Last week, NFL veteran and ESPN/SEC Network analyst, Roman Harper, shared his testimony titled, “Family, Football and Faith”. This week, Sarah Verado will close out our 2-part holiday guest speaker series with her special testimony titled, “Enduring Faith as a Battle Buddy“.

Sarah is another personal friend of mine who is the current CEO of The Independence Fund (TIF), a national non-profit organization with its headquarters in Charlotte, NC. The mission of TIF is:

“To empower our severely wounded Veterans and their Caregivers to take control of their lives. (We) provide the resources and tools that enable Veterans to regain their independence, and fight for their ability to sustain it.”

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Speaker bio: Sarah Verardo

Sarah Verardo is a national advocate for wounded Veterans and their Caregivers. Her husband Michael was catastrophically wounded in Afghanistan in 2010, in two separate IED attacks that took his left leg, much of his left arm, and left him with polytraumatic conditions that have required more than one hundred surgeries and years of speech, visual, physical and occupational therapies.

Starting as a volunteer with The Independence Fund, Sarah’s steadfast devotion, experience, and drive led to her eventual selection as the organization’s first Chief Executive Officer. Sarah carries on the legacy of The Independence Fund’s founder by continuing the hallmark all terrain track wheelchair program to provide mobility to wounded heroes. She also created the nonprofit’s Caregiver, Family, Adaptive Sports, and Advocacy programs, and recently developed a partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs that will combat Veteran suicide through reunions of some of the hardest hit units of the War on Terror. This revolutionary program, Operation RESILIENCY, works with VA and DOD to recall units for peer support, relying on bonds formed during war and keeping the commitment of shared experience and brotherhood alive back home.

Sarah advises Administration officials and members of Congress on the experiences of the families of our severely wounded Veterans and has been instrumental in shaping national policy for our warfighters and their families. Regularly appearing on cable news to commentate on the sacrifice of Veterans and Military families, Sarah is a respected subject matter expert in the field.

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Since this is our last gathering for the year, I’m inviting spouses to join us for this week’s program. Sarah’s faith-based testimony is powerful and you’ll want your spouse to join you in this Friday’s program!

Same Zoom info as last week….please ping me if you need those details. As always, gather at 7:30 am ET. I’ll open us in prayer at 7:45 am ET and will then turn the mic over to our guest speaker, Sarah Verardo.

Have a great week!

Peace!