Willing Warriors Retreat Celebrates 10 Years and Looks to the Future

Written by Kaitlin Hill

“The past 10 years have been a decade of tremendous growth for the organization,” shares Sarah Ford, Willing Warriors’ executive director. 

The Willing Warriors Retreat at Bull Run in Haymarket was established in 2015 as a “home away from home” for service members and their families. “We started with the mission of providing cost-free respite stays for warrior families,” Ford says. In 10 years, the organization has served over 3,000 warriors and their loved ones. 

For those who partake in the five night retreat, “every stay here is different, but several things are universal,” Ford explains. Each family, no matter their needs, is paired with a guest coordinator. “This individual is one of our wonderful volunteers.” From there, the experience is tailored to accommodate the family’s preferences of the 40 available activities, ages of their children, and even “what their favorite dessert is.” Ford continues, “When they walk into the home, the kitchen counter will be filled with gifts, games, and tokens of appreciation for each member of the family, so each member knows that they’re loved, they’re appreciated, they’re welcomed. It’s like Christmas morning.” 

In addition to the core mission, “the goal has always been to be responsive to the needs of our community and our service members,” Ford shares. In the past decade, the program’s leadership, volunteers, and community partners have certainly made good on that goal, and then some, increasing its lodging to accommodate more families and expanding offerings to support more vulnerable groups. 

“We look at where we came from, just being able to host one family at a time to adding a second home to host two families at a time,” Ford says, “and now here we are with a beautiful grand lodge where we can expand our programs and truly increase our impact on the community.” 

The PenFed Grand Lodge not only offers a third accommodation site, featuring a chef’s kitchen, luxurious patio, and plenty of space to spread out, but its 2,000-square-foot layout is the perfect venue for hosting various groups for educational and therapeutic gatherings. Sessions include programs for warriors, couples, and families addressing post-traumatic stress — essential to reducing the suicide rate — and therapy for military sexual assault survivors, as well as job training, STEM programs, financial literacy courses, and career guidance. Beyond warriors, “we are expanding our programs for first responders in the community,” Ford adds. 

The addition of the Grand Lodge has helped Willing Warriors take in over 600 additional warriors each year. 

The word of Willing Warriors is communicated through “multiple channels,” according to Ford. She explains, “We have great relationships with military installations in the region and soldier recovery units, like Fort Belvoir as an example. [They] work closely with us to identify active-duty service members that need a respite stay here at the Retreat or the programs we provide.” She continues, “We also have great working relationships with case managers, caregivers, and the medical team at Walter Reed. Having those partnerships is huge for us.” 

Warrior to warrior is yet another way that soldiers find the Retreat. “They reach out to other service members, people that they’ve served with, battle buddies that they recognize would benefit from coming” for a stay. Ford adds, “That is really rewarding to see.” 

As Ford and her team look to the next 10 years, it is apparent that the need extends beyond Haymarket. Ford says, “We want to see where we can make an impact like we have here in Haymarket, where we can make an impact in another part of the country that has tremendous need. If we have something here that is saving lives and changing lives, it would be a disservice not to provide that elsewhere.” 

For now, Ford shares, “I want [warriors] to know that we are here because of them. That we are here because of this wonderful community that has wrapped its arms around these service members. And that our community of volunteers, donors, and supporters makes this retreat possible.” ML

Featured photo courtesy of Willing Warriors.

Published in the September 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.