Clint Jordan served as a firefighter in the United States Air Force for 21 years, and he’s intimately familiar with the struggle of integrating back into the civilian world after extended time in the military.
“In the military, you’re just so entwined in it. That’s all you know, that’s all you live, and you live it and breathe it. And then you get out, and you realize that whole support system isn’t the same thing on the outside,” Jordan says. “The civilian world is way different.”
Now he’s devoted his career to supporting other veterans. Jordan is a realtor with The Veterans 719 Home Team and the director of Next Move Military, a network of realtors dedicated to guiding veterans through the home-buying process.
Besides his booming career as a realtor, Jordan and his wife, Lisa, own CrossFit Bonnie and Clyde in Colorado Springs.”When we opened the gym five, almost six years ago, we wanted to (make) the gym free. Gyms are not cheap,” Jordan says. “What happens with a lot of the military, and a lot of people in general, when they don’t have money the first things they give up are their niceties, right? The gym, coffee, all of the things that help them mentally be cool in life.”
Determined to make gym memberships more accessible for veterans, Jordan, in collaboration with the Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center (VSC) created the Hero Health Project. The Hero Health Project uses money from real estate transactions to provide free gym memberships for veterans. $1,500 of every transaction Jordan and The Veterans 719 Home Team make goes toward funding a gym membership that is later distributed through Mt. Carmel VSC. Eventually, Jordan wants the project to extend free memberships to the families and friends of veterans as well.
Although the program officially started in July, the Hero Health Project launch party is in October and will include veteran food trucks, local vendors, a live DJ, and, for the very motivated, mini-fitness challenges. There’s even a raffle for a chance to win a Lululemon Studio Mirror, which is an interactive at-home fitness device that doubles as a screen for displaying workout routines and a mirror for checking form.
“I think we have a couple of different components to be very happy, healthy, and functioning in life, right? Mental, physical,” Jordan says, explaining his inspiration for the free gym memberships. “The physical side, it’s the most upfront and obvious one that we can help with pretty easily. We just give access and then help get people there.”
The Hero Health Project Launch Party is on October 21, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Crossfit Bonnie and Clyde, 706 Arrawanna St.
