Warriors and Quiet Waters: Wounded Vet Rehab Via Fishing

[Scoop Sea]

This is a cut/paste of the post I put over on the thread about WWP. The Warriors and Quiet Waters Organization originated out in Montana, but some of the local folks down on Ochlockonee Bay are starting up the second Chapter. The info is in the following cut/pasted clip. Please feel free to contact the phone number in the post or you can send me a PM, etc if this is something you would like to help out with. Rhettley posted this over on the FS Forum as well. If ya'll here back from folks, please forward them the contact number and or send em over to this thread please. Thanks ya'll.

Chris Russell

Here is part of an article that will be coming out in the December issue of the Wakulla Area Times. This portion describes an organization put together solely for helping wounded warriors spend time healing via fishing. They have just opened up a Chapter in the area. I apologize for the length of the article, I figured it was easier to cut/paste it, so it came across clearer. The author is my father who is a retired Fire Chief (and Vietnam Vet that received 2 Purple Hearts serving as a Corpsman with a Marine Unit) who now is the volunteer Fire Chief for the Ochlockonee Bay VFD in Wakulla. Feel free to use the phone number included in the article, etc if you want to get involved with this project.
ARTICLE:
The Tarpine neighborhood and Wakulla County are fortunate to have a resident by the name of Dr. Volney Steele. Dr. Steele came to us from Bozeman Montana and is a retired Pathologist and never to be retired outdoorsman and author. Dr. Steele became a part of our lives after an injury he suffered and the Ochlockonee Bay VFD and Wakulla Ambulance service responded to. Dr. Steele’s misfortune was our good fortune because we met a wonderful and interesting man.
While Dr. Steele was in Bozeman he was a founder of an organization that decided to take returning wounded soldiers and give them a really great week away from the hospital. The goal is to take some of the soldiers with the worse injuries and those looking at long term hospitalization and rehab and give them a really nice few days as a Thank You.
In the Bozeman area there are great fly fishing streams so the organizers decided fishing would be great therapy for the soul and the body. The organization found a Biblical reference to Warriors and Quiet Waters and that became the name of the foundation. Dr. Steele showed my firefighters pictures and stories from Warriors and Quiet Waters and we wanted to do something to help and now there is a Warriors and Quiet Waters Southern Chapter. This is with the total support and help of the original chapter.
It is our goal to bring small groups from military hospitals to Wakulla for a few days of enjoying the best of the Big Bend and the Wakulla County area. We hope to give these warriors that are facing long term hospitalization something to make them smile and make them know they are appreciated.
This is not a Fire Dept. organization although the original organizers are members of the Ochlockonee Bay Dept. To make this work it is going to take far reaching support and volunteers of all sorts. We have volunteer nurses, a doctor and dentist but the other support people and fundraisers have to be found. Our first group of Warrior/patients will be housed at the Wakulla Springs Lodge; it does not get much more serene and peaceful than Wakulla Springs.
We will be looking for funds to cover transportation, lodging and meals. There will also be costs associated with the fishing and equipment. We are hoping to find guides that are willing to volunteer or give some deep discounts to these returning Warriors. We will be looking for a handicapped friendly vehicle to transport them around the area. Maybe a tour company or limousine service will step up on transportation.
Later we hope to find a place to house these small groups (4-6) and have it feel more like home to them. The Doctors and the people that have been doing this for a while say the soldiers need to stay in a place where they can lean on each other for support. The bond between wounded soldiers is probably something only they can understand.
In Bozeman they have found success in putting the group in one large place. Ladies who are mothers or wives of soldiers that are overseas come and treat the patients like they are family. The ladies cook and care for the warriors and it is good for everyone. I know that after a long period of chow hall and hospital food a home style meal is wonderful.
We have a lot of learning to do before we come up to speed but are taking our first tiny steps now. If you think this is something you would like to be involved in or know of people that could help with the project please contact us:
Warriors and Quiet Waters
5032 Capital Circle SW
STE @ PMB # 138
Tallahassee, Florida 32305-7886
Our fishing with warriors.com site is under construction. Phone # is 850 597 3419
You can also look at the original Warriors and Quiet Waters website: http://www.warriorsandquietwaters.org/ If you choose to donate while you are at their site please make a note that it is intended for the Southern Chapter. A donation sent to our mailing address would be less complicated.