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Date: 7/19/2023
LUDLOW — Operation Veteran Vacation will be hosting Operation Summer Sizzler to support its organization.
The event will take place on July 29 from at 1 p.m. at Ludlow Fish and Game, located at 200 Sportsmans Rd.
The event will include Sober Chef on the grill, bounce houses, face painting, exotic animals, live music, Hot Oven Cookies and more.
Sober Chef Caterers Owner Christopher Bland created the business after a battle to recover from alcoholism.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for kids and can be purchase by calling 413-896- 3187 or buying them at the event.
You can get $5 off for wearing military apparel.
Operation Veteran Vacation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing veterans and their families with a break from the everyday. They believe that the best way to help veterans come to terms with the physical and mental trauma of their service is to spend quality time with their loved ones.
President Justin Torrey started Operation Veteran Vacation over a year ago after dealing with the stress of taking care of his kids and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Over the last few years, a lot of times have been on trips and it has just been me and them. I realized the amount of anxiety and stress that came along with taking these kids places by myself and I realized being a veteran and dealing with post-traumatic stress, which I like to call false alarms, is difficult. I thought about how nice it would be to have a fellow veteran along with me. It was a lot of stress.”
Torrey entered the United States Marine Corps in 2004 and was deployed to Fallujah, Iraq, with 125th battalion Charlie company before being honorably discharged in 2010.
He said, “Having a veteran on trips would take a lot of anxiety off me because there is no place that I could feel safer than around my fellow combat veterans and not just combat but veterans in general. We tend to have a higher understanding of each other and the way that we think and the way we see things so when we see each other it alleviates a lot of that stress we feel about the outside world.”
Torrey said he hopes to put on a great event that the community can enjoy, and the money raised is more of a bonus.
“We are not looking to break the bank. All of these things are more about exposure at this point. We are in the first year of our program and I think it is important to get out there and be noticed by the community and make our brand a staple. We want to reach out to the veteran public and see if we can sign them up for future trips,” Torrey said.
“We are trying to spread, not only awareness of post-traumatic stress but also bring some focus to the program that we have for veterans where we take them and their families on recreational activities and vacations.”
Operation Veteran Vacation recently took veterans to Combat FC fights in Wilmington and offer a program to veterans and their families like taking them camping.
Torrey said, “I feel like the heart and soul is that vacation type thing. We are doing what we can to serve the veteran community.”
Operation Veteran Vacation will also be hosting a golf tournament on Saturday, August 19 at Westover Golf Course, 181 South St., Granby.