A fundraiser to benefit the troops

“The day was absolutely amazing,” said Long Beach resident Amy Mahoney of the 1st Annual Combat Veteran Long Beach Boardwalk March.

“I think it’s important because I think people don’t recognize that there are a lot of silently wounded soldiers coming home.”

Despite inclement weather, the event, held on Oct. 29 on the boardwalk at Riverside Boulevard, had a turnout of 20 locals, and a total of 15 soldiers, from all branches of the armed forces, including the Army, Marines, and Navy.

The event featured a 10-mile march, all to benefit Peaceful Minds, a fiscally sponsored project with FJC, a 501 C3 public foundation based in New York City.

Mahoney, founder and director of Peaceful Minds, explained that “Minds” is a wellness center for combat veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Veterans who are eligible, she said, are those who may be suffering from an array of conditions, including post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, headaches and insomnia. Veterans are treated, free of charge, with acupuncture, massage therapy, meditation, and yoga, she explained. The program supports veterans in Nassau and Suffolk County, as well as the five boroughs, she said.

For the fundraiser, residents could either sponsor a soldier in increments of $10 per mile, or participate in the event by running/walking five miles for a registration fee of $20.

Asked when Peaceful Minds was formed, Mahoney, a licensed acupuncturist, said that the group came to be in Febuary of 2010, and said the group was dedicated to a late Long Beach resident who was a 9/11 rescue and recovery worker who committed suicide.

Mahoney met the firefighter, whom she identified only as Daniel, about eight months after the terrorist attacks. They met at the Tiki Bar in the West End, where he engaged her in an intense and emotional conversation about his work at Ground Zero.

“He was a stranger, but he revealed every horrific detail to me,” she said. “After working at Ground Zero for eight months, he took his life after suffering from post traumatic stress,” she said.

After the incident, Mahoney said she began following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan more carefully, and said she felt that the media was ignoring combat veterans and casualties. She decided about five years ago that she wanted to help war veterans suffering from various conditions, and volunteered at Veterans Administration hospitals, but it didn’t work out.

Then, in 2009, she met April Hannah, of Catskill, who Mahoney said is a state-licensed mental health counselor. By May 2010, they formed Peaceful Minds. They launched a 12-week pilot program and opened an office in Catskill, which Hannah now runs, and the project has been successful ever since, with additional offices following.

Though the project has been successful, Mahoney said there continues to be challenges along the way, noting that sometimes soldiers are reluctant to take advantage of such services.

“Sometimes getting them in the door and getting them to stay is a challenge,” she said. “They don’t want to admit there’s anything wrong. Some of their friends may have lost a life, one of their limbs. They feel like they don’t deserve to feel better.”

With offices in Rockville Centre, Farmingdale and an upcoming Lexington Avenue office in Manhattan, Mahoney said that while an office in Long Beach would be ideal, issues like parking and maintaining rent have to be kept in mind moving forward.

Though Mahoney said a final number for funds raised was still being tallied, she said the fundraiser is a step in the right direction, and one that will continue to be held to benefit those who continue to make the ultimate sacrifice.

“We’re going to be doing another one in the spring,” she said. “They really respond to it so well.”