Ten years ago, Joe Lewis had an incredible idea.
Retiring from active duty in the United States Armed Forces in 2013, Lt. Col. Joe Lewis found a new purpose: to give hope to the children of mothers or fathers who died while serving as first responders or in the United States military.
Mr. Lewis was affected by loss, too. And although the Geneva, Alabama, native had not experienced the physical loss of his dad to the Vietnam War, he said his dad had been gone mentally for 40 years, suffering from PTSD and heavy Agent Orange poisoning before his death.
“He was a great dad,” Mr. Lewis said, but the impact of sacrifice can be difficult on children.
Planting the Seed
Like his father, Mr. Lewis joined the military. At 17, he enlisted in the Army National Guard, which has a tuition assistance program, to help pay for college. His desire to fly led him to active duty in the Marine Corps flying F/A-18s, but a broken back led him to transition to a flight instruction position. Later, he flew for American Airlines, but after 9/11, he went back to active duty with the Air Force. He flew counter-narco-terrorism reconnaissance missions all over the country with the Air National Guard, supporting the U.S. Marshals, FBI, and law enforcement. Naturally, he experienced risk in his career—and experienced the risk of losing his colleagues. “I worked with every branch and lost friends in every one,” he said.
The initial seed of the Angels Foundation was planted when a good friend of Mr. Lewis’s was killed in a tragic crash due to pilot error. His friend left behind a wife and an 18-month-old son. “I kept thinking, how’s Nicholas going to grow up, missing the mentoring of his dad in the crucial years of his life?”
Just when he was ready to retire, Mr. Lewis attended a soccer game. With his kids on the field, “I had the fortune to watch them interacting with the team and the coach, and it became clear to me my mission: This is what I’m supposed to do! I’ve got friends and others who need the engagement in sports and music. They need a mentoring instructor instead of running around with the wrong crowd or withdrawing from society due to grief.”
It was a positive step for his next move in life, but he said his wife—his college sweetheart—was shocked. “The logical progression was to go back to the airlines or defense contracting, not to start a nonprofit organization.”
Yet the new startup needed funding, and Mr. Lewis was convinced that his idea would eventually pay off for the children and parents the foundation would serve. During the first few years, the initial funding was sacrificial: The couple was using its own finances to support programming.
“In the first four years, we burned out our savings,” he continued, “and I had survivor’s guilt—a cross to bear to some degree. But I found what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Side by side, they manage all operations today. It’s not just paying for sports or writing a check to those 500-plus children enrolled in the foundation. Angels’s mission is a continual long-term commitment to finance activities of enrolled children up until age 19.
Impacting Lives
The fruits the program has borne in the last 10 years have amazed Mr. Lewis and his wife. One young girl who lost a parent in the line of duty simply requested baking lessons. She now owns and operates a cookie company called Keirbear’s Kitchen—and she’s 16 years old.“This is truly an engagement program,” he said. “And while we are laser-focused on the kids, we understand that the surviving spouse is living in survival mode and needs us to listen to their story. It is quite impactful to tell them Angels of America’s Fallen will support and encourage them in their children’s activities.”
However, there is a waiting list. It is a first come, first serve program when families register. On average, there are approximately 325 waiting to enter the program. The foundation’s youngest kid to enter Angels of America’s Fallen was two weeks old. Of all the families that Angels supports, 25 percent have lost a parent to suicide, said Mr. Lewis. “If it is a suicide,” he said, “families don’t get much support, but we are here to help them.”
Some children come to the foundation with physical and mental disabilities. Angels assisted a family of a young boy with severe cerebral palsy who was wheelchair-bound and nonverbal. Mr. Lewis and his wife realized how much the boy loved being on the trail. With a little ingenuity, Mr. Lewis created an adaptive jogging stroller equipped with a Bluetooth speaker so that his mom could take him on trail excursions.
“Putting it together gave me a lot of perspective. … I noticed that as I finished putting it together, I realized how grateful I am,” he said. “I am so blessed. I have all I need and I don’t want much anymore. If you try to pursue more things with money or stuff, you will never be satisfied. But if you focus on giving to others, you can easily be satisfied. It is much more joyful and impactful for them to receive something than that for yourself.”
Mr. Lewis feels a great sense of responsibility. “This foundation is important and should outlast me. If we fail and we can’t make the payments, that is a significant failure; so what keeps me up at night is the future commitment that I can only honor thanks to the goodness of people’s hearts. We want to be really good stewards of these gifts.”
