This Boise HQ to be built for groups serving veterans, athletes with physical challenges

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation bought nearly seven acres from a private landowner in East Boise so it can house a building to serve veterans and adaptive athletes.

The 50,000-square-foot Idaho Outdoor Fieldhouse will be built next to the Boise River and Marianne Williams Park. The building will serve as headquarters for the Idaho Challenged Athletes Foundation and Mission 43.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation helps athletes with physical challenges to improve their lives through cycling, sports and fitness. It hosted four national paracycling championship events last Thursday through Sunday, July 8-11, in and around Boise.

Mission 43 has a goal of helping post 9/11 veterans succeed through education, employment and engagement.

“The idea, the dream was created by us working with two amazing organizations, Mission 43 and the Challenged Athletes Foundation,” said Roger Quarles of the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation.

Several veterans are part of both organizations.

“The synergy between those two groups, they support one another, they challenge each other and help each other grow,” Quarles said. “It strengthens our community.”

The building will feature an aquatic center, a multipurpose gym, a fitness area, a large gathering area, short-term housing and a hyperbaric oxygen therapy wellness center.

“It’s a campus that is going to wrap its arms around our athletes and their families,” said Jenn Skeesick of the Idaho Challenged Athletes Foundation. “It is being built intentionally for people with physical limitations, so it is safe for them, so people can focus on the sport versus just trying to get in the building, which is the everyday challenge our folks with physical limitations face.”

“Honestly the biggest challenge that we have is meeting people where they are in this journey,” said Skeesick. “Whether they are newly injured or elite athletes this building is going to serve people across that spectrum so beautifully.”

The plan is to break ground this fall.

Contributions from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation have helped build several Boise outdoor amenities, including Rhodes Skate Park, the whitewater park and the bike skills park.

This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 4:00 AM.