The professional writing senior is bringing Healing Exercise Rehabilitation Opportunity, or Project HERO, to East Lansing. The project trains veterans to bike in Ride 2 Recovery challenges.
Ride 2 Recovery is an organization that sets up challenges for veterans to ride bicycles over long distances to build a community and heal. Each ride lasts a range of five to seven days an d can cover anywhere from 250 to 400 miles.
“It is easier to ride together because of the familiarity of being around people who know what your experiences have been and what you have gone through,” Stark said.
Stark’s passion for the project comes from personal experiences in the military.
During his four years and three months of service as a Marine sniper, Stark went through three deployments, including one to Afghanistan.
After his experiences, Stark was hit with the realization of how important rehabilitation is for wounded veterans. He carried that with him when he left the military in July 2011.
In August of that same year, Stark began pursuing his degree at MSU.
While visiting a memorial in Belgium during a study abroad, the group stumbled into one of the challenges put on by Ride 2 Recovery.
Among the participants in the race was John Paruch, an MSU alumnus, who explained to Stark what the program was about.
After reading a story about Stark and his war experiences a year later, Paruch contacted Stark and invited him to the Great Lakes Challenge. The Ride 2 Recovery challenge was to bike from Detroit to Chicago.
After participating in the Great Lakes Challenge, Stark found having a shared experience with other veterans helped him and others to get involved both physically and mentally.
Stark then participated in the Project HERO Training Camp where he found the importance of beginning the project in areas with military or veteran hospitals.
“No matter what’s wrong with you, there is a way to accommodate you in a bike,” Stark said.
Stark said he hopes to organize his first Ride 2 Recovery Challenge within the next few months.
Stark’s passion for raising awareness for fellow veterans does not end with Project HERO. He created a hit documentary about his experiences in Afghanistan, “For the 25,” that has gathered more than 190,000 views on YouTube.
