Pittsfield's "Soldier On" Provides Sanctuary, Dignity and Hope for Unhoused Veterans

Veterans around the nation, including right here in New England, are finding themselves facing mental, physical, and emotional battles as they try to re-adjust to life at home. Soldier On in Pittsfield wants to ensure those who gave so much for our country have everything they need, and that their service and sacrifices are never forgotten. They're committed to finding or creating permanent housing, health care, mental health services, and much more for veterans around the Northeast. CEO Bruce Buckley stops by the show this week to share all the details with Nichole and talk about how veterans in need can find help.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston.This is New England Weekend. Each week
we come together and talk about allthe topics important to you and the place
where you live. It's so goodto be back with you again this Memorial
Day weekend. I'm Nicole Davis.This weekend for a Memorial Day, we
honor those who made the ultimate sacrificein protecting our nation, and we remember
those who couldn't make it home totell their stories. In this first segment,

(00:29):
we're turning our attention to those whohave served and returned home, but
still carry the weight of their experience. A nonprofit in western Massachusetts wants to
ensure their sacrifice and service are neverforgotten. Soldier On in Pittsfield is dedicated
to supporting veterans in their most challengingtimes. They're committed to finding permanent housing,
healthcare, and much more for homelessveterans. We're now facing all kinds

(00:50):
of battles as they try to readjusta civilian life. Bruce Buckley, the
CEO of Soldier On, is here. We've got a lot to talk about.
Bruce. Let's get to it.Thank you so much for your time.
You are a busy guy. Giveus some background to start, if
you could about how long you've beendoing this work for our events. It
started on the VA campus in Northampton, mass in Leeds, mass As it's

(01:11):
called as just a transitional program,and that was it's a five oh one
c three and it started in responseto the VA and the Department of Defense
programmatically admitting, I guess, orrecognizing that homelessness in the veteran community is
and always has been a much higherpercentage than the general population, and that

(01:36):
they had to I guess own it, and they created a program that funded
nonprofits like Soldier On to do transitionalhousing around the country. So that's how
this began in nineteen ninety four,and it's grown substantially, vertically and horizontally,

(01:56):
I guess, in a lot ofdifferent ways since that, but that's
how it began thirty years ago.Wow, that is impressive. And you
have gone from reaching just western Massachusetts. You recently broke round on a community
in Tiksbury, so making your wayover toward northeastern Massachusetts. Then you also
work in places like New York andNew Jersey. There's been quite the expansion

(02:20):
here over a relatively short period oftime. Yeah, I think, and
you know why we've expanded, Ibelieve wholeheartedly is that we do a good
job and we really serve the menand women that need our support. And
that's been recognized again programmatically by theaddition of a lot of programs. So
to go back frontologically, myself andanother gentleman who really started the Souldier On

(02:46):
as it is today. He cameon board in two thousand and one.
That's Jack Downing, who still workshere. He's in his early eighties,
so he's got a reduced role,but I talked to him and I took
over. I came in in twothousand and two as the finance guy,
and really, after running it asa transitional program, we saw many of

(03:09):
the veterans that we served would getback on their feet to a degree,
go back out into the community andthen be back in our program or a
similar program a year or two yearslater, and we really said, we
really need to also build permanent housing, and more than just building it,
it was supporting it, and that'swhat we started. The first building opened

(03:34):
in Western mass in Pittsfield's thirty nineunits in two thousand and eleven, and
since then we're on I think oureighth or ninth building now maybe ten that
were involved with it's grown, andit's grown again because we provide a lot
of support. You know, myexperience here over the last twenty plus years

(03:58):
has been if you ask the underpopulation of people who see homelessness from AFAR
and you ask why would someone behomeless, you often hear substance abuse,
mental health issues, financial struggles.And my answer to that is, well,
aren't there a lot of people withsubstance abuse that aren't homeless. Aren't

(04:18):
there a lot of people that havemental health issues that aren't homeless? So
what's the difference? Those aren't theissues. They certainly contribute at times or
often, but really the issue isthese men and women have lost their support
system or they never really had one, and that's what we've become. So
we've added a lot of programs likelegal support, financial literacy, which we've

(04:43):
helped a lot of veterans by houseby improving their credit scores, a lot
of transportation, a wellness director,and I could keep rattling on, but
really we've added these programs not becausewe had this great vision necessarily, but
because we saw this need. Afterwe open the building, and said,
oh boy, we never thought ofthat. How are we going to help

(05:04):
in that matter? And one morepiece I'll add is we put on our
permanent housing, most of them columbariums, which is to enter the ashes of
someone who's passed away. Not becausewe wanted to start a cemetery when we
started the program, but because webecame their community, and that's where the
men and women often elect to stayfor the rest of time. Let's say.

(05:29):
Yeah, I mean, I'm nota veteran myself, but I've spoken
to so many veterans who tell meit's the community that you build. That's
a really great word for it.When you're in the service, and then
when you leave the service, manyof them have told me that they feel
almost disconnected, like they need apurpose, They need somewhere to serve,
even if they're not serving, youknow, in combat or behind the scenes.
They need another purpose in life,and they need another family to sometimes

(05:53):
connect to. That just gets it. Yeah, No, you're right on
the money, and I think that'sagain what we see. That's you know,
certainly a lot of veterans don't needus, most don't need us,
But the veterans that do need ushave those struggles, and they really do
often have a sense of loss ofpurpose, loss of connection. And we

(06:16):
hire a lot of the veterans thatwere formerly homeless vetermens. So I'm going
to say about half the staff isformally homeless veterans who do work in our
kitchen, work in our transportation.They've become case managers. They've really this
becomes their permanent home. And manyhave moved out into the community but still

(06:38):
work with us and where their family, so to speak. And you know,
I think that there is sort ofthis bias that veterans who go and
serve are all just men and theycome home and it's homeless men who need
housing, but women do as well. And you've actually got a specific women's
program specifically to provide support for womenvets. Yeah. We we started a

(07:01):
transitional program for female veterans for womenvets. Oh, I'm going to say
ten years ago, maybe a littlelonger, and we operated out of bungalows
that were formerly housing on the VAcampus and they were adequate, but they
weren't great. We then got thefunding to build a sixteen unit transitional housing

(07:25):
program and building on that campus thatwe opened in twenty fifteen and that has
sixteen separate bedrooms. Every two bedroomshare a bath, every four bedroom share
a kitchen. So it's kind oflike a college housing type of a setup.
And the program has been very successfulin helping women female women veterans get

(07:50):
back on their feet. That canlast up to two years and transitional,
and we saw a lot of thewomen say, I don't want to leave,
I want to stay at Soldier On. So we built a fourteen unit
building in Pittsfield, mass on thecampus that we have some other property,
and that opened in May of twothousand, twenty twenty, I'm sorry,

(08:13):
right in the middle of COVID andit's been very successful with permanent housing and
I think of the fourteen units,we've had two maybe three turnover in four
years. So we've addressed it inthat way programmatically as well as housing,
and then in other buildings we builtrecently, we opened a couple of years

(08:35):
ago seventy unit building in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, and we put an
eight unit wing on that just forfemale veterans, that has its own community
space, its own laundry, itsown FOB system, and that's been full
with only one turnover in two anda half years, so the need is

(08:56):
there. The women often have sufferedmilitary sexual trauma. They've often if they've
been living in the streets, addictedor had mental health issues. They've often
had bad male experiences. So wegive them the space that they need for
recovery, and they embrace it.I do appreciate the fact that you offer
so many different forms of support,because mental health is critical for anybody,

(09:22):
but especially for people who are comingout of the out of the service.
And you mentioned, of course sexualtrauma. You mentioned trauma that you deal
with just being in the service.What other forms of support are veterans asking
you for when they come to youand ask for assistance besides the housing.
Well, let me tell you thebiggest thing that we do is the most
difficult to kind of wrap your armsaround. It's a program called SSBF and

(09:46):
that's Supportive Services for Veteran Families.We have about one hundred and twenty employees
out every day working with veterans throughthat program. And that's why we're in
New Jersey, that's why we're inmuch of New York State's I were in
Pennsylvania as well as Massachusetts, andthat allows us to pay rent, utility,
security deposits, and other costs.The VA funds US so that's where

(10:11):
the money comes from, and itallows us to address a broader need.
Basically, it's to prevent homelessness asopposed to wait to your homeless and then
we can help you. So wesee needs there that are very practical.
Fix your car, help me geta job, help me access benefits.

(10:31):
I think in the in the permanentresidential, the residential is great, the
beautiful, the buildings are beautiful.I would live in them. They're very
nice units. But I think weprovide, as I said, a ton
of support that you know, recreationalsupport. I'm actually in New Jersey right
now. We've been invited to anevent that I'm bringing some veterans to tomorrow

(10:56):
that we've we have a lot ofcommunity support. We have a great music
program that we've been working. Wedid it last year and we're doing it
this year with a group Voices ofValor, that helps the veterans write a
song, perform it, and thenactually record it with professionals in a studio
that comes out great. And allof those seemingly maybe disconnected, but really

(11:20):
are connected. Supports and services arewhat make us successful and what most importantly
helped make the veterans successful and getcontrol of their life and kind of go
in the direction that they wanted togo in. Now I have to touch
on this one program that I thoughtwas absolutely awesome. You talk about being

(11:41):
in New Jersey, drop the BeatFarms is working with you on this hydroponic
program, and you've got this reallycool growing situation set up. I'd love
to hear more about that. Sure. So, yeah, New Jersey,
we built seventy unit building and onmany of our permanent housing properties, we've
been able to get a greetenhouse inas part of the program, and it's

(12:03):
never been super organized from our side. It's sort of used in one way
or another. We included in thisdevelopment in New Jersey a greenhouse, and
we were very fortunate a group calledFulfilled, which is really the Mommouth County
Food Bank, provides all of ournutritional support which we provide in Massachusetts to

(12:26):
our building at no cost to usor the veteran and it's a huge benefit
to us that they're able to providethat. And one of the guys,
Cody that worked there, was wantedto see a greenhouse and he said,
boy, you guys should try hydroponics. And I'm like, I know very
little. You know, educate mea little. We install the hydroponics system

(12:50):
in New Jersey and it's been ahuge success in many of the veterans participate
in it daily. Hydroponics grows vegetablesand herbs much faster than they would if
they were outside in a regular situation, and we give the food back to
the food bank and to other nonprofitsthat support the community. And because it

(13:15):
was so successful, we opened inour Agawan property in Agawan, Massachusetts,
we had a greenhouse we put inthe same system. Cody, who usually
stays in New Jersey, has addedAgaon, Massachusetts to one of his sites
because he loves the program. Hecomes up monthly and the veterans that work
the greenhouse have a huge amount ofpride. They actually are growing tomatoes in

(13:43):
Agam, which is very hard inan aquaponic just the way they grow up.
And they've been able to do it, which Cody was shocked because he's
never been able to do it.So the students are teaching the teachers here
in this case. I love whenthat happens. It's like, oh wait,
a minute. That's pretty cool,you know. And I love the
support too that you offer when itcomes to mental health. And I want

(14:07):
to talk really quickly about your teamup with Let's Talk Interactive. It's a
telehealth service for veterans who need tocheck in, So tell us a bit
more about how that works. SoI'd like to say I had some great
vision, but I was lucky,or our team was lucky because we were
growing geographically. We utilize the VAS, which are pretty much everywhere we are

(14:30):
as a provider of mental health services. But some of the veterans who are
eligible for our services aren't eligible forVA benefits for medical And we have our
own clinician, and we had two. Now we've got one who works one
on one with the veterans who needthat support. And as we grew geographically

(14:54):
with buildings, this one clinician,he was driving around half the week going
from Bill Bilding to building to building. And I said, you know,
why don't we look at this systemthat somebody connected me to the guy that
Art Cooksie who started and owned let'sTalk Interactive, and we got connected and

(15:15):
ordered the system. There's hardware involved, and it's a process, and this
was before I'd never heard the wordCOVID. Well, it arrived in March
of twenty twenty, the same weekCOVID arrived, and we had to shut
down buildings not let people move.You know, they were in a building,

(15:35):
but they couldn't move. We didn'twant people in and out. And
it was perfect that that became aresource that's in all of our buildings and
people veterans can get mental health wherethey live, either in the building we
have a kiosk, or they cando it on a phone or a tablet.
But were able to deliver that tothe veteran and it's been a you

(15:58):
know, especially with the COVID andthe isolation. We really made it through
COVID number one. We have hundredsthat live with us. Unfortunately, we
had one veteran die about a yearago from COVID, but we made it
through the big crisis with nobody dying. And I attribute it to taking quick

(16:19):
action, luck a little bit,I guess, and having those types of
supports that could help keep the veteransstable and working with us through that difficult
time. Okay, so there isa whole list of great support and programs
that you've got that you're offering thatwe just simply cannot get into. We

(16:40):
just don't have the time. Iwould talk to you for three hours about
all this, but unfortunately we justdon't have the time. But you know,
you have to have some sort ofsupport to make all that happen.
So how are people supporting you atthis point? How is all of this
getting done? And what do youneed from people who might be listening and
want to help. So provides alot of funding to us. We have

(17:03):
state aids. The Commonwealth of Massachusettshas been very good to us. The
new Department of Veterans Services EOVS andthe Secretary Santiago as well as the governor.
They've really pushed more money out toagencies like us. We actually just
applied for more money. The applicationjust went in an hour ago. So

(17:26):
that fortunately pays the basic operating expenses, but we do a lot of extra.
So just an example, we haveabout a fifteen or sixteen vehicle transportation
system with a software system that runspublic transportation that allows us to hire a
lot of most of the drivers areformerly homeless veterans. It allows us to

(17:51):
give free transportation to all the veteransin our program. It also allows us
to do a lot of free ridesto veterans in the communities that we're in,
and how we help do that iswe are a mass medicaid provider,
so we actually can do paid ridesto help offset the cost of the free
ride. So we've been fairly creativein doing things like that. Donations also

(18:15):
make a big difference. We're goingto be opening the building in Tewksbury,
which is twenty one units, shouldopen around the December of this year.
It's under construction now, and weprovide all the We provide all the furniture,
We provide all the towels, allthe cooking utensils, all the bedspreads,

(18:37):
on and on and on. Weput a TV in every room,
and we do an Amazon wish listfor the public can say I'll buy some
bath towels or I'll buy some youknow, another item a coffee maker,
because it's you know, it's veryspecific and it goes directly to the veteran.
So that'll be coming up in theTewksbury in you know, the Eastern

(19:00):
mass area. And we also justdonations, I certainly make a big difference,
and you know, we have alot of community involvement that helps support
our program. So we have alot of churches, we have a lot
of other nonprofits, we have alot of legions, we have a lot

(19:21):
of vfws that all come in andhelp support the veterans. So it's it
really is a community to support thecommunity. Well, then how can people
if people want to connect with you, if they know a veteran who could
use your services, if they area veteran themselves who is listening and saying,
wait a minute, I would loveto get involved with soldier on,
how can they find you and howcan they connect www dot we Solderon.

(19:45):
It's a little confusing because solderon wastaken. So our website is we solder
on w E S O L DI E R O N dot org.
Okay, so there you could donateor you can access services and support.
We also have a call center.The toll free number is eight six six
four oh six eight four four ninethat if if someone needs help, if

(20:10):
you're a veteran who's struggling, ifyou call that number, we can get
you to help, whether we provideit or you're in a location that we're
not a service provider on the ground. Necessarily, but we can connect you
to someone who is. So thoseare two great ways to connect. Beautiful
all right, we soldier on dotorg. We soldier on dot org.

(20:33):
Bruce Buckley, this is such greatwork you're doing. Thank you for looking
out for our veterans and thank youfor your time. Thank you, all
right, have a safe and healthyweekend. Please join me again next week
for another edition of the show.I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.