The Healing Box Project®

We are in the process of making The Healing Box Project available everywhere possible.

If you are close to a military base where soldiers are recovering from trauma let us know.



The idea to help injured soldiers through guitar performance has blossomed as the husband and wife team, CJ & Dave Dunklee, fueled The Healing Box Project to provide quality guitars to soldiers recovering from life-changing trauma at the Warrior Transition Unit, Fort Leonard Wood Army Base, Missouri.

With kindhearted individuals donationg guitars, funding and community support, this project has provided a way to "give back" to our war-weary heroes. People are funding high quality, brand name guitars as gifts to keep and Dave teaches the soldiers how to make music. "The healing begins with the first strum" is the project motto.

Music begins to fill the air as Dave teaches the soldiers how to play. The deep pain and haunting memories move away to be replaced with smiles of joy. "We see it happen every time" says CJ as she explains how receiving a guitar brings "happiness" from "outside" followed by "joy" coming from "inside". The gift is provided by caring people on the outside. The joy of music, reflected with a smile and complete facial expression change, is from inside....the heart, as the sound of the guitar strum melts away the memories of war. "It's a better day now" is Dave's thought.

Soldiers who already have a guitar benefit from receiving Dave's guitar instruction. For those who own a guitar but don't have access to it, there are guitars stored at the Warrior Transition Unit and USO which may be used for practice or performance.

The Healing Box Project® is registered with the state of Missouri as a non-profit service and has applied for 501 3C status. Dave & CJ want to expand the project and services to more WTU's throughout the country. That will take funding and a grant proposal is being drafted.

Since April of 2013 operations of the project have been supported by individuals who have donated products, time and money. Please show YOUR support. Consider a donation and contact Dave & CJ by phone or email. The contact info is on the front cover. They are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

 

The thing is, there are but a handful of people in this world going about helping soldiers through guitar performance. There are people who share music with them, and people, God bless them, who write checks to support them, but soon disappear and go on about their lives.

And then, there are people like Dave, who introduces music through guitar performance that will last a lifetime for our true heroes.

 

He's a talented guy who puts in the hard work, the long hours, the endless miles on the road to make a badly wounded warrior's life still worth living. More importantly, he does it all for free. And he's trying hard, and sometimes desperately, to shake off somebody thinking the only reason he is doing it is for the publicity. No, he simply knows it is the right thing to do at this moment in his life.

 

His services don't end when soldiers are ready to check out of the hospital. His talent for teaching the joy of music with a guitar is a life-long gift.

 

Certainly this a noble, worthy and much-needed cause. And heaven knows there is nothing too good or too much that can be done for a wounded U.S. warrior.

 

Dave and his wife "CJ" decided the name "Healing Box Project" could be used for non-profit registration. "Healing Box" fit coming from a relationship with relic guitars made from box crates or pieces of wooden boxes modified with a pole neck to which strings were attached. The healing begins with the first strum. Thus, "The Healing Box Projectn" was born.

 

"The Healing Box Project" is raising money to purchase guitars and supplies for soldiers to use. At the same time, Dave asks people to donate guitars that may be "kicking around the house" or in need of simple repair for the soldiers to play and, again, keep as their own.... a "gift" of heartfelt thanks for their service to our country and us. The real gift is seeing the faces of soldiers making music.

 

"I'd like to be able to say ....we have collected guitars and donations to provide good guitars, that will last a lifetime, for every soldier that takes advantage of my guitar lessons", Dave said with a determined brow and a smile.

 

There is a story on the internet of a Marine named Ben who fell from a helicopter, landed on his head and was paralyzed for months. He is now playing guitar, he said, and has made his first CD.

 

"It helps them with their neurology, brain skills and takes the guitarist away from the stress of coping with a life-changing injury . It helps these soldiers, who are very active by nature, to set goals for themselves and have some fun, too."

It is "exercise for the brain," he says. But music and guitar playing go far beyond just that. Finger manipulative abilities, improved attitude, rhythm like a heartbeat and satisfaction from successfully making music only cover the neurological benefit in general terms. Playing music maximizes their recovery.

 

"I am just trying to help them put their lives, that have been altered forever, back together," he said.

"They are our nation's heroes," he said. "I don't see them as wounded or as anything less than a hero. They inspire me because they are determined to overcome adversity." Dave knows first-hand after having his skull crushed in an accident 54 years ago resulting in complete loss of sight in one eye.

 

Dave's wife does the driving from Lake of the Ozarks to Fort Leonard Wood every week where he spends an entire day meeting with soldiers. His wife "CJ" supports the project with fund-raising on the phone and gives Dave encouragement through understanding how much this means to the soldiers. Together they travel over 600 miles every month (to one WTU) to make sure this project is a continued reality.

 

Dave went through extensive training to become a Red Cross Volunteer, meeting the requirements of testing, immunization from doctors on and off the base allowing a civilian to have permission and hospital identification to provide his services.

"The greatest casualty is being forgotten" is the motto of the Wounded Warrior Project and they are aware of Dave's effort.

'Stand Up for Heroes' and donate to this project. You can help. If you'd like to speak with Dave please call 573-372-1234.

 

 

Mission Statement for "The Healing Box Project" -

To raise public awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members to aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct musical experience to assist their recovery needs.