Over the weekend in Mount Morris a local marine's family, the Catherwood's, held a fundraiser for their project to help other service men and women when returning to the states.

The Catherwood's are in the process of building a retreat in Tennessee to help returning soldiers deal with becoming a regular civilian again again and to prevent suicide.

Although their son, Lance Corporal Alec Catherwood, didn't make it home as he was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2010, their hope is to keep Alec's memory alive in serving his fellow soldiers, with their Dark Horse Lodge retreat.

This retreat is to be a safe place for former soldiers to come and be able to work through issues of what they dealt with in combat and now going back to living a normal life.

Gretchen Catherwood said "If we can provide them a place where they can come and get things off their chest without any fear of judgment then maybe, just maybe we'll be able to have just one that say maybe they were going to (commit suicide) but didn't because they found a place where they're accepted,”

Dark Horse lodge is expected to break ground in 2017. The retreat will feature five five-bedroom guest cabins. Each is named for one of the 25 marines killed in Catherwood's unit.

To read more about Dark Horse Retreat click here.

To see the WIFR News story and video, click here.

 

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