April 17, 2023
DOYLESTOWN - The Philadelphia Flyers Alumni Association brought its military veterans’ hockey team, the Flyers Warriors, together with veterans from the YMCA of Bucks of Hunterdon Counties’ Veterans Wellness Initiative to attend the Flyers’ April 1 home game against the Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center. The two groups are beneficiaries of money raised by the Annual Flyers Alumni Association Walk.Run.Stroll 5K, being held this year on Sunday, June 11 at Washington Crossing Historic Park in New Hope, PA.
The Flyers Alumni Association and the Flyers Warriors host the Walk.Run.Stroll 5K to raise funds for the Warriors, as well as YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties’ Veterans Wellness Initiative. The Y Veterans Wellness Initiative is a free, donor-funded 12-week Pathway program offered to active and retired military at its Bucks and Hunterdon County branches. Last year, the Flyers Alumni and Flyers Warriors provided the YMCA with $10,000 for the Veterans Pathway program.
“We are so proud to partner with the Y to help provide wellness and belonging to the veterans of our communities,” said Brad Marsh, president of the Flyers Alumni Association. “Bringing their Veterans Pathway participants together with our Flyers Warriors at the game shows how much our retired service members appreciate each other. Though they come from all walks of life and different communities, they are forever comrades-in-arms.”
Jim Hennessey, U.S. Navy Veteran of 20 years (1973-1993), is a YMCA Veterans Pathway participant who attended the Flyers-Sabres game on Saturday.
“The game was fun! The seats were great, and the Y chartered a bus to bring us, where my wife and I got to meet military vets from other programs and other Ys,” Hennessey said. He will be graduating from the Warminster branch’s 12-week YMCA Veterans Pathway program on April 8. “It was nice getting to know other veterans and their families. It’s a small world once you make the connections. Military veterans need to take advantage of opportunities and programs like this, especially considering they weren’t always available to us. Once you get out of the military, it seems like everything stops. So it’s really great to get connected, especially if we can stay active and healthy while doing so.”
“What an honor it is to get to partner the Flyers Alumni Association,” stated Zane Moore, president/CEO of YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties. “When organizations with overlapping missions like ours can come together for the benefit of our military veterans, it’s a big win all around. We are so grateful to the Flyers Alumni Association for supporting our Veterans Wellness Initiative. To know these folks get to come together for a home Flyers game is the icing on the cake.”
The Flyers Alumni/Flyers Warriors Walk.Run.Stroll 5K course is unique in that participants walk, run or stroll past barracks where the Continental Army was housed, then along the path where General Washington and his troops marched prior to crossing the Delaware into Trenton, NJ. For more information about registering for the 5K, or to support the Flyers Alumni Association’s community giving, please visit flyersalumni.net. To learn more about the YMCA Veterans Wellness Initiative and Pathway programs, please visit ymcabhc.org/wellness/pathways/veterans-wellness.
Caption: Participants from YCMA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties’ Veterans Wellness Initiative gather prior to the start of the April 1 Philadelphia Flyers Game. (photo courtesy of YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties)