Summer Duncan

 

Ms. Duncan is dedicated to serving and advocating for the military community.  During her 18+ years of being married to the military, Summer has raised (and is raising) seven children, which has provided her with many years of caregiver experience.  Because of her personal experience, Summer is extremely mindful and compassionate to the needs of both the service member and their family.  Over the years, she has become a voice for all members of the military community including active service members, veterans, military families and the families of the fallen.  She has spent almost two decades advocating for the disabled community and combat injured Veterans.  

 

Summer’s extensive military caregiver and advocacy experience is exceptionally vast and diverse.  She has been a volunteer for numerous organizations including the Marine Corps Detachment Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md., 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Logistics Group, 1st Maintenance Battalion at Camp Pendleton, CA., and MCCS (Marine Corps Community Services).  Some of her roles included: coordinating EFMP events within the community, coordinating family activities, planning pre & post deployment functions, manage Toys for Tots drive, assisted Battalion and Regiment family readiness officer, and distributed Thanksgiving meals for single & E-4 and below marine families. In addition, Summer played a pivotal role as an Advisory Council Member at Camp Lejeune, NC., where she consulted as to the disability and accessibility needs in and around the base leading to improved conditions for the much needed accessibility.  She was also an advisory member with the United States Marine Corps Exceptional Family Member program where she developed new orders for the program including the policies and procedures.  Currently, Summer is a member of the VA Hospital Advisory Council in Tampa, Fl.

 

However, Summer didn’t stop at volunteering, instead she became immersed in the non-profit world so that she could better assist wounded veterans by finding them much needed available resources and benefits.  She soon became the Executive Director for the Wounded Warrior Ranch, and a member of the Horse & Family Institute where she consulted on grants and fundraising opportunities.  It was through her resourcefulness and extensive experience that she was able to bring much needed clarity to veteran issues through providing information and research about how to meet those needs.  Summer began networking diligently with several large caregiver and Veteran non-profits in order to identify the larger needs of the military community, which is where she found her true calling. It was through her work with other non-profits that Summer recognized a dire need for not only the combat injured Veteran, but also for the children of those combat injured veterans.  Her passion truly lies in helping the children affected by combat, thus she has developed several programs and activities to aid in the health and well being of our military children in order to bridge the gap that currently exists within our current military community.