Wounded Warrior & disabled youth Military-style ‘Boot Camp’

For Immediate Release
                            
 STRIDE, Inc.                   476 North Greenbush Rd. Ste. 9 ,   Rensselaer NY 12144
        
EMAIL:  mwhitney@stride.org WEB: www.stride.org
Contact: Mary Ellen Whitney- (518) 598-1279
For Immediate Release Photo Opportunity

Wounded Warrior & disabled youth Military-style ‘Boot Camp’ 

(Chatham, NY)  If there is something that Soldiers and Marines are good at, it is leading from the front and working as a team to serve. These ideals will be put to test when Wounded Warriors are paired up one-on-one with STRIDE Adaptive Sports youth athletes for a military –style Boot Camp  retreat at the STRIDE Center for Outdoor Recreation and Education ( SCORE) in Chatham NY. 
Ten disabled youth will don Army issued uniforms, and sleep in canvas tents on cots at the campsite named ‘Yellow Ribbon’ pavilion. The 4-day event takes place this weekend Aug 22-25.  


Warriors and their families break camp on Thursday afternoon to relax and get to know each other. They’ll have a relaxing retreat and perhaps visit Fox Hill Beach on Friday before STRIDE disabled youth campers arrive Friday evening.  The group will bond over a grilled steak dinner in the woods provided by Veterans of Lansingburgh.

This unique experience is therapeutic collaboration between disabled Veterans mentoring STRIDE’s youth athletes who also have special needs. It is a first of its kind program nationwide. The veterans, some with family members, will teach civic duty and educational theme of military etiquette, culture and habits. 
Two of the Warriors, Cpl. Jeremy Walton and Tsgt Tim McDonough have a special purpose for the weekend, 4 days of service dog training.  Tsgt McDonough has flown here from WA state to give a new service dog to Cpl Walton.  They have been training all week and will now spend 4 days at Camp SCORE to complete the training with a large group of friends.

Activities for the group will include flag- raising and folding; the salute and command etiquette; paintball target shooting, fishing, and archery.  On Saturday morning, a field trip to Catamount Aerial Adventure Park will foster leadership and team work.. Meals, general camping gear, transportation and gifts will be provided for all of our participants by STRIDE and a generous grant from Disabled Sports USA and Warfighter Sports organization. 

STRIDE has been hosting Wounded Warrior events for eight years. And for over 20 years, STRIDE has been taking youth into the woods of New York State Parks.  The Boot camp will be hosted for the second year at  SCORE. The 85 acre facility was a former  Girl Scout camp, now transformed to accommodate those with special needs and open for Warriors to camp for free anytime with a reservation with STRIDE.


STRIDE’s mission is to educate and empower individuals with special needs in life-changing sport and recreation programs to sustain healthy, active and fun lifestyles. 

For more info visit STRIDE’s website www.stride.org 
Photo opportunity -  Friday evening – uniforms will be donned!