June 21, 2025 • 7 mins
Bruce Buckley, CEO of Soldier On, joins us live at the Travelers Championship. Soldier On is a private nonprofit organization committed to ending veteran homelessness. Since 1994, the organization has been providing homeless veterans with transitional housing and supportive services.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Alison demurz
over at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell. My guest today
is Bruce Buckley. He is CEO of soldier On. Good morning.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, Allison? Good how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great for people don't know about soldier On. How
did it begin?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Soldier On began in nineteen ninety four in western Massachusetts,
where we still have a large presence at a VA campus,
and we provided transitional support for veterans who were literally homeless,
living on the streets getting out of jail in a
lot of situations. Since then, we've grown quite a bit.
(00:39):
We still do transitional housing in western mass and now
in eastern Massachusetts. But we also have a program called SSVF,
which is one of the larger programs that we have.
It's an acronym for Supportive Services for Veteran Families, and
we're allowed to pay rent utility security deposits for veterans
(01:00):
throughout many counties in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,
and we have staff out working every day meeting with
veterans where they are, whether they're living in the streets,
whether they're living in an encampment, whether they're sleeping on
their brothers couch, whether they're getting out of jail. We
meet with veterans and we can immediately get them into
(01:22):
housing and then provide the supportive services, whether we provide
it or we partner in the many areas that we're
in and we make sure the veteran has all the
support they need to be successful, and then we work
with them for an extended period of time as well
as with landlords. Another piece of what we do is
we build permanent housing. So we just finished our tenth
(01:43):
building in Albany, New York. These buildings range in size
from the smallest being fourteen units for female veterans the
largest being seventy units in tint And Falls, New Jersey
for male and female veterans. And these buildings allow us
to really provide a permanent solution or provide staffing on
(02:04):
site every day. We provide a meal a day, we
provide transportation, we provide a lot of wellness and supportive services.
And we learn through doing this that we have two
full time attorneys that do a will of health care
proxy and a power of attorney for anyone who moves
in because unfortunately, if we're successful and they live there
(02:27):
the rest of their lives, we end up probably their
supportive community. And we've actually now put columbariums on many
of our permanent housing sites, which is to enter the
ashes of someone if that's what they elect to stay
on site essentially for all of time. I guess. So
we've really learned a lot by doing what we do
(02:49):
for the last thirty years. And add every time we
build a building we learn something new that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How are you able to provide these supportive services, Well.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It's all a lot of different ways. It's not like
there's one solution that says here you go and this
is all you need. So we do this in a
lot of ways. We have programs that the VA sponsors nationally,
we have programs that state sponsor. We have local moneies
that help us do this. We also have kind of
(03:20):
a business model. We do a lot of transportation we
high exclusively formally homeless veterans, and that system allows us
to do other rides for veterans in the community and
even do medicaid and other rides where we have some revenue.
So we use that model and then a lot of
what we do too. A lot of how we piece
(03:41):
all this together is from charitable donations and why we're
here today and why you guys are such a great
help for us. So that kind of fills the gaps.
So there is no one solution, but we never let
the lack of money prevent us from doing what the
veterans need. We've always been able to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Speaking of donations, let's just mention you can go to
Wesoldier on dot org or Travelers Championship dot com. For
every dollar raised, Webster Bank is going to get fifteen
cents and your donation doesn't have any fees or processing fees,
So do it right now. We want to raise the
money for Soldier. On what is the situation like for
(04:20):
vets in need at this moment?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, veterans, first of all, historically have always shown up
homeless more than the general population, and there's a lot
of reasons for that. I think some of it's obvious,
and then some of it we've learned by doing what
we do. And because of that, we've always seen a need.
Well right now with the economy, which can be a
struggle if you fall below that line that we're all
(04:46):
somewhat aware of, I think, in the price of housing
and housing costs. So the traditional homeless veterans that we
would work with, we're often living on the streets really
in a tough situation. We're seeing more and more senior
veterans who are as they age, they can't afford on
a fixed income where they live, so we're really seeing
(05:07):
a lot of that. In fact, a new building we're
building in West Deptford, New Jersey, right across the river
from Philadelphia is going to be eighty four units that
is exclusively for senior veterans over fifty five. And again
we have no shortage of men and women that need
the support and the services that we provide.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Do you have any events that are coming up.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, we have an annual golf event in western Massachusetts
and the Berkshires, where we're kind of our home base is.
That's August fifteenth at will Bec a country club, and
you can get more information online if you're interested. A
week from Monday, so June thirtieth, we are having a
check presentation from Senator Corey Booker in New Jersey at
(05:54):
the West Deptford site. He will helped get us the
funding that we needed to kind to fill the gap
to make this eighty four unit building a reality. So
those are what are coming up in the near future,
and if you look at the website you'll also see
other events that are coming up in other areas as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I have a very big soft spot in my heart
for veterans. My family are all veterans. I was in USO,
I sang on the Intrepid in New York City, traveled
all over the world, so they warm my heart tremendously.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, we'll have you singing in one of our buildings
now that I know that, Allison, So we'll hook you
up and we'd love to have you come and participate.
And you know, really, if you're ever able to come
visit us and anybody listening, I'm happy to tour anybody
in any of our buildings that are nearby to where
you may be, because I can talk about this for
(06:47):
hours as you can maybe tell. But really to visit
and meet the veterans and hear their stories is the
real impact that really I think illustrates what we've been
able to do with a supportive community, certainly not alone.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I'm speaking with Bruce Buckley, CEO of soldier on again.
It's we soldier on dot org or travelers Championship dot com.
Please make your donation, do it right now. Bruce, thank
you so much for being here today and for serving
the community.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Thank you, Allison,
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Alison demurz
over at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell. My guest today
is Bruce Buckley. He is CEO of soldier On. Good morning.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, Allison? Good how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm great for people don't know about soldier On. How
did it begin?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Soldier On began in nineteen ninety four in western Massachusetts,
where we still have a large presence at a VA campus,
and we provided transitional support for veterans who were literally homeless,
living on the streets getting out of jail in a
lot of situations. Since then, we've grown quite a bit.
(00:39):
We still do transitional housing in western mass and now
in eastern Massachusetts. But we also have a program called SSVF,
which is one of the larger programs that we have.
It's an acronym for Supportive Services for Veteran Families, and
we're allowed to pay rent utility security deposits for veterans
(01:00):
throughout many counties in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,
and we have staff out working every day meeting with
veterans where they are, whether they're living in the streets,
whether they're living in an encampment, whether they're sleeping on
their brothers couch, whether they're getting out of jail. We
meet with veterans and we can immediately get them into
(01:22):
housing and then provide the supportive services, whether we provide
it or we partner in the many areas that we're
in and we make sure the veteran has all the
support they need to be successful, and then we work
with them for an extended period of time as well
as with landlords. Another piece of what we do is
we build permanent housing. So we just finished our tenth
(01:43):
building in Albany, New York. These buildings range in size
from the smallest being fourteen units for female veterans the
largest being seventy units in tint And Falls, New Jersey
for male and female veterans. And these buildings allow us
to really provide a permanent solution or provide staffing on
(02:04):
site every day. We provide a meal a day, we
provide transportation, we provide a lot of wellness and supportive services.
And we learn through doing this that we have two
full time attorneys that do a will of health care
proxy and a power of attorney for anyone who moves
in because unfortunately, if we're successful and they live there
(02:27):
the rest of their lives, we end up probably their
supportive community. And we've actually now put columbariums on many
of our permanent housing sites, which is to enter the
ashes of someone if that's what they elect to stay
on site essentially for all of time. I guess. So
we've really learned a lot by doing what we do
(02:49):
for the last thirty years. And add every time we
build a building we learn something new that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How are you able to provide these supportive services, Well.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It's all a lot of different ways. It's not like
there's one solution that says here you go and this
is all you need. So we do this in a
lot of ways. We have programs that the VA sponsors nationally,
we have programs that state sponsor. We have local moneies
that help us do this. We also have kind of
(03:20):
a business model. We do a lot of transportation we
high exclusively formally homeless veterans, and that system allows us
to do other rides for veterans in the community and
even do medicaid and other rides where we have some revenue.
So we use that model and then a lot of
what we do too. A lot of how we piece
(03:41):
all this together is from charitable donations and why we're
here today and why you guys are such a great
help for us. So that kind of fills the gaps.
So there is no one solution, but we never let
the lack of money prevent us from doing what the
veterans need. We've always been able to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Speaking of donations, let's just mention you can go to
Wesoldier on dot org or Travelers Championship dot com. For
every dollar raised, Webster Bank is going to get fifteen
cents and your donation doesn't have any fees or processing fees,
So do it right now. We want to raise the
money for Soldier. On what is the situation like for
(04:20):
vets in need at this moment?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Well, veterans, first of all, historically have always shown up
homeless more than the general population, and there's a lot
of reasons for that. I think some of it's obvious,
and then some of it we've learned by doing what
we do. And because of that, we've always seen a need.
Well right now with the economy, which can be a
struggle if you fall below that line that we're all
(04:46):
somewhat aware of, I think, in the price of housing
and housing costs. So the traditional homeless veterans that we
would work with, we're often living on the streets really
in a tough situation. We're seeing more and more senior
veterans who are as they age, they can't afford on
a fixed income where they live, so we're really seeing
(05:07):
a lot of that. In fact, a new building we're
building in West Deptford, New Jersey, right across the river
from Philadelphia is going to be eighty four units that
is exclusively for senior veterans over fifty five. And again
we have no shortage of men and women that need
the support and the services that we provide.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Do you have any events that are coming up.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, we have an annual golf event in western Massachusetts
and the Berkshires, where we're kind of our home base is.
That's August fifteenth at will Bec a country club, and
you can get more information online if you're interested. A
week from Monday, so June thirtieth, we are having a
check presentation from Senator Corey Booker in New Jersey at
(05:54):
the West Deptford site. He will helped get us the
funding that we needed to kind to fill the gap
to make this eighty four unit building a reality. So
those are what are coming up in the near future,
and if you look at the website you'll also see
other events that are coming up in other areas as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I have a very big soft spot in my heart
for veterans. My family are all veterans. I was in USO,
I sang on the Intrepid in New York City, traveled
all over the world, so they warm my heart tremendously.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, we'll have you singing in one of our buildings
now that I know that, Allison, So we'll hook you
up and we'd love to have you come and participate.
And you know, really, if you're ever able to come
visit us and anybody listening, I'm happy to tour anybody
in any of our buildings that are nearby to where
you may be, because I can talk about this for
(06:47):
hours as you can maybe tell. But really to visit
and meet the veterans and hear their stories is the
real impact that really I think illustrates what we've been
able to do with a supportive community, certainly not alone.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I'm speaking with Bruce Buckley, CEO of soldier on again.
It's we soldier on dot org or travelers Championship dot com.
Please make your donation, do it right now. Bruce, thank
you so much for being here today and for serving
the community.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Thank you, Allison,
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