English River Outfitters Resort

When English River Outfitters (HERO) began in 2008, we hosted several weekend retreats with veterans from almost every U.S. foreign war in the past century served. One of the most meaningful of these retreats was when we hosted Al. Al is a World War II veteran who, together with his son, also a veteran, came to HERO to relax and hunt. Every night, Al would join his son and the other veterans around the campfire, but he never said a word. His son assured us this was normal--his father has never been a big talker. 

On the third day of his stay, Al noticed that we had an antique rifle among our collection, and asked if he could shoot it. The rifle was from WWII, and was similar to the one he'd used so many years before. He went with HERO staff to our shooting range and shot the rifle. He isn't as strong as he once was, and the kickback was so strong that it knocked Al off his feet! As he lay on his back with the breath knocked out of him, he began to laugh--one of the few laughs his son had heard from him in many years. Our staff held him by the shoulders so that he could try again and again, laughing the whole time. He came back to the campfire and spent the rest of the evening telling stories to our staff and enjoying the experience.

After the retreat, we received a phone call from Al's son. He said that his father had been sleeping through the night for the first time in many years. "Never in my life," he said, "has my father slept so well. He's like a whole different person."

HERO serves veterans with a special blend of refreshment, relaxation, compassion, challenge, and achievement. Veterans with injuries visible and invisible come to our retreat to experience healing and family reintegration, all while enjoying a rugged outdoor experience--the kind of experience that many veterans, after having lost some physical abilities in combat, may have believed they could never have again. With your help, we can serve even more veterans so that these healing experiences can be had by all who need them.

Our organization is unique for many reasons. First, we are completely run by volunteers, and have NO paid staff and very few overhead costs. That means that your donation goes directly to our programs serving veterans, so you know that 100% of your gift is benefitting our heroes.

Next, we are entirely run by veterans. Our founder and president, Chuck Geertz, is himself a veteran, and all of our board members are either veterans or family members of veterans. This means we are particularly equipped to understand the needs of veterans and their families.

Finally, we are honored to collaborate with veteran organizations all over the country. Our partner organizations send veterans to us for retreats, and we are eager to share our business model. We hope that eventually, every state in the union will have a retreat like ours so that all veterans will have access to this powerful form of healing.