Testimonials

Jeffrey Buchanan
3-Star General, Department of the Army, United States of America

 "When I was a senior Army commander on a Joint Base, I fought hard to build resiliency in our service members, civilians, and families. To those ends, every three or four months I would invite a guest speaker who had experienced some form of trauma or adversity to address our audience and help us to understand what they had learned and how they had weathered the storm. I believed (and still do) that every one of us would experience adversity in our lives, but if we prepared for it, we could use those events for growth. Paula Stephens, a Gold Star Mother, was one of our speakers. I don’t think anyone  can anticipate the death of a son or daughter, but Paula shared her story with us. It was certainly heart-wrenching, but also told with compassion and caring. Every person in the audience gained from Paula and learned about some tools that she discovered the hard way.  We also learned how to better help others who have such a loss. The entire experience continues to move me now, more than four years later. I’ve connected with Paula on several projects since that initial meeting and I always learn a great deal from her."