Kayaking Through Zanesville With Purpose

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Muskingum River offers plenty of opportunities for many kinds of recreational activities and one group is kayaking from Mount Vernon to Marietta to honor veterans and first responders.

Paddle for Heroes is a Mount Vernon based, nonprofit that supports veterans and first responders. Vice President Joey Butts explained some of the details as well as the purpose of their journey.

“We get veterans and first responders involved in recreational kayaking and canoeing as a healing tool and to build camaraderie. The group started over a couple of drinks. A couple of guys over a couple of drinks, what can we do for veterans and for first responders. And this event started the whole thing,” Butts said.

This year marks the 7th time the group has made the 160 mile trip that allows group members time to reflect on their service as well as ones who have fallen in the line of duty.

The group stopped by veteran owned, Muddy Misers to grab a quick meal.

“As veterans and in my time of military service, unfortunately I’ve had some friends and comrades that have succumbed to suicide, succumbed to PTSD and the pressures of military service,” Johnson said. “So we hold the situation and the event near and dear to our hearts. And definitely any exposure and any awareness that we can get out to the community and any kind of support that we can get, we definitely want to be a part of. The Zanesville, Muskingum County veteran community is second to none. It’s a wonderful community with all the event we host around the area and this is just another thing we can bring to our area and bring that awareness and to help our veteran community.”

This year, there are 15 kayaks in the water and the trip is expected to wrap up at 3 p.m. on Thursday, in Marietta.

For more information about Paddle for Heroes, you can visit their website, paddleforheroesmidwest.org/.