Invited guests filled the Quail Valley Boat House, where they learned about Boot Campaign, a Texas-based nonprofit founded in September 2009, whose current CEO, Shelly Richardson Kirkland, is a Vero Beach native and Saint Edward’s graduate.
The reception, sponsored by Tori and Andrew Barnett and Jim and Jean Ueltschi, featured speaker Joey Jones, a Marine Corps veteran, news contributor and Boot Campaign board member. Jones spoke about his own relationship with Boot Campaign, which provides holistic, individualized programs to veterans and families to support their physical, cognitive and mental health.
In his welcome, board member Andrew Barnett said Boot Campaign served 1,100 veterans and their families across 43 states last year, adding that while many veteran organizations focus on specific military branches or eras of service, Boot Campaign does not.
The care that we provide, and the Health and Wellness vertical that the organization has, is really curated. It’s just very specific to each and every veteran that we come across,” said Barnett, before introducing Jones.
“This is an organization that’s close and near and dear to my heart,” said Jones, who became involved in 2011, a year after losing both legs while serving in Afghanistan. He was impressed that it was created by a group of civilian women to say thank you to veterans in an apolitical way.
“It’s the one organization or group that throughout the last 12 years of my life without legs, if I had brothers and sisters that came to me and needed help, I knew I could send them there and they would get it,” said Jones.
“The staff there has devised, cultivated, created, nourished and grown it to where I could send a veteran to Boot Campaign who is struggling with something, and he or she cannot really put into words what it is that they’re struggling with. They know life is not fun anymore,” said Jones, adding that the organization can put them on a path toward healing and moving forward.
Jones shared stories of being raised in rural Georgia where his father, a brick mason, told him that he had a responsibility to provide and protect. He joined the Marine Corps in 2005, right out of high school, and five years later, at age 24, lost his legs while part of an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team.
He said he considers himself fortunate to have had people who loved and supported him throughout his recovery.
“We can make it through this because somebody saw something in us worth investing in, and we eventually recognize that for ourselves. I like to think it’s a pretty American thing. I think we live in the greatest country in the world. What makes this such a beautiful and amazing country is that we’re resilient, and we’re resilient because at some point through the years we all came from somewhere else,” said Jones.
“We all spoke different languages, we eat different food, pray different prayers, vote for different people. But there are some human things that stay consistent. When we walk out our doors in the morning and someone falls down, we don’t ask ourselves about all those things before we pick them back up. That’s the model. We help each other out. That’s what we do. That’s how we do it, together. This is not a political, partisan thing,” he explained.
Although proud to have served as a Marine, Jones said he is most proud to be part of a community that stretches from coast to coast, “a community of Americans who believe in something.”
For more information, visit BootCampaign.com.
Photos by Kaila Jones
