Air Force Veteran Debbie Bryan was struggling to adjust to civilian life, after returning from her 6th deployment. Through the BattleGround to Breaking Ground program and FVC’s Fellowship Fund, Debbie has been able to find a path to healing, balance, and reconnect to her roots.
Army National Guard officer Mitchell Freeman is carrying on a sweet family tradition in Northern Pennsylvania. With support from the 2024 Fellowship Fund, his family farm upgraded their maple syrup production—boosting efficiency and honoring his late father’s legacy.
After retiring from the Coast Guard in 2022, Ben Walton began farming with his wife on their 50-acre property in Mississippi. With help from a veteran mentor, he now raises grass-fed beef, poultry, and eggs, finding purpose in working the land and sharing it with others.
Stacy Sporre is expanding on the apple and peach trees currently planted on their Tennessee homestead as her retirement from military service approaches.
Army Reservist Veteran Gabe Camberos discovered a passion for livestock after a move to Kentucky and now raises sheep.
Eric Ranger once envisioned his 20-acre property as the site of a golf driving range, but now he grows award-winning hay on it. A Fellowship Fund grant provided a hay elevator to aid with getting that hay in his barn loft.
Navy Veteran Ben Banks has been able to grow his herb and edible flower operation with the help of a Fellowship Fund to repair and restore a 100-year-old barn.
Since exiting the Coast Guard and reserves, Nick Lesourd is transforming a small piece of land of Hawai’i into a farm growing a variety of vegetables and doing agroforestry.
Army Veteran Gus Leigh retired from the police force and moved to Nebraska, taking over his family’s farm and building it into a farm-to-table operation utilizing regenerative agriculture.
Robert “Jake” Kelly may be ending his 20-year career in the Air Force, but he is starting another chapter for his family with his New Heritage Farm in Texas.
