Project Hero

Founded in 2008, Project Hero is a groundbreaking national non-profit organization dedicated to helping Veterans and First Responders affected by PTSD, TBI and injury achieve rehabilitation, recovery, and resilience in their daily lives and increasing awareness to combat the national mental health emergency posed by PTSD and TBI. 
Project Hero programs including Ride 2 Recovery events and Project Hero HUB Community Centers produce positive outcomes at lower costs and reduce drug-based therapies.  The organization also builds and provides adaptive bikes to physically-challenged and injured Veterans and First Responders and founded the Project Hero Institute for Mental Health to support clinical research programs in 2016. 
Ride 2 Recovery started when a recreational therapist with the Veterans Administration thought cycling would be an effective alternative therapy for PTSD and TBI treatment as well as physical injury rehabilitation. 
The organization's first Challenge event was held in 2008 with fourteen riders and no support staff. By 2010, Ride 2 Recovery was producing six Challenges events across the US with an average of 170 participants per ride and a full support staff. Seven Challenge events highlighted 2011 including The Normandy Challenge, the first European Challenge event, which toured the historic locales of D-Day. In 2012, The Battle of the Bulge Challenge featured 147 riders in Belgium and Luxembourg. In 2016, to better serve the needs of America's healing heroes and integrate community and research programs, under the leadership of the Board of Directors, the organization was re-named and re-branded as Project Hero.
Veterans ride for free in Project Hero Challenge events and they have become so popular the organization established a limit of 200 participants per event, attesting to the power of Project Hero and its programs.
In addition to the popular Challenge events, Project Hero also hosts more than a dozen single-day Honor Rides in major markets throughout the nation inviting communities to ride with America’s Finest and special events including the innovative Project Hero Women’s Initiative and Project Hero Mountain Bike Experience in Las Vegas. The organization also hosts community-based HUB programs inviting Veterans and First Responders to connect and ride together in more than 45 cities throughout the US.