Walking to Give Vets Peace of Mind

Soldiers in full military fatigues and uniforms from all branches of the U.S. Military trekked the Long Beach boardwalk on Saturday. The event was the second annual Long Beach Boardwalk March for Combat Veterans.

The fundraiser event is the brainchild of Long Beach resident Amy Mahoney, founder and director of Peaceful Minds, a wellness center for combat veterans who returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan and suffer conditions ranging from insomnia to depression to traumatic brain injury.

Participants could sponsor or otherwise support the troops in the 10-mile march that started at Riverside Boulevard boardwalk on Saturday and raised more than $4,000, according to the Peaceful Minds’ Facebook page. The funds will cover the costs of everything from acupuncture needles to treatment tables to the organization's offices in Farmingdale and Manhattan.

“[T]he support and donations we received today will go a long way in helping us to treat the injuries, both physical and emotional, of returning combat veterans of the Global War on Terror and Emergency Service Personnel who provided an invaluable service to their country and fellow countrymen in the weeks following that fateful morning in September, 2001," the PM's Facebook page reads.

In March 2011, Patch caught up with Mahoney to learn about her organization and learned about it's Long Beach-based origins. The first walk was held on a cold and rainy day last October.