July 2, 2024 • 26 mins
Discussion of inaugural and FREE event at Great American Ball Park for any veteran who wants to connect with services, get problems solved, seek new support and get a once-in-a-lifetime look behind the scenes at the home of the Cincinnati Reds.
Guest: Steven Staniford, Hamilton County Veterans Service Commissioner
Click here to connect with Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission.
Guest: Steven Staniford, Hamilton County Veterans Service Commissioner
Click here to connect with Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This week on iHeart CITs because wewant Hamilton County to be a place where
veterans want to come and live.Calling all veterans, wherever you live,
wherever you served, you have advocatesright here in the Tri State. With
everything that you're dealing with, thered tape, the confusion of where to
go, the waiting, and thenthere's the personal mind and body health,
(00:23):
the adjustment to civilian life and itschallenges. Well, you're not alone in
this and that's why we're here today. Steve Stanford is the Commissioner of the
Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission, whosemission is to take care of veterans free
of charge. And then along withHamilton County and the dav they're pulling out
the entire arsenal to bring you theHamilton County Veterans Appreciation Day in July for
(00:45):
military members to get all the helpthey needed one location in a fun way
with their families. And later theywere drafted to be soldiers, sent over
to a foreign country to fight awar, and they were brought back home
and expected to be the perfect soldier. They were never taught how to be
the rank and file. We've gotsome big news for those with bad conduct
(01:07):
discharges and other military blemishes. Apardon from the US government for many who
were punished, discharged, or evencourt martialed over conduct that's now seen as
acceptable in the United States military.Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins,
We've got a lot to get totoday. Thanks for tuning into this iHeartRadio
station. For iHeart Cincy, we'reproviding answers to questions some you didn't even
(01:33):
know to ask. We've got resourcesthat are needed, and we're highlighting Cincinnatians
and events that you just don't wantto miss. I'm Sandy Collins. Today
I'm speaking with Stephen Stanford, whoheads up the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission.
It's an advocacy group that has theinformation, the connections, the resources,
and the desire to take care ofAmerica's veterans right here in the Tri
(01:56):
State. My guest today is HamiltonCounty Veterans Service Commissioner Steve in Stanford.
He's a veteran of the US AirForce and he is here to talk today
about a great program, one oftheir programs for veterans here in Hamilton County.
But first let's meet him, Steven, thank you for being on the
show. A veteran of the USAir Force. Did you ever serve at
Right Pat, I've been to RightPat. I never served the Right Pat.
(02:16):
I was stationed in California, TravisAir Force Base. How'd you come
here from Ohio? Originally Northeast Ohio. Me and my wife moved here two
and a half years ago when sheaccepted a job down in the Cincinnati area,
and I've been involved here ever since. Very good. And how did
you come to the Veterans Service Commission? I came by the way of Craig
(02:36):
McKee and WCPO. I had myown experiences with the Commission, and then
when Craig had his reporting on thetroubles that were there, I started to
attend the meetings and then asked ifi'd be interested in joining the commission.
Yeah. Craig McKee is one ofthe news anchors for the nighttime news on
Channel nine WCPO. He's a veteran. Do you remember what services he was
(02:58):
in? I don't know. Hewas Air Force, Air Force, and
I believe his wife is an ArmyI remember, right, so battling branches
right there. Yes, So I'mglad he said something to you. Let's
start with the forty thousand veterans thatare here in Hamilton County. And when
we're talking about this program, doesa veteran have to be in Hamilton County
(03:20):
in order to be considered or canthey be in Clermont or we are welcome.
Is marketed for Hamilton County and therewill be specific services there for Hamilton
County veterans that we provide the countyprovides. But being that we're in a
tri state area, in close relationshipwith the Southwest and all the other we
are not barring anybody from coming.No matter where they live, They're more
(03:45):
than welcome with they're from Kentucky,Indiana, any of the neighboring counties in
Ohio, we will welcome them to. BA has joined us as a partner
and they will have I believe eighttables for different programming at the VA offers.
So it's something that all I careabout and all the commission cares about
as well as the County commissioners ishelping veterans, whether that is veterans in
(04:09):
Hamilton County, it doesn't matter.If we can help veterans get the services
or the programming they need, thenwe're going to do it for the veterans.
So many services, so many differentthings that have to be done,
so much red tape from different organizationsfor those who are not veterans or have
anything to do with it. Canyou talk just real quick about the red
(04:32):
tape and the difficulty it is forveterans because so many of them eventually just
say, you know what, I'mtired of doing this. I can't i
can't do this by myself. Idon't know where to go. And so
they're living without home or they're living, you know, on the streets.
They don't have money, they don'thave all the services that they deserve.
They could be well off, youknow, retired somewhere, but they are
do other benefits veterans. It's alwaysbeen a battle of knowing I a veteran
(04:57):
myself, who've battled through the VAsystem and learn the ins and outs of
that and the strides that the vhas made to make changes to make it
more approachable for veterans. This eventis designed to show veterans what we have
to offer all in one place,instead of them having to sift through different
sections, whether it's housing, educational, We're have Gero space there as a
(05:21):
hiring event. They're a big supporter'sveterans. They have a whole Veterans organization
internally that they do Veterans programming.PNG will also be there. We're also
gonna have the building trades, theunions for hiring events, so places that
honor and want veterans to come workfor them will be there as well as
(05:45):
well as Xavier and University of Cincinnatiall that stuff. They'll be there for
the educational portion, and it's notjust for the veterans. There's a lot
of programming for the family of veterans. Veterans can give of their GI bill
money to their children and that statedon't want to use it and go to
school, they can pass it down. They can pass it down. So
(06:08):
these are things that they may notbe aware of that we can help assist
with and whether we at the VeteransService Commission do it ourselves, but we
have the address book, that theplaybook of who they may need to see,
and that's what we want. Wewant to be the quarterback for these
veterans to help direct them and showthem what we offer. And that's what
(06:31):
this first inaugural Veterans Appreciation Days aboutis one to honor their service as well
as show what the county because wewant Hamilton County to be a place where
veterans want to come to live,and that's to grow that veteran community here
with the third largest veteran community inthe state, so we want to even
(06:56):
surpass the other Kuihoga and Franklin County. We'd like to be past them.
A little competition is a good thing, isn't it It is? It is
I think we can be with havinga wonderful VA Hospital Cincinnati, VA in
our county is an important thing toshow case what we can do as our
commission to work with them and helpveterans move forward. And what's special about
(07:21):
this Hamilton County Veterans Appreciation Day,It's going to be at the Great American
Ballpark. Talking with Alicia Reese,who was one of the folks that came
up with this from the Commission,that she said, we want to make
this for the entire family. Wewant people to the veterans to be able
to come with their kids, withtheir wives, with their spouses, and
have programs and fun for them too. So can we talk about that.
(07:44):
Yeah, One of the things thatwhen talking with Commissioner rees and stuff that
we felt was important was Veterans ofmy era, which are the oef OIF
and Iraqi Freedom Enduring Freedom. Alot of us have families, so if
there's something that doesn't include my family, I may not necessarily want to go
(08:05):
because it's taking time away from yourlittle ones. Yeah, exactly. So
we wanted to show and that wecare and that we want them to be
part of this because they are affectedas well. If there's any thing that
the vets are dealing with, it'sgoing to trickle down to the family.
And it's also spouses who have losttheir their service member, whether it was
(08:28):
during their service or afterwards. There'sprogramming stuff available to assist them as well.
Our commission helps widows and widowers ofthey're entitled the same services as a
regular service member would be. Beforewe go on, let me just bring
everybody in if you just joined us. I'm talking with the Commissioner of the
(08:48):
Hamilton County Veterans Service. It's aStephen Stanford, a proud veteran of the
United States Air Force, and we'retalking today about the Hamilton County Veterans Appreciation
Day which is coming up in July. A Great American Ballpark, which Alicia
Reese was touting to the ends ofthe year, that there's free parking,
free parking for the first time atthe Central Riverfront Garage. And we just
(09:11):
had to chuckle because that's a that'sa rarity, so something you get very
often. I mean when I goto my commission meeting dark downtown, So
that free parking downtown is another barrierthat we did not want to have.
Tell me what makes the Veterans ServiceCommission different from other veterans organizations, And
I'll tell you why. And I'mnot talking about necessarily procedures. But there's
(09:31):
a lot of organizations that say,join this group, be a member here,
we can do this, we cando that, and they all look
legit. Some of them you haveto pay for. It's a yearly membership.
You might get a yearly newsletter insome chok keys. Is there any
fee to be a part or workwith the Veterans Service Commission here in Hamilton
County? Oh No, there isno fee. Our Commission is made up
(09:54):
of those service organizations, and unfortunatelyit is something that we all have to
pay to be members of those butto be a veteran in Hamilton County,
you are entitled to whatever we offeras being a resident of Hamilton County and
a veteran to assist you. It'snever will cost you anything. We will
do your your claims for VA benefits, emergency financial assistance, any kind of
(10:20):
benefits, rides to your appointments andthings like that, and free metro rides
during during the day of the event. That will also be free for veterans
to ride to a Great American ballpark, So whether it won't just be for
the medical appointments for this one,and also that's a big two. We
just today approved utilizing Uber Health forveterans and their appointments from my commission,
(10:45):
So that's another step towards making sureveterans in Hamilton County get to the appointments
that they need to. How woulda veteran schedule a ride through the Uber
medical service on his own or doeshe contact and then they'll contact Uber.
We just rolled that out, sothe policy that my executive director, or
(11:07):
Lando Sonza is working on the actualprocedure for that. We've already been in
contact with the Uber So in thenext thirty days that should be off the
ground and running, and then we'llhave a transportation coordinator in our office who
will handle the schedule, line andtransportation for that. That's a great service.
I'm really happy to hear that youguys have put all that together with
(11:28):
Uber and their medicals lot working tomake sure veterans can get to where they
need to be. So, solet's talk about the day itself. It
starts at ten o'clock. Yes,ma'am, it's ten to two July twentieth,
free parking. Obviously, Commissionery statedit's a very big deal. Free
food will also be provided a rafflegiveaway. First, we ask them if
(11:54):
they can possibly register before July tenthfrom our website hcvsc dot org. At
the top is a place to enterand register for the event HCVSSE dot org.
If they can't the day of theevent, we will be registering them
as they enter the ballpark. Butit helps to preregister so you guys can
(12:16):
prepare food in that it would giveus. It gives us a more accurate
idea of how many people we're goingto be feeding, so that we can
let Great American Ballpark know that waywe're not running out of food, right
right, And you've already had abig response so far. By the time
this airs, it'll be even morethan that. But you're planning on whoever
(12:37):
comes. So if you can hearmy voice, you can hear Steven's voice.
You know, a veteran who mayhave questions about benefits, wants to
enjoy a day at the ballpark,tell them about the tours that they're going
to be able to enjoy behind thescenes there at the ballpark. What we're
going to have is one there willbe ballpark tours during the day as well
(12:58):
as as we have worked with theReds Hall of Fame, which is a
separate entity from the Reds themselves,to allow veterans in their family go and
tour the Hall of Fame free ofcharge of that day. There is no
cost to them. The county wasgraciously enough to pick up the remaining budget
because veterans do get to tour forfree, but we wanted to make sure
the families included. We're also goingto have games for the children and stuff
(13:24):
like that with the ball will beopen, so it's going to be carnival
games, speed pitch, stuff likethat, and there'll be prizes for the
children to win stuff like that.Now the Reds are going to be out
of town that weekend, right itis all start break. So it was
kind of a great American ballpark.The first professional team in baseball was the
Cincinnati Reds. It's kind of ano brainer to want to be there.
(13:50):
As beautiful as the stadium is.I never had been to it before until
my first tour, which when thatwas back in May. We did the
first tours, first time I've everbeen in there. Now obviously my wife
has bought tickets for games here shortly, but to see how beautiful the stadium
is and to let the community seebecause it is a county stadium, I
(14:13):
want they should see what the countyhas done in how county residents can use
the stadium and they just have tobe able to arrange it. And that's
what Alicia was saying exactly. Soit's important to show that and working with
the Reds and like I said,doing the ballpark tours and they can see
all the really cool things that arethere, even for game day or even
(14:33):
when there's not If they part ofanother organization that may think, well maybe
we want to do something down here. We'll be back with more from Steven
Stanfford, the Commissioner of the HamiltonCounty Veterans Service Commission, providing veterans in
the Tri State the support they wantand need. More on that coming up
on iHeart Sincy. Back with myguest on iHeart Sincy, Stephen Stanfford,
(14:54):
the Commissioner of the Hamilton County VeteransService Commission. You can find them online
website. It is hc VSC dotorg or just search for Hamilton County Veterans
Service Commission. You'll get right toit. We're going to talk more about
the first ever Hamilton County Veterans AppreciationDay coming up in July at Great American
(15:16):
Ballpark. The former stadium there atRiverfront was such a different feeling. It
felt like it was up, youknow, up in the air and you
had to you know, it feltit was nice. I remember going down
there that when it first opened andwent for years and years, but it
really didn't seem as accessible. Andwhen they rebuilt it, they said,
you know, we wanted to feellike the ball fields used to feel was
(15:37):
a neighborhood place you just walked up. Suddenly you went around the corner.
I did that once in New York. You walked around the corner and there
was a big ballpark, a hugeballpark, and that's what feeling that they've
got there at Great American Ballpark.And so you can actually go behind the
scenes and see some of these things, and I hope maybe some of the
players will be wandering around. Wecan't promise, you never know. We
(15:58):
are, and we have great giveawayitems that we're giving. We have autographed
Same Hubbard football. His foundation isMy Heart is Beating generously donated for this
event. We have different veterans organizationswho have donated gift cards for the event.
So throughout the entire time period willbe giving away prizes for veterans,
(16:21):
honoring them in some small way forthe service that they've done. What about
mental health services, it's so difficultfor veterans, they struggle with thoughts of
ind in life of depression PTSD.I'm sure you'll have plenty of help there
as well, so that folks canfinally talk to other veterans and maybe ask
(16:42):
for some help. The VA willhave a robust presence with their mental health
programming there as well as we'll havea separate areas where if they do need
to talk to somebody, they willbe able to do that the day of
if that's what they wish, butit will be any thing they could possibly
think they may need will be hereand we want to walk them to If
(17:06):
they have I need to see somebodyabout mental health at the VA, let's
take you to that table. Letme show you and that way we're not
just saying, oh, it's overthere. We want to be hands on
and show people that these services arehere, let's utilize them. In working
with the VA, it's important everyveterans should at least go to the VA
(17:30):
once a year for their appointments becausethe more veterans we have who are in
the VA system, then the UnitedStates government provides more money back to the
VA. So it helps all veteransby just going for your yearly checkout.
So these are things that we canget them registered with VA Healthcare and stuff
like that. So it's as wellas the VA is bringing their their homeless
(17:52):
outreach because unfortunately, Hamilton County doeshave a large veterans home. We talk
often about veterans and we kind ofalways seem to go towards the problems that
they have, you know, thestruggles. Let's talk about the veterans that
are doing okay. They're working probablya second or third job after retirement,
(18:15):
they're breaking in some money, they'reyou know, they're doing fine. What
kind of social activities are available throughyour commission? Do you guys have any
sort of social interactions together or isour meetings that people can come to.
These are programming ideas that I've beenworking on, the mission has been working
on, because we do want thatwe want that engagement. We want veterans
(18:36):
to feel included, because we dotend as veterans to isolate ourselves after our
service in some cases. But weall have a shared experience that we can
pull on each other and get through. And even if your life's going well,
there are stuff that you may qualifyfor that you may not. Even
if you are doing well, youhave the Packed Act, which is the
open burn pits and stuff like thatyou may have served and not realized that
(19:00):
now there may be a presumptive problemthat they see in the future that you
need to be aware of. It'sgetting information. The Compact Act, which
is the mental health portion they justhave pushed forward, which is getting mental
health services for veterans who need it. Those are not problem, but these
(19:22):
are things that no matter what veteranyou are, where you're at in your
life, is important to know aboutso that if someday you may want to
participate in it, or the educationalbenefits and stuff like that you know that
are available. A lot of veteransdon't know. If you're one hundred percent
disabled in the state of Ohio,you get a hold the Homestead Extension tax
(19:47):
Credit, which is a reduction inyour poverty taxes. So these are things
like that that they don't may notnecessarily know that even though they're they're fine
in their life, we want toshine a light on these benefits that they've
earned. The day we're talking isthe Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission and the
(20:08):
County and also the dav getting togetherfor the Veterans Appreciation Day July the twentieth.
You can and should register early attheir website. It's ten till two
and it's going to be packed witha lot of family events. Is there
anything else that you want to passalong here before we wrap up? There
will also be legal services for veteransthere. The County is providing we're also
(20:33):
going to be doing there's a VeteransTreatment corn in Hamilton County that was,
if I'm not mistaken, one ofthe first ever in the state of Ohio
for veterans who do have legal issuesin their life that they can be part
of this programming to get on theright track. There will be actually veterans
who are receiving expungements that have gonethrough the programming and then have made a
(20:59):
difference in their life life, andnow we're going to give them the opportunity
to have that stuff taking off theirrecord, taking off their record. The
judges will be there, they're excitedto be part of the event. So
it's just it's something that I thinkthat even if you're not sure that you
need any of this stuff, comesee there will be Like the dav has,
(21:22):
Disabled American Veterans have been a hugepartner in this. They have come
in and become one of our strongestsupporters in this event. They see it
as a way to reach more veteransand provide that camaraderie that these organizations can
do. Let me ask you aboutthis because it just came out in the
(21:44):
news this week, which doesn't affectan enormous number of people, but it
affects veterans. And this is theBiden administration's clemency for veterans and active duty
personnel who were court martialed for samesex relationships dating back to the nineteen fifties
(22:04):
until that became no longer the policyof the United States military a few years
ago. So now you have roughestimates in the media a couple thousand who
were court martialed, sent out,they got discharges, dishonorable discharges, or
benefits, denied retirements and such.And now the Biden administration says, we're
(22:26):
going to write this historical wrong andwe're going to everybody gets the pardon in
order to actually act on it,though you will need to apply to get
a certificate to take around and startgetting these changes. Are you up to
speed at all? Very new,it's new, but it's not. Also,
(22:48):
this is something that the United Statesgovernment and the Department Offense were very
aware with the Vietnam veterans. Alot of veterans received bad conduct discharges.
They were drafted to be soldiers,sent over to a foreign country to fight
a war, and they were broughtback home and expected to be the perfect
soldier. They were never taught howto be the rank and file, so
(23:10):
they did not conform to and thenthey were given bad conduct discharges or dishonorable
discharges. That is something my officedoes is we help those veterans apply.
What it does with the Biden administrationdoing is it gets the message out even
further to all veterans that if thereis something that happened, we can help
you file the paperwork and get yourdischarge upgraded, which then will open all
(23:34):
the doors of services that are availableto you. And especially with the age
of the Vietnam veterans and the GolfWar and such, these guys are now
looking at the later years in life. The health concerns are kicking in even
more. And if you didn't haveyour VA benefits before, now, now's
a good time to go figure outwhat it is that you can get.
(23:57):
So the Department of Defense has theirinformation online. I looked it up today
and read quite a bit. Theyseem to already have their program together.
So you can look at the Departmentof Defense amnesty program that President Biden announced
this week, and they can alsogo to you. Yeah, they can
come to our office, get anappointment and we will start to pay forwork
to move that forward and be theiradvocate and gather all information that may be
(24:19):
required. And this is not justthe same sex stuff. This is also
about other conduct that may no longerbe considered as historically bad, like marijuana
expungements and things like that. Soif you have something on your record,
I think it never hurts it behoovesyou to go and talk to somebody about
(24:41):
it does. And we have theexperts at our office who know that.
And it is one of the bigthings, especially with like the Vietnam and
the marijuana stuff, and now withthis. You're a veteran. You served
your country and then you came homeand led a good life, you weren't
in trouble. Those are things thatwork very favorably into this process. It's
(25:03):
that you became an upstanding citizen afterwards. This was not something that you should
have been disciplined for. And whenwe do the packets, that's what we
demonstrate. If you need more information, the website kind of makes sense,
but it's hard to say, soI'm going to say it slowly. It's
easy. The Hamilton County Veterans' ServiceCommission it is HCVSC dot Org or just
(25:27):
google Hamilton County Veteran Service and it'llpop right up and you'll be able to
deal with Steven Stanford, who's thecommissioner, and his great crew of people.
How many people working on there?We now have six Veteran Service officers,
one executive director and then two officestaff, so were growing. We
(25:48):
still would like to add more bynext year. All right, give them
a call. They can help you. And don't forget about the Veterans Appreciation
Day July twentieth three bus rides toGreat American Ballpark. It starts ten am,
goes till two pm. Free parking, free food for the family,
and a lot of great veterans totalk with. Steven. Thank you so
much for being here today. Weappreciate your time. Thank you so much
(26:11):
for having me. I appreciate it. If you missed any part of this
show, you're going to find iton the iHeartRadio app or online at iHeart
dot com. Look under podcasts searchfor iheartsincy Sandy Collins. If you don't
have the app, you are missingout. You can listen to this radio
station, along with hundreds of othersfrom across the country. Locals can listen
(26:32):
to the Reds games and you hearall the music that you love. It's
all free. It's right there inyour app store. Just search for the
iHeartRadio app. If you've got aquestion, comment, or idea for the
show, email the show at Iheartsincywith an I at iHeartMedia dot com.
I'm Sandy Collins. Thanks for listening. Iheartsinsey is a production of iHeartMedia Cincinnati,
This week on iHeart CITs because wewant Hamilton County to be a place where
veterans want to come and live.Calling all veterans, wherever you live,
wherever you served, you have advocatesright here in the Tri State. With
everything that you're dealing with, thered tape, the confusion of where to
go, the waiting, and thenthere's the personal mind and body health,
(00:23):
the adjustment to civilian life and itschallenges. Well, you're not alone in
this and that's why we're here today. Steve Stanford is the Commissioner of the
Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission, whosemission is to take care of veterans free
of charge. And then along withHamilton County and the dav they're pulling out
the entire arsenal to bring you theHamilton County Veterans Appreciation Day in July for
(00:45):
military members to get all the helpthey needed one location in a fun way
with their families. And later theywere drafted to be soldiers, sent over
to a foreign country to fight awar, and they were brought back home
and expected to be the perfect soldier. They were never taught how to be
the rank and file. We've gotsome big news for those with bad conduct
(01:07):
discharges and other military blemishes. Apardon from the US government for many who
were punished, discharged, or evencourt martialed over conduct that's now seen as
acceptable in the United States military.Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins,
We've got a lot to get totoday. Thanks for tuning into this iHeartRadio
station. For iHeart Cincy, we'reproviding answers to questions some you didn't even
(01:33):
know to ask. We've got resourcesthat are needed, and we're highlighting Cincinnatians
and events that you just don't wantto miss. I'm Sandy Collins. Today
I'm speaking with Stephen Stanford, whoheads up the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission.
It's an advocacy group that has theinformation, the connections, the resources,
and the desire to take care ofAmerica's veterans right here in the Tri
(01:56):
State. My guest today is HamiltonCounty Veterans Service Commissioner Steve in Stanford.
He's a veteran of the US AirForce and he is here to talk today
about a great program, one oftheir programs for veterans here in Hamilton County.
But first let's meet him, Steven, thank you for being on the
show. A veteran of the USAir Force. Did you ever serve at
Right Pat, I've been to RightPat. I never served the Right Pat.
(02:16):
I was stationed in California, TravisAir Force Base. How'd you come
here from Ohio? Originally Northeast Ohio. Me and my wife moved here two
and a half years ago when sheaccepted a job down in the Cincinnati area,
and I've been involved here ever since. Very good. And how did
you come to the Veterans Service Commission? I came by the way of Craig
(02:36):
McKee and WCPO. I had myown experiences with the Commission, and then
when Craig had his reporting on thetroubles that were there, I started to
attend the meetings and then asked ifi'd be interested in joining the commission.
Yeah. Craig McKee is one ofthe news anchors for the nighttime news on
Channel nine WCPO. He's a veteran. Do you remember what services he was
(02:58):
in? I don't know. Hewas Air Force, Air Force, and
I believe his wife is an ArmyI remember, right, so battling branches
right there. Yes, So I'mglad he said something to you. Let's
start with the forty thousand veterans thatare here in Hamilton County. And when
we're talking about this program, doesa veteran have to be in Hamilton County
(03:20):
in order to be considered or canthey be in Clermont or we are welcome.
Is marketed for Hamilton County and therewill be specific services there for Hamilton
County veterans that we provide the countyprovides. But being that we're in a
tri state area, in close relationshipwith the Southwest and all the other we
are not barring anybody from coming.No matter where they live, They're more
(03:45):
than welcome with they're from Kentucky,Indiana, any of the neighboring counties in
Ohio, we will welcome them to. BA has joined us as a partner
and they will have I believe eighttables for different programming at the VA offers.
So it's something that all I careabout and all the commission cares about
as well as the County commissioners ishelping veterans, whether that is veterans in
(04:09):
Hamilton County, it doesn't matter.If we can help veterans get the services
or the programming they need, thenwe're going to do it for the veterans.
So many services, so many differentthings that have to be done,
so much red tape from different organizationsfor those who are not veterans or have
anything to do with it. Canyou talk just real quick about the red
(04:32):
tape and the difficulty it is forveterans because so many of them eventually just
say, you know what, I'mtired of doing this. I can't i
can't do this by myself. Idon't know where to go. And so
they're living without home or they're living, you know, on the streets.
They don't have money, they don'thave all the services that they deserve.
They could be well off, youknow, retired somewhere, but they are
do other benefits veterans. It's alwaysbeen a battle of knowing I a veteran
(04:57):
myself, who've battled through the VAsystem and learn the ins and outs of
that and the strides that the vhas made to make changes to make it
more approachable for veterans. This eventis designed to show veterans what we have
to offer all in one place,instead of them having to sift through different
sections, whether it's housing, educational, We're have Gero space there as a
(05:21):
hiring event. They're a big supporter'sveterans. They have a whole Veterans organization
internally that they do Veterans programming.PNG will also be there. We're also
gonna have the building trades, theunions for hiring events, so places that
honor and want veterans to come workfor them will be there as well as
(05:45):
well as Xavier and University of Cincinnatiall that stuff. They'll be there for
the educational portion, and it's notjust for the veterans. There's a lot
of programming for the family of veterans. Veterans can give of their GI bill
money to their children and that statedon't want to use it and go to
school, they can pass it down. They can pass it down. So
(06:08):
these are things that they may notbe aware of that we can help assist
with and whether we at the VeteransService Commission do it ourselves, but we
have the address book, that theplaybook of who they may need to see,
and that's what we want. Wewant to be the quarterback for these
veterans to help direct them and showthem what we offer. And that's what
(06:31):
this first inaugural Veterans Appreciation Days aboutis one to honor their service as well
as show what the county because wewant Hamilton County to be a place where
veterans want to come to live,and that's to grow that veteran community here
with the third largest veteran community inthe state, so we want to even
(06:56):
surpass the other Kuihoga and Franklin County. We'd like to be past them.
A little competition is a good thing, isn't it It is? It is
I think we can be with havinga wonderful VA Hospital Cincinnati, VA in
our county is an important thing toshow case what we can do as our
commission to work with them and helpveterans move forward. And what's special about
(07:21):
this Hamilton County Veterans Appreciation Day,It's going to be at the Great American
Ballpark. Talking with Alicia Reese,who was one of the folks that came
up with this from the Commission,that she said, we want to make
this for the entire family. Wewant people to the veterans to be able
to come with their kids, withtheir wives, with their spouses, and
have programs and fun for them too. So can we talk about that.
(07:44):
Yeah, One of the things thatwhen talking with Commissioner rees and stuff that
we felt was important was Veterans ofmy era, which are the oef OIF
and Iraqi Freedom Enduring Freedom. Alot of us have families, so if
there's something that doesn't include my family, I may not necessarily want to go
(08:05):
because it's taking time away from yourlittle ones. Yeah, exactly. So
we wanted to show and that wecare and that we want them to be
part of this because they are affectedas well. If there's any thing that
the vets are dealing with, it'sgoing to trickle down to the family.
And it's also spouses who have losttheir their service member, whether it was
(08:28):
during their service or afterwards. There'sprogramming stuff available to assist them as well.
Our commission helps widows and widowers ofthey're entitled the same services as a
regular service member would be. Beforewe go on, let me just bring
everybody in if you just joined us. I'm talking with the Commissioner of the
(08:48):
Hamilton County Veterans Service. It's aStephen Stanford, a proud veteran of the
United States Air Force, and we'retalking today about the Hamilton County Veterans Appreciation
Day which is coming up in July. A Great American Ballpark, which Alicia
Reese was touting to the ends ofthe year, that there's free parking,
free parking for the first time atthe Central Riverfront Garage. And we just
(09:11):
had to chuckle because that's a that'sa rarity, so something you get very
often. I mean when I goto my commission meeting dark downtown, So
that free parking downtown is another barrierthat we did not want to have.
Tell me what makes the Veterans ServiceCommission different from other veterans organizations, And
I'll tell you why. And I'mnot talking about necessarily procedures. But there's
(09:31):
a lot of organizations that say,join this group, be a member here,
we can do this, we cando that, and they all look
legit. Some of them you haveto pay for. It's a yearly membership.
You might get a yearly newsletter insome chok keys. Is there any
fee to be a part or workwith the Veterans Service Commission here in Hamilton
County? Oh No, there isno fee. Our Commission is made up
(09:54):
of those service organizations, and unfortunatelyit is something that we all have to
pay to be members of those butto be a veteran in Hamilton County,
you are entitled to whatever we offeras being a resident of Hamilton County and
a veteran to assist you. It'snever will cost you anything. We will
do your your claims for VA benefits, emergency financial assistance, any kind of
(10:20):
benefits, rides to your appointments andthings like that, and free metro rides
during during the day of the event. That will also be free for veterans
to ride to a Great American ballpark, So whether it won't just be for
the medical appointments for this one,and also that's a big two. We
just today approved utilizing Uber Health forveterans and their appointments from my commission,
(10:45):
So that's another step towards making sureveterans in Hamilton County get to the appointments
that they need to. How woulda veteran schedule a ride through the Uber
medical service on his own or doeshe contact and then they'll contact Uber.
We just rolled that out, sothe policy that my executive director, or
(11:07):
Lando Sonza is working on the actualprocedure for that. We've already been in
contact with the Uber So in thenext thirty days that should be off the
ground and running, and then we'llhave a transportation coordinator in our office who
will handle the schedule, line andtransportation for that. That's a great service.
I'm really happy to hear that youguys have put all that together with
(11:28):
Uber and their medicals lot working tomake sure veterans can get to where they
need to be. So, solet's talk about the day itself. It
starts at ten o'clock. Yes,ma'am, it's ten to two July twentieth,
free parking. Obviously, Commissionery statedit's a very big deal. Free
food will also be provided a rafflegiveaway. First, we ask them if
(11:54):
they can possibly register before July tenthfrom our website hcvsc dot org. At
the top is a place to enterand register for the event HCVSSE dot org.
If they can't the day of theevent, we will be registering them
as they enter the ballpark. Butit helps to preregister so you guys can
(12:16):
prepare food in that it would giveus. It gives us a more accurate
idea of how many people we're goingto be feeding, so that we can
let Great American Ballpark know that waywe're not running out of food, right
right, And you've already had abig response so far. By the time
this airs, it'll be even morethan that. But you're planning on whoever
(12:37):
comes. So if you can hearmy voice, you can hear Steven's voice.
You know, a veteran who mayhave questions about benefits, wants to
enjoy a day at the ballpark,tell them about the tours that they're going
to be able to enjoy behind thescenes there at the ballpark. What we're
going to have is one there willbe ballpark tours during the day as well
(12:58):
as as we have worked with theReds Hall of Fame, which is a
separate entity from the Reds themselves,to allow veterans in their family go and
tour the Hall of Fame free ofcharge of that day. There is no
cost to them. The county wasgraciously enough to pick up the remaining budget
because veterans do get to tour forfree, but we wanted to make sure
the families included. We're also goingto have games for the children and stuff
(13:24):
like that with the ball will beopen, so it's going to be carnival
games, speed pitch, stuff likethat, and there'll be prizes for the
children to win stuff like that.Now the Reds are going to be out
of town that weekend, right itis all start break. So it was
kind of a great American ballpark.The first professional team in baseball was the
Cincinnati Reds. It's kind of ano brainer to want to be there.
(13:50):
As beautiful as the stadium is.I never had been to it before until
my first tour, which when thatwas back in May. We did the
first tours, first time I've everbeen in there. Now obviously my wife
has bought tickets for games here shortly, but to see how beautiful the stadium
is and to let the community seebecause it is a county stadium, I
(14:13):
want they should see what the countyhas done in how county residents can use
the stadium and they just have tobe able to arrange it. And that's
what Alicia was saying exactly. Soit's important to show that and working with
the Reds and like I said,doing the ballpark tours and they can see
all the really cool things that arethere, even for game day or even
(14:33):
when there's not If they part ofanother organization that may think, well maybe
we want to do something down here. We'll be back with more from Steven
Stanfford, the Commissioner of the HamiltonCounty Veterans Service Commission, providing veterans in
the Tri State the support they wantand need. More on that coming up
on iHeart Sincy. Back with myguest on iHeart Sincy, Stephen Stanfford,
(14:54):
the Commissioner of the Hamilton County VeteransService Commission. You can find them online
website. It is hc VSC dotorg or just search for Hamilton County Veterans
Service Commission. You'll get right toit. We're going to talk more about
the first ever Hamilton County Veterans AppreciationDay coming up in July at Great American
(15:16):
Ballpark. The former stadium there atRiverfront was such a different feeling. It
felt like it was up, youknow, up in the air and you
had to you know, it feltit was nice. I remember going down
there that when it first opened andwent for years and years, but it
really didn't seem as accessible. Andwhen they rebuilt it, they said,
you know, we wanted to feellike the ball fields used to feel was
(15:37):
a neighborhood place you just walked up. Suddenly you went around the corner.
I did that once in New York. You walked around the corner and there
was a big ballpark, a hugeballpark, and that's what feeling that they've
got there at Great American Ballpark.And so you can actually go behind the
scenes and see some of these things, and I hope maybe some of the
players will be wandering around. Wecan't promise, you never know. We
(15:58):
are, and we have great giveawayitems that we're giving. We have autographed
Same Hubbard football. His foundation isMy Heart is Beating generously donated for this
event. We have different veterans organizationswho have donated gift cards for the event.
So throughout the entire time period willbe giving away prizes for veterans,
(16:21):
honoring them in some small way forthe service that they've done. What about
mental health services, it's so difficultfor veterans, they struggle with thoughts of
ind in life of depression PTSD.I'm sure you'll have plenty of help there
as well, so that folks canfinally talk to other veterans and maybe ask
(16:42):
for some help. The VA willhave a robust presence with their mental health
programming there as well as we'll havea separate areas where if they do need
to talk to somebody, they willbe able to do that the day of
if that's what they wish, butit will be any thing they could possibly
think they may need will be hereand we want to walk them to If
(17:06):
they have I need to see somebodyabout mental health at the VA, let's
take you to that table. Letme show you and that way we're not
just saying, oh, it's overthere. We want to be hands on
and show people that these services arehere, let's utilize them. In working
with the VA, it's important everyveterans should at least go to the VA
(17:30):
once a year for their appointments becausethe more veterans we have who are in
the VA system, then the UnitedStates government provides more money back to the
VA. So it helps all veteransby just going for your yearly checkout.
So these are things that we canget them registered with VA Healthcare and stuff
like that. So it's as wellas the VA is bringing their their homeless
(17:52):
outreach because unfortunately, Hamilton County doeshave a large veterans home. We talk
often about veterans and we kind ofalways seem to go towards the problems that
they have, you know, thestruggles. Let's talk about the veterans that
are doing okay. They're working probablya second or third job after retirement,
(18:15):
they're breaking in some money, they'reyou know, they're doing fine. What
kind of social activities are available throughyour commission? Do you guys have any
sort of social interactions together or isour meetings that people can come to.
These are programming ideas that I've beenworking on, the mission has been working
on, because we do want thatwe want that engagement. We want veterans
(18:36):
to feel included, because we dotend as veterans to isolate ourselves after our
service in some cases. But weall have a shared experience that we can
pull on each other and get through. And even if your life's going well,
there are stuff that you may qualifyfor that you may not. Even
if you are doing well, youhave the Packed Act, which is the
open burn pits and stuff like thatyou may have served and not realized that
(19:00):
now there may be a presumptive problemthat they see in the future that you
need to be aware of. It'sgetting information. The Compact Act, which
is the mental health portion they justhave pushed forward, which is getting mental
health services for veterans who need it. Those are not problem, but these
(19:22):
are things that no matter what veteranyou are, where you're at in your
life, is important to know aboutso that if someday you may want to
participate in it, or the educationalbenefits and stuff like that you know that
are available. A lot of veteransdon't know. If you're one hundred percent
disabled in the state of Ohio,you get a hold the Homestead Extension tax
(19:47):
Credit, which is a reduction inyour poverty taxes. So these are things
like that that they don't may notnecessarily know that even though they're they're fine
in their life, we want toshine a light on these benefits that they've
earned. The day we're talking isthe Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission and the
(20:08):
County and also the dav getting togetherfor the Veterans Appreciation Day July the twentieth.
You can and should register early attheir website. It's ten till two
and it's going to be packed witha lot of family events. Is there
anything else that you want to passalong here before we wrap up? There
will also be legal services for veteransthere. The County is providing we're also
(20:33):
going to be doing there's a VeteransTreatment corn in Hamilton County that was,
if I'm not mistaken, one ofthe first ever in the state of Ohio
for veterans who do have legal issuesin their life that they can be part
of this programming to get on theright track. There will be actually veterans
who are receiving expungements that have gonethrough the programming and then have made a
(20:59):
difference in their life life, andnow we're going to give them the opportunity
to have that stuff taking off theirrecord, taking off their record. The
judges will be there, they're excitedto be part of the event. So
it's just it's something that I thinkthat even if you're not sure that you
need any of this stuff, comesee there will be Like the dav has,
(21:22):
Disabled American Veterans have been a hugepartner in this. They have come
in and become one of our strongestsupporters in this event. They see it
as a way to reach more veteransand provide that camaraderie that these organizations can
do. Let me ask you aboutthis because it just came out in the
(21:44):
news this week, which doesn't affectan enormous number of people, but it
affects veterans. And this is theBiden administration's clemency for veterans and active duty
personnel who were court martialed for samesex relationships dating back to the nineteen fifties
(22:04):
until that became no longer the policyof the United States military a few years
ago. So now you have roughestimates in the media a couple thousand who
were court martialed, sent out,they got discharges, dishonorable discharges, or
benefits, denied retirements and such.And now the Biden administration says, we're
(22:26):
going to write this historical wrong andwe're going to everybody gets the pardon in
order to actually act on it,though you will need to apply to get
a certificate to take around and startgetting these changes. Are you up to
speed at all? Very new,it's new, but it's not. Also,
(22:48):
this is something that the United Statesgovernment and the Department Offense were very
aware with the Vietnam veterans. Alot of veterans received bad conduct discharges.
They were drafted to be soldiers,sent over to a foreign country to fight
a war, and they were broughtback home and expected to be the perfect
soldier. They were never taught howto be the rank and file, so
(23:10):
they did not conform to and thenthey were given bad conduct discharges or dishonorable
discharges. That is something my officedoes is we help those veterans apply.
What it does with the Biden administrationdoing is it gets the message out even
further to all veterans that if thereis something that happened, we can help
you file the paperwork and get yourdischarge upgraded, which then will open all
(23:34):
the doors of services that are availableto you. And especially with the age
of the Vietnam veterans and the GolfWar and such, these guys are now
looking at the later years in life. The health concerns are kicking in even
more. And if you didn't haveyour VA benefits before, now, now's
a good time to go figure outwhat it is that you can get.
(23:57):
So the Department of Defense has theirinformation online. I looked it up today
and read quite a bit. Theyseem to already have their program together.
So you can look at the Departmentof Defense amnesty program that President Biden announced
this week, and they can alsogo to you. Yeah, they can
come to our office, get anappointment and we will start to pay forwork
to move that forward and be theiradvocate and gather all information that may be
(24:19):
required. And this is not justthe same sex stuff. This is also
about other conduct that may no longerbe considered as historically bad, like marijuana
expungements and things like that. Soif you have something on your record,
I think it never hurts it behoovesyou to go and talk to somebody about
(24:41):
it does. And we have theexperts at our office who know that.
And it is one of the bigthings, especially with like the Vietnam and
the marijuana stuff, and now withthis. You're a veteran. You served
your country and then you came homeand led a good life, you weren't
in trouble. Those are things thatwork very favorably into this process. It's
(25:03):
that you became an upstanding citizen afterwards. This was not something that you should
have been disciplined for. And whenwe do the packets, that's what we
demonstrate. If you need more information, the website kind of makes sense,
but it's hard to say, soI'm going to say it slowly. It's
easy. The Hamilton County Veterans' ServiceCommission it is HCVSC dot Org or just
(25:27):
google Hamilton County Veteran Service and it'llpop right up and you'll be able to
deal with Steven Stanford, who's thecommissioner, and his great crew of people.
How many people working on there?We now have six Veteran Service officers,
one executive director and then two officestaff, so were growing. We
(25:48):
still would like to add more bynext year. All right, give them
a call. They can help you. And don't forget about the Veterans Appreciation
Day July twentieth three bus rides toGreat American Ballpark. It starts ten am,
goes till two pm. Free parking, free food for the family,
and a lot of great veterans totalk with. Steven. Thank you so
much for being here today. Weappreciate your time. Thank you so much
(26:11):
for having me. I appreciate it. If you missed any part of this
show, you're going to find iton the iHeartRadio app or online at iHeart
dot com. Look under podcasts searchfor iheartsincy Sandy Collins. If you don't
have the app, you are missingout. You can listen to this radio
station, along with hundreds of othersfrom across the country. Locals can listen
(26:32):
to the Reds games and you hearall the music that you love. It's
all free. It's right there inyour app store. Just search for the
iHeartRadio app. If you've got aquestion, comment, or idea for the
show, email the show at Iheartsincywith an I at iHeartMedia dot com.
I'm Sandy Collins. Thanks for listening. Iheartsinsey is a production of iHeartMedia Cincinnati,
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