Non-profit serving Veterans and First Responders receives $175,000 donation

BLYTHEWOOD, SC (WOLO) — Volunteers with The Big Red Barn Retreat were presented with a check from Colonial Life for $175,000.

And there’s a reason for that specific amount. Tim Arnold, Colonial Life’s President, says the organization’s parent company, Unum Group, is celebrating its 175th anniversary.

“And with Columbia being headquarters for Colonial Life, we wanted to make a gift of $175,000 to an organization in town that does a lot to help the community, and we couldn’t think of a better option than The Big Red Barn Retreat, where they have a history of serving Veterans, active members of the military, and First Responders and their families,” says Arnold.

Executive Director of The Big Red Barn Retreat, Marty Martinez, says the organization started in 2014 to help Veterans and First Responders move from “a place of traumatic stress to traumatic growth” through services like music and art therapy, an equine assistance program and more.

“And it started off, as everything else, small… and just grew and grew. And in 2020, we added really the post traumatic growth layers with our two signature programs which is “Warrior Path” and the “Struggle Well” program.”

Lamont Christian is the Director of Post Traumatic Growth and Training at The Big Red Barn Retreat.

“Too often when you’re in a career field of serving others, you tend to not serve the one most important person in your life — and that’s you,” says Christian.

Christian helps lead Veterans and First Responders experiencing difficult times through the “Warrior Path” program — which involves a seven-day stay at the retreat followed by over 80 days of further guidance and follow up.

“Struggle being inevitable and recognizing that, gives us the ability to recognize we have a choice. And that choice is, whether or not we want to suffer. So we’re gonna struggle, but I get to choose if I want to suffer. And when a person leaves here and goes through this training, they recognize, “I have a choice. I don’t have to live this way.” And then the question begs, “And now what?” And that’s what we get to do. We get to watch individuals leave here with a goal set, to say I’m gonna make this first step to living better and doing better,” says Christian.

Martinez and Christian say over 500 Veterans and First Responders utilize The Big Red Barn Retreat’s programs every year.