- March 12, 2025
Plans are in motion to bring a new resource to veterans, their families and the families of the fallen in Flagler County.
Gratitude America, a nonprofit organization, hopes to build a facility in Marineland that will hold retreats for veterans and their families. These retreats will include therapeutic sessions as well as recreational activities.
The organization hopes to host its first Flagler County retreat in May 2013.
Gratitude America is currently exploring options for land use in Marineland to house a facility, which will be the first of an envisioned string of such facilities across the country, that bring indivdiduals and organizations together to provide services for veterans, said Lewis Jordan, chief executive officer of the organization.
James Jacoby, of Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc., who once owned all of Marineland, may make a parcel of his land in the area available for the organization to use, Jordan said. But the organization is currently exploring the acquisition of more land in the area with the help of Jacoby.
Gratitude America’s core mission is to provide answers for veterans.
Whether veterans need help with post traumatic stress disorder, chemical dependency, reacquainting themselves with normal life or anything else, Gratitude America wants to be a resource.
Jordan and his wife, Joni, founded the organization less than a year ago. Jordan was at the end of a 49-year career in the airline industry and had served as president of three major airlines, the last being AirTran. When the company was sold to Southwest airlines in May 2011, Jordan and his wife decided it was time to give back.
The couple considered several causes they might support, including the fight against cancer. Joni Jordan is both a breast cancer and pancreatic cancer survivor, and although the couple gives regularly to cancer relief efforts, the couple decided their support would be to a different kind of nonprofit organization.
“Our hearts have gone out to the news reports that we get every day of people who have been killed or wounded in Afghanistan or Iraq,” Jordan said. “It seemed in my mind that veterans needed some additional attention.”
Jordan has worked to establish a nationwide network to bring his organization across the country. The honorary chairman of the organization is former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, and Tom Brokaw of NBC Nightly News has expressed support for Lewis’ efforts, he said.
And while Gratitude America wants to build and operate its own facilities, such as the one envisioned for Marineland, it may also make use of camps that already exist.
Easter Seals, an organization that works with people with disabilities, has a string of camps across the nation that are used during summers to host programs for children. During the school year, however, they are used less frequently. The organization has said Gratitude America can use its camps at that time.
Gratitude America is still finalizing these details, but it’s prepared to work on a national level, Jordan said. It'll start in Flagler County.
“I became interested in the area when I heard that 20% of the population is veterans,” said Jordan, who works from his home in Fernandina Beach. “I’ve also heard the people there are very community-minded and patriotic, and there’s something about its landscape that can be healing.”
Jordan said he’s had positive response from Flagler County officials so far, and he’s optimistic about prospects for a Gratitude America facility in the area.
At the forefront of Jordan’s support in the county is Flagler County Commissioner George Hanns, a veteran himself.
“It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to be a young soldier coming home from combat,” he said. “It can be devastating.”
Hanns is excited about this endeavor not just because it supports veterans, but also because it has local appeal.
There are more than 14,000 veterans in Flagler County, he said, and that’s only counting the ones who have registered through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Many of them don’t, Hanns said.
“Having this resource will just add one more thing to our list of quality-of-life amenities,” he said.
Jordan said the May retreat will likely be reserved only for local veterans within a three-hour drive from the facility. He hopes to be able to offer the retreat — including travel expenses — to veterans at no cost, but that's contingent on the success of a fundraiser the organization plans to host early next year.
“Veterans have given so much for us,” Jordan said. “We hope the community will step up and want to give back.”
