A Sanctuary of Support: Sarah Ford on Creating Healing Spaces for Veterans

What if a simple pizza oven could be a catalyst for healing? Join us as we sit down with Sarah Ford, the Executive Director of the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run and Willing Warriors, to uncover the transformative power of community amenities and the unwavering support that has brought their vision to life. Sarah shares the inspiring journey from the mere concept of a third house to the grand realization of the multipurpose Grand Lodge, a project that gained momentum through an essential $300,000 seed fund from the PenFed Foundation and a groundswell of local support.

As we walk through the Grand Lodge's remarkable features, from a fully equipped Italian pizza oven to the sixth fire pit on the property, it's clear these aren't just amenities—they're touchpoints for connection and healing for military service members and their families. Sarah delves into the impact of community-driven efforts, including a new fire pit project led by the first female Eagle Scout, and discusses upcoming highlights like the Vets for Vets car show. These additions are more than just physical structures; they are foundational to fostering a supportive environment where veterans can gather, reconnect, and find solace.

In our conversation, the significance of community support and ongoing funding becomes evident as we explore partnerships with NOVA Vets and Heroes Bridge and a special program for first responders supported by a $5,000 grant from UVA Health. We emphasize the importance of sustaining these programs through initiatives like the Combined Federal Campaign and our eagerly anticipated gala event. This episode is a heartfelt celebration of the collective efforts to honor our warriors and an invitation to listeners to join this impactful journey.

Transcript

Larry Zilliox: 0:14

Good morning. I'm Larry Zilliox, D director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and today, our guest is Sarah Ford, the Executive Director of the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run and Willing Warriors, the parent organization. It's been a while since Sarah's been with us. She was here with Diane Polk, our Director of Operations, in Season 1, episode 2. So it's been more than a year actually, and I thought I'd ask her to come back and we can talk about what's happened in the last year or so, or especially this year, and what's coming up, what the future looks like. So, sarah, welcome to the podcast.

Sarah Ford: 0:59

Yes, thanks, larry. Thanks for having me back. I was beginning to wonder if I didn't do a good job the first time. You know it's been a little while.

Larry Zilliox: 1:06

No, we've been pretty busy, so you're busy, so I'm glad I could finally wrangle you into coming down into the basement to the world-famous Willing Warriors podcast studio and spend some time with us. So, thinking back, this has been a busy year. What's it been like for you as executive director? I know you wear like 40 hats. There's grants, there's just everything. What's it been like?

Sarah Ford: 1:37

Well, it has been a busy year so far. You're right, it's tough to get our schedules to kind of mash up. I think all of us as a staff, we seem to be passing in the wind and it's hard to find the time to really sit down and look and appreciate what's all been done this past year. And certainly I would say the biggest accomplishment as a group and as an organization has been opening the Grand Lodge, and that happened May 18th. Huge effort from the community, from our volunteers, the staff, the board, to make that happen.

Sarah Ford: 2:10

Very exciting times around here Just knowing what that's going to mean to our warriors, to our warrior groups, what it's going to mean to this community and to our military service population. So that certainly has been a milestone. But it's just the start, right, it's just the start. Now. Where do we go from here? We have this beautiful facility, you know, state-of-the-art equipment and the meeting space. So now those energies and all that time that was spent building it really kind of turns to focus on what we're going to do and the impact we can make. So that's where program development comes into play. So that's kind of what's next on the table.

Larry Zilliox: 2:52

So take us back to the very beginning of the Grand Lodge, kind of walk our listeners through what it takes to build a million-dollar Grand Lodge. There was ideas of a third house Right. Then it kind of switched to maybe a community center, then back again to a house with enough meeting space to accomplish the kind of goal of being able to provide programs for veterans and active duty soldiers. But thinking back, I mean it was initially a meeting with PenFed Foundation, I think.

Sarah Ford: 3:29

Yeah, true, so the whole idea for having this space came about from the need to host warrior groups about from the need to host warrior groups and with our two homes they're very much geared towards families and hosting families, family bonding, bringing the family together. Not quite as equipped for having larger groups, so to have 20, 30 warriors come at a time not from a family, but individuals to come, we just needed the space where they could all be in a room together, receive some, whether it's counseling services, educational services, you know, whatever the need may be that they could meet. And so that's where the idea of getting this space. So you were kind of talking about the evolution of how did we land with the Grand Lodge? And you're right.

Sarah Ford: 4:15

It first started out that we would need maybe it's like this building right, just with an activities room or a meeting space in it, and we hit some roadblocks with zoning and all of that with the county to build that. We looked at building a house, then having another home but having a large enough space within the home to accommodate the groups within the home to accommodate the groups. And then it kind of grew to where we met with the architect and he said you know, hey, look, why don't we put this big multipurpose room that you need? Put it with the house, that way you'd have the lodging and everything to accommodate those extra additional warriors and guests. So it just, you know, happened and kind of evolved along those lines and it just we just knew it was meant to be. It was kind of one of those aha moments like, oh yeah that would be, that would be perfect.

Larry Zilliox: 5:03

Yeah.

Sarah Ford: 5:04

And so our co-founder, john. He was searching and he has experience in real estate and building and he found this house plan and just felt drawn to it. And we all looked at it, we all liked it and said, yeah, this would look great. And so we put that in a corporate brochure and said, you know, this is our vision and we want to build this facility. This is what it's going to do, this is the impact it's going to make. And yeah, having a meeting PenFed corporate headquarters with the CEO, James Gank, he looked at that picture and looked at the brochure and he's like I want that house, we need to build this house. And when they came and stepped forward with that $300,000 seed money to have a matching fund for the Grand Lodge, that was the catalyst for the community to say, hey, we want to build this house too, we need to have this for our warrior groups.

Sarah Ford: 5:52

And the community rose to the challenge, met the match so we had the $600,000 and that's what allowed us to break ground and start building and from then, you know, it's just been continuous community support. You know, through, I'm sure Diana's mentioned in your previous podcast, you know, on building it, Just whatever people could do, whether it was, you know, hey, I have a drilling company to drill for a. Well, I can do that for you.

Sarah Ford: 6:19

And then they Valley Drilling, did that pro bono and it just, those stories just, were repeated over and over again, with building in the Grand Lodge. And here we are, you know this magnificent facility.

Larry Zilliox: 6:30

Yeah, and I remember July last year we were getting set to do the Vets for Vets and asked our builder, tj, what can you build in the next month so that when they come for the Vets for Vets they'll see something being built? And it gave us a way to talk to all the folks there that were bringing their cars or coming to see the cars to say, hey, this is what we're doing, we're building this grand lodge and I think we got a lot of support out of that and you know, god bless TJ, he had like the first story framed out in time for that. So here we are, coming up. It's been 11 months and the house is done and the kitchen amazing. We're just finishing up some touches on the patio Pavilion yes, which, the patio and a beautiful pavilion and an outdoor kitchen donated by a local veteran and his wife. It's beautiful and it's so much better than the deck that was planned.

Sarah Ford: 7:37

It's definitely a showpiece for the Grand Lodge having that Patriot Pavilion. You know it's just going to be a space of healing, a space of camaraderie. You can just tell it now, you know, even before our first group that we're about to have here in the coming week, you can just tell that that space is going to be one that's going to make an impact. And just looking at it, stunning Anybody that sees it's like oh wow. You know you kind of get caught off guard. You know, when it's fully equipped with this Italian pizza oven.

Larry Zilliox: 8:09

Yeah.

Sarah Ford: 8:10

And you know just all of the amenities out there. It's just a beautiful space.

Larry Zilliox: 8:15

Yeah, and I think that outdoor space like that just kind of gives you the freer feeling that you're not cooped up in the house, because it is adjacent to the activities room where all the training will take place, and that's an amazing setting for that, but it's also nice that when you're done with that, you can go outside and have a space outside that really is functional Well, and I can see like small group meetings, small group sessions out there, and certainly the pavilion is big enough to have the entire group out there.

Sarah Ford: 8:50

It's over 2,000 square feet but I envision like just like circles of, you know, warriors kind of meeting and having little discussions out there. You know, certainly the outdoors has a healing impact, Just listening to the sounds of nature and the serenity that this you know property provides. So I can just see whether it's a break from sessions or it's continuing sessions, either in large format or small format. I can't think of a more perfect place to have a lunch break. We might have to go out there and Larry and try it out.

Larry Zilliox: 9:24

I'm sure we're going to have a lot of meetings.

Sarah Ford: 9:26

I think we need to have a staff meeting on the State Troop Pavilion, absolutely. But going back to the Vets for Vets you mentioned, you know we did have framing up for Vets for Vets last year and now, with this coming year's Vets for Vets car show, with the house being done, I'm so excited to see the reaction, or hear the reaction, and to see those individuals that maybe only come to this property once a year, maybe they just come for Vets for Vets. They saw it last year and it was just the stick frame and now they're going to come back and see the finished product. I'm kind of excited.

Sarah Ford: 9:55

I'm excited to see their reaction and get those wows and be able to show them the house, the inside of the house, and see what a difference the community is making.

Larry Zilliox: 10:05

Yeah, and that's the key is to say this is what the community has given back. The other nice, really nice thing about patio is that all good patios come with a fire pit, and this is our sixth fire pit on the property and it is a doozy. It's big and because our veterans, when they come in groups, they love to build as big a fire as they can, and so this will be, this will be a good one for them, and then there's this excellent seating all the way around that fire pit there, so it's a complete package. It's really something.

Sarah Ford: 10:46

Wanted to make it special. You know it's just such a special part of this property and you know all the little touches that went into the Grand Lodge you know are just key to giving off the feeling that it exudes, and certainly the bonfire pit is a part of that.

Larry Zilliox: 11:04

Yeah, it'll get a lot of use, like all our fire pits get a lot of use actually. Yes, yes.

Sarah Ford: 11:10

The magic happens around the fire.

Larry Zilliox: 11:12

It sure does I mean the one I hear at Lang House. We've replaced three times because it just gets used nonstop.

Sarah Ford: 11:18

Every day, every day, typically for a warrior stay. The warriors are out there and it's so. You know, it's kind of humbling, like when you see. You know everything that is in this world today, all the technology, everything that's out there, that's at our fingertips, but yet coming back to just sitting around a fire, sometimes that's, you know, that's the catalyst to helping somebody heal or helping a family to reconnect. You know the kids open up, parents open up, and it's just watching that fire, sitting around the fire, roasting a few marshmallows or so forth, but it just comes back to that simplicity. I think we might all need to sit around a bonfire sometime, sure.

Larry Zilliox: 11:59

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it. It's one of the two things that I find people gravitate towards and enjoy the simplicity of it, and it really doesn't take much to get it going. You don't need any special crazy tools. But it's the ocean and it's fire. Yeah, true Wind and fire yeah, yeah, earth wind and fire.

Larry Zilliox: 12:20

Yeah, yeah, and our fire pits get a lot of hues. We actually have a new fire pit. That's kind of special. It's our fire pit that is built on a compass rose and it's the latest Eagle Scout project and it was done by our first female Eagle Scout. I think it's special, I think it's really something.

Sarah Ford: 12:43

Yeah, no, it's a beautiful addition to the property and it's actually on the other side of the grounds beside the Penne Fed House. You know, it's just great. It's been used already by each family and each group that has stayed over there and they've all remarked it's, you know, a nice place to gather and enjoy wildlife, the deer, the wild turkeys, you know, are running nearby, they can see those. But no, we're certainly blessed with, you know, the hard work and talents of the Eagle Scouts, and to have the first female Eagle Scout project here was really special.

Larry Zilliox: 13:19

Yeah, and she really shined with this one. Oh, absolutely, it's really something. Talk a little bit about the future. I know we touched on some of the programs and you know we have a— not everything is going to be a big elaborate program. It's not going to be okay. They're coming for a whole week of this or that. We're going to have that, but also we're going to do some one-offs and we're partnering here in July with Nova Vets and Heroes Bridge to bring out elderly veterans for a lunch at the Grand Lodge and we're really excited about that. I kind of see that as the future here. We'll just be popping in these one-day, two-day training sessions and maybe meetings like that, using just a certain aspect of it.

Sarah Ford: 14:12

Yeah, no, absolutely. We want to make this property accessible to our service members, to our veteran population, and we want to reach as many as we can. And we know we can only host so many Warrior Family Stays as there are weeks in the year. But the Grand Lodge affords us the opportunity, like you said, to do like a one-day maybe it's a weekend event but to be able to touch and impact more, more people. And I love, I love, I love this partnership that you, you know, work together with with Nova Vets and Heroes Bridge to bring these, these older veterans, out here to enjoy the grounds.

Sarah Ford: 14:54

We don't want anybody to be forgotten and anybody's service to you know, to not be recognized as it should.

Sarah Ford: 15:00

And we know that certainly, especially with our older veteran population, that many of them, you know, did not get the welcome home that they deserved and, you know, were, quite frankly, treated very poorly by their communities when they came back home, quite frankly treated very poorly by their communities when they came back home.

Sarah Ford: 15:20

And so it's nice for us to be able to give an opportunity to say, hey, thank you, you know, come out here to the retreat, have lunch with us, let's break bread together, but just show some appreciation for what you know, for what they did in their service. I can't think of a better place than the Patriot Pavilion to do that. And for them, you know, maybe there's some things that they're wrestling with in their minds and maybe this is an opportunity for them to come out here to get together with other veterans and just have some talks and but just feel, feel the appreciation of the community, because, again, that's what this is about. It's about how the community comes together to support our military service members, and you can't help but feel that when you, when you come here, and so I want them to feel that. I want them to feel that sense of uh, pride from our community, that that um that we have they're not forgotten.

Sarah Ford: 16:15

no, absolutely they're not forgotten. And and you know other other military groups to come out or other organizations that support the military, and there's so many organizations that are doing so much good and we can provide kind of a common ground place where we can come together and just provide support for those organizations and just the different military groups.

Sarah Ford: 16:42

There's so many groups that get together that you know have a Facebook group or somehow follow each other on social media and you know, maybe get together, you know, once a month or something like that, and just in support of one another. And we want to kind of tap into that too and say, hey, let's do maybe an event at the retreat. You know what's the need, is it? You know, what are you seeing out there, like, is it more support for PTS? Is it the operations? Save the number. Can we have a program out here where we get everybody together and tell them about the impact of operations, save the number. So they know, hey, put this number in your phone, put it in your buddy's phone, even if they say that they don't need it. Well, maybe they'll run into somebody that does so to put that number in there.

Larry Zilliox: 17:27

but just the education that can come from having that space, you know, it's just it's's limitless I do see maybe we're members of northern virginia veteran suicide coalition and northern vervet northern virginia veterans coalition uh, having meetings of the organization using the facility. There it's just, uh, it's limitless really. We just have to figure out the schedules and what it costs to function and things like that. Which makes me think about grants and grant writing, and that is we struggle, like every nonprofit out there, for funding and what are some of the ways that maybe our listeners could help us find grants or get funding?

Sarah Ford: 18:17

No great great lead-in. I love that, larry, because there's so much that we could utilize the support of our Willing Warriors family and of this community finding funding resources. So if you work at maybe it's a DOD provider, contractor, corporation that has community outreach funding, you know, vetting us into that or saying, hey, I know this great organization that's doing good for the community and for our service members, willing Warriors, you know, and just making the connect between us, you know, and your, your company, your organization, would be huge. Because you know I can look at all these companies online and find all these great things, you know great programs that they have, but you really need to kind of be vetted in to those and they love companies love to support organizations that their employees believe in. And so, as an employee, if you could say, you know, hey, I've been to the Warrior Retreat or you know, I've checked them out and I can see they're doing good work and they're good stewards of funding, so that would be huge.

Sarah Ford: 19:28

And just looking, looking for you know other avenues, other resources out there. And and certainly you know there's been creative ways We've had somebody that their employer sent out an email say, hey, you know, suggest to us some organizations that that you believe would you know would benefit from from some funding, and so different people have nominated us with with their employers. Some employers do matching funds, so if you make a donation your employer will match that fund to the organization. You know many possibilities, but certainly you know helping to open doors for us would be huge.

Sarah Ford: 20:04

But I know UVA Health, just hot off the press, uva Health is actually giving us some grant funding $5,000. Oh wow, giving us some grant funding $5,000. Oh wow, yes, to support a special program at the Grand Lodge to bring the moral injury program to first responders.

Larry Zilliox: 20:22

Oh, wow.

Sarah Ford: 20:28

So you know, looking at, you know new avenues and new programs, you know how can we work together in the community, because really the community as a whole benefits and it's working together. So it's partnering with organizations like UVA Health, which has such a strong presence here in the community and certainly is a big advocate for mental health and so forth. Like when we can work together, we only make the community stronger.

Larry Zilliox: 20:49

Sure, sure, and it's a great way for us to give back to the community, to thank them for all their support is to try to reach out and help first responders in our own community. They need a place to really address some of the issues that they encounter and they have issues with PTS and TBI and so us being a resource I think is fantastic, just to sort of follow up on what you're saying there. I like the idea of come out and learn about us and then go back to your company and say, hey, you guys should take a look at this organization, maybe do a service day when all the employees can go out and do something. And the easiest way to do that is we have an op tempo here where we do three guest days in a row and then we take a week off, and during that week off, from March through November, that Saturday from 9 to noon is Beautification Day, and so you can go to our webpage is Beautification Day, and so you can go to our webpage. You can sign up on there under events for Beautification Day and come out and pick up sticks, weed, paint, do the things that we just can't do, because there's not, there's only six of us and we just can't paint the fence.

Larry Zilliox: 22:13

It's also give you a chance to learn about what we do, to see the property, which makes a huge difference to tour the Grand Lodge and then go back to your company and say, hey, here's a great way to support the military community and veteran service organizations and military service organizations. So the other thing that I really want our listeners to know is that if you do have some funding avenues that you think we can take advantage of, to reach out to Sarah, our number here is 571-248-0008. Just give us a call and ask for Sarah. Really, we can use all the help that we can get. There's no doubt.

Sarah Ford: 23:00

So interesting story was attending an event at the Regency. Here at Dominion Valley, regency Women's Club has done a phenomenal job. We were charity of choice this year, along with Crossroads, and so attending this event, and a gentleman came up and asked about our trash service, right? And so he asked if we were paying for our trash service. And I said yes, and you know this is how much we pay. And he said, oh, you should be getting that free.

Sarah Ford: 23:29

He said you know, when I first was at the retreat, you know, way back when 2014, 2015,. You know, I had an account set up and they said that they would provide free, you know, trash removal. And well, that company was bought out and a new company and so that kind of fell off. And he said I'm going to reach out. I was like, okay, you know I didn't. You know not that I didn't believe that he was going to reach out, I fully did. I knew that. You know that's considerable expense for us and so forth, but he made the call, reached out, went to the top, you know the executive staff there. And here we are now Our trash removal services is free. So sometimes it's not about just a flat donation, but it's getting those kinds of connections and getting those services provided for and it takes takes a load off of our, you know, monthly financial responsibility, yeah, so so, yeah, just having connections and resources, things like that prove to be invaluable to us.

Larry Zilliox: 24:32

Yeah, every, every little bit helps Absolutely. And another way that our listeners can help us is with CFC. Yes, and so if you work for the government and at your agency, you will undoubtedly there'll be a big push for CFC during the season. You could help us by inviting us to your agency. I know that many of these agencies have resource days where they invite nonprofits in, and if you have a way to make that happen for us, that's great. Anywhere in the Northern Virginia area we're not really able to go to DC that's a great way. Or even to just get a flyer up in your cafeteria or your break room about the retreat with our CFC number on it, that would be a big help too, and we can PDF that to you easily to put up. So there's a lot of ways to help really or volunteer here. Yeah, the CFC it's a little bit trickier help really or volunteer here.

Sarah Ford: 25:37

Yeah, the CFC. It's a little bit trickier for us because we're a smaller organization. So you have to look. If you don't know our number, if you don't know the number and you want to donate to us, you have to look through the book and kind of find us. You know, deep dive into the CFC archives but because some other organizations you know so many people want to support, you know veterans and military, but we're not in that, that top 10 list that you're going to see right there. So because we're not as large and not a national organization, so organizations like Wounded Warrior Project, you know, boy Scouts of America, American Heart Association, all those are great organizations.

Sarah Ford: 26:18

Yeah, american Red Cross certainly, and I'm not taking anything away from them at all, it's just Fantastic organizations. Absolutely. But you know, we know that there's people like, yeah, I wanted to donate to Willing Warriors. I just didn't see you. Well, because we're in the back of the book.

Sarah Ford: 26:32

But we do have our CFC number and we have it on our website and on our brochures and on our flyers and, like you said, posting it in a break room or at your organization and say, hey, this group is doing good, you know, check them out and consider supporting them would be wonderful, that would really be great.

Larry Zilliox: 26:49

So where do you think we're going to go from here? What's the next? Well, we have the gala coming up, and that's always amazing. I'm going to get Diane Lunsford, our events coordinator, to come on the podcast. I'm very excited to get her in an upcoming episode to talk about all the events. But the gala I know you work hard on and it's your favorite thing in the whole world. Gala I know you work hard on and it's your favorite thing in the whole world.

Sarah Ford: 27:20

What's this gala going to be like for you this year? Well, to go back to what's next, I know what you want me to say, and that's building this tiny house podcast studio. I know that's what you want me to say.

Sarah Ford: 27:33

Larry, I know that that's what you want me to say so, if there's a listener out there that wants to build Larry a tiny house for his podcast, just reach out. But yes, we do have several events coming up and certainly we have Vets for Vets in July, as you mentioned, the Warrior Ride in September and then the Gala in November. And the Gala is that big culminating event where we truly celebrate what the community has done. We celebrate our warriors and then the impact the community has made on those warriors. And you know that's that's the whole purpose of that gala. Um is to to make that circle complete right and to support those warriors. We have to raise the funding to do that.

Sarah Ford: 28:16

So it is a fundraiser but it's a very meaningful one. It's a meaningful evening because you hear from the warriors, you see our warriors and their family members and get to know firsthand the impact that you're making here at the retreat. So you know, while the purpose is to raise funding, that funding has a very important meaning behind it and it's all about our warrior families. You know we strive really, really hard for our pass-through rate, meaning you know how much of your dollars impacts directly to our warriors. And you know we're consistently in the 90s as far as 97% with that which is outstanding, especially for small organizations. Small organizations have a harder time meeting those benchmarks because no matter if you employ, you know, five people or 50 people, like you're going to have, we still have our utilities and the mortgages and the payments and everything for the property and the grounds that we cover.

Sarah Ford: 29:19

But when I say all that to say you know, it's certainly an event that I would recommend you know you to come to and if, especially if you don't really know much about the warrior retreat or willing warriors, it is a great way to find out about us and to to meet these warriors and to see, see the need and see how this community is coming together to meet that need. Um, so I would highly recommend it. It's, it's a fun evening. We're going to have fun. We're going to have a band there. The Nox are coming to play jazz and they are tremendous. They played at our ribbon cutting. That's right.

Larry Zilliox: 29:55

The.

Sarah Ford: 29:56

Grand Lodge, such a great group of people and great music and just great musicians. So that's going to be fun and we're going to have, you know, cocktail hour, dancing, live auction, silent auction, and just make it a fun and memorable evening, great, great.

Larry Zilliox: 30:10

Great, great Talk a little bit about one of the biggest hurdles we had and we've actually almost overcome. It was for qualifying veteran service organizations that own property here in Prince William County and it had been a long battle, but where are we on that?

Sarah Ford: 30:50

So you are right. We had a unanimous vote by the Princeville County Board of Supervisors in support of our exemption. The support that we have gotten from Chair Jefferson, our Haymarket supervisor, supervisor Weir and the entire board has been tremendous. You know, this past year Couldn't have done it without them coming together and making that bipartisan recommendation and vote. So that passed and now what we have is an application to submit to to the tax office and the tax office has to review that application and choose whether to approve and if they approve it with their recommendations or hopefully not. But they do have the option to deny that application. But they will make their recommendations to the board prior to the complete resolution of the process, which is where we will have our full tax exemption.

Larry Zilliox: 31:43

Well, I can't imagine any reason why they wouldn't approve it that we are a nonprofit veteran service organization, military service organization directly supporting our service members. I mean the resolution was passed specifically to address this issue, so I'm sure they're going to approve it 100%.

Sarah Ford: 32:08

Well, the resolution you know, passed by the County Board of Supervisors you know the language of it certainly is exactly what we do here at the retreat and we do have 37 acres, three, three residences here on the property. All 37 acres is being used by the warrior tree, solely by the warrior retreat, specifically for our warriors. You know, the 37 acres that we have is what makes the retreat so special and it's the ambiance that it creates. It's an ability for the warriors to take the track wheelchair and go out through the wooded area.

Larry Zilliox: 32:48

Take the trails.

Sarah Ford: 32:48

Take the trails, go with their kids. The kids run through the woods, they paint rocks and they'll hide the rocks in the woods. These kids get to be kids, they get to play, they get to roll over logs and they dig up worms and they're playing with sticks. And you know they're playing with sticks, and just you know the fun, freedoms and joys of being a child. And they're rolling down the lawn and so they're using our 37 acres. So I think you know the only thing coming into question is does this whole property, the 37 acres, does it serve warriors? And the answer is 100%, absolutely yes, it is 100% yes. Every single inch of this property has been walked on, has been. You know cartwheels, you know down a curve there's no other possible purpose.

Sarah Ford: 33:41

Right.

Larry Zilliox: 33:42

I mean just clearly.

Sarah Ford: 33:43

And they use the warriors. Use, larry, you've seen it. They use all of the grounds. They go out to the gardens. They'll sit in the surrounding gardens, they'll go out to the vegetable garden get some fresh vegetables. And the kids want to know. You know what's this? What's that? You've educated children on what a cucumber you know looks like. This is a cucumber that you see in the store. This is what it looks like. You know growing on a vine. So they're learning, they're exploring. We have the playgrounds all around the fire pits that you mentioned earlier, all throughout the grounds. So yes, it's a resounding yes. Every single acre on this property is used to benefit the warriors and there's a purpose. There's a purpose for it.

Larry Zilliox: 34:23

Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully that'll come to a resolution here pretty soon, because that taxes that we have been paying in the past were substantial, especially for such a small organization like ourselves.

Sarah Ford: 34:37

So what's the biggest thing, the most important thing you want our listeners to know about the Warrior Retreat, as we kind of wrap things up here, I would say to those that think that there isn't such a need now for the retreat because you're not seeing on the news, you're not seeing you know where we have thousands upon thousands of troops deployed and engaged in this battle or that battle. But just because you're not seeing that it doesn't mean there isn't a need and that there aren't service members that are injured, that are ill, that are dealing with mental health crises. As we know, the soldier recovery unit at Fort Belvoir is full and Fort Belvoir, you know, has the Army's most critically wounded right there at the soldier recovery unit that's here in our backyard. So there is a need, you know, for where your family stays, for where your group stays, here at the retreat. You should know, as a community, we're meeting that need right here.

Sarah Ford: 35:39

You don't have to look far to see somebody, some organization that is truly doing good. We say as our vision, we want to be the nation's leader in how we care for our wounded and ill and injured active duty veteran service members. And I believe that we're, you know, we're meeting that vision. We are setting a sample, we are showing what a community can do, because it's not what Larry's doing, it's not what Sarah's doing, it's what the community is doing and we're really providing that blueprint to say, hey, you know, this is what needs to be done and it can be done the right way and it can make a huge impact. It can save lives, it can save families. There there is that need and and we are, we are meeting that need right here.

Larry Zilliox: 36:24

Yeah, yeah, well listen. Thank you so much for joining us and giving us this great update. We really appreciate it For our listeners. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach us at podcast at willingwarriorsorg. We'll have another episode next Monday morning at 5 am. Until then, thanks for listening.