OUR STORY | FOUNDED IN 2018
Built by a veteran family.
For veteran families.
Life after military service doesn't come with a roadmap. Joshua and Cortnie Parish know that firsthand.
After navigating their own challenges, they recognized the same struggles in veteran families around them. They founded VETLIFE on a simple belief: veterans and their families deserve a clearer path forward—and a community that stands beside them.
BEFORE VETLIFE
A new chapter without a roadmap
When Joshua returned home from Iraq, he faced a different kind of challenge: finding his place in civilian life.
The structure and purpose he'd known in the military were suddenly gone. Together, Joshua and Cortnie navigated the uncertainty, rebuilt their sense of direction, and discovered just how difficult life after service could be.
The transition doesn't end with the veteran. It changes life for the entire family.
BEYOND THE UNIFORM
The uniform comes off. The family carries on.
Military service shapes more than the life of the person wearing the uniform. Spouses and children experience the deployments, relocations, uncertainty, and transitions alongside them. Yet too often, the people closest to veterans are overlooked when it comes to support.
Cortnie saw that disconnect firsthand. At veteran events and programs, she often found herself on the sidelines, despite being an essential part of Joshua's support system.
She believed supporting veterans should never mean leaving their families behind.
That belief became central to VETLIFE's approach: bringing veterans and their families together, connecting them to resources, strengthening relationships, and creating a community where everyone belongs.
Supporting veterans means strengthening the families who stand beside them.
WHY VETLIFE WAS FOUNDED
They weren't alone in their struggles. But too many felt that way.
As Joshua and Cortnie navigated their own challenges after military service, they began hearing the same stories from other veteran families. Different circumstances, but familiar struggles. Difficulty accessing benefits, understanding available resources, finding healthcare, and adjusting to a life that looked nothing like the one they had known.
The support existed. Too often, the path to finding it wasn't clear.
Through his work in county and state government, Joshua saw how complicated systems, bureaucracy, and competing priorities could stand between veterans and the resources they had earned. Families were left navigating unfamiliar programs and agencies, often without knowing where to begin.
They believed there had to be a better way. One that brought veterans and military families together, made trusted information easier to access, and removed unnecessary barriers to support.
In 2018, they founded VETLIFE as an independent nonprofit with the freedom to put veterans and military families at the center of every decision.
Not another system to navigate. A place to turn.
THE MOMENT EVERYTHING CHANGED
They planned for 200. Nearly 3,500 came together.
When Joshua and Cortnie organized the first Vet Fest in 2018, they envisioned a gathering where veterans and military families could connect, discover resources, and find a community that understood their experiences.
What began as a small community gathering revealed something much bigger: an overwhelming desire for connection, belonging, and support that extended beyond any single event.
For Joshua and Cortnie, that day confirmed what their own experiences had taught them.
The need was real. And they were far from alone.
FROM COMMUNITY CONNECTION TO YEAR-ROUND SUPPORT
The mission grew.
So did its reach.
The first Vet Fest demonstrated the power of bringing veterans and military families together. But it also revealed an important reality: the need for guidance, connection, and support doesn't end when an event is over.
Veterans still have questions about their benefits. Families still need help navigating healthcare and available resources. And those challenges don't follow a schedule.
That vision led to Battle Buddy, a free digital platform connecting veterans and military families to benefits information, trusted resources, wellness tools, and 24/7 guidance.
Today, VETLIFE combines technology, community programs, and strategic partnerships to make support more accessible, more consistent, and easier to navigate.
What began by bringing veterans together has grown into something greater: a mission that extends beyond events, removes barriers, and makes support accessible year-round.
MOMENTS THAT STAY WITH US
I think you saved my
husband's life.
Those words came from a woman whose husband, an Army veteran, attended a VETLIFE event—his first time leaving the house in months.
For Joshua and Cortnie, it was a powerful reminder that the impact of connection cannot always be measured in numbers.
Sometimes, it's a veteran finding the courage to take the next step. A spouse realizing their family isn't alone. Or a conversation that opens the door to something better.
Behind every program, every connection, and every resource is a life that matters. That is why we continue this work.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
The future of veteran
support is being built today.
Veterans and military families deserve more than a complicated system of benefits, disconnected resources, and uncertainty about where to turn. They deserve a clear path forward and support that extends beyond a single moment of need.
VETLIFE is committed to building that future through accessible technology, meaningful community connections, and programs designed around the real needs of veterans and their families.
But lasting change requires more than a vision. It requires people and organizations willing to invest in making it a reality.
Every gift and partnership moves this mission forward—expanding access to trusted resources, strengthening veteran families, and reaching more veterans who deserve a clear path forward.
The next chapter is about the lives we have yet to reach.