POSTWAR THERAPY
Wooden Boat Workshop aims to help returning combat veterans restore their sense of purpose
“It’s about kayaks, but veterans are the primary purpose we’re doing this. If it gets too hot, we’re done for the day.” — Kevin Keaveny
The Veterans Wooden Boat Workshop at the Rondout Yacht Basin in this town of Esopus hamlet offers returning war veterans a unique, non-clinical but therapeutic program that allows them to build a kayak on the banks of the Rondout Creek.
Founded by veterans Kevin Keaveny and Frank Regerro of the Ulster County Veterans Services Agency, the program is opening its second year of cognitive and occupational therapy in the form of building a 12-foot kayak
The kayak plans were designed by Jeff Spira of Califor-
nia, who Keaveny said has been “extremely helpful.”
For amputees, an outrigger can be added to ensure the craft remains stable as they embark and disembark from the craft.
On a scorching August afternoon, Keaveny, who served with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, and Regerro, a retired lieutenant with a 20-year-plus Army career were sitting under a tent at the yacht club, which is serving as the program’s headquarters.
Behind the tent, several finished craft sat ready to be placed in the water at landing which overlooks Kingston’s Rondout Historic District and the towers of the suspension bridge over the Rondout Creek.
During the winter, the work area shifts to the building that formerly housed Riccardi’s Hideaway on High Street in Kingston.
Keaveny said their first effort in 2017 started with six veterans. Four finished the program.
“There were some struggles,”
Keaveny said. “While the program is therapeutic, some guys weren’t ready.”
Keaveny said the program carries no obligations and the unfinished vessels sit ready for when the time is right.
“The door is always open and they come back to where they left off,” Keaveny said.
Keaveny said on the first day of the program, the process is explained and a schedule is set. But he asserted that the schedule is loose.
“We’re making a kayak, but we do more talking than working,” Keaveny said. “It’s about kayaks, but veterans are the primary purpose we’re doing this. If it gets too hot, we’re done for the day.”
The goal of the program is helping veterans reintegrate into their community and build a sense of purpose, dignity and respect.
Keaveny said he knows well the struggles returning veterans face, as he himself struggled to focus after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
“I was not getting along with anybody,” Keaveny said. “I was having a tough time getting back into society.”
On top of that, he said, he was suffering from family troubles and was having a hard time holding a job.
Keaveny decided to build a wooden boat, and he found it quite therapeutic.
“I thought this might be helpful,” Keaveny said. “That was nearly six years ago.
Eventually, Keaveny decided to go to SUNY Ulster to study computer network administration, but he struggled with his course work.
Then he met Regerro, who was then serving as the college’s veterans services coordinator.
“His grades were suffering; he went to class sometimes, other times he didn’t,” Regerro said. “He was struggling.”
Regerro asked Keaveny, “What do you want?”
Keaveny told him about his thoughts about a boat building program for veterans. He changed his major to human services, left SUNY Ulster and attended
Marist College for a semester before transferring to the College of St. Rose in Albany, where he plans to seek his master’s degree in a veteran support services program that’s paid for by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Regerro said the boat building program’s peerto-peer model is both nonclinical and non-obtrusive.
“VA programs are strictly clinical and are invasive,” he said.
At present, the program is run through Saugerties American Legion Post 72, which audits and insures it, and is entirely funded by donations. That’s in contrast to other veterans assistance programs, like the Patriots Project home on Wurts Street in Kingston, or clinical substance abuse programs that receive VA funding.
Regerro said he’s hoping to attract “angel investors” who are interested in helping combat veterans.
Still, he feels confident the program can quality as healing program that will be eligible for VA funding, or a state veterans program grant.
While the program does not receive county funding, Regerro said his bosses are “supportive.” He is hopeful the program can become self-sustaining in the future, with the veterans selling the kayaks they make.
A recent project included making a boat pro-bono to help raise money for the Sgt. Shawn M. Farrell II Memorial Scholarship Fund. Farrell, 24, a graduate of Rondout Valley High School, was serving with the U.S. Army when he was killed in combat in Afghanistan on April 28, 2014. He is buried in Krumville Cemetery.
For now, Keaveny and Regerro hope to get the word out about the program.
Those efforts included taking part in the Hudson River Maritime Museum’s National Boat Building Challenge in June. “We had a blast,” Keaveny said. “The oars we made moved that dingy through the water like you wouldn’t believe.”
Those interested in learning more about the program can call (845) 3896329, visit https://vetsonwater.org/ or see Regerro at the Ulster County Veteran Services Agency, 5 Development Court in the town of Ulster.