Yakima Seniors Donate To Help Local Veterans

Orchard Park independent senior living community, located at 620 N. 34th Ave. in Yakima, recently made a $1,553 donation to the Outward Bound for Veterans program as part of parent company Holiday Retirement’s national fundraising effort.

Holiday Retirement and its 278 U.S. independent senior living communities donated a total of $1.2 million through a three-month fundraising campaign.

Outward Bound for Veterans is a non-profit program that helps returning service members and recent veterans readjust to life at home by providing challenging wilderness trips, which encourage healing and help rebuild confidence. Trip destinations include some of the country’s most stunning locations.

Holiday Retirement’s donation will fund full trips – including flight, food, lodging, supplies and instructors – for 600 military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Among the participants is William Reis, a 25-year-old army machine gunner who spent one year in Baghdad. Like many veterans, Reis struggled to find peace following his tour of duty.

“I got really depressed after my tour and came back with a different view on life,” says Reis. “I felt quite numb and didn’t know how to relate. What made me human was gone.”

Reis’ Outward Bound experience included eight days of dog sledding in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. He called it “an experience I’ll never forget.”

To learn more about the Outward Bound program, visit www.outwardbound.org. To learn more about