Matt Kuntz has poured his life outside of Mean Monkey Sports into helping veterans returning from war. What began as a simple vision has landed him in front of the most powerful men in America.

On January 17, 2009, President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden set out on the “Whistle Stop Tour”.

They invited and were joined by a group of “everyday Americans” on a train ride from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Each of their guests was carefully chosen for their work and contributions to society. They are everyday people, working to make a difference.

Matt Kuntz, the owner of Mean Monkey Sports, was one of the guests invited on this journey.

Matt began riverboarding in 2005 and quickly became hooked. However, he found there were no riverboards available that fit his hybrid athlete needs. This compelled him to design and sell his own line of riverboards, which are currently used worldwide. Matt and his company have definitely proven to be an asset to the riverboarding community over the past few years.

Obviously the Presidential recognition is not simply related to riverboarding, or Mean Monkey, but it must be exciting for Matt to be able to share his athletic passions with influential people.

A photo was recently posted on the TeamFLI website of Obama bodysurfing, so we asked Matt if he’d like to try to get Obama on a Mean Monkey board someday.

Matt smiles and says, “I’d love to take the President-Elect Obama down the Alberton Gorge outside of Missoula. He’s a solid athlete and a great guy. I’m sure he’d love to play on the rolling waves on that stretch of the Clark Fork River. Although, I also hear there’s some great water around D.C. maybe the Secret Service would be more amenable to that trip. Either way, the invitation is always open.”

So, if it wasn’t merely his accomplishments as a business owner and athlete that earned him the Presidential recognition, what was it? We found out that not only does Mean Monkey have some great products, but they truly are backed by an owner with a caring and passionate soul.

Matt Kuntz was a West Point Army officer and a lawyer, but his main passion now is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). It was his work with this organization that impressed Obama and earned him a seat on this historical train ride, as well as an evening at the inaugural ball.

Matt’s dedication began when his family “made a clear decision to fight for a better system of caring for our service members with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and their families.”

This decision was spawned after their recent loss of Chris Dana, Matt’s stepbrother. Dana, a specialist with the 163rd Infantry of the Montana National Guard, began isolating himself from the things he usually enjoyed, such as family and friends. His attendance at Guard drills began to decline, and then quit altogether. Dana received a less-than-honorable discharge and shot himself March 4, 2007.

Matt and his family took their cause to the people of Montana and they responded with a “groundswell of support”. Now, less than two years later, they are on the edge of a fundamental change in how all of our returning service members are screened and treated for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Matt is now the executive director of the Montana chapter of NAMI, has gotten the attention of President Obama, and recently testified to the US Senate on the changes that he believes need to take place (click here for the senate transcript).

Other athletes are also finding the satisfaction of helping others very rewarding. “It’s undeniable that the people involved with our sport do some pretty amazing things for people and the planet,” Matt says.

Fellow riverboarder Charl van Rensburg and Matt have each done their own work with Ugandan AIDS orphans.

Darryl Brown from Rocky Mountain Riverboards (RMR) just returned from his own humanitarian work in Africa, and he is very passionate about the cause.

Neil Amonson, a wingsuit flyer and athlete with Face Level Industries (FLI), does a combination of fundraising for The American Lung Association, and base jumping.

And currently Face Level as a company also supports a number of non-profit organizations, including treating drug addiction in teens, as well as environmental entities like American Whitewater.

“I’m honored to be among that group,” says Matt. “I’m excited to see where our sport and our activism will go in the future.”

Matt has so much going on with a successful sports company and his passion for helping others, how does he do it all?

“I try very hard not to do it all…in order to be successful; you need to focus on developing your strengths and partnering with people who excel in your areas of weakness. When it comes to mental illness that means I focus my efforts on broad scale advocacy and partner up with professionals that have the skills to work with individuals on a day-to-day basis. In adventure sports and fitness, I maintain my focus on cutting-edge ideas and then partner with innovative fabricators who can bring that idea to life.”

This whirlwind experience of life that Matt has hasn’t sunk in yet, but he has learned along the way, “I do think I can draw a lesson or two from where we’ve come.

The first lesson is that the people of America really do want our government to do what’s right. While it’s not always easy to find out what the right path is, the people demand that our leaders try and find it.

The second is that we are at a point in our history where major changes can begin with just a handful of people talking in a Montana kitchen. I think that it’s time for more of us to have those conversations.”

Watch a video of Matt's work for the Uganda Rural Fund-USA, Inc.

More information on NAMI and Matt’s work. Article by Eric Newhouse.

Click on these links to contact your Congressional leaders and tell them to support mental health screenings for our returning heroes.

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
 
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm