Nick Harding and Dan Kennedy share a laugh during the fish fry with warriors and boaters as a part of Fishing for Freedom this weekend at the Fraternal Order of Eagles on Friday, Jun. 2, 2017. Over 250 wounded warriors and military personnel signed up for to a weekend's festivities. | H-W Photo/Jake Shane

Posted: Jun. 2, 2017 10:55 pm Updated: Jun. 3, 2017 2:08 pm

QUINCY -- Two Decatur veterans were so inspired by the Quincy area Fishing for Freedom event, they have started a chapter of another veterans' nonprofit back home.

Dan Kennedy discovered the annual event through a Facebook post four years ago and made his first trip to Quincy alone. He was still undergoing the transition from active duty in the U.S. Army and was struggling.

"You go from seeing the same people -- your brothers -- every day to just nothing," Kennedy said. "This gave me some faith that I could keep going forward."

He recalls that it took only half an hour before he had found fellow veterans to talk to and felt comfortable. When he returned to Decatur, he immediately sought out friend and fellow Army veteran Nick Harding to tell him about the experience. The school friends had been discharged from the service about the same time -- Kennedy in late 2012 and Harding in early 2013 -- and had reconnected through a shared interest in kayaking and fishing. Harding tagged along the second year, and the two have teamed up every year since.

"The amount of patriotism everybody shows is refreshing," Harding said. "You have boaters that are traveling farther than what we did to come here and take a veteran they've never met before out for a day of fishing. It means a lot."

Their nonprofit, Heroes on the Water, is somewhat similar to Fishing for Freedom but takes veterans kayak fishing as therapy. The organization tries to get "veterans out of their isolated mind-set and out on the water," Harding said, as Fishing for Freedom has for them. Therapeutic kayaking is meant to help decompress from long periods of stress, and Heroes on the Water helps those dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse issues. The two are planning an event at Siloam Springs, as a way to thank Fishing for Freedom.

"After what they've done for us," Kennedy said, "I'd like to come over and show them what we do."

The camaraderie of Fishing for Freedom has helped the event grow to become one of the largest of its kind in the country. A record 253 wounded warriors and military personnel, plus 175 boaters, are expected to convene in Quincy this weekend. The event started with 63 participants seven years ago.

"When they enlist in the service, they give up many weekends," said Randy Gengenbacher, coordinator of the Friday fish fry. "This is one way for us to give back one of those weekends, for everything they do for us."

Gengenbacher said he can always tell the weekend was a success, regardless of attendance numbers, when the warriors return from fishing Sunday morning exhausted, with smiles on their faces.

The weekend kicked off with the fish fry at the Eagles. A sort of meet-and-greet, the dinner is an opportunity for friends to catch up and for warriors to get to know their boaters.

Bill Sumner of Vienna, Mo., and Kurt Quinton of Waynesville, Mo., were work acquaintances when Sumner told Quinton about the annual veterans event he attends each year in Quincy. Their employer and their wives now expect the two will be attending together without fail.

"The military is a brotherhood," Quinton said. "If you haven't been there, you don't know."

Pulling aside a stranger walking by, Quinton said, "Anybody in this room has his back, and they don't even have to know him." The man nodded in agreement.

"I haven't made friends up here," Sumner said. "I have family up here now."