EAST LONGMEADOW – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that, reportedly, one in three veterans face when they return home from combat. Additionally, approximately 73 percent of veterans have a VA service connected disability returning home. These numbers continue to rise, and more soldiers are returning back to the states seeking a solution. Todd Crevier is a retired Sergeant First Class with the US Army. Crevier runs a local veteran’s nonprofit organization called New England Adventures. Recently a $30,000 wheelchair was donated by an East Longmeadow family to New England Adventures. This chair will open up the door to bringing more elderly or disabled veterans on the outdoor excursions the nonprofit hosts.

Crevier decided to enlist in the Army after the Sept. 11 attacks. He was deployed in Iraq where he served until 2004. Crevier went home for three years to be with his family and to try to let a back injury heal. While he was home he was also starting to battle PTSD.

In 2007 Crevier and his wife had recently divorced and he was seeking more structure in his life. Once again, he returned back to the Army. His back injury had not yet healed, it had instead given him a pain pill addiction and he was still suffering PTSD.

Crevier was forced into early retirement from the Army in 2014 after he had been deployed to Africa. He was sent home due to his injury worsening, losing sight in his right eye and he was tested positive for skin cancer. When he returned home, his pain pill addiction was still controlling his life along with coming to terms with his past divorce.

“I went back to living a civilian life and I was having a very hard time adjusting to it.” Crevier commented.

Crevier had always had a knack and passion for the outdoors and hobbies such as fishing, hiking and hunting. In 2015 he decided to take his children on a vacation to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Before leaving for the trip Crevier knew he wanted to put an end to his pain pill addiction.

“I went into the VA’s office with my grocery store bag full of pills and gave them all back to the doctor. I decided to quit cold turkey, even though they warned me not to.” Crevier recalled.

On the trip to Yellowstone, Crevier described having and experience close to a spiritual awakening. Seeing such beautiful sights and experiencing the time he had with his family in the outdoors proved to be the healing tool he needed.

After that trip, it sparked Crevier to start New England Adventures. This non-profit hosts one to two events each month that brings veterans on trips to experience nature and the different opportunities it provides. Crevier’s hope for this non-profit is that these trips could potentially spark that same healing in other veterans battling PTSD or other disabilities like it did for him.

When researching similar non-profits, Crevier found that there are others like New England Adventures out there, but they are all operated either out West or in the South. He noted this was alarming, because there are approximately 1,000,000 veterans living across the six states of New England.

In 2018 New England Adventures put on 18 events free of charge for over 200 veterans living in New England. Some of these events include a ski trip to Mt. Snow, ice fishing, couples wilderness adventure trips, “Family Day” at Camp Shepard, a family retreat out in Woodstock, fly fishing in The Berkshires, and multiple hunting trips for a variety of game.

The generosity from the East Longmeadow family will allow the non-profit to sell the wheelchair that was donated in order to purchase a wheelchair for their outdoor adventures, called a track chair. This chair will allow access to the outdoor events, no matter the terrain or weather, to an elderly or disabled veteran. The chair was previously purchased for the family’s father who suffered an accident that left him paralyzed. The father passed away before he was ever able to use the chair. This left the family wanting to put the purchase towards a good cause.

For more information on New England Adventures or to make a donation, visit their website http://www.newenglandadventures.org/ or follow what they’re doing, on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NewEnglandAdventures/