A big plastic donation bin is now a fixture in front of the BBC Salon. Two Tenafly men turned a one-time project to provide personal care packages to wounded soldiers recovering in military hospitals into a national mission.
"Until they come home." That is how long Nick Mascolo and John Clemente plan to work with their new not-for-profit organization called Bold Brave Courageous.
"There is nothing like giving." It was a beautiful thing," said Mascolo. "We plan to continue this until they come back. Everyone should step up with a donation and it doesn't have to be big. Five. Ten dollars. We should all have a sense of debt, a sense of duty and gratitude to the soldiers serving in Iraq."
Bold Brave Courageous will be providing care packages to wounded soldiers and Mascolo also intends to send shoebox sized packages to 150 soldiers U.S. soldiers in Iraq under the Adopt-A-Troop program. "I would like to approach local schools about writing letters to go inside the care packs," he said. To help promote this cause nationally, Mascolo contacted Mark Vein of WABC Talk Radio.
Mascolo has always been involved in community assistance projects for the hungry, homeless and domestic violence victims. The BBC is known for its patriotic flag displays including the 11 American flags after Sept. 11. Mascolo said that Sept. 11 was a flash point for him bringing back memories of Vietnam. "It was a personal resurrection coming home again. I got in touch with five of my friends from our old platoon. It had been 35 years and it was like a call to arms."
Mascolo is a Vietnam veteran who served in 1968 and 1969. After being wounded, Mascolo spent three months recuperating at a military hospital in Fort Riley, Kan. "I remember how boring it was every day. After you do your therapy, there is nothing much to do. It's boring, dreadful."
His friend Clemente also served in Vietnam, in 1967 and 1968. Memories of their military experiences prompted Clemente and Mascolo to plunge into helping wounded soldiers from the Iraq War.
"Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospitals have some of the most severely wounded soldiers with a lot of amputees," Mascolo said. "There is a need to help these soldiers."
The plastic bin outside Mascolo's BBC Salon was used to collect the first shipment for the soldiers. In late January they collected 116 wheeled suitcases, $8000 cash donations and six laptop computers. Altogether those 116 suitcases contained between 12,000 to 15,000 items - shampoos, soaps, lip balm, razors, phone cards, playing cards, sweat suits, wool hats. Mascolo and his employees had diligently wrapped each suitcase in plastic. About 11 percent of the troops are women so there were items for women. Corporate donations came from nearby Unilever and Canam Computers.
When their rented van arrived at the Naval hospital, Mascolo said soldiers poured out to greet us. "I felt like we were Santa Claus."
"Oh its not that these soldiers need these supplies. The military gives then everything they need, but it's the showing that someone actually cares. One soldier, who wheeled out to see us, told me "I like your hat." We had just delivered hundreds of baseball caps. I was wearing a military cap - First Calvary. It happened that he was also from the First Calvary Division. So I gave him my hat. That gesture moved the soldier to tears.
"To know that someone really cares," Mascolo added. "They don't complain about their losses, they don't put down the government, they just want to know that somebody cares."
Mascolo was surprised that there were so many amputees and that most soldiers were married and many had children. "The first soldier I met was a triple amputee, he said. "In this war the medics are much faster in saving the wounded."
"There are more married soldiers. When I was 19 in Vietnam most of us weren't married. But so many times we saw soldiers with the spouse and sometimes wife and children."
"This is an opportunity to let the troops know we really do care," said Mascolo. Only 5 percent of the population is serving in the military and the other 95 percent should show their gratitude."
For more information, Nick Mascolo of Bold Brave Courageous can be reached at BBC Salon on Highwood Avenue in Tenafly or call the salon at (201) 567-0007.