Melissa came to the land ready to put an old story to rest.
A story of limitation.
Limitations caused by injuries sustained in an IED blast while serving our nation in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009.
This June, during her Rite of Return, Melissa moved across the land in an all-terrain Trackchair. She chose where she wanted to go. She took her place in the circle under her own control and on her own terms.
At the close of the experience, she told us:
“Because of this experience, I now have the freedom to go where I want to go without limitations.”
That freedom did not arrive through the work of one organization. It became possible because a circle formed around a simple truth:
Access could not wait.
For the third year in a row, Boeing employees, through the Employees Community Fund of Boeing, have said yes to Veteran Rites.
Their first yes provided $35,000 in new ceremony equipment for the Veterans we serve on the land.
Their second provided $50,000 for a truck to pull our equipment trailer and carry this work safely into the wilderness.
Their most recent yes provided $48,606 toward the purchase of our own Trackchair and other equipment. Our chair is now being built by ATZ Manufacturing. It will give Veteran Rites lasting capacity to welcome Veterans living with mobility limitations caused by IED blasts, injuries sustained in combat and other lasting costs of service.
While our chair is being built, others have refused to let access remain a future promise.
Fly Fishing Veterans loaned us a chair last year. David’s Chair made one available for Melissa and our June ceremony. The teams at Trackchair and ATZ Manufacturing have helped us navigate the build, make connections and find people willing to stand beside us while we close the gap between what we believe should be possible and what our current equipment allows.
One partner is helping us build lasting access. Others carried us across the gap so access could begin now.
To every Boeing employee whose generosity flows through the Employees Community Fund, thank you.
Your giving is not abstract.
It is alive in Melissa’s words. It is alive in the equipment that protects our people, the truck that carries this work and the Trackchair that will allow more Veterans to enter the wilderness with dignity, choice and agency.
Your trust has helped us build, adapt and solve problems that once kept people outside the circle. You have changed what Veteran Rites can say yes to, and who gets to hear that yes.
To Fly Fishing Veterans, David’s Chair, Trackchair and ATZ Manufacturing, thank you for lending equipment, opening doors, making introductions and refusing to let a Veteran wait for freedom.
Each of you has expressed a desire to keep walking with us. We do not take that lightly. Melissa no longer had to measure the land by where her body could not go. She could decide where she wanted to go and move toward it.
This is what your support made possible.
Not just equipment.
Access.
Dignity.
Belonging.
Freedom.
With full hearts, thank you.
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#FlyFishingVeterans #DavidsChair #Trackchair #ATZManufacturing
#AdaptiveMobility #Veterans #Access #Belonging
