Our story
Born from a family that lived it.
Alive Day Foundation did not begin in a boardroom. It began in a home, with a warrior, a wife, and a long road back to a full life.
The founders
Rick and Lisa Willis
Alive Day Foundation was founded by Rick Willis, a retired United States Air Force civil engineer and a Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient, and his wife Lisa Willis, a United States Air Force veteran and former chaplain assistant. Both are one hundred percent disabled veterans.
Together they have lived every stage of the journey this foundation now serves: the survival, the recovery, the strain on a marriage and a family, and the slow, stubborn work of rebuilding purpose. They know what it is to carry a wound that the eye cannot always see, and they know that no one should carry it alone.
So they decided to build the community they wished had been waiting for them. A place where the next warrior, and the next family, are met with understanding from people who have walked the same ground.
Mission
Why we exist
Alive Day Foundation supports combat wounded veterans and their families in rebuilding identity, restoring hope, and rediscovering lives of purpose, leadership, and belonging.
Vision
Where we are going
A nation where no combat wounded veteran heals alone. Where every warrior and every family who loves them has a community that walks beside them, not just through the crisis, but for the rest of their lives.
The meaning of an alive day
The day the fight to live was won.
What does alive day mean?
An alive day is the anniversary of the day a service member survived a near fatal wound in combat. It is a day of gratitude and grief held at the same time, thankful to be alive, while carrying the memory of those who did not come home.
For many veterans, surviving is only the beginning. What follows can be years of rebuilding a body, a marriage, an identity, and a reason to get up in the morning. Alive Day Foundation exists for everything that comes after that day. We honor the survival by investing in the life that follows it.
What guides us
Community. Resiliency. Purpose.
Three words on our emblem. Three commitments behind everything we build.
Community
Healing happens in relationship. We surround veterans and families with people who understand, and we keep that community for life.
Resiliency
We build practical, lasting strength of mind, body, and family, the kind that holds up long after a program ends.
Purpose
Service does not end at discharge. We help veterans rediscover a mission worth waking up for, and the leadership to carry it.
Walk beside us.
Help us build a community where no warrior, and no family, heals alone.