Honoring Veterans Day: Lifelong Support and Finding New Purpose

Join Shannon Bream as she welcomes Karen Hetherington, Chief Program Officer for Semper Fi & America’s Fund and a military spouse herself, to discuss the profound work being done for veterans and their families. Twenty-one years ago another Karen – founder Karen Guenther, an ICU nurse at Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital – sat around her dining room table with other military spouses and began fundraising for a wheelchair-accessible van for wounded warriors returning from Iraq.  That was the beginning of an organization that has now served more than 100,000 family members and 38,000 service members with more than $500 million in grants and programming. Karen shares the reality that combat injuries—whether physical or invisible like PTSD and TBI—can be lifelong, often emerging years after servicemembers return home. She explains how the organization’s unique one-on-one case management approach means veterans aren’t just numbers but have dedicated case advocates who know their stories. With powerful data showing that families with case managers for over three years are 80% less likely to struggle with substance abuse and 75% less likely to face suicidal ideation or housing insecurity, this organization wraps its arms around entire family units. When you support the whole family, everyone rises together—offering hope, purpose, and practical support to those who’ve sacrificed so much for our country.