thought he resented me. Looking back, I think he resented needing me.

I dropped him off and as I looked up at him sitting there insolently in the van, my heart broke. My fun loving, independent clown of a husband was now completely dependent on other people to do...everything. He was emasculated, broken, and diminished. I wondered (not for the first or last time) if this is how our lives would always be. At the time I failed to see the hope, though, in his belligerence—sitting there with his set jaw and his eyes forward. He was angry; he was robbed of his independence. But he was going fishing, come hell or high water.

When I picked him up after lunch, the change in him was astonishing. He was no longer balled up in pain and anger. His body was visibly relaxed, his face broke into an easy smile. The cocky banter that I love (even though I pretend it annoys me) was flowing freely. While he was in the kayak he was able to move freely and gracefully again. When he came back that afternoon, he was confident. He felt like a man again. Just one morning on the water eased months of pain and anguish. That morning was the first time I saw my husband really return from the war—Heroes on the Water brought him back to our family, back to himself.

Heroes on the Water brought him home.

[capt hoop]

Just did an event out of Venice. The organization that ran it was "Service for Service". All went well. First time I heard of them.

[Ewatson]

Good evening Gentlemen,

My name is Emeric Watson and I am the founder/chairman of Wounded War Heroes. I had the pleasure of speaking to Mr. Archer on Tuesday in regards to Big Lake and the WWP issue. We network with around 70 wounded vets which the majority reside in the state of LA. Several of these vets are WWP alumni and feel the same way about the project as you guys. The biggest difference between our organization and the WWP is no salaries are paid to any board members. 100% of every donation goes directly to aiding these vets in their recovery efforts. Everyone on our board understands other than a good feeling in their heart, friendships for life, and just maybe the good lord cracking the pearly gate for them a little wider is all they will benefit from this. Our organization is built around getting these guys back out into the outdoors. Through these outdoor activities, veterans are taking back the power that their injuries have stripped from them and developing the confidence and strength to get back out in the great outdoors which enables them to slide back into civilian life. I hope this helps out, please check out our website at wwhfr.com to take a look at our recent events and take a second to read how we got started.

Thanks,
Emeric Watson
WWH's

[Bluechip]

Thank you for the response

[AceArcher]

I'm glad that Emeric jumped in and told us about his organization. Truth be told i felt a little bad that i asked him to come on here and chat, he told me of the projects he currently has in the fire with the upcoming Tourney they are running at Toledo Bend, the quarterly board meeting they had today, and running his own business. Reminded me of the story about the 1 legged man who was in the process of winning a A** kicking contest.

My discussion with him generated enough interest in me to want to go have a look see at what there doing at the tourney on Toledo Bend.

I will update after.

[wetaline]

CBS just announced that the CEO and COO of Wounded Warriors were fired. According to the news report, a large amount of the money collected on behalf of the organization was being used for conventions, lavish parties and high salaried for administrators.

[tojoe]

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/wounde...g-controversy/

[PUREBAY2200]

Check out
The Disposable Heros Project
It's a friend of mine, he is a Marine and owns a cross fit gym now.
They do a lot for local veterans and it's a great group of people.


http://dhproject.org

[gckid]

Originally Posted by paublo25

What about HOW Heroes On the Water. I'm not sure if it has an actual non profit organization but I have helped with Pack n Paddle to bring wounded soldiers out fishing. Not sure if this helps but it was the first thing that popped in my mind.

It is a non profit and Josh Droddy is one of the greatest guys you will ever meet. Our annual Cheniere fishing tournament we have raises money and 100% goes to helping veterans get out fishing and hunting. We also support operation home front which helps veteran and actively deployed service men and women and there family with financial need that arise.