Note: Is this timely  or what. We’ve been having a discussion on this group for several days and up pops this report. Again, it’s your money, do as you please, but “caveat emptor.”

The charity for wounded veterans, the Wounded Warrior Project, is facing accusations of using donor money toward excessive spending on conferences and parties instead of on recovery programs, according to a CBS News report.

Army Staff Sergeant Erick Millette, who returned from Iraq in 2006 with a bronze star and a purple heart, told CBS News he admired the charity’s work and took a job with the group in 2014 but quit after two years.  “Their mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, but what the public doesn’t see is how they spend their money,” he told CBS News. Millette said he witnessed lavish spending on staff, with big “catered” parties.

“Going to a nice fancy restaurant is not team building. Staying at a lavish hotel at the beach here in Jacksonville, and requiring staff that lives in the area to stay at the hotel is not team building,” he told CBS News.

According to the charity’s tax forms obtained by CBS News, spending on conferences and meetings went from $1.7 million in 2010, to $26 million in 2014, which is the same amount the group spends on combat stress recovery.

Two former of employees, who were so fearful of retaliation they asked that CBS News not show their faces on camera, said spending has skyrocketed since Steven Nardizzi took over as CEO in 2009, pointing to the 2014 annual meeting at a luxury resort in Colorado Springs.

“He rappelled down the side of a building at one of the all hands events. He’s come in on a Segway, he’s come in on a horse,” one employee told CBS News.

About 500 staff members attended the four-day conference in Colorado, which CBS News reported cost about $3 million.

Wounded Warrior Project declined CBS News’ interview requests for Nardizzi, but instead sent Director of Alumni and a recipient of their services, Captain Ryan Kules, who denied there was excessive spending on conferences.

“It’s the best use of donor dollars to ensure we are providing programs and services to our warriors and families at the highest quality,” he said.

Kules added the charity did not spend $3 million on the Colorado conference, but he was not there and was unable to say what it did cost. He also told CBS News that the charity does not spend money on alcohol or engages in any other kind of excessive spending.

Originally posted 2016-01-27 12:01:03.

I have seen this You Tube many times when sent to me by the 100’s of Marines in my address book, but each arrival requires me to click on it and listen. While I am  not an avid country music aficionado, I do like specific artists, and this fellow is one of them! You must understand that as a teenager in the fifties, I am a devote rock and roller, but only of the 50’s and, of course, the fabulous 70’s! I am sorry to say, I cannot handle the “stuff” of today, but then as a 75-year-old, that’s my privilege, right? 🙂

Marine or not, if you’ve not heard this one, please indulge yourself, you’ll not be disappointed.

Originally posted 2016-01-25 14:01:21.

I am sure we all feel the same about our hard-working dollars when it comes to charity giving, and the concern that our donations will be shepherded properly. This particular charity has, for some reason, always caused me some concern. I can not explain this feeling, only that it always comes up when I see their advertisements–which are everywhere.  I suspect my Economic education might have something to do with this “feeling.” Might I suggest you go to this link, then you decide for yourself–I have already.

WOUNDED WARRIORS EXECS MAKE OUT LIKE BANDITS, ACTUAL WOUNDED WARRIORS? NOT SO MUCH…

Originally posted 2016-01-25 10:02:28.

In 1967, an Austin man named Morris Dwaine New (“Dwaine”) was killed in an ambush on a bridge in Vietnam. The next fire station in Austin built after his death was the third (current) Station 8 in 1971.

A pecan tree was planted there in his memory and a memorial plaque installed next to the tree. Generations of firefighters have worked at 8’s through the years with the vast majority not knowing who Dwaine was. Nevertheless, the tree was always watered and taken care of, and an American flag was always present. When a flag became threadbare, blew away, or disappeared, another soon replaced it. No one knew the story behind the tree or the plaque, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Originally posted 2016-01-23 14:41:46.