A South Florida veteran has started a nonprofit to enrich the lives of wounded Americans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Veterans Retreat, Inc. will sponsor deep-sea fishing trips, scuba certification, sailing instruction and other outdoor activities that the men and women enjoyed, or dreamed about, before their lives were changed by injury.

These retreats are provided at no cost to participants and are funded entirely by contributions from individual and corporate sponsors.

“Thirty percent of all returning soldiers are coming home with traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder,” Veterans Retreat’s Tim Suereth said in a statement. “Americans owe these injured soldiers, marines, airmen and seamen a debt we can never repay. Veterans Retreat hopes to motivate them to maintain a positive attitude on life and future possibilities.”

Suereth, an army vet, was moved when his brother suffered a traumatic brain injury unrelated to the wars. Helping him recover, Suereth witnessed how simply catching a fish motivated his brother to work harder to have a normal life.

“We will facilitate the wounded vets continued participation in activities they enjoyed before they went to war,” said Suereth, who fought on the army’s boxing team. “Our Miami Beach location affords us a unique opportunity to provide emotionally healing and physically challenging recreational and educational experiences to those who are most in need of a little encouragement, success and happiness.”

Veterans can sign up for retreats at VeteransRetreat.com.