Ride to Recovery: Nonprofit helping Veterans and First Responders through cycling
UPDATE 10/14/18 5:45 p.m. More than 60 veterans and first responders started their 400 mile bike ride in Santa Cruz today.
The ride benefits Project Hero, a nonprofit that helps those who have served and been impacted by injury or PTSD.
Peter Bylsma with Project Hero says the organization, “helps veterans and first responders recover from PTSD, serious injury, military and sexual trauma. We provide hope, recovery and resilience for all of our participants.”
The bike ride started in Santa Cruz and will end on Friday in Ventura. The event is a noncompetitive, therapeutic bike tour. It includes stops at historic sites, civic centers and local attractions.
Navy Veteran, Candise Morgan, says it helped her through some of her darkest time.
Morgan says “I did really good as a sailor, but my service ended because I was sexually assaulted and I wanted to leave the service at that point because I didn’t want to stay in and deal with the same people over and over.”
When she came back home she says she was battling depression until she joined Project Hero, “that first ride I did with them, it hooked me. I really did enjoy it, i felt better about myself. It gave me confidence to be able to ride with a group of people. It kind of felt like being back in the military where you’re in formation and you wear a uniform,” says Morgan.
There are an estimated 11,000 veterans living in Santa Cruz County. While it is unclear how many suffer from PTSD, those who work with vets say it is clear that not all of them ask for help when they need it.
Gil Ramirez with VA Healthcare system out of Palo Alto says it’s “because there may be a stigma of feeling vulnerable, less than or not good enough. But we want folks to know this is part of being human, That we struggle and the thing thats beautiful about being human is that we struggle together.”
If you are a veteran or know someone struggling with PTSD you can find more information about Project Hero by clicking here.
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More than 60 veterans and first responders started their 400 mile bike ride in Santa Cruz today.
The ride benefits Project Hero, a nonprofit that helps those who have served and been impacted by injury or PTSD.
The bike ride started in Santa Cruz and will end on Friday in Ventura. The event is a noncompetitive, therapeutic bike tour. It includes stops at historic sites, civic centers and local attractions.
KION’s Ashley Keehn speaks with organizers and one navy veteran who says this organization has changed her life. She will have more at 5 p.m. & 6 p.m.
