Above: Formed by a nurse and fellow wives of veterans, Semper Fi & America’s Fund helps launch injured combat Marines and Sailors into healthy new lives, and host communal activities like pickleball tournaments.
July, 2026- There is an evocative song The Hollies released in 1969. Some of the lyrics are as follows: “But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him; he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. His welfare is of my concern, no burden is he to bear, we’ll get there…”
Whether brother or spouse, bringing families together to be strong for service members is among the paramount drivers behind Semper Fi & America’s Fund.
The first wave of wounded Marines and Sailors from Operation Iraqi Freedom landed in spring 2003 at Camp Pendleton, California. Karen Guenther, a registered nurse and wife of an activeduty Marine, saw firsthand the challenges faced by wounded Marines and Sailors as they returned from Iraq. Along with other military spouses (Annette Conway, Sondria Saylor, Helen Toolan and Karen Kelly), Guenther began to organize welcomehome activities at the Pendleton hospital. The women arranged travel for family members who couldn’t afford airfare, provided a specialized van for a quadriplegic Marine through the generosity of donors, and assembled and distributed care bags filled with toiletries and phone cards. Still, the injured continued to arrive.
Realizing that a growing number of families across the country faced similar situations, Guenther brought on board seven more women to incorporate a fund whose mission is clear: to provide combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured service members with immediate financial assistance and quality-of-life solutions to lift the burdens of their new reality, so that each family is able to focus on their loved one’s recovery.
Although the fund began modestly at Guenther’s kitchen table, it raised $5 million by the end of its first year. As of April 2026, Semper Fi & America’s Fund has assisted 40,000 service members, veterans and military families.
Christy Stover, senior director of the West Coast case management team, was a Marine Corps wife for 20 years, and has been with the network for 19 years, starting out as a volunteer.
“Veterans find us through word of mouth,” says Stover. “One person sees a friend struggling and says, ‘I got help from Semper Fi & America’s Fund.’”
In addition, The Fund has a long-time working relationship with the Veterans Administration, which will often alert fund case managers when “someone is struggling with income loss as a patient.” In other cases, veterans service officers send in referrals.
HOW IT WORKS
Normally, candidates for The Fund are directed to its website, and an intake team helps them to fill out an application, says Stover. The team obtains a copy of the service member’s DD214, a certificate of release or discharge from active duty, which provides a comprehensive summary of a veteran’s service and is required to unlock nearly all veteran benefits. “The veteran also has to provide documentation so we can confirm what has happened.”
From there, the service member is assigned to a case manager. “We find out the need; anything we assist with has to have a connection with combat or training injury or illness. Once the case manager determines need, we figure out how to help. Say there is an inpatient [at a VA hospital] and a loss of income. We help supplement that income, maybe help them with a mortgage payment, make a car payment or pay for travel to appointments. All of that has to be related to the illness and injury. This work has helped change people’s lives,” says Stover.
She describes one Texas-based veteran she worked with. “I had a service member come in with PTSD. A lot of veterans need purpose and that is a huge part of recovery, whether the combat injury was from a year ago or 20 years ago. This person had held onto jobs but wanted something more, to plant a flag into a career. He figured out he likes to work with horses so we connected him with a ranch.” Stover says the veteran is now involved in cutting horses, which are bred and trained to separate a single cow from a herd and prevent it from returning.
“I will make the connection so that he has purpose,” Stover says. “Having a front-row seat to watch what our heroes can do with the rest of their lives has been an incredible blessing.”
Veterans cared for by Semper Fi & America’s Fund engage in multiple events.
Former service members who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder participate in a Semper Fi-sponsored hike.
A veteran of the Vietnam war visits the memorial in Washington, D.C.
PERSISTENT NEED
When someone is injured in combat, they are whisked out of the combat zone and flown to the East Coast for immediate assessment, and then on to a VA hospital for treatment.
“The family has to drop everything and tend to them,” says Stover. “Most of the injured service members are young people, with parents who still work and younger siblings at home. We make sure family is at their bedside and are able to stay at the bedside. Having the family right there is an important indicator of how someone recovers.
“Let’s say someone is an amputee. Prosthetics are a tricky thing. There are not amazing prosthetist everywhere.” The patient must travel to find the expert from, say, Boise. This requires travel funds, food and family support “and we help with the basics of life. That’s a snapshot.”
For someone paralyzed in combat 15 years ago, “the shoulders and elbows have been pushing a wheelchair all that time. The service member still has medical needs.”
In addition, the home must be livable. That may mean adjusting the width of doorways, installing ramps, adapting baths and kitchens. “The bed has to be a certain specification because sleep is vital for the brain’s recovery. With certain wounds, you might need a special mattress and such beds are expensive,” Stover says. “We don’t duplicate what the VA does. We help alongside,” she says.
“If the service member has an allowance for the adjustments such as doorway width, we might come in to remove carpeting. We think outside the box. If the VA cannot do something or help with something, maybe we can. It’s all on a case-by-case basis.”
COMMUNITY CARE
Semper Fi & America’s Fund is aware of how much caregivers need respite at times. It hosts retreats for caregivers, who “find community” with one another. At a retreat, the organization may “offer massages and facials and talk about self care. The case manager heading that up provides different programs for each retreat. We provide education and show them that we want to take care of them, too,” according to Stover.
There are also events for children of injured service members. For back to school, participating students receive a backpack filled with school supplies. Around Christmas, an event has kids visit with Santa Claus.
The visiting nurse program works with service members who are “struggling with issues that are not being fully addressed, maybe a digestive problem” related to their condition. “The nurse becomes part of a team working with the veteran and the care provider. The visiting nurse component is important to help who is struggling and they become a liaison.”
Another helpful program is Veteran Leads. “Another veteran can meet, perhaps virtually, with the injured veteran for a morale boost. They workshop resumes and guide them toward employment searches,” Stover says.
Semper Fi will often pay for educational assistance not covered by military benefits, filling the gap with books, fees, training, interview attire, technology and other equipment.
There is also Team Semper Fi, which Stover describes as “recovery through sports. We have all kinds of sporting events, which gives a sense of belonging and accomplishment. Several of our clients do Paralympics.”
Another service that the organization can provide is facilitating a military unit’s reunion. “We don’t just provide flights, etc., but we help connect the people, and a lot of people who were in combat find that very healing,” Stover says.
She notes that The Fund spends 92 cents of every dollar on grants, support and services to service members, veterans and military families, with 8 cents going to overhead.
TENACIOUS
Davey Lind served as a Marine for 20 years and six months. A Master Sergeant, the vast majority of Lind’s work was in reconnaissance. “I did serve all over the world but primarily in the Middle East: Iraq and Afghanistan. I was a platoon sergeant for a team that works to disrupt the enemy and their intent. We conducted counterinsurgency operations.”
On June 14, 2007, the vehicle Lind was in struck a roadside bomb, an IED. “From that explosion, I am a double leg amputee. I was medevacked to Germany, then Bethesda and Walter Reed [VA hospitals]. I received stabilizing surgery, and then I went to California for prosthetics.
“My story is unique,” Lind says. “I was given about a year to walk [with the prosthetics] but I was able to walk within two months from the day of my injury. I am rather tenacious.”
Lind says Semper Fi & America’s Fund “came to my hospital bed and offered their services. One of the first things they did is identify all the pills that I needed. They said, ‘we will pay for them. Send us this bill, send us that bill and we will take care of them.’
“When you are injured,” he continues, “life goes on for everyone else. Our family was not able to pay for a hotel room and or to rent a car for months at a time. Semper Fi arranged for my family to be at the bedside to support [me], and then made sure we did not enter crushing debt. The fact that my wife and our children were able to come see me was most important thing to me.”
Last month marked the 19th year since Lind was hurt. “By most measures of success, a vast majority of people would say I am successful—I have a career, day-to-day responsibilities and I live in suburban California. That is because of the support that I received very early on, which prevented me from going down a negative path. That was crucial.”
DONOR POV
EQUIPMENT BUILDER BACKS VETERANS
Ficep Corp.,which builds and rebuilds structural steel fabrication equipment, is a largedollar donor to Semper Fi & America’s Fund. A subsidiary of Italy’s Ficep S.p.A., the company will soon open a 60,000-square-foot headquarters in Alpharetta, Georgia.
During a preview of the new facility—held as part of Ficep’s participation in NASCC: The Steel Conference (a division of the American Institute for Steel Construction)—the company honored Semper Fi & America’s Fund’s mission supporting wounded, critically ill and injured U.S. service members. Ficep delivered a check for $25,000.
“Supporting Semper Fi & America’s Fund was an easy decision for us,” says Blair Chandler, chief operating officer of Ficep Corp. “We have employees whose family members, friends and loved ones have served in the military, so the mission of this organization hits close to home.
“We wanted to support an organization that makes a real difference in people’s lives,” she says, “especially for those who have sacrificed so much and dedicated their own lives to protecting others. We’re very proud to sponsor this organization.”
