Photo and press opportunity
War Hero SSG Kevin Flike
Green Beret Special Forces to Address
Wounded Warriors in Troy, NY on March 7
Troy, NY - STRIDE Adaptive Sports welcomes 15 regional Wounded Warriors with their families to the Capital Region for a weekend of healing through sports. Arriving in Troy March 6, they will spend a day getting to know each other and a private tour at the New York State museum, and then join STRIDE’s team of instructors at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort learning how to ski and snowboard Saturday and Sunday. Many of the participants are from New York State Transition units, having recently returned with medical trauma. Five are alumni Warriors, invited back in mentorship role to guide the new Warriors through the overwhelming experience.
The event kicks off with a dinner banquet March 7 at 6pm at the Troy Hilton Garden Inn on Hoosick Street, to honor the Warriors. The public is invited to the Welcome Ceremony with cocktail reception and dinner. The Schenectady Pipe Band and LaSalle Institute Color Guard Cadets will escort the Warriors into the ballroom. Entertainment is provided by Union College acappella singing groups , the Eliphalets and the Dutch Pipers.
Wounded Warrior Kevin Flike, of Stillwater, NY, will deliver the keynote address as the honored guest speaker. As a football standout at Troy’s LaSalle Institute, he graduated Union College with a political science major and minors in East Asia studies and Mandarin Chinese. During his second deployment to Afghanistan in September 2011, Sergeant Flike sustained a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen, leaving him with permanent damages to his colon and femoral nerve along with 40 inches of scars. Kevin’s health has progressed rapidly however, as he has now been married for five years to his college sweetheart Kimberlee and parents of their first child. Sergeant Flike is pursuing an MBA at MIT-Sloan School of Management. Flike has been delivering motivational talks to many groups about his recovery and healing. This will be one of the largest groups he has spoken to, a crowd of 400.
Reserved tickets are $40 per person, or a reserved table of 10 for $400 and are available at www.stride.org.
Locally, the event is recognized and supported by many elected and military officials including Congressman Chris Gibson, Congressman Paul Tonko, New York Army National Guard Major General Patrick Murphy; Assemblymen Peter Lopez, Steve McLaughlin and John McDonald; Senators Tzcacayk and Marchione; New York Army National Guard CSMajor Frank Wicks; Brigadier General Michael Sweezy. Words of Welcome will be delivered by Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino and invocation will be delivered by 23rd US Army Chief of Chaplains Donald Rutherford. The ceremony Master of Ceremonies is Anchorman Phil Bayly of WNYT News Channel 13. For more information please contact the STRIDE office at 518-598-1279
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