A nonprofit organization that connects veterans and first responders with the outdoors has a new home in Delafield

Wisconsin Hero Outdoors, a nonprofit organization that aims to heal veterans and first responders by connecting them to the outdoors, finally has a place it can call home.

In late March, the Delafield Town Board approved a three-year lease for the organization, which has roots that date to 2016, to reside at the former Fire Station No.2, W329 S690 Highway C, Delafield.

"The stars aligned perfectly," said Eric Falkner, a co-founder and executive director of the group. "Being a former fire station, the fact we get to repurpose it and have it serve the very heroes that worked out of here was just even cooler."

Falkner, a former Marine and firefighter, was at a depressed low five years ago and received substance abuse treatment at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee. At the suggestion of a staff member at the VA, Falkner went on a fishing outing with Jason Bartol, a fellow veteran who had also been in treatment at the facility.

Bartol, who served for 12 years in the Air Force, would become a co-founder and president of Wisconsin Hero Outdoors.

"We've had a tremendous amount of support over the years," Falkner said. "So we've been accumulating all sorts of gear, from kayaks and fishing equipment to hunting equipment to boats and vehicles. We've been operating essentially out of our own garages and several different storage units throughout Waukesha County."

The organization has grown quickly, so Falkner was happy the organization found a home in the former fire station.

"It was getting a little bit chaotic with trying to keep everything organized and making sure that we could deploy effectively and get it to our volunteers and staff members who needed it," Falkner said.

To learn more, visit wiherooutdoors.org.

"We have everything centrally located now," Falkner said. "We put together an asset tracking system so when we deploy our assets throughout the state, we can manage the donations that have been so generous and use them in a responsible way."

Contact Evan Frank at (262) 361-9138 or evan.frank@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Evanfrank_LCP.