Ryan Bowman started the Pennsylvania Outdoor Veterans nonprofit group in 2015 as a response to the tragic number of suicides among combat veterans.

On Friday, the group took a major step forward, opening its first physical operations center next to the Rock Hill Concrete plant in Parryville.

“We’re really pushing the fact that if veterans need our services, we’re here,” Bowman, Pennsylvania Outdoor Veterans executive director, said. “You’re not alone. We stand together. Whether you’re a veteran or you’re the spouse of a military veteran or you are a caregiver, we’re here to help you.”

As a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Bowman knows the challenges facing veterans today. That especially holds true in Carbon County, which had the highest suicide rate among veterans in the commonwealth, according to a 2021 report.

“We’re trying to help play our part in getting that under control,” Bowman said. “Having a central operations center makes things a lot easier because you have a place to work out of. We have the ability to do outreach. We have the ability to meet with the veterans. We have the ability to get them the services they need and the benefits they need.”

Bowman said 2023 will mark a big year for the nonprofit as it goes from a $125,000 budget to a $669,000 budget, which includes having five staff members. Those staff members include a program coordinator, a veteran service officer, a case manager, a recreational therapist, and the executive director.

“We recognize the outreach that is needed,” Bowman said. “You have social economical factors that lead to suicide that we have to address. The risk factors add up when those issues are there. If they’re not, there’s still risk, but it’s a lot less.”

Pennsylvania Outdoor Veterans, Bowman said, can be viewed as an alternative.

“I’m not saying someone shouldn’t go to Veterans Affairs,” he said. “What I’m saying is we’re the alternative. We may be part of that healing process for a veteran, whether it’s outdoors, or whether there are other services they need. We’re like a piece of that pie.”

So far, the nonprofit’s strategy has been working.

“We’re seven years into this and I can say that we haven’t had one veteran commit suicide that I’m aware of,” Bowman said. “And I haven’t had a veteran who is, at least my knowledge, known to have suicidal ideations. So we’re obviously doing something correctly.”

Bowman said the Parryville site is part of a three-phase strategic plan that includes a retreat facility in central Pennsylvania and an office in western Pennsylvania.

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Outdoor Veterans website at https://paoutdoorveterans.org, or visit its Facebook page.