PenFed CU Foundation Donates $300,000 to Serve Our Willing Warriors

PenFed CU’s charitable arm, the PenFed Foundation, is donating $300,000 to Serve Our Willing Warriors (SOWW) to construct a home that will provide a week-long respite in the Virginia countryside for hundreds of Wounded Warriors undergoing long-term medical treatment. 

 “Many of these Wounded Warriors spend 365 days per year in the hospital recovering from service-related injuries said the Honorable Frederick F.Y. Pang, Chairman of the Board of the PenFed Foundation. “This donation from PenFed will allow twice as many Wounded Warriors, along with their families and caregivers, to get out of the hospital, reconnect, refresh, and experience a sense of normalcy through SOWW’s Warrior Retreat at Bull Run.”  

“Wounded Warriors and military families are great Americans who willingly go without the comforts that many of us take for granted. At PenFed we are humbled to have the opportunity to partner with Serve Our Willing Warriors to show our appreciation for the services and sacrifices of the men and women who fight and win our nation’s wars,” said PenFed CU President/CEO James Schenck. 

SOWW serves the needs of Wounded Warriors and their families through “Warrior Getaways” at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run. Since opening on July 4, 2015, the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run has hosted nearly 600 guests, including Wounded Warriors from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, and other area military hospitals, at its 11,000-square-foot, five-bedroom house on a 37-acre campus on the edge of the Bull Run Mountain Conservancy in Haymarket, Va. 

During their stay, recovering Warriors and their families are able to participate in more than 65 different activities and programs offered through local service partners, including helicopter tours, fishing, hiking, amusement park visits and a 5-star chef-prepared meal. Warriors and their families can also partake in physical and canine therapy, and family counseling. 

The Warrior Retreat at Bull Run is currently able to house one family at a time. The construction of the PenFed Foundation Home will allow SOWW to host two families at a time, thus doubling their capacity and enabling them to serve more than 500 Wounded Warriors and their guests per year.