A Cape Coral gym is teaming up with a veterans' nonprofit to bring a free fitness program to former service members across Southwest Florida.
Home Base Florida, a nonprofit that supports veterans, has partnered with Shark Bite Fitness, a veteran-owned gym in Cape Coral, to expand its Warrior Health & Fitness program.
Shark Bite owner Nick Habich, who served eight years in the U.S. Army, including about two and a half years in Iraq, said the gym's mission hits close to home.
"I don't think that a lot of us have the appropriate amount of help when we get out of the military," Habich said. "If you find good people when you get out, you have a way higher likelihood of success in just about every other facet of life."
Habich said many veterans he knows have died by suicide after leaving the service, a pattern he attributes to a lack of purpose and community during the transition to civilian life. He said the gym works to fill that gap for veterans of all abilities, including those with amputations or other disabilities.
The Warrior Health & Fitness program is a 90-day initiative that combines supervised exercise, nutrition education, stress management and community support. It's also designed as an entry point to Home Base's broader services for veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety or traumatic brain injury. Under the new partnership, eligible participants will have access to group exercise classes and additional programming at Shark Bite's facility in Cape Coral.
"There's very few types of people that have come into this gym before that we haven't been able to service and service well," he said. "So if you're a vet and that's a reason to hold you back, don't do that. We got you."
Deborah Todd, an Air Force veteran who served eight years on active duty and one in the reserves, works out through Home Base's program at its Florida Gulf Coast University location. She said a mental health counselor pointed her to Home Base while she was struggling with the transition out of the military.
"It'll give you a place where you can set some goals, meet some people that you know are in your same situation, veterans in the community," Todd said, adding that she hadn't had that kind of connection since moving back to Naples after her service. She said the program helped her work through PTSD and survivor's guilt she carried as a former military medic.
"Even just walking in and giving it one shot is worth everything in the world," she said.
More than 14,000 veterans live in Cape Coral, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Veterans and military families interested in the program can learn more by visiting their website.
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