The Word is Spirit

By Dan Barrett

If you wanted to sum up in one word Diveheart's mission, the word would be "spirit." We work to treat the spirit of any individual in need. Facilitating SCUBA programs is the way we chose to do it.

Today, our country faces a tremendous crisis of the spirit. While debate abounds as to what the proper course of action should be, little attention seems paid to the spirits of the men and women who have been and will be charged with carrying out these actions. The Diveheart Military Wounded (DMW) program hopes to address this concern. Beyond politics, beyond strategy, and beyond blame, we hope to reach out to the spirits of the men and women who have pledged their lives to the service of us all.

"Working with wounded veterans was always an area I wanted to explore," says Diveheart President and founder Jim Elliott. "It was a natural extension of our work with the disabled."

Seemingly countless weeks at the quarry taking disabled divers into the water would finally lead Elliott to the person who could make this possible, Sue Walker. Like most of what happens at Diveheart, Walker was the right person at the right time. Today an active open water and HSA instructor, she had originally sought certification because her son currently serves the country as a Navy Seal.

"He would pressure me ‘Mom get certified,' and so I did. It started out just so we could have fun vacations together."

As American involvement overseas escalated, however, Walker noticed the news rarely spoke of the wounded.

"All I heard was who died," she says. "They never told you about the soldiers coming home, and how their lives had changed. I realized that packages weren't enough. I couldn't go over there to fight , but with Diveheart I could do something to help improve the lives of the soldiers coming back and show them there is something extraordinary they can do, even if they are ‘different' from what they were before."

An affiliation with Hines Veterans Hospital was the final piece. Representatives from Hines approached Diveheart at Our World Underwater last February, and talks began about how to set up a program. Of the 5 veterans who took the pool recently, 2 are continuing to get their open water certification. As an instructor, Walker will tell you this is "A fine average."

"The outpouring of support has been astonishing," Walker says. "One veteran, a woman in a wheelchair of about 50, wanted to become certified but didn't have the money. Almost instantly, donations arrived to cover the costs of the instruction and books."

As she balances her full-time job as VP/General Manager of the Hyde Park Herald, as well as her load of students as a diving instructor, Walker seems to shy away from calling what she's doing ‘volunteer' work.

"I've always believed we pay a rent for the time we spend here. I don't see this work as me ‘giving back;' I'm simply doing my part. I do it for my son. I do it for the veterans. But, I'm also doing it for myself, because it makes me feel extraordinary."

Walker adds another, more thought provoking note to this. "You know," she says, "if it weren't for the sacrifices made by the veterans, there'd be no Diveheart. Diveheart can make possibilities for the spirits of those in need, because the veterans make possibilities for us all."

No better words than these could sum up the character of our people, our organization, and, in short, our country.