Overcoming a Brain Injury, Dallas Resident and A&M Graduate Aimee Muir Dedicates Her Life to Helping Others in Need
Aimee Muir is passionate about volunteering and fundraising with different nonprofits for a variety of causes such as Team in Training, Children's Miracle Network, Friends of Hope (facilitated by Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury survivors), Hope After Brain Injury, Vogel Alcove, and Youth Believing in Change (YBC) to name a few.
She even met her husband volunteering.
“Scott and I were both training and fundraising for the San Diego Marathon with Team in Training benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society,” she remembers.
“Scott came to one of my fundraisers at On the Border, off Knox, with our Assistant Coach, Rick Tidwell. I started questioning Rick for more information on Scott. I lived in Plano at the time and asked Scott if he was ever in ‘Oklahoma’-- what Dallasites consider anything north of George Bush, or just north of 635, and he said he was going to be at a conference there the following Friday.” After that, the two were inseparable.
Her marriage and life might seem like a miracle to some: she was in a serious car accident while in college and suffered a traumatic brain injury. But Aimee doesn’t think that was the toughest time of her life.
“I think that time was harder on my family than me because I don't really recall the events itself,” says the eternally optimistic Dallas resident. “I can say I was extremely fortunate as I don't suffer any residual effects and was able to return to A&M to finish my degree.”
First and foremost, she explains, “I can't not include the Lord's great hand in my recovery. During my recovery, I had some of the best health care at Baylor Institute for Rehab and Centre for Neuro Skills, along with awesome friends and family, who I'm not sure realize the impact they had then--and still do today--of my recovery.”
Born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in several different areas of Texas and Thousand Oaks, California, she moved with her family “approximately every two years” with the longest place she lived being California.
Growing up with her “fabulous older sister Angela” Aimee wanted to be an actress, a teacher, a criminal psychologist, a pediatrician, a veterinarian. Her lust for life is apparent.
She began her first year in high school in California before her family moved back to Texas, where she graduated from Coppell High School. She moved on to Texas A&M University in College Station, and then UT Arlington, to grad school, where she earned an MBA--and met Denise McPherson.
That post-college friendship has lead to a new non-profit the two women—and one man, Wouter Nieuwstad--have created to help young Texans to complete their educations.
The three have formed WAM, a nonprofit which helps multiple causes.
The WyattAnnMarie (WAM) Foundation, named after Denise, her parents and brother, is raising funds to help others. The website states: “The WAM Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is bringing and supplying the means to elevate people out of the darkness and into the light and supporting charities who aspire the same!”
The mission of the WyattAnnMarie Foundation is to “improve the quality of life in the community and nationally by providing support and donations for educational and social services to people in need as well as provide opportunities for people or group of people who explore a passion for entrepreneurship.”
Aimee says the foundation is “dedicated to making real, meaningful differences in our community.” Animal Welfare, College scholarships, Educational programs, Veterans and those recovering from Brain Injury are the five areas the non-profit supports. 2017 grant recipients include Texas SPCA, Hope After Brain Injury, and the PMI Educational Fund.
Aimee says, “I love being a part of a cause. Not just hearing about it but actually doing something for it.”
She admits she is hands-on: “The best part of some of the charities I've worked with such as Friend of Hope, Vogel Alcove and YBC is working with the survivors or the children. It brings such great joy to see a smile on someone's face and to be the reason for that smile is an awesome feeling.”
This next year, W.A.M. is focused on helping college seniors complete their education. Recognizing that single parents and students from underprivileged families often struggle to pay tuition and college expenses, the three friends hope to lighten the load for local college students who are on the verge of dropping out due to strained finances. Local Happy Hours to raise awareness of W.A.M. are planned for the fall.
In the meantime, Aimee is looking for a full time position helping others. Looking down the road five years from now, she says, “I hope I'll still be making a positive impact on someone's life, somewhere.”
To learn more about WAM and the foundations next even, contact Aimee Muir, MBA at aimee.muir@hotmail.com or (214) 797-8908 or see: http://www.WyattAnnMarieFoundation.org or Phone: 404.400.2935
Judy Porter is a writer in Dallas who writes about non-profit agencies, small businesses and local heroes. Contact her at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net