Scott Bowers, CEO of Paul Brown Hawaii, has been involving himself and the Paul Brown Hawaii product line in the Wounded Warrior Project, the non-proft program designed to help returning soldiers suffering from physical or mental injuries resulting from any service related event as of September 11, 2001.

With the goal "To honor and empower wounded warriors" by offering a variety of programs to help them "adjust to their new normal and achieve new triumphs", the mission of the WWP is to:

• To raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members.
• To help injured service members aid and assist each other.
• To provide unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.

An unprecedented percentage of servicemen and women are surviving servere wounds and injuries directly as a result of better protective equipment. However, these surviving warriors are left with needs more powerful than their uninjured colleagues. According to the WWP materials, the most recent miliary conflicts have resulted in more than 48,000 physical injuries and 320,000 traumatic brain injuries. Another 400,000 live with the invisible wounds of combat including stress, post-traumatic stress and depression.

Bowers began by donating products to help both the wounded warriors and their families. That effort has grown and now Bowers and Paul Brown himself have been offering makeovers and services to the soldiers and their care-givers at salons around the US, most recently at Jo Blackwell-Preston's Dop Dop Salon in NYC.

I met with Bowers at the Jacksonville, Florida Wounded Warrior Project offices (there are 14 around the United States) to learn more about the efforts of the WWP and Paul Brown Hawaii...and to figure out a way that salons around the United States could get involved to support the project itself and our own local servicemen and women.

www.woundedwarriorproject.org

www.paulbrownhawaii.com