"Camp Hero" Chooses Tri-County Area as Site for Farm-Based Veterans' Program, Breaks Ground

A unique approach to supporting returning war heroes is underway as the building of the veterans' transitional experience at Camp Hero Farm and Retreat begins in Wilkes County, NC.

State Road, NC, October 07, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The Wilkes, Yadkin, Surry Tri-County Area of North Carolina has been chosen as the model for a planned national program to help returning veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ground breaking to develop the traditional farm took place August 15, 2008.

American Heroes Return, a charitable organization with strong ties to the military and civilian leadership, has selected a 20 acre location off Pleasant Ridge Road in Wilkes County as the location for its first "Camp Hero" farm retreat. Camp Hero is planned as a quiet, restful farm retreat where active duty and military veteran members who have returned from the war zones and other locations, can restore, and reconnect.

The focal point of the camp will be a working horse farm, where veterans will come together to talk about their experiences, share a cabin with brothers who have had the same experiences of war, counsel each other, and connect with the community during recreation, religious activities of their choice, and volunteer work.

"Our heroes are coming home -- but we are not ready for them," says Lance Orndorff, the Executive Director of American Heroes Return. "There is no way to overstate the crisis. Every day, we have war heroes with no place to go, literally on the streets trying to 'figure something out' as they struggle with country and community reintegration?"

Patton said "War is Hell" and some of that hell is coming back to us in the form of men and women who have lost their civilian jobs, marriages in shambles or divorce, economic struggles due to low pay, intense memories of death and destruction, and even some challenged with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Camp Hero can’t be all things to all people, but we can do our part as Americans to provide a stop-off location for our Heroes as they return from war.

The horse farm with cabin model that Camp Hero is establishing will be a place where returning heroes can call home for 3-12 months as they decompress, talk with other veterans, engage in recovery-appropriate living, get the support they need for education and employment, and generally prepare to resume a normal life. Camp Hero is envisioned as a nation-wide network of retreats where the thousands of US veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan can enjoy s period of rest, restoration, and respect in a stress-free environment.

Several reasons that the organization chose the Tri-County Area for its pilot program, include the Hugh Chatham Medical Center, plenty of recreation, and proximity to the VA Med Centers in Winston-Salem, Hickory, and Salisbury. And above all else, the area has proven that it strongly believes in the adage 'We are our brothers’ keepers.' The people of the region represent the best of America when it comes to God, country, and their support of our military men and women."

For more information visit www.AmericanHeroesReturn.com (888)716-4196

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American Heroes Return
Lance Orndorff, Executive Director
888-716-4196
www.americanheroesreturn.com
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