{"id":781423,"date":"2026-05-08T07:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/781423\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T07:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:06:34","slug":"wounded-warrior-project-uses-surfing-to-help-veterans-heal-find-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/781423\/","title":{"rendered":"Wounded Warrior Project uses surfing to help veterans heal, find community"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 The Wounded Warrior Project, is helping veterans recover \u2014 both physically and mentally \u2014 one wave at a time.<\/p>\n

In partnership with Jax Surf and Paddle, the organization hosted a two-day surf lesson event, this Thursday and Friday at Atlantic Beach, starting at 8 a.m., giving veterans a chance to find community and healing while catching some waves. <\/p>\n

About a dozen veterans turned out Thursday morning for the event, which is part of the Wounded Warrior Project\u2019s broader efforts to support veterans and active-duty service members dealing with mental health challenges and the difficulties of separating from military service.<\/p>\n

Andi Coakley, a Wounded Warrior Project Outreach Specialist, said the experience goes beyond just physical activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can bring our veterans and their family members out here, it is not just physical, it is mental, spiritual, and if we can get them out here to provide them connection opportunities both with the environment with Jax Surf and Paddle and with each other, those are our goals, so we are happy to get out here,\u201d Coakley said.<\/p>\n

Organizers say the event is open to more than just physically wounded veterans. <\/p>\n

Active-duty service members can now also participate by registering on the Wounded Warrior Project\u2019s website. The goal is to help military service members find community outside of their service \u2014 long before they decide to leave.<\/p>\n

Air Force veteran Amber Kulesza said the organization has made a meaningful difference in her life after service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has given me a much better quality of life post-service, and it was that community that I didn\u2019t know that I needed,\u201d Kulesza said. \u201cAnd again, I can call on my brothers and sisters and say, \u2018I\u2019m not having a great day or I\u2019m having a good day \u2014 let\u2019s go laugh, let\u2019s go fall on our surfboards, but have a good time and do it together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. \u2013 The Wounded Warrior Project, is helping veterans recover \u2014 both physically and mentally \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":781424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[177174,5229,718,3188,723,7310,319760,1802,71777,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,2512,177172],"class_list":{"0":"post-781423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-4-your-service","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jax-surf-and-paddle","15":"tag-military","16":"tag-surfing","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-veterans","24":"tag-wounded-warrior-project"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116537693841563145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}