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‘Coming to This Was Like Coming Home’: How Maine Adaptive Helps Military Vets Heal
EQUITABLE OUTDOOR ACCESS
Photo credit: Maine Adaptive
In Maine, more than 30,000 military veterans live with a physical or mental disability. For those service members and their families, Maine Adaptive’s Veterans No Boundaries program is a haven for connection, camaraderie, and outdoor fun.
The program has offered a winter and a summer camp every year since 2007, providing free accommodations, activities, and food for each weekend event. Campers get the chance to both relax with friends and be challenged in adaptive outdoor sports alongside expert instructors.
While the program offers campers an opportunity to learn skills using adaptive techniques and technologies, the impact extends beyond that. Campers find safety, inner strength, and people who understand their experiences, and they leave with new skillsets and a new community of friends.
Insights From a Veteran Camper
To learn more about the Veterans No Boundaries program and how impactful it is to campers and families alike, we talked with Kate Ver Sluis, a military veteran and long-time participant in Maine Adaptive’s camps. Here’s what Kate had to say about the power of learning adaptive outdoor activities with other vets.
How did you initially get involved with Maine Adaptive’s Veterans No Boundaries program?
I was injured during the first Gulf War. As my injuries progressed with time and age, I found myself doing less and feeling depressed. In 2023, I was introduced to Kathy Kroll, one of the co-chairs of the Veterans No Boundaries program. Both she and her husband had also served, and Kathy told me all about the program and how to apply. I went to my first event that summer, and I’ve been to two winter camps and three summer camps since.
What activities are available at each camp session?
The program offers different activities at each gathering. In winter, there’s always skiing, snowboarding, and SNO-GO ski biking, along with a Saturday full of other things like swimming, movies, and games.
In the summer, you can bike, hike, kayak, swim, or sit around the campfire. They even offer arts and craft activities. It’s great to be outside!
Why do you think it’s important that the camp works to reduce barriers to these activities?
It’s one thing for an individual to attend an event. But the cost of bringing family members can be the reason a vet can’t go. By providing food and lodging, the program allows families to come together. The whole family is given the opportunity to heal and enjoy each other’s company, and the camaraderie that the youth and spouses develop is just as important as the vet’s experience.
What are the biggest benefits you get out of each camp session?
There’s something about being outdoors. Spending three days doing outside activities is invigorating and gives me a sense of calm. I always come back refreshed. During these weekends, I push myself to be even more active than I already am, which makes me feel closer to my higher power. Also, the friendships we form with other vets, families, volunteers, and staff members are special.
Why are resources like Veterans No Boundaries so critical for veterans?
I feel that veterans heal better around other veterans. It seems to be a shared understanding that, while we may have different backgrounds or be in different places in our lives, we can comprehend each other’s feelings without really knowing one another.
This camp brings us together and allows us to participate in or watch activities without judgment. It reminds us that we aren’t broken, just a little worn. We can play a sport or do an art practice — we can conquer anything we want to conquer.
In what ways do you feel the camp helps build community among veterans?
The program has created quite a community among veterans. Each time one of us gets introduced to something that might help others, we share it.
For example, I’ve been issued a trackchair and recumbent tricycle by Veterans Affairs (VA). I took the trackchair to the Veterans No Boundaries camp for others to ride and see if it would be helpful for them, too. I’ve also helped put other campers in contact with the VA to get their own chairs. In fact, I got my trike through information I first learned from a veteran I met at camp.
How do the Maine Adaptive staff and volunteers support you and others at camp?
I’m absolutely amazed at how wonderful the staff, volunteers, and families are. One of my favorite things about the camp is that campers get to choose to participate or watch activities or do something else entirely. We’re not herded around, which makes the activities so much more fun.
The volunteers are the best! The coordination that goes into each camp is astounding, and volunteers make it run smoothly. They have knowledge about the sports and freely offer guidance and assistance when we need it.