Join SEAL K9 and MPD K9 on July 13th at Newfound Lake with Swim With A Mission.
This is the 2nd video of the MPD K9 Challenge for Swim With A Mission 2019.
SWAM 2018 Open Water Swim Festival to honor our Veterans. Last year’s event drew over 4,000 attendees. Enjoy watching live video of the competition on beautiful Newfound Lake, in Bristol, NH at Wellington State Park.
Manchester NH Police K-9 Unit want to issue the Navy Seals a friendly challenge. Terrible idea? They agree, but want to do it anyway. Why? Because they support the veterans. Is it pushups?
Rick Kaiser, retired Navy SEAL and Executive Director of the National Navy UDT SEAL Museum will be featured speaker at the Jan. 15 Leadership Under Pressure event at the Currier Museum of Art.
A career of incredible accomplishments and now, an incredible personal journey made possible through NH connections.
MANCHESTER, NH – At some point in life we learn that being a leader has nothing to do with who’s at the top of the heap and everything to do with how those at the helm make sure everyone else is supported, elevated, appreciated and compelled to do their best work. That is how you build a foundation of leadership on which to accomplish anything.
Leading with grace – and strength – under pressure is something Rick Kaiser knows, which is why he will be guest speaker for Leadership Under Pressure, a free program to be held at the Currier Museum on Jan. 15, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Focus of the event will be on insights from Kaiser, who served for 30 years as a Navy SEAL. He is most often recognized as being a Silver Star Medal recipient for valor during his time as Command Master Chief of SEAL Team 6 during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, aka Black Hawk Down, among other harrowing assignments over his career as a SEAL.
The event is organized by Swim with a Mission, a non-profit organization that supports New Hampshire’s many veterans organizations, founded by Phil and Julie Taub. For the past two summers Kaiser and fellow Navy SEALS have participated in Swim with a Mission open-water races and demonstrations on NewFound Lake as a major fundraiser.
It has been the conduit for connecting Kaiser and the SEALS to New Hampshire in an important way that has so far raised more than $1 million for local veterans in need. But it has also turned out to be a life-changing journey for all involved, particularly Kaiser.
“Rick Kaiser told us at last summer’s event because of a bad jump he was going to have to have his foot amputated in Florida, where he lives. We said to him why don’t you take some time, do some research, and see what the latest and greatest thinking in amputations and prosthetics is,” says Phil Taub, an attorney with Nixon Peabody.
They also suggested Kaiser talk with New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, who developed the LUKE prosthetic arm and is founder of Manchester’s Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI/BioFab USA). Kamen introduced Kaiser to Matt Albuquerque, founder of Next Step Bionics & Prosthetics.
“Matt is the preeminent prosthetics guy in the country, and he’s right here in New Hampshire,” Taub says.
Albuquerque did some research and recommended Kaiser as a participant in a new procedure for lower extremity amputees, known as The Ewing Amputation – named for the first successful transplant patient. Dr. Matthew Carty, director of the Lower Extremity Transplant Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, has accepted Kaiser to be one of 16 recipients of the groundbreaking procedure.
“Rick had his foot amputated in December, and we’re lucky to have him up here for a few months while he’s getting fitted for the prosthetic,” Taub says.
Which is how Kaiser is able to keynote the Jan. 15 event on leadership.
“This is a unique opportunity for us in New Hampshire to have somebody of Rick’s caliber. He was one of four Navy SEALS at the Battle of Mogadishu, and his tenure put him in the middle of anything the SEALS did, from Osama bin Laden to the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips – it’s amazing to have him here,” says Taub.
He says recognizing the need for an organization like Swim with a Mission was directly related to seeing Navy SEALS in action, during a skills demonstration in Florida back in 2016, a way of raising money for the Navy Seals Museum.
The Taubs had been moved to action by the stories they were hearing from local veterans at town hall meetings all across the state as they followed the candidates during the previous election cycle.
When the Primary was over, the message from veterans continued to resonate with the Taubs,
“They were asking for help at every meeting, and so we did a little bit of research. New Hampshire has 130,000 veterans in the state, and for a state of 1.1 million, that’s a high percentage. And while some of the best leaders in our state are veterans, we also have a whole group of veterans who need help,” says Taub. “We were kind of embarrassed that over all the years that we’ve raised money for so many groups, we’d never done anything for veterans.”
All that changed with the founding of Swim with a Mission, which supports the work of local veterans organizations for unmet housing needs and other services.
Through a series of connections that brought together local thought leaders like Taub and Kamen, with those like Kaiser who lead by example and strive for excellence in their personal and professional endeavors, the January 15 program at the Currier should be as inspirational as it is instructional, says ARMI Executive and Board member Gray Chynoweth, one of the event organizers.
“As a graduate of LeadershipNH and Leadership Greater Manchester, I know that our community values coming together to learn about how we can work smarter in our effort to move our community forward. We are so lucky to have Rick in New Hampshire and I was thrilled to work with Phil, Leadership NH, the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and the Currier to give our community a chance to benefit from his experience and perspective.”
By Carol Robidoux, Ink Link
Swim With A Mission has donated $75,000 to Harbor Homes for the Boulder Point Veterans Housing in Plymouth. From left are Alex Ray, Boulder Point supporter; Dani Taub, daughter of SWIM founders; Phil Taub, SWIM co-founder; Mary Tamposi and Peter Kelleher, both of Harbor Homes; Benjamin Taub, son of SWIM founders; Julie Taub, SWIM co-founder; Nicole Bailey and her husband Ed Bailey, SWIM volunteers; and Cathy Bentwood, Boulder Point supporter.
Plymouth — Swim With A Mission Inc. met with representatives of Harbor Homes Inc. and local supporters Nov. 28 at the site of the future Boulder Point Veterans Housing project, currently under construction in Plymouth, where the founders of Swim With A Mission, Phil and Julie Taub, presented Harbor Homes with a check for $75,000 toward the Boulder Point project.
The housing project, slated for completion this summer, will provide housing for 30 low-income veteran families by off ering 25 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom units.
Once complete, the building will also provide central community space for the delivery of support services and case management for resident veterans to help them on their path to a successful life.
In addition to Swim With A Mission, Cathy Bentwood and Alex Ray — Plymouth area residents and champions of the Boulder Point Veterans Housing project — have been instrumental in soliciting support from state and local businesses and individuals, with a significant portion of support coming from state and federal funding sources. All of the aforementioned have come together through Harbor Homes to help make this project a reality.
“Support from the public has been crucial to completing this critically needed veterans housing project,” said Harbor Homes CEO Peter Kelleher.
By Harbor Homes
Navy SEAL Dale and his K9 Storm respond to the challenge from the MPD K9…come see what happens at Swim With A Mission July 13th, 2019.
Manchester NH Police K-9 Unit want to issue the Navy Seals a friendly challenge. Terrible idea? They agree, but want to do it anyway. Why? Because they support the veterans. Is it pushups?
BRISTOL — “We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, because of the brave,” said Phil Taub who, with his wife, Julie, founded Swim With A Mission last year to raise money for causes that help veterans.
The event on Saturday, which featured at least a half-dozen Navy SEALS arriving in Blackhawk helicopters and Humvees to demonstrate their skills while helping veterans, drew more than 2,000 people to Wellington State Park on the shores of Newfound Lake in Alexandria.
The Taubs said they created the event as a fundraiser after they became aware of the poor treatment that many veterans were receiving. “They needed help,” Phil Taub said.
Leaning on their passions for swimming and lake living, the Taubs scheduled an early morning swimming competition and added veterans to the mix and, from that, Swim With A Mission was born.
The first Swim With A Mission last year raised $371,000 through various channels, giving the Taubs the impetus to do it again.
Hundreds of swimmers — spotted by volunteers in kayaks — participated in 1k, 5k, and 10k individual races, as well as a 10k relay on Saturday.
Much of the day involved displays put on by the elite fighting unit known as the Navy SEALS.
Two VIP sessions were well-attended, and many of the spectators listened for 45 minutes as SEALS explained who they were and described some of their experiences.
Jason Kuhn, who spent eight years as a SEAL, said that many of the things he learned in that unit are applicable to civilian life, including “selflessness” and “self-awareness.” He also said that training was the key to making the SEALS one of the most feared military groups in the world. They were given so much to fear — and conquer — during that training, Kuhn explained, that it allowed them to maintain their composure in battle.
The SEALS in attendance demonstrated their expertise by staging mock battles, both amphibious and land-based.
Kuhn’s story resonated with Marisa Moorhouse, Miss America New Hampshire and a student at Southern New Hampshire University, who hopes to be a military pilot.
“I feel honored to be here,” she said. “This is a great way to raise money to help veterans.”
Many veterans appreciated the day and shared it with their families. Retired Col. Hunt Kerrigan and his wife, Lt. Col. Stephanie Kerrigan, of Durham, brought their two sons to the event.
“I am very impressed,” Kerrigan said, praising the Taubs for creating it. “This shows great love and support.”
Son Jonathan, 8, showed he understood what the event was about when he said, “We are raising money for people who really need it.”
Taylor Hough, 15, of Laconia, participated in the swim both this year and last, and placed second overall in the 2018 5k.
“I really enjoy this event,” said the Northfield Mount Hermon School student who also hopes to join the military later in life, following in the footsteps of her grandfather. “This is a good thing,” she said.
More than 250 volunteers and vendors showed up early and began setting up their booths and locations for the day among the pine forest.
There was food by the Common Man, Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream, face-painting and a variety of military-oriented information kiosks.
When everything was ready, the public arrived by foot, boat, bicycle and auto. Many were bused from satellite locations that eventually swelled the numbers in the park and, for a few hours, came close to doubling nearby Bristol’s 3,000 permanent population.
Kyle Bostock of Manchester, who attended last year’s event, noticed the difference. “The scale is so much bigger this year,” he said.
So did co-founder Phil Taub, who noted after a series of emotional presentations, “Last year we raised $371,000 for deserving veteran’s organizations; this year we hope to more than double that.”
By Ron Cole
This article was originally published in the The Laconia Daily Sun.