My Nonprofit Reviews

As a veteran and native to Kern County, I was invited to speak at the Portrait of a Warrior Gallery’s 5 year anniversary and I hadn’t even been to the gallery before. It was built while I was away, still in the Army. To speak at such an event I felt it necessary to visit the gallery beforehand. To see what I now consider a staple and a necessity in Bakersfield, and to Kern County as a whole, left me speechless and with heavy emotions.

The representation and remembrance this gallery provides in no less than amazing! They have done an incredible job to show absolute respect and a humble embrace to the men and women who chose to leave their homes in Kern County, and join the United States military to go fight an enemy that had the desire to bring terror, persecution, violence, and death to our country. As a veteran with first hand combat experience, I consciously will critique establishments in a sense to conclude if they’re intentions are truly dedicated to the remembrance of the fallen, and to paying all the honor and respect those individuals deserve, or do they boast about remembrance of the fallen, but to only further profit a business by attaching propaganda that’ll pull attention away from what is really important.

The Portrait of a Warrior Gallery and the amazing staff who operate it, could not be more dedicated to projecting the observance of those who lost their lives fighting for the freedom of many who will never know who they are. That is why we owe the decency to remember who they were, and to keep their spirit and their name alive through the ages. It’s their sacrifice that we have the ability to live as freely as we do.

-Guy Anderson
SSG, US Army, retired