A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Saturday for the Healing at English River Outfitters (HERO) new lodge that was attended by local residents and members of various veteran motorcycle clubs. Healing at English River Outfitters is a nonprofit veteran’s organization looking to help veterans by providing a healthy readjustment to civilian life through positive outdoor experiences.

The newly constructed lodge has three floors with a full kitchen, multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a pond for fishing, and various surrounding nature trails that can be used for exercise and hunting. The Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) of Iowa gave HERO approximately $171,000 to start the construction of the main building in 2019.

Chuck “Bowtie” Geertz founded HERO in 2008, and the lodge was his ultimate vision of providing veterans with a safe, relaxing environment surrounded by nature. Geertz died in August of 2019 after a motorcycle crash before the lodge was completed. Rod Courtney, the Executive Director of HERO, talks about how much this lodge would’ve meant to Geertz.

“This was Chuck’s dream; this lodge was the lodge he wanted to build. Now HERO has been around since 2008 with a smaller lodge, but this here was just something that was huge for Chuck. This was a very emotional day for everyone involved, because between COVID, volunteers, and everything that went into it has been a lot of what I call heart work because all this work came from the hearts of a lot of veterans.”

The lodge will be available also to the public for events like weddings, birthdays, and hunting trips; however, veterans will be given booking priority. For more information about the new lodge, contact information can be found on the Healing at English River Outfitters website.