Winter readiness program helps keep local veterans safe, warm

A local nonprofit organization dedicated to making life easier for veterans continues to find ways to serve them through all four seasons.

Alaska’s Healing Hearts, co-founded by longtime Mat-Su resident James Hastings, offers year-round respite and rehabilitation through outdoor recreation opportunities for America’s wounded warriors and their families. A veteran himself, Hastings’ Army career spanned more than two decades and four continents, and saw him fill roles from Airborne infantryman, to combat engineer and recruiter.

He turned that experience into Alaska’s Healing Hearts.

“We strive to reach beyond the clinical rehabilitation offered to injured military personnel and provide hope for warriors to continue to live active and productive lives,” Hastings said.

Much of the group’s activities are based at its camp in Sutton and its Island of Hope and Healing at Lake Louise. There are also ice fishing outings in the winter, as well as hiking and showshoeing excursions.

“Alaska’s Healing Hearts has witnessed first-hand how our various programs and events genuinely help bolster confidence and self-esteem,” Hastings said. “Our goal is to continue to provide opportunities to discover the new normal for every warrior and their loved ones.”

As a fully volunteer nonprofit organization, Alaska’s Healing Hearts relies heavily on donations and grant funding. One such grant – $100,000 from the Mat-Su Health Foundation in October – helped Healing Hearts formalize and expand a winter outreach initiative.

Dubbed Operation Winter Warrior, the Mat-Su Senior Veteran Winter Readiness Program focuses on essential winter services for the community’s senior veteran population. It provides emergency snow removal, firewood delivery, social engagement, and other services to ensure the safety, warmth, and general well-being of local vets. With all the wind and cold temperature over the course of this winter, those services also included quick-fix, temporary solutions and repairs for older veterans dealing with property damage. Plans were also made for more complete fixes once the wind stopped.

“The madness of the weather this winter offered constant reminders of the need to keep a close eye on those around us and to reach out to help each other in times of need,” Hastings said. “We really appreciate the financial boost that made this possible, and the ongoing commitment of the Mat-Su Health Foundation to this community.”

The Health Foundation has been making these kinds of investments in community health and wellness since its inception in 2007, when it became part owner of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Since then, more than $160 million of its share of hospital profits have been returned to the community through scholarships, sponsorships, and grants to nonprofit organizations across the Valley, like Alaska’s Healing Hearts.

“With this community’s large population of battle-wounded and battle-weary veterans and military personnel, it is vital that we take good care of them,” Hastings said. “We are grateful to the Mat-Su Health Foundation for helping us to help others.”

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www.alaskashealinghearts.com