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An anonymous millionaire donated a building near the Russian River so Nadia McCaffrey can create a retreat for troubled veterans who return from Iraq.
 Nadia McCaffrey with photo of her son, Sgt. Patrick McCaffreyy, who died in action. Press file
Nestled in the Redwoods, overlooking a vineyard on one side and the Russian River on the other, the four-story veterans retreat looks exactly like the restful getaway Tracy activist Nadia McCaffrey envisioned.
For three years since her son Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey died on a special mission in Iraq, McCaffrey has traveled cross-country to raise awareness and money to help veterans re-enter civilian life. Her mission is to help soldiers returning from combat with injuries – whether physical or mental, like post traumatic stress disorder — recover peacefully, instead of relying on limited treatment from government clinics.
McCaffrey was unaware that behind her back, a wealthy philanthropist, a veteran himself, had been constructing a retreat specifically to house her first veteran village.
She nearly cried when she found out last week that the property just outside of the small town of Guerneville was all hers. She pledged last January that she’d have at least one center open before the end of the year — so the news came at a perfect time, she said.
The anonymous millionaire who had attended a few of McCaffrey’s speaking engagements gave her the building, saying he wanted to help translate her vision into reality.
“It’s the first step, and it’s only the beginning,” McCaffrey said. “I think that once I have the center up and running, it’ll really show people what this is all about, instead of always explaining it to them.”
The entire staff of therapists, counselors and other workers will be paid through grants and donations from the building’s owner. Others will volunteer.
McCaffrey plans to have it open and occupied by 14 veterans by the end of November.
“I’m really rushing to get everything together,” she said. “I’ve waited and waited for this, and to have it thrust on me so suddenly is truly amazing.”
In addition to living quarters, the retreat will have a conference center, a therapy center, a recreation and art center, an art gallery, a restaurant, and a common dining area, McCaffrey said.
“I want it to feel like family,” she said, adding that she plans to live with them during the week and spend her weekends in Tracy, where she’d eventually like to open something similar.
“I’m just a mother, after all, and they’re like my children. They call me right now at 3 in the morning — I’m always there for them.”
Already, McCaffrey has a waiting list of veterans ready to begin their stay.
The treatment will typically last two weeks to a month. Veterans who exit the weeks-long therapy will qualify for scholarships McCaffrey plans to supply through grant money.
She said she wants the retreat to be both therapeutic and practical, with both meditative, art- or nature-centered therapy and job training.
But the center will not be equipped to treat soldiers with severe disabilities or conditions that require constant care. In fact, McCaffrey’s focus is more psychological than physiological.
“I plan for this to be one of many like it,” she said.
Already a few exist.
Navy veteran Stephen Ledwell founded his New Hampshire farm retreat in 2004, and said he couldn’t be happier with the success of it.
He treats veterans who struggle with substance abuse and mental disorders, helping them learn to live independently once they graduate.
Ledwell will fly out to California soon to help McCaffrey get her own retreat started.
“Hopefully this won’t be like wars in the past, where we let our veterans fall between the cracks,” Ledwell said. “Hopefully (veterans) can come straight from their duty stations and right to us, and not fall in the gap. We won’t let that happen.”
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