NEWS & STORIES
Our Favorite Videos of 2022
Each year we are amazed at the number of videos that beautifully highlight stories born from our unique brand of healing. This past year was no different and we are honored to share just a few of our favorite videos from 2022 with you below.
As we enter the New Year, we want to thank you for supporting Project Healing Waters. Since we founded PHW in 2005, your support has helped thousands of Veterans on their healing journeys – but we have more work to do. Our nation’s heroes’ journey of healing is frequently lonely. Veteran suicide statistics are devastating: The VA reports 6,278 Veterans died by suicide in 2020 alone. That’s more than twice the number of victims in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With your support, we can expand our programs across the country, reaching more Veterans in need. Together, we can work to heal those who have served.
Our Favorite Videos of 2022
Henry Winkler Champions Project Healing Waters
You heard right, that Henry Winkler. We are honored to have this true American icon join our Project Healing Waters family in 2022.
Atz Kilcher at Freedom Ranch
Vietnam Veteran Atz Kilcher is an accomplished singer, song-writer, musician, story-teller and proud father. He is most widely known as the patriarch of Discovery Channel’s Emmy-short-listed program Alaska: The Last Frontier.
During his time at Freedom Ranch, Kilcher found communion with his fellow Veterans by fostering a healing community through shared experiences, songs, the beauty of nature and fly fishing. Through personal reflections and mediations, he began publishing weekly ‘Dispatches from Atz’ to highlight his experiences and share the special healing and camaraderie borne from the Project Healing Waters program and Freedom Ranch. Click here to read ‘Dispatches from Atz’
Hallie Dinkel Receives ‘Spirit of Mossy Creek’ Award
On June 4, 2022 The Spirit of the Mossy Creek Award was bestowed upon Hallie Dinkel, former long-time mayor of Bridgewater, Virginia for his selfless and steadfast support of the event and the veterans it benefits.
The Spirit of Mossy Creek Award was established in 2016 in remembrance of two special volunteers, Carter Lewis and Matt Kenney, who exemplified the spirit that is the Mossy Creek Invitational. The award recognizes the selfless and giving actions of an individual in-support of the MCI and the veterans it serves.
Shenandoah Shorts: How Fly Fishing Helps Heal Veterans
Bill Campbell, Regional Coordinator for Virginia, talks to the Shenandoah National Park about Project Healing Waters and how fly fishing helps heal Veterans.
The PHW Virginia Region created special fishing outings for those fly anglers wanting to challenge their skills and take them to the next level in 2022. With the support and collaboration of the National Park Foundation and personnel at Shenandoah National Park, they held two fishing events in April called Wild Trout Trips where small groups of PHW anglers and their volunteer guides learned skills like sneaking up on and stalking wary brook trout, learning what kind of conditions they feed best in, and what types of aquatic insects (and the flies that match them) they’ll feed on. Click here to read ‘Virginia Veterans Pursue Wild Trout in Shenandoah National Park.‘
Don Bell Receives the Patriot Award
On June 4, 2022 the Board of Trustees of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing took great pleasure in presenting the organization’s highest award, the Patriot Award, to Don Bell. Don’s tireless commitment to PHW, over the past 15 years, has been an immense and irreplaceable asset to PHW and has furthered the rehabilitation and healing of countless disabled men and women who have served in the military, past and present. His dedication to PHW, and involvement with the men and women we serve, is an inspiration to all.
From the Archives: Salmon River & Project Healing Waters
A throw back to 2012! Our friends at The New Fly Fisher and Guided unearthed a special episode of Guided for their YouTube Channel
Hosts Mark Melnyk and Bill Spicer travel to the Salmon River in Pulaski NY to join the Fort Drum and Syracuse Project Healing Waters Programs for a special annual event. The hosts share their experience by guiding Veterans and imparting new techniques to the veterans participating.
The Waters That Heal – CSL Behring
CSL Behring’s partnership with a fly-fishing organization connects biotherapeutics leaders, Veterans. We’re proud of our partnership with CSL Behring. Together we are bringing our unique form of therapy to more Veterans in-need of it.
“Along with fishing outings, we hold fly-tying sessions where participants learn how to tie artificial flies,” said Richard Wolf, Executive Sponsor of the program for CSL Behring and a U.S. Army Veteran. “CSL Behring employees help to organize these events and the people who participate really enjoy it, because they believe in bringing the Project Healing Waters program to life,” Wolf said.
Disabled Veterans find healing through Project Healing Waters
Local 3 News in Chattanooga, Tennessee covered the TN Valley Regional Fly Casting Competition at Audubon Acres.
Click here to read about the National Fly Casting Competition
Nonprofit Helps Wounded Vets Through Fly Fishing
Now This News highlighted the tremendous work of the PHW Virginia Region and their partnership with the Shenandoah National Park.
PHW x Harbaugh Foundation – Freedom Ranch for Heroes 2022
Located along the banks of Montana’s famed Big Hole River lies Freedom Ranch for Heroes – a special partnership between Project Healing Waters, The George and Betty Harbaugh Foundation, and the community of Wise River, Montana. This special place has been a life-saving gift to hundreds of Veterans from PHW programs throughout the Nation.