In the dappled sunlight of Solon’s forests, Navy veteran Paul Austin sat in stillness, waiting for the perfect moment. Paralyzed seven years ago after a service injury contributed to a fall that broke his back, he now held a crossbow, a buck in his sights. With each breath he aimed not just for the hunt, but for the opportunity to show what he was still capable of.

Austin had traveled from North Carolina with his  ife Brandi Austin tomeet with fellow veterans at the nonprofit called I o w a Ve t e r a n s Outdoor Experience.

The organization has worked out of Solon for six years with the goal of bringing veterans together in the outdoors to help with post traumatic stress and suicide ideation.

The nonprofit pays for veterans expenses during scheduled events including a bow hunt, a ruck walk, and fishing trips. The organization also holds a silent auction each year to fund these trips because the organization is entirely funded through donations.

Austin served in the Navy from 2003 to 2007. After his fall, Austin’s spinal cord was severed which permanently put him in a wheelchair. Brandi Austin said the largest blow was that her husband felt he would not be able to enjoy the outdoors again.

“Directly after surgery, one of the very first things was that he kept saying over and over again, ‘I’ll never be able to hunt again. I’ll never be able to be on my four wheeler again. I’ll never be able to do these things again.’ Everything dealt with being outside,” Brandi Austin said.

Paul Austin said his wife discovered Iowa Veteran’s Outdoor Experience and signed him up to go to explore the new opportunity. They said the nonprofit paid for all their travel costs from North Carolina to Iowa, including a stay at handicap accessible hotels, which they said is often a barrier for them.

Once they arrived, they spent several days in the woods with the group of veterans before they saw the buck following a doe.

“I was just kind of waiting, and then I had a grunt call, and the buck comes shortly after that, and Brandi, it was kind of funny, because she whispered ‘dear,’ and so I turned over and said ‘what?’” Paul Austin said.

“The next thing you know, this deer is starting to run, because it’s looking for the doe, and he shoots it with the crossbow,” Brandi Austin said. “It was so incredible, we grab each other and we’re like ‘oh my gosh, you got it…’ I’m grinning ear to ear because it
was so magical.”’

They said everyone from the hunting party gathered and congratulated Paul Austin. For him, he said it was an incredible experience.

“He always said, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do that,’ and then, so we say, ‘I can’t,’ became ‘I can,’ and then we advanced it to an ‘I did,’ Brandi Austin said. Scott Storck, president of Iowa Veterans Outdoor Experience, said that for veterans having a space in the outdoors therapeutic for veterans and provides them a chance to know they are not alone, which has saved lives.

“Since we started, we’ve had 16 veterans, both male and female, that have before they left out event, said that because of the group and the camaraderie that they get with all their fellow veterans, knowing they’re not alone, we’ve ac t ua l ly saved their lives, and that suicide is now off the table,” Storck said.

According to data from Veteran Affiairs, an estimated that 22 veterans commit suicide each day, which leads to totals of more than 8,000 veterans each year.

“That’s 16 more lives,” Storck said. “We stay in contact. You know, we try to reach out. Everybody’sthat participates is in our phones, and so we tell them before they leave, ‘you can call us 24 hours a day, someone’s gonna answer.’”

The bow hunt this year starts next weekend, it is preceded by their silent auction, which has a special contribution from the Iowa Women’s Basketball team.

Doug Thompson, one of the nonprofits board members, contacted the University of Iowa telling them about the organization and what they do. Storck said the women’s basketball team got a basketball and put it in the team’s locker room last year. He said the entire team signed it, including CaitlinClark and former head coach Lisa Bluder.

“It shocked us all. For them to kind of step back and take a look at that and something like that, for us, it’sreally incredible,” Storck said.

The basketball along with other items will be up for auction starting Nov. 2 at 222 East Main St. in Solon. The auction will end at 9 p.m. Saturday night.