But as with anything truly beautiful, the beauty has both depth and purpose. The purpose of this nonprofit permeates the building: the purpose of helping veterans connect with resources, services, community, and support to enrich and improve their lives and somehow show them the gratitude and respect of their countrymen.

Although I am in the building five or six days a week, I like to walk around and observe the employees at work, the visitors getting a tour, and the general goings-on as I find it all very interesting. But of all my favorite places in this building, there is one that catches my attention almost daily. It is a simple, stoic, spacious black sign in the very center of the building which reads, “Whole Person. One Place.”

I love this sign because I love its sentiment. We are born whole persons: mind, body, soul, and spirit. The team at Upstate Warrior Solution (UWS) recognizes the dignity of our warriors as whole persons as they seek to provide resources of all kinds from art classes to home loans, and from entrepreneurial support to a first-rate gym.

Whole Person. One Place.

The Rupe Gym is where I come in and it is where our Gym Manager, Taylor Sterling and the rest of our coaching staff look forward to serving our warriors and their friends and family.

Six days a week our gym offers a selection of classes from CrossFit/functional fitness to yoga. We have weightlifting and personal training. We have an ice plunge, free bottled waters, chilled towels for post-workout, clean and comfortable showers, and best of all, people committed to personal excellence. We are committed to personal excellence because we are committed to your story.

One of the things we’ve discovered is that when a person makes a decision to prioritize their physical health through exercise, many other aspects of life tend to improve as well. There is scientific data to back up this phenomenon, and it is both prolific and consistent. The fact is, rigorous physical activity benefits the whole person not just the body.

Our head coach has a decade of experience with athletes of all shapes and sizes, backgrounds, athletic abilities and interests. Our gym is as much for people who don’t like going to the gym, who feel intimidated or scared, as it is for a college athlete home for spring break because our gym is not about hitting personal records or winning bathing suit contests. Our gym is about building relationships, humility in the process of personal growth, and about having fun while working hard. And what we find as we pursue small incremental successes in the gym is that small incremental successes occur in nearly every other area of life.

Whole Person. One Place.