Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Schmidt ’02, USMCR (Ret.), recognized the trauma. Ukrainian children were experiencing the effects of long-term bombing by Russian forces. Schmidt has been coping with his own trauma from serving multiple deployments in Iraq and losing members of his unit. In 2021, Schmidt co-founded the Mountain Seed Foundation. The nonprofit utilizes mountaineering and therapy to help Ukrainians heal and overcome life’s challenges.
Its camps “provide an atmosphere designed to heal through art, therapy, skill-building and mentoring from a team of professionals who volunteer their time,” according to its website. Mountain Seed’s board of directors includes Lieutenant Commander Daniel Cnossen ’02, USNR (Ret.). Schmidt said the name for the foundation comes from the parable of the mustard seed in the Bible, “we believe with faith the size of a mustard seed, one can move mountains.” Schmidt recently shared part of his journey and inspiration for founding Mountain Seed with Shipmate.
Shipmate: What spurred the creation of the Mountain Seed Foundation?
Schmidt: Much like the Marine Corps was founded on 10 November 1775 in Tun Tavern, a brewery in Philadelphia, PA, Mountain Seed Foundation was spurred by an idea first discussed in a pub in Kyiv in 2018. The war had been going on since 2014 and during numerous trips to the areas in eastern Ukraine, it was clear this war had a significant impact on the children in this war-torn region. On one of my trips, I had the fortune to speak to a principal in a school particularly close to the front lines. We sat and had tea in his office in the middle of a cold autumn day. There were no windows in his school; all had been bombed out from artillery strikes, and he described how his children came to the school in the fall, winter and early spring in full snowsuits because the school was so cold. He also described how many of the children lived in cellars for added protection. This school and town is now in Russian- occupied territories of Ukraine. The idea for Mountain Seed Foundation was inspired by one of the founders, Iryna Prykhodko. During that evening sitting around the table in the pub in 2018, the first seeds of the foundation were planted by her vision to bring these children to the mountains to get them proper therapy and resilience-based skills and outdoor healing from the trauma of years under bombardment.
Shipmate: How did Mountain Seed get involved with helping Ukrainians?
Schmidt: Founded in Ukraine by a Ukrainian and an American, it was quite natural for our work to first be focused on Ukrainian families. Over the years since our founding in 2021, we have been blessed by the opportunity to assist refugee families, veterans’ families and Gold Star families from Ukraine. And our work is truly just beginning as we face the largest mental health crisis in our lifetimes in Ukraine. However, our foundation was created to assist families impacted by warzones in any part of the world and our work will be spreading to the Middle East and beyond in the years to come.
Shipmate: Why is it important to provide assistance to the children and families in war-torn countries such as the Ukraine?
Schmidt: While we are not a specifically faith-based organization, I cannot help but respond with my own Catholic faith. We have all been instructed to take care of the children, to protect them. As a father of four children and a husband and a veteran, I feel this charge of protection is one of the most important and critical missions to which we are all called. From my own combat experience, I can recall the eyes of the children most of all—how they looked at us and through us. They sought protection. Unfortunately, many of these children saw us through tears and were visibly afraid. To this day, I wish I could bend over and brush those tears away and console them. I fear the damage I left behind in their lives.
Shipmate: How did the Naval Academy and your time in uniform prepare you for this endeavor?
Schmidt: “Honor, Courage, Commitment” “Semper Fidelis—Always Faithful.”
“To develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.”
The Naval Academy and my time in the Marine Corps had a profound impact on my life and on the creation of Mountain Seed Foundation. I am so honored that my classmate and Navy SEAL Dan Cnossen agreed to join the foundation from its earliest days. Just as climbing a mountain presents incredible challenges, so, too, the challenges of trying to run a nonprofit are immense and hurdles not always seen until they are right in front of you. However, focused on the mission and your training, you keep going and you never give up, because there are people who need you, who need your help. Plus, when you have your team with you, you can overcome any obstacle.
Shipmate: How do experiential and mountain-based programs help participants heal?
Schmidt: The outdoors is truly a magical setting to heal. God’s incredible creation. Even as small as we feel in the mountains, there is so much life and healing that comes from just being in their midst.
Our program, developed by Amit Oren, assistant clinical professor in the Yale School of Medicine, focuses on positive psychology using the PERMA+ model. It focuses on confronting our challenges—our mountains, both visible and invisible— and taking the steps to overcome these challenges. We have an incredible team led by Dana Schmidt, my wife and the organization’s executive director, and there is a miracle to the program that is impossible to describe except by witnessing it— so please come and witness in person. Climb to heal!
Shipmate: Is this an extension of the service-based ethos ingrained at the Academy?
Schmidt: Absolutely—we are never done serving. And we should always seek to serve. I will say that some of the magic is that the volunteers always get more out of this program than they put into it. I can certainly attest to that. This program—our Healing Base Camp—has helped me heal my own wounds from PTSD and my three tours in combat. I will never forget a quotation on a billboard near the rotunda of Bancroft. I would pass it almost every day during my four years at the Academy. This simple anonymous quotation has had so much significance in my own life, “Evil only exists because good people do nothing about it.” It is profound in its simplicity and also in its challenge to those willing to heed its message. We can all serve.
Shipmate: What are some other programs Mountain Seed offers?
Schmidt: Our main program is the Healing Base Camp at our hub in Kaprun, Austria—this was the program featured both in Max Lowe’s documentary Camp Courage and in the 60 Minutes piece titled “Rise.” In addition to these programs, we also conduct Mini Base Camps (two locations in Ukraine) where kids climb at indoor facilities with a therapist on site, art therapy programs throughout Europe (our spokes) and we are excited to be working with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to build a permanent climbing and Healing Base Camp location in western Ukraine. In the years to come, we will be expanding our program well beyond Ukraine to the Middle East and to other war-torn areas of the world. There is so much healing needed in the world today and all it takes to start is faith the size of a mustard seed.
Shipmate: How can others get involved?
Schmidt: If you are interested, please email Dana at outreach@ mountainseedfoundaton.org. We always need help spreading the message and, of course, bringing in new volunteers. Whether it’s supporting from afar by helping plan an event, volunteering time to climb and mentor at a camp or using your platforms and networks to help us make connections for continued support—all ideas are welcome. We challenge each of the families that leave our program to go home and pay it forward (add people to your rope), because we know that having a purpose to help others sometimes heals us the most. Simple, good deeds can ignite a ripple effect that we may not even recognize.
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