Not a day goes by that our nations heroes, both at home and abroad, aren’t faced with the worst things this world can throw at them. When it comes time to take off the uniform or hang up your duty belt, it is often hard to let go of the things you’ve done or the things you’ve witnessed. What is the best way to take these heroes minds away from their everyday struggles?
This is where the idea for Hometown Hero Outdoors was born. With our founders having served in the military, law enforcement, or both, there was one thing we all had in common. We all use the great outdoors as our way to clear our minds, recreational therapy if you will. We wanted a way that we could share this with others in the military and law enforcement community. In order for this to happen, we had to ensure we were doing everything within the confines of the law.
In September, 2017 we sought legal counsel to begin the process of getting our 501(c)3 status. On October 09, 2017 we received the letter in the mail that we had anxiously been waiting for. We were officially recognized as a 501(c)3 Charitable Non-Profit organization by the IRS. This meant it was time for the real work to begin, connecting our nations heroes into the outdoors for recreational therapy. We launched a Facebook page both for our supporters and for the Veteran and Law Enforcement members we aim to assist. Since that day we have gained over 3,500 members and built a community that someone can turn to in times of need or simply ask questions.
We host trips for currently serving military, veterans, and law enforcement officers. These trips are currently held in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, but anyone can become a member and potentially connect with another hero near them. A question that we get quite often is “what kind of trips do you host?". The simple answer to that is, anything and everything in the great outdoors. We do everything in our power to get as many people as possible onto the water and into the woods for recreational therapy. These trips consist of one member or 60 members, it just depends on the outing. Fishing, hunting, camping, four wheeler rides, if it’s in the outdoors,we will do it.
Now that our first year as an official organization is coming to an end, we hope to at least double the approximately 400 heroes we’ve assisted through recreational therapy for next year. We can’t do that with the support of our sponsors and private donors, so a huge thank you to all of you and we look forward to what this next year has to bring!
Daniel Meyer
President
Hometown Hero Outdoors
Comments