Melissa Hanks Ketchel

Featured Work

Organization

Mission Hanks ↗

Founder/CEO

Connecting Gold Star families with those who served alongside their loved ones through storytelling, reunions, remembrance, and lasting relationships.

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Mission Hanks, the public-facing name of the Michael Wayne Hanks Legacy Foundation, is a nonprofit organization founded by Gold Star Sister Melissa Hanks Ketchel in honor of her brother, Lance Corporal Michael Wayne Hanks, who was killed in action during the Second Battle of Fallujah on November 17, 2004. At the heart of Mission Hanks is a belief that the connection between Gold Star families and the military members who served alongside their loved ones should not end when a service member dies. The families remember the person they knew at home. Their military brothers and sisters carry st

Oct 23, 2023 – Present

About

Melissa Hanks Ketchel is a Gold Star Sister, speaker, storyteller, veteran advocate, and Founder and President of Mission Hanks, an organization dedicated to connecting surviving military families with the men and women who served alongside their fallen loved ones.

On November 17, 2004, Melissa's brother, Lance Corporal Michael Wayne Hanks, was killed in action during the Second Battle of Fallujah. His death changed her life, but it was the stories shared by the Marines who knew him that helped her discover something she hadn't fully understood before: the military family doesn't disappear when someone dies, and the people left behind often need each other more than they realize.

What began with reaching out, asking questions, and showing up grew into a mission rooted in storytelling and human connection. Melissa recognized that Gold Star families and the military members who served with their loved ones often carry different pieces of the same story. Bringing those pieces together creates space for remembrance, understanding, belonging, and healing on both sides.

Through Mission Hanks, Melissa works to bridge that divide, reconnecting surviving families with their loved ones' military communities and creating opportunities for veterans and families to share stories, preserve memories, and build lasting relationships.

Her advocacy also focuses on veteran isolation, mental health awareness, and suicide prevention. Through her signature message, *Make It Weird*, Melissa challenges audiences to move beyond good intentions and take action. Reach out. Ask the uncomfortable question. Listen to the answer. Show up again. She believes that meaningful connection is built through consistent, sometimes awkward acts of courage, not simply through awareness campaigns or the perfect words.

As a Gold Star Sister, Blue Star Mother, and former military spouse, Melissa brings a personal understanding of the many ways military service affects individuals and families. Her work is grounded in the belief that storytelling can help bridge the distance between those who served and those who love them, giving people the opportunity to understand experiences they might otherwise carry alone.

Today, Melissa uses her platform to advocate for veterans, elevate the voices of Gold Star families, and challenge communities to take a more active role in supporting one another. Her message is not simply about surviving tragedy. It is about what happens next, how we transform trauma into purpose, and how the willingness to reach out and show up can create connections that last a lifetime.

At the heart of everything she does is a simple belief: **Every story matters, connection can change lives, and sometimes you have to make it weird.**

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Listed by the creator. Not verified by the MIC Index team.