Bay Area veterans team up for 3rd annual sporting clays event

Clay shoot for veterans

FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez went to the Warrior Wellness Program event that raises money for veterans dealing with the scars of war.

TAMPA - A strong sense of camaraderie could be felt from a group of Bay Area veterans, active military service members, and local business owners as they teamed up for a friendly competition on the courses of the Tampa Bay Sporting Clays on Sunday.

It marked their third annual "Shoot for post-traumatic growth" contest; an outing that helps fundraise for the Warrior Wellness Program.

Bay Area veterans team up for 3rd annual sporting clays event

What they're saying:

"We want to be out here with our community," said U.S. Army Veteran and Executive Director of the Warrior Wellness Program, Chris Sowell. "The businesses in this community serve us so well and supports us. Today is also about my son Kyle. I lost him in 2020 and this is a memorial for him as well. So, we honor him why we come out and raise money to serve veterans."

The Warrior Wellness Program offers alternative, in-depth therapies to veterans and their spouses through a 5-day retreat, often helping them transition from combat life to civilian life in a more peaceful and personalized manner than your typical therapy session.

U.S. Army Vet Chris Sowell is now the Executive Director, but years ago, he was going through the program himself, which helped pull him out of an incredibly dark phase of his life.

"I was injured on active duty in 2010 and, unfortunately, became dependent and addicted to pain medicine, and it took me about five years to destroy my life completely, and I ended up finding myself in the Pasco County Jail and realizing that something needed to change," Sowell recalled. "I was fortunate enough to be involved in the treatment court for veterans, and they sentenced me to 50 hours of community service at Warrior Wellness Program. Through that process, through recovery and through the services I received, It's just transformed my life."

Warrior Wellness Program

Now he's watching it transform other lives too...with the help of other veterans, like Travis Holt. He's a licensed clinical social worker for the program, who previously served in the US Marine Corp.

"That brings a unique dynamic in which all of us at the Warrior Wellness Program are either combat veterans ourselves, or have some sort of close, higher affiliation to the community," Holt added. "We are in no rush to get our people in and out. We do not practice assembly line-style care, and I think when you give somebody the time and space they need to really unpack and work on what they've been holding on to and carrying, that's really the environment that is conducive to healing and growth."

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez.

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