Helping and Healing Wounded War Veterans

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Two years ago, the founder of Project Healing Waters, Ed Nicholson, inquired through a mutual friend if the farm's owner, Douglas M. Dear, would give a discount to wounded veterans.

"Discount? No!" replied Dear. "They can come for free anytime they want." A few weeks later, Nicholson called Dear: "I want you to be chairman of the board."

Dear accepted the offer and immersed himself in the program and its people. Dear explains, "the experience of fly-fishing is such a good feeling that while these veterans are fishing, they are living in the moment. It is a relief from the pain of their injuries, of the routine of their lives at Walter Reed, of the very disappointments of life itself -- just as it is for all fly-fisherman. They are living in the moment, living their lives. That part of it alone makes Project Healing Waters worthwhile."