McGREGOR — Toward the end of his life, Chuck Evancevich began to feel like a burden on society.
Brenda Evancevich watched her husband’s struggles as an Air Force veteran confined to a wheelchair due to primary progressive multiple sclerosis and neurological Lyme disease. Chuck, once a top athlete recruited by professional sports teams, eventually had to deal with a life of limits that meant some of his favorite hobbies, like distance shooting, became inaccessible.
“He always felt like he was kind of a burden on society,” Brenda Evancevich said on Saturday, June 15. “And she always felt like she was watching life go by.”
Chuck died in 2020, but his legacy lives on in Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat.
Their story is one of the backbones of a new handicap-accessible outdoor shooting range, camp, veterans center and community center in McGregor. Still in the construction phase, Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat plans to help disabled veterans and others participate in activities that would not otherwise be feasible. It is also a way to ensure that those who dedicated their lives to serving their country are not forgotten.
Bret Sample, an Army veteran and close friend of the Evanceviches, set out to create such a place for veterans and disabled outdoor enthusiasts. Sample is now CEO/President of Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat, while Brenda Evancevich serves as COO, Vice President and Secretary.
Vehicles lined the road to the facility on June 15 to celebrate the work that had been done so far and raise a special American flag. Congressman Pete Stauber unveiled a flag flown over the United States Capitol on D-Day. The same banner now flies over Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat.
Congressman Pete Stauber presents Col. Christopher Mazzey with a flag on Saturday, June 15, 2024, that flew over the United States Capitol on D-Day. The flag now flies at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat in McGregor.
Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
“It is a great honor to be here with all of you, celebrating the men and women who have given everything: the disabled men and women who have fought for this country, their families, their friends,” Stauber said. “This is what America is all about: passion.”
He thanked Sample and all the volunteers who continue to work on the project and make the facility a reality.
“This will be a place for marksmanship and mentorship,” Stauber said. “Our veterans will have a safe place, a safe and secure place, to share their stories, to shoot their bow and arrow, to shoot their firearms, to have fun. A facility built specifically for them, our heroes, who served this nation with honor and integrity. “This will be a lasting range long after many of us are gone.”
Representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith shared words on behalf of the senators. Rachel Loeffler-Kemp, regional outreach director for Klobuchar’s office, read a letter from the senator, praising the nation’s veterans.
“Our service members deserve our constant and unwavering support,” Loeffler-Kemp read. “There is no expiration to the benefits they have earned, there are no limits to the honor due them and there is no time in which we are not indebted to them.” Klobuchar’s letter thanked everyone in attendance for honoring veterans and service members with their work.
“You are all part of a proud tradition of men and women in our state who have served with honor, bravery, dignity and humility,” the letter said.
Orion DiFranco represented Smith’s office and thanked the volunteers and those who donated their blood, sweat and tears to the project over the past several years.
“This is an incredible project,” DiFranco said. “This is what it’s all about. It’s Americans working together to try to do something that benefits the men and women who have served our country and, more broadly, the community members who, because of a disability or whatever the case may be, they have not been able to go out and recreate outdoors and exercise their Second Amendment rights like they used to or like they would like to.”
He said Forgotten Heroes has an honorable mission and congratulated those gathered, on Smith’s behalf, on the flag-raising milestone and all that will surely happen in the future.
The land on which the field and shelter will be built was once an illegal dumping site. In cleaning up the property, Sample said volunteers removed 250 appliances, 15.5 tons of junk and 12 trash containers. They accumulated more than 13,000 hours of volunteering, a fact that Sample found very funny during his speech, thinking about all the help he received along the way.
Brenda Evancevich and Bret Sample talk Saturday, June 15, 2024 about their nonprofit, Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat, and the few facilities for disabled veterans they are working to build in McGregor.
Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
Dan Guida is the project construction manager and senior master sergeant for the 934th Airlift Wing, the only Air Force Reserve unit in Minnesota. Known in the military community as the “Global Vikings,” Guida’s unit has been involved in construction of the property so far, using the area for training purposes. The Army’s Innovative Readiness Training program provides real-world training opportunities for service members, preparing them for wartime missions while helping communities that otherwise would not have the resources to complete projects on their own.
Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat is a perfect example, and its proximity to the unit’s base in Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is a big plus.
“It’s huge for us to be able to receive training in a way that we don’t have to take 14 days of a busy schedule, or seven days of a busy schedule,” Guida said.
He pointed out the large hydroseeding berms, built around the range for additional safety measures, which members of the Airlift Wing built. These are the same things that would be built to hide a tank behind in a desert combat zone. And tree removal for the project is the same process that would have to occur in a jungle environment.
“So all of these tasks, almost every single one of them, is exactly what we need,” Guida said.
The timeline for the completion of Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat is unknown at this time, depending on funding, as the group is a non-profit organization. Once built, there will be a veterans center open to area veterans, along with a community center open to all. A campground will feature trails, ponds and a campfire area for campers. Rifle, pistol and archery ranges will top it all off.
And everything will be completely handicap accessible and free to use not only for disabled veterans but also for any disabled person along with their caregivers, families, law enforcement officers and first responders. Guida said the team worked with wheelchair users to determine the type of services needed for their comfort and accessibility.
9/1: Bret Sample, CEO of Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat, shakes hands with U.S. Air Force Reserve Col. Christopher Mazzey on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
9/2: Congressman Pete Stauber speaks Saturday, June 15, 2024 at a flag-raising ceremony at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat in McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
3/9: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
4/9: Bret Sample speaks with Congressman Pete Stauber on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at a flag-raising ceremony at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat in McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
9/5: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
6/9: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
7/9: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
9/8: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
9/9: People attend the flag raising ceremony on Saturday, June 15, 2024 at Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat near McGregor. Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Office
Later, Brenda Evancevich said there are plans for handicap-accessible hunting, which was another of her husband’s passions.
Billed as a facility “in memory of one, in honor of all,” Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat will serve as a memorial to Chuck Evancevich and a place of outdoor recreation for all, especially those who gave their all in service.
Considering the high suicide rate among veterans, Brenda Evancevich said Forgotten Heroes also hopes to put efforts into veteran suicide prevention.
“If we can help one person, then it will all be worth it,” he said.
More information about Forgotten Heroes is available at oblidheroesmn.org. The website allows online donations and provides a printable donation form for those who wish to donate by check. Checks should be made payable to Forgotten Heroes Ranges and Retreat and can be mailed to: Forgotten Heroes Ranges & Retreat, PO Box 405, McGregor, MN 55760. All donations are tax deductible.
Those interested in volunteering at the nonprofit can call or text 218-851-0969.
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