The Highland Games were hosted this year at Active Heroes’ Retreat Center in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The participants were beautifully clad in their Scottish kilts while tossing cabers, throwing hammers and weights, and also sheaf tossing. Although, the morning started out cold, the day warmed up and the athletes won their awards for the day. That day a world record was achieved in one of the events!
Our very own board member Sanford Berenberg planned this rousing good time for the Scottish group to gather and compete in games. Sanford is the former president of the Scottish Society of Louisville (www.scotsoflou.com). We asked him a few questions about his experience at the event.
To create the event Sanford planned this rousing good time for the Celtic group to gather and compete in games. scheduled , met , begged, cried , and soldiered through the tough times created by COVID-19 and the restrictions on gatherings. Originally the event was planned to have more than just game participants, so the public could enjoy the Celtic culture at the beautiful retreat center, but due to the circumstances it was limited to just game participants.
Sanford speaks about the joy he received from Celtic events and his love for Scotland. He spoke of how the attendees of the games enjoyed it and were excited about coming back to the retreat to visit. Sanford would like to give recognition to Kerry Overfelt and Melanie Booker of Darkside Athletics who coordinated and ran the athletics, Sam Bracken and Melissa Ingram of the Celtic Pig for providing fantastic cuisine, and Father Patrick Dolan (U.S. Army Chaplain, Bgdr Gen. Retired) for starting the day off with a blessing. The retreat center was an excellent place to host the event and hopefully we will get the honor of hosting the event again next year.
Sanford discussed his stance on veteran suicide and the importance that Active Heroes plays in their mission to eliminate it.
“I find the subject (of veteran suicide) sad, I cannot truly understand it. I know it must be attacked. I love how Active Heroes is taking a nationwide stance on fighting this horrible reality, so much so, I joined the board.”
Thank you Sanford for putting this event together. Thank you to those who helped contribute to the event. Thank you to the participants and congratulations to the winners! We hope to see you again soon on the green and grassy hills of Active Heroes Retreat Center.
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If you attended the event and would like to share your photos please email them to us at info@activeheroes.org
Active Heroes is an IRS registered Top Rated 501c3 Charity that assists Military Families.
