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Links To Freedom

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Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Sports

Mission: Provide wounded, ill and injured military veterans and their families rehabilitative and adaptive golf opportunities

Programs: Program cost to provide adaptive golf instruction, directly benefitting wounded, ill and injured military veterans and their immediate families,caregivers and gold star families. Program consisted of 870 hours of adaptive golf instruction from 33 pga & lpga professionals, for 386 veterans and family members.

program cost to cover the mentoring lunch meetings and all golf related expenses incurred; both in direct support to wounded, ill and injured military veterans and their immediate family members, caregivers and gold star families.

program cost of preparation of the links to freedom program, development of capacity to deliver an effective program (including building/sustaining relationships with instructors, organizing volunteers, and communicating with military hospitals and veterans organizations), duplication of program in other localities. Various clothing items appropriate for adaptive golf for participants and volunteers.

Community Stories

2 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

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Client Served

Rating: 5

I am a disabled Veteran. I am a doubled amputee. Lost my wife and all my friends. I was depressed with PTSD. I was on the verge of suicide. I was introduced to SMGA while at Walter Reed. I did not have a good fit. I then was introduced to Links to Freedom. Steve and Skull mentored me. They and other PGAs taught me golf and showed concern. They kept me from committing SUICIDE. I am still an unemployed Veteran but now am able to TEE OFF instead of ending my life.

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Ursula_P

General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

Why I give to Links to Freedom:

It was January 1st, 2008. My husband was only one week away from coming home from a 15-month long deployment to Afghanistan. He asked me to expect his call that night, but the phone never rang.

January 2nd, 1:32pm: the phone rang and at the other end of the line someone introduced himself as LTC... and after that rank I didn't hear anything else. I fell to my knees. I just knew that nothing would ever be the same. Three days later, I was at a hospital in Texas, with my husband severely injured, trying to find the words to explain to our 3-year-old daughter what was happening.

March 14th, 2008, 1:03am. After 15 surgeries, and a relentless battle for his life, it was time for him to go. Then, it was time for my daughter and I to go back home, alone, to try to figure out how to continue to live.

Then, something happened. Several organizations lend me their hand reminding me that we were not alone. One of those organizations is Links to Freedom. Links to Freedom provides injured service members and their families, as well as surviving spouses and children the opportunity to rehabilitate and restore their emotional, physical and social well-being through the game of golf.

As a survivor, I was invited to participate in their program. I said: great! I get to learn a new sport, I get to meet some wounded warriors. It should be fun. Well, it wasn't just that. It was not just about playing golf or about a few men and women with physical injuries. Actually, many of them did not have any visible injuries at all.

One day, I started to talk to one of them, and she told me her story. How a traumatic brain injury left her unable to perform almost any activity, how she started to suffer from epilepsy, and how she felt that she wasn't going to able to carry on with her life any longer. But, then she said, Links to Freedom saved my life.

It is true: The invisible wounds are taking the lives of 20 veterans a day. Links to Freedom and the holistic approach the game of golf provides by including the participants' families and caregivers has been proven to positively and exponentially aid the mental and emotional rehabilitation of our participants. So, when you contribute to Links to Freedom, you could potentially be saving a life.

Just remember one thing: that there is someone behind that click of a mouse. Someone who you will probably never meet, but someone who -like me- will be forever grateful -to you- because of the help they received, probably in the most difficult time in their lives.

Please give, and give generously.

Thank you.

Ursula Palmer

Review from #MyGivingStory