Steve Rubin, Founder & President, WAVES (Wounded American Veterans Experience SCUBA) has been in the transportation industry for over 45 years working in nearly every aspect of the business from driving a truck to managing a UPS facility and owning a freight logistics business.
His passion since the year 2000 has been working as a SCUBA Diving Instructor.
Steve and his wife Barbara founded the WAVES Project in 2013 to bring the therapeutic value of SCUBA diving to help veterans with injuries.
His desire is to create a community of veteran divers who develop new friendships and support each other to help heal body, mind, and spirit.
Steve is an SSI Instructor Trainer and has earned certifications as a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, First Aid, CPR, AED Instructor, and HSA Instructor. With over 2500 dives he has certified hundreds of veterans in SCUBA since founding the WAVES Project and serves as the head of dive training operations and managing director.
Why Serving USA?: Founded in 2013, WAVES (Wounded American Veterans Experience SCUBA) is celebrating a decade of providing an answer to managing symptoms of trauma veterans received during their service. By offering a supportive community and camaraderie, WAVES programs reinforce suicide prevention while training veterans and their companions in diving.
How does partnering with Serving USA benefit your mission? What is your hope for WAVES in the next decade?
At the beginning of our association with Serving USA, the financial support was a game changer. We were a young organization and the support enabled us to grow significantly. Once we came to know what it meant to be a partner we were impressed with the personal attention; and the ability to meet face-to-face with the people helping us. The resources like marketing support were very helpful and I was able to talk with the leaders for encouragement.
Our hope for the WAVES Project in the next decade is to continue to expand; we currently serve in Southern California, Houston Texas, and South Florida. We want to double the number of veterans we can help and increase the regions where we operate.
Emotional/Spiritual Health: As the Founder and President of an expanding nonprofit and leader of a growing company of veterans, how do you remain passionate and motivated to continue championing mental and physical wellness in your community?
When we hear testimonies of the people we have worked with it is very motivating; it fuels our passion.
Hearing that we have changed someone’s life, or even having saved them from suicide is the reason we continue to work hard.
It can be bittersweet because we get to know someone who is struggling and active in our programs, then 2 years later they are too busy to participate. Some have gotten jobs, gotten married, started families, or moved away to start new lives.
They are all successes but we miss seeing them.
Advice for Success: Your professional life outside of SCUBA has been full of landmarks and milestones as you’ve grown your career in the transportation industry. You are a unique visionary whose track record proves you reach and exceed your goals. What encouragement might you give someone in the Serving USA community to help them also reach a goal or make a new, positive change?
Advice – just start and don’t quit. Nothing follows the course of your original concept. You will not end up where you started. Half of success is just showing up, and we showed up! Be flexible when opportunities come up, don’t be rigid. Things will 100% change once you get started. We believe when God closes a door, He opens another.
We pray for guidance and have to be willing to accept it when it comes.
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Each month Serving USA publishes a newsletter featuring our amazing ministry partners. We are so blessed by them as they work to make an impact with veterans, women in recovery and individuals who have been incarcerated.
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