Wounded Warrior Project Awards Grant to Shepherd Center

Shepherd Center has received a $250,000 grant from Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) to provide assessment and treatment for service men and women who have sustained a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and PTSD from combat in post-9/11 conflicts.

Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, a comprehensive rehabilitation program, provides assistance, support and education to service members and their families during their recovery, treatment and beyond. WWP’s Grant Program, now in its fourth year, is expanding the availability of programs and services that provide support to this generation of injured service members.

“We are honored to receive support from such a prestigious organization as Wounded Warrior Project,” said Jackie Breitenstein, manager of the SHARE Military Initiative. “At SHARE, we strive to provide the best possible care for service members and veterans. With this grant, we will be able to expand our program and continue to help these men and women make a successful transition back to the community.”

Shepherd Center, located in Atlanta, Ga., is a private, not-for-profit hospital specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury and brain injury. Founded in 1975, Shepherd Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top10 rehabilitation hospitals in the nation.

“Working together with these excellent organizations, we are expanding and strengthening the network of support we can provide to our warriors, free of charge,” said Steve Nardizzi, chief executive office at WWP. “Side by side with WWP, our grant recipients are creating and deploying critically needed, specialized programs and services across the country, ensuring that no warrior falls through the cracks.”

WWP focuses on providing grants to organizations that operate in underserved areas or provide services outside the scope of WWP’s 20 free programs and services. Shepherd Center was selected as a grant recipient because it improves health and wellness, a funding priority that WWP selected based on direct feedback from injured veterans in WWP’s Annual Alumni Survey. Since 2010, WWP has been using survey data to identify gaps in existing services and support. The results help WWP gauge the top issues that injured veterans, their families, and caregivers struggle with as they transition from military to civilian life.

Estimates indicate that more than 50,000 service men and women have been physically injured in recent military conflicts; another 320,000 have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment, and as many as 400,000 additional service members live with the invisible wounds of war, including combat-related stress, major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For more information on WWP’s Grant Program and a description of the grant recipients, please visit 2015 WWP Grant Program. Also, you can follow WWP on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/wwp), Twitter (@WWP), Instagram (https://instagram.com/wwp/) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/WoundedWarriorProjec).

About Wounded Warrior Project^®

The mission of Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP’s purpose is to raise awareness and to 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 is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.