Standing in the gap to ensure our nation’s warriors are cared for takes all of us. For Angela Blank, she has made it her life’s work.
“I grew up in Marietta, Georgia, as the granddaughter of a World War I veteran. His service certainly impacted me! At the smart age of 18, I married a man just as he enlisted in the Air Force,” she shared. “We were middle school and high school sweethearts, and he served in Okinawa, Japan, first for the first three years. Then he came home, and we were stationed in South Carolina. While we were there, he was sent to Operation Desert Shield and then Desert Storm. That was my first real experience of military life because my grandfather was much older and had died when I was young.”
Blank saw firsthand the impacts of service on not just the member but the entire family. The couple had a child but ultimately divorced when their daughter was two.
“I was no longer a military spouse, but that community certainly took hold of my heart,” she added. “I really came to have such a huge appreciation for the men and women who serve and the families left behind to pick up the day-to-day slack and responsibilities. I always said if I had the ability to give back, it would be to the military community.”
Blank and her ex-husband remained close friends and she pursued a career in marketing and sales for companies like Coca-Cola and Bell South. She remarried and had two more children, but the relationship was tumultuous—and dangerous.
“My second marriage was physically and emotionally abusive. I honestly didn’t think I’d be alive. Those were some very dark, dark days that my kids and I went through,” she reflected.
Blank left the abusive relationship and poured herself into work while caring for her three children as a single mother for eight years. In 2012, she fell in love again and married Arthur Blank in 2016. He was the co-founder and former CEO of Home Depot and is the current owner of the Atlanta Falcons NFL team, as well as the Atlanta United soccer team. Though the two divorced in 2019, he gave her the opportunity to give back to the military community in a way she’d been dreaming of for years.
“I retired from sales and marketing. One night at dinner, he asked me if I wasn’t working to tell him the one thing I would want to do. I immediately told him I wanted to serve veterans and their families,” Blank shared. “I ended up becoming one of the founding members of the to establish the Veterans Community Fund.”
The Veterans Community Fund, housed under the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, focuses on helping veterans thrive in Georgia and Montana as they build their futures after military service. The organization partners with others that connect veterans and their families to post-service opportunities, purpose and support.
“It’s an associate-led committee, meaning there are employees from across his family of businesses who have a military connection, whether it’s a family member or they serve themselves. We come together and give grants to different Georgia and Montana-based organizations that need funding for programming,” Blank explained. “This was probably one of the things that I’m most proud of. We got that started because the Falcons were doing a lot for our military veterans and active duty and so was Atlanta United. While we were all doing different visits to different organizations, I knew if we brought it all together, it could be even more impactful.”
During her time leading the organization from 2018 through 2023, the nonprofit gave $4.2 million to organizations throughout Georgia and Montana. Blank described the work the team did as life-changing.
She is also on the board of directors for Warrior Alliance, whose mission is to serve Georgia veterans by creating a total care network of support organizations. It wasn’t long after she joined that she and her friends (Holly Thomson and Amy Sands) were dubbed the “warrior angels.”
Blank shared a story of encountering a homeless gentleman on the streets of Atlanta. He disclosed that he was a veteran, and the ladies made it their mission to help him. From there, they discovered that the resources of the state were interwoven in a way that made their ability to serve veterans more streamlined. It was an approach she brought back with her to Georgia.
“My dream for this particular aspiration is to continue to grow the network of partnerships and also expand into other states,” she said.
When Blank reflects on the work she’s done and continues to do, one word comes to mind: gratitude.
“I’m passionate about giving back to our veterans and their families. These are the men and women who have worn the cloth of this great nation,” she shared. “It makes me proud when I hear the Star-Spangled Banner, and honestly, I always cry. I’m just proud to be an American. If I could tell a struggling veteran anything, it would be to just not give up. We all go through storms, but we don’t have to do it alone, and you shouldn’t have to.”
Click here to learn more about the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation’s Veterans Community Fund.