Anna McKeehan

Anna McKeehan is the daughter, the wife, and the mother of people who have served the country that she loves. So she knows first-hand how challenging life can be for the families of the men and women who are proud to wear the uniforms of the American armed services.

“Our active duty, veteran and national guard members sacrifice so much for their country,” says Anna. “Their families make daily sacrifices with the grueling schedules of a military life. Their children are regularly uprooted from their schools and their friends, and they go through so many struggles being separated from the parents who are deployed.”

For almost seven years, Anna has given virtually all her time and efforts in service to our veterans and their families. She gives a monthly gift to the National Home, and she was the first of our Life Members to recruit 25 others for Life Membership. Her enthusiastic support of the National Home is inspired by the quality of life she discovered here on our campus.

“The thing that has surprised me the most is how much support is given to everyone who lives at the Home,” she says. “It’s wonderful knowing that there’s a place the children can call home that is filled with love. All the needs of the families are fulfilled, from housing to clothing, food, and counseling, based on their circumstances while they are here. And they are prepared for a better quality of life when they leave the Home.”

Anna can speak with great authority about all those challenges. Her husband is a Navy veteran, she has been a member of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the VFW since 2005, and she serves as the Department Guard for her home state of Tennessee.

When she is asked what she would say to anyone who is thinking about supporting these families and children, her answer is immediate and clear. “I would tell them that the joy and love they feel in their hearts for their own family can fill the hearts of those they have never met. Because if it was not for those that have given so much of themselves, we would not have the freedoms we have today, or will have in the future.”

Anna, we applaud your kindness, and thank you for your great generosity!