ROME — Just one year after groundbreaking, the Travis Mills Foundation unveiled a new health and wellness center at the nonprofit retreat.

At Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce the center, ages 9 and up are encouraged to dress up as they tour the new 9,800-square-foot facility, described by many as “perfect.” Joined by community members who did

The $7 million project has allowed more people to visit the facility each year, and was fully funded by donations, which Mills said “feels great.”

“One of the things I promised was to maximize every dollar and not waste it,” he said. “We are very grateful.”

Volunteer Paul Dubey talks about his small gym as he leads a tour before the ribbon-cutting of the new health and wellness center at the Travis Mills Foundation Veteran Retreat in Rome on Saturday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Retreat volunteer and former Air Force member Paul Dubay said “a lot of ‘wow'” when people saw the new facility, and he called the design “perfect.” My wife has been volunteering with the Travis Mills Foundation for about a year and on Saturday we toured the Health and Wellness Center.

Construction on the building began a year ago on the weekend of 9/11 and was spectacularly completed just one year later.

Molly Lovell Keely, the foundation’s head of communications, said there were some problems with the supply chain, but nothing that offset construction.

A veteran who partially lost all four limbs in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2012, Mills founded the Travis Mills Foundation with his wife Kelsey in 2013 to help veterans injured on active duty after 9/11. supported.

The Foundation purchased the main retreat building in 2015 with the goal of hosting veterans at full cost of travel to the retreat. It was an opportunity for them to relax, connect with other families, and enjoy time outdoors in Maine.

The retreat officially opened in 2017 and hosts 7-8 families a week, mainly during the summer months, who can enjoy a day outside the retreat’s ropes course or canoeing on the long pound along the way. increase.

The new health and wellness center (left) is seen next to the Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat during the ribbon cutting in Rome on Saturday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The Health & Wellness Center is separate from the main building, but is connected by an underground tunnel.

The new center will allow the retreat to host more families on an annual basis, for up to 40 weeks a year, said Lovell-Keely, who noted that Maine’s winters don’t have much to do in the cold. Told.

“We had a hard time finding things to do in the winter and part of the fall,” says Lovell-Keely, suggesting that a heated pool is a good alternative in the winter and that families can use the children’s room in the basement. doing. Arts & crafts are installed. In addition, a new massage area was created with soundproof walls and room darkening shades for relaxing hours.

Interested families fill out an application for the retreat and suggest dates they can attend. In some cases, several families who know each other through services or in rehab may suggest the same date as a way to reunite.

Although the building is fully adaptable, the center’s fitness machines are the ‘mainstream equipment’ found in a typical fitness center. The goal is to help combat-wounded veterans find strategies for adjusting to their new routines and realities when they return home.

“We wanted them to be healthy after the visit and to show them how to use the mainstream equipment they see in gyms and stores,” says Lovell-Keely.

To date, the retreat has served 627 veterans, 724 families, 2,087 people in 46 states, Washington, DC, Canada, according to a news release.

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