Navy veteran Jake Welch wanted to bring attention to the suicide rate among veterans, so he decided to do something about it.
After getting severely injured in a snow skiing accident, Welch took on cycling and with the encouragement of his wife, who is active duty in the Air Force, he decided to do a year-long cycling challenge to benefit Hope For The Warriors and raise awareness of veteran suicide.
Hope For The Warriors is a national nonprofit that focuses on restoring a sense of self, family, and hope for veterans, service members, and military families.
With the suicide rate being as high as 22 a day among veterans, Welch decided to ride 22 miles a day.
“It’s a terrible statistic to know that there are 22 veterans a day committing suicide,” Welch said.
Back surgery later in the year set him back 700 miles, but he made sure to make up for it by logging in 100 or more miles other days.
Welch came up with the idea to do a cycling challenge in October 2020, and after much research, decided to pitch the idea to Hope For The Warriors because of the work they do with mental health services.
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“They gave me their blessing to do this challenge for them and I have been so happy to be associated with this charity,” he said. “They have been amazing to me.”
Welch ended up raising more than $1,800 after logging 8,020 miles.
“I feel like there’s always more to be done to support people who take that commitment and sacrifice to be a part of the military,” he said. “It’s a stressful position and environment and it saddens me to see such a large number of people who couldn’t deal with that extreme weight on their shoulders.”
Welch said he knows plenty of veterans who struggle with PTSD from the challenges they experienced in the military, but there a lot of times is a stigma about getting help.
“There’s a lot of veterans who are warriors. Many went to war and so finding a weakness in themselves and finding help is a big step for them,” he said. “We need to normalize the need for help and make avenues for finding help be as accessible as possible.”
But getting help is ok, it doesn’t mean a veteran is weak.
In Welch's opinion, one of the best things a vet can do is find a mechanism to help them come to terms with what is going on in their life, whether that be therapy or taking on cycling.
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“I love cycling because I can be out there and clear my mind and I think cycling could be a great thing for veterans specifically because they can take that alone time to work through their problems.”
After investing so much time and so many miles into cycling, Welch plans to stick with it.
He has started thinking about doing a ride from his home in Fairfax, Virginia, to North Carolina next year.
“I’m not sure if it would be just me doing it or if there would be a group,” he said. “Hope For The Warriors got ahold of my idea and want to do an event.”
Co-founder and president of the nonprofit, Robin Kelleher, said when Hope For The Warriors started 15 years ago, “We dreamed of veterans helping veterans like Jake did with his year-long cycling effort.”
“Jake truly impacted the well-being of the many veterans, service members and families who have bravely served and sacrificed for our country,” she said.
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