Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally pointers falling.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good afternoon and morning wherever you're going to be in
the world today, across the world. This is James the
Sorry Timmy with Amena Macchiato Micano Bam.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Folks here with you at the rally point.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And of course we have the man behind the microphone,
Zayna Brain.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
How are we doing today, folks, good, loving life.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Outstanding, outstanding. First of all, I want to say thank
you to our man Derek get it done Anderson. He's
been on the road, killer on it thanks to you, folks,
and I say thank you very much supporting his cause
being with ETNA Medicare Solutions. We're glad we met you
and folks, we have an outstanding show today.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Veterans, you served your country, fought for our freedom, bled
for our flag. Now are you drowning in a sea
of paperwork, lost in the jungle of the VA benefit process?
If you're not using a Veteran Service officer, then you're crazy. Crazy.
(01:01):
These vsos are your battle buddies in benefits. They cut
through red tape faster than a fighter jet on an afterburner.
Disability claims, discharge upgrades, appeals. These warriors have seen it
all and they're going to get it all for you.
Don't settle for less than you deserve. These vsos are
(01:24):
trained professionals who know the VA system inside and out.
Your vsos will help you navigate the maze and get
you the compensation and care you earned. So listen up, veterans,
don't wait another minute. Call your local service officer today
and ask about their help. Take that pension poachers. Your
(01:47):
vsos are free, confidential, and here to fight for you.
His message brought to you by your friends. On Friday
mornings on one hundred point nine FM I Heart Radio
at the Rally Point Veterans, sign up and roll out.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, folks, we're back, and I think you all remember
we had Dane Boyle on the show previously. Dane's out
in Texas. He's a veteran Air Force veteran and a trainer,
and so we wanted to have him back on the
show more regularly because if you remember his segment, it
was very positive and it was kind of a punch
of positivity that all of us needed. So we were
(02:26):
kind of talking about how our conversations on the Rally
Point Show were kind of like a bit of a
coffee talk. If you will. So we're deciding to call
this segment Positively Caffeinated with Dane Boyle. So good morning, Dane,
welcome to the show again.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Good morning, Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.
You already put a smile on my face.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, then I would say that's half the battle, right.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Exactly, absolutely absolutely, So let's.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Talk about what you've been up to. You actually have
a lot of programs where you share a lot of
goodness on Facebook, and if you can tell us about
your Facebook page and such and how people can get
in touch with you if they want to have you know,
their morning Danish if you will, because I know that
you kind of have pseudo coin that term making it
(03:13):
d A n E is h. So let's talk about me.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
If you ever get a daily Danish, I always capitalized
dn E and it was literally my first hashtag on
Twitter before I had any I don't know if I
really know what I'm doing now when it comes to
social media, but I do my best for sure.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
So the easiest way really on Facebook is literally I
am who I am. My brand is me and it's
Dame Boil and I'm cond web sting. I'm kind of
like share I might Beyonce, it's just Dame.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So someone where one moniker and so.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
You heard me, yeah, heard me on the rally point
and we can just start a healthy conversation at unlock
the next level of awesomess. We were talking in the
green room. I like to say I have a green room,
because we were talking before you hit record. Rightly have
a green room. And I don't need special eminems like
van Halen did. But anyway, it was all about ultimately
aging of awesomeess. They were very kind to say that
(04:10):
the you guys gave me compliments about who I am,
what I look like, and what I do. And I
will gladly give you my Senior Citizen discount card. But
I want you age with awesomeess and I want you
to the same. I want to take all the vets
out there. My passion points are veterans and teachers, and
I've been both.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Thank you and am both.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
And if you remember on the first time I said
I'm a fourth generation veteran, I didn't know I was
going to do that. Actually, it was just one of
those things that just kind of I did.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It came upon you didn't come to military. It kind
of came upon me. It was like, this might be
a good idea to springboard into adulthood because I was
going nowhere. So yeah, it kind of comes upon you too.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Me too, I realized making minimum wage and living on
my own and I didn't want to go to college
wasn't going to get me very far in the world.
So I've been glassed, and I'll tell you how to
get in touch with me in some programs due to
use every single dollar of my GI bill and as
a Texas veteran, so all my Texas vets out there,
if you don't know about the Hazeloed Act, please go
(05:14):
online and learn about it. Once you use all of
your federal benefits, the state of Texas will then also
pay for up to one hundred and fifty hours of
public education. Wow, and you can give it to your
children and stepchildren.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Hopefully Governor DeSantis and some of our state legislators are
listening to this as well. That sounds like a great idea.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Well, it's what pays for my graduate school. And if
you really want to know behind the current, I didn't
go to graduate school because I really want it too. Necessarily,
I just can't afford to pay my student loans back
at the time, and it deferred them. And I actually
told I've been a college professor, so I've told students
that has opened up the world for me for sure.
But then my son has used the Hazelood Act to
(06:02):
paper part of his school. And now my stepdaughter who
is at Texas A and M University, is paying for
her tuition and so she should not have any student
loans that I'll pay for that. And now I use
all of the hundred and fifty hours.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Pretty cool, That's wonderful.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
It's a huge benefit, right, It's a huge benefit if
we talked about and so I go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I know, most definitely, I was agreeing.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
To go with you. Yeah, it's one of those benefits
that I didn't know many many years ago as a
high school coach and I was sitting at a conference
and I was working with just this gentleman was now
a teacher and he was retired maybe and quot The
easiest thing when you were sitting around a group of
coaches when you don't know somebody's name, is just call
him coach because they're going to answer anyway. He's like
a coach, you know what? What the hazel Wood Act
(06:44):
is And I'm like, I have no idea what that is.
And I'm sure it was back when we had dial up,
you know, and he went home, I looked it up.
I'm like, I want to use that.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Sweet dad.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Sorry, Chare, I had a question for you, since you're
a fountain of positivity, I was wondering if you could
give some advice for some of our listeners that if
you were to turn on a TV set, there's like
a whole plethora of stressors out there, and one I
empathize with teachers every day of their lives because right
(07:18):
I think they're the second coming to service members for
what they have to do and deal with with their
day to day job and it's not just a nine
to five, But that could be part of my part
of the first question I'm asking, But for all the
stressors out there, what are your recommendations for our listeners
to kind of be able to be able to cope
and find, you know, a relief and some resources to
(07:42):
help them cope with those cope with those stressors.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Absolutely, And last time I also mentioned Mark Twain, Who's
quotes I absolutely love. First of all, he said, if
you want to the world to be a better place.
Don't read the newspaper. It works exactly today, right right,
turn off the effen news. Yes, quit watching the news
because it's Do you ever leave the news from ten
at least? To my world? At tend to ten thirty?
(08:06):
I guess on the east coast, it's eleven to eleven thirty.
You go, May I know the best half hour I
spent all day?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Never?
Speaker 5 (08:14):
Never?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If anything? Make sure well, little hamster on the wheel, go,
Oh my goodness, Now what do I need to do
for sure?
Speaker 5 (08:23):
So the first thing I think is true, I'm not kidding.
Turn off the news. Then go get your ass outside.
Go outside. Nature is natural, zan it the sun on
your face, the wind, the rain.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Look.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
I try to challenge all of our trail blazers, which
is my community, to be weather proof. Now. I don't
want you to get be stuck in a flood or
any of that stuff or lightning. But get outside and
don't look for a perfect weather. And all my army guys,
isn't rain like a perfect army day? Yes, it is correct, right,
but get outside and then truly truly examine who you
(08:57):
hang around with. They tell us that we're the product
of the five people would hang around with. If your
friends complain, guess what you're going to probably do. So
recently were we were part of a we were hosting
a fishing tournament to raise money and it was in
this small, unincorporated Texas town. It probably would take you
back fifty years just the way the town was. No fire,
no school, none of that. But it was a pretty
cool place. But then there was this little bar that
(09:18):
we were doing things in and everybody smoked and drank.
I've never been a smoker, but I'm like, pull on
my ufe ran. If I was here, I think I'd
be a smoker because that's what everybody did. So it
just reminded me. I'm not hating on smoker as any
of that. I'm just saying you are the product that
pop you surround yourself with. So right, So long story short,
I think you have to have the mantra. So I
(09:41):
Amanda alluded to my daily Danish. So I'll have a
whole list, kind of like if you ever watch to
ncis right jessor, it gives had a ton of rules. Yes,
minor daily Danish. One is to wake up and be amazing.
Two every day's a great day, and I'll skip There's
a whole bunch, but the most important one is to
never waste a heartbeat. And when you realize that we
are blessed to be here today and may not be
(10:02):
the perfect day. If you have no idea what's going
to happen, and you cannot control anybody else reacts, you
can't control even in that split second, be sa. If
somebody cut you off on the highway, you give them
this finger or you just let them go and go
and maybe they're in a bigger hurry than I am today.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I will say that given the recent atmosphere that we're
in as a nation, and as you know, certain regions
of our country are having weather dilemmas and issues, I
can definitely see how that is applicable, most definitely in
regards to news. I've never seen anyone walk away from
(10:39):
intelligence set without anxiety, stress, or anger or accombination at all.
Three and we were trying, and we walk through the
door all happy and whatnot. The first thing they ask
you is why you're so happy? Am I going to
Today's today? Today's three today? And I hope onesday it
comes around. So I'm in complete agreement with that whole situation.
May I ask in regards to being able to if
(11:05):
a person is struggling with that attaining those things for themselves,
what would you offer someone that's struggling with that attaining
that that internal happiness.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Absolutely, it's well Number one, understand it's a process. Understand
that you didn't graduate VMC on day one. You had
to go through all six, eight, thirteen weeks, depending on
where you went. So it's one day at a time.
And my first action and this is literally the first
action every single one of my one on one our
group members get and I want you to make a
(11:35):
list of ten things that bring you joy. Ten kings
that put a smile on your face. Not your mom, dad, brother, sister,
and because I live in Texas, not your or your teo.
That's your aunt and uncle. And the idea is that
sometimes as we age, and you've been told so many times,
don't do this. You know, children are are scheme, not heard,
whatever that is, that we forget what truly brings us
joy in the world. And once you can go back
(11:57):
and look at that list, or you put it on
your monitor, put on your dashboard, put it in the bathroom,
put it above the toilet, put on the entry to
the garage. You start to see it every day. You
start remind yourself I love to see the sunrise, sunset,
run and jump in a puddle, play with kids, climb mountains,
listen to music, dance who knows what that is? Remind
yourself those things bring you joy, and then go do it.
And then determine what sets your soul on fire and
(12:19):
go do that.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Wow, that's impactful right there.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, buzz, it's a pretty good mission and a good
way to get people kind of thinking in that direction.
I love how you talk about like reflecting on positivity.
As far as you've sent me something recently it said
every action is a reflection of your commitment to greatness,
which I think we've talked about this before. Like most
people they don't wake up in the morning and go, yeah,
(12:43):
I'm just gonna go be awful today or I'm just
you know what I mean, Like I'm just not going
to do my best. I'm just kind of here.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Most people don't typically do that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
There we go.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I mean to your point, I don't think we wake
up ago. I think I'm gonna suck today. Hopefully you
wake up thinking you did the best job I can. Again,
even when I took my first official job at Wendy's.
You know, when I was a kid in old enough
to throw newspapers, shovel sidewalks, mow lawns. You know, my
old man said, if you're going to flip burgers, be
the best burger flipper.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
The thing that I try to teach and I actually
send a message today, is we have to control the controllable.
So you wake up with a positive attitude. You want
to do the best job you can, be the best mom, dad,
et cetera. But we don't control the people around us
and the actions. And again going back, it's our response
to that. So I sent a message earlier this week.
It said, how do you do anything? Is how you
(13:33):
do everything. It's in a small, consistent effort. So the
biggest change has happened, whether it's how you start your day,
how you show up for yourself in those tough moments,
or how you approach your goals and everything else that matters.
So again, I don't believe, like you said that most
of us think we're going to just suck tonight. We
have to remember that how we do everything or anything
is how we do everything. And again, going back to
(13:53):
what Sarge said or asked, it's truly the idea that
we have to know that it's showing up each and
every day. Every day is not perfect. Another thing I
teach is that when whatever your goals are, when you're
successful for out of seven days in the week, you've
won the week. When you repeat that three weeks out
of four, you've won the month, And when you repeat
that eight month out of twelve, you've won a year.
So quit looking to be perfect and understand be the
(14:14):
best you can every day, hit reset after you wake up,
and start again and again and again and again to
go from there.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Absolutely, yeah, I remember you sending out that message about,
you know, kind of making sure you're not too caught
up on doing everything perfectly and you know the same
every single day, trying to but not you know, holding
it over your own head if you don't. So that
was that was definitely helpful for me because I'm a
recovering perfectionist. So yeah, but I.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Like to ask people real quick if they made one
hundred on every single test or made straight a's all
the way through school. And I've yet to have somebody say, yes,
I'm sure there's somebody out there, but sure it wasn't
me exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I was going to say, for sure. It's a matter
of kind of just learning to kind of forgive yourself
or give yourself grace and kind of move forward. So
most definitely. But we were also kind of talking about
it one moment. How you know that we're affiliated with
Reese Across America Radio, who we truly appreciate them helping
us get, you know, our show out there to the masses,
(15:15):
especially for folks that are outside of Southwest Florida. But
you told us that you have a story about Retes
across America, So I mean, we would love to hear it.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
I do. So. I have a friend whose mother is
a long haul truck driver and they were bringing the reef.
So I live near San Antonio, Texas, and they put
out a call, you know, to have to explain to
what it was, what their mission was. Would anybody liked
to do it? And I thought I would love to
do that. What was at Fort San Houston National Cemetery?
I actually the high school I went to was literally
(15:45):
right across the street in the National Cemetery. I knew
that I'm driving there, and I'm thinking I had met
My dad is buried at Fort sand Houston National Cemetery.
My grandmother is it or it's housed a national cemetery
at the time, my grandfather wasn't but he is now,
and so driving there, I got super emotional, thinking I've
(16:09):
never seen my dad's headstone. I don't believe for me,
I don't have to go there to talk to my
dad or my grandmother or have memory. But I got
emotional and I learned how to because all the obviously
in the national cemeteries, all the headstones are exactly the same,
so you have to know what lane to go down
or what area they're in. And it was, you know,
I carried all the wreaths around and I found my dad,
(16:29):
I found my grandmother, and I, you know, some tears
rolled down. I always wear a baseball hat, almost always backwards,
and even told my dad, hey, I know you never
liked it, but I still wear my hat backwards and
I love you on I misue, and at the same
time I was told that we ultimately died twice, the
time they were put six feet under and the last
time your name is uttered on earth. So every single
(16:53):
headstone that I was blessed to put a wreath on.
I took up my hat, took a knee, and I said,
you know, thank you for your a private so and
so or Sergeant so and so, or Colonel so and
so so that at least for a moment they continued
to live. And I've been able to do that for
the last several years. I don't know, to be honest
with you, how long ago, but I make it part
of my December mission to go help with Reads across America.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Nice. Yeah, we're very much looking forward to it here
in Punagorda. I've participated with Reads Across America before as
well in other parts of Florida. But yeah, we're excited
this year as the Rally Point Show to kind of
have our inaugural wreathling with the Rally Point Show at
the cemetery in Punagorda.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Most definitely, and we're thankful to have them as partnership
with our programming and our ability to support other cemeteries
around the nation. But we've focused on Punta Gorda in
local ones here in Florida to kind of help home
first and then help out there. But one of the
things we're proud of that. Anyone wants to go through
one rollypoint dot org and Kriklondie across America page click
(18:01):
the Field of Honor and they can choose what cemetery
you want to send your wreath to directly through our show,
and that way we can give honor to those who's
made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our morals in the
valor of our country.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's fantastic, absolutely, and we have a partnership put together
where for every wreath that's sold through one Rallypoint dot org,
proceeds will help further the mission at the William Argaines
Junior Veterans Memorial Park, So a portion of the proceeds
from the sale of those wreaths that we receive will
go on to make sure that that park is finished out.
(18:40):
And that's a park in our area that has a
lot of memorials and tributes to military members, first responders.
There's a Bay Route Memorial Tower that's actually being built
as we speak. And then the park also has like
walking paths, they have calisthenics station, they have kayak launches,
(19:02):
so just a lot of good stuff has been put
in there. Oh, my goodness, and I would be remiss.
I'm sure Stephen R. Deutch just sitting in his office
right now, going don't forget to mention the playground. Yes,
they have a playground that represents every single branch of
the military and first responders, and it's actually pretty cool
and a pretty wide range. At first, I thought only
little kids could use it, but I actually went there
(19:25):
a few months ago and it's I saw high school
kids on the swings, So I mean, I think it
kind of appeals to a wide range of age groups.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Most definitely, if my math correct. If my math is correct,
it's a couple like thirty acres long or wine as
in the whole the size of the facility. So there's
probably room for growth down the road. But it definitely
stands as a landmark for both our military and our
fallen law enforcement that law enforcement service first responders that
(19:55):
have also taken the altar sacrifice and defending the morals
of our country. And when we play, they take care
of our families and our homes when we're gone, So
they have the same rate as we do.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
With my opinion.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Anyway, exactly, but yeah, so I mean that's like the
wide reach that reads across America has I mean, that's
just in our community, so I can only imagine the
reach that reachs across America facilitates in other communities as well,
where not only are they honoring the fallen in December,
laying those roats and paying tribute, like you said, speaking
(20:27):
their name so that they live once more, but also
you know, just the community programs that the sale of
those rates helps facilitate. I just I can only imagine,
you know, the breadth and the scope of that.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Coke.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
Now, I love that and that playground you talk of.
It sounds like someplace where coach game would actually be hive.
I would abstlutely love to be there and see that
one of these data would Well.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You might have to make a trip out and come
see it, because there's there's usually there are quite a
few ceremonies that happen out there. I know the beay
Root Memorial Towers will be dedicated formally at some point.
Once they're completed. There will probably be a ribbon cutting,
and we can keep you informed of that. But yeah,
it's definitely worth coming out and seeing if you haven't before,
(21:15):
and just kind of enjoying the view and the setting.
They also do parades right outside of that park for
Veterans' Day I think every other year. So so yeah,
it's a pretty central part of the community. I would
say a lot of people are well aware of it.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Well most definitely. But I had a question about the
caffe in It show.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I'm positively caffeated.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I really would like to make that one on something.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It has a resonation that I like, and I think
we should make that really a part of our programming.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's the plan. The plan is that Dane will be
on the show once a month for Positively Caffeated Outstanding.
Where that's set.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, folks, I guess eyes have it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, you guys will definitely be hearing more about Dane's positively.
The cool thing is is if you want to get
on his his mailing list. If you will, Dane, why
don't you tell people how to find you on social
media so that they can link up with you. Get
involved with receiving the daily Danish and other good little
(22:21):
nuggets that you push out from time to time via
text or messager or whatever format you use.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Absolutely I can. Again, we talked about just looking for
me personally on Facebook, I'm on Instagram Dane Underscore Boil
Underscore Coaching. I'm on YouTube Dame Boil Coaching also and
also on TikTok, So those are my main resources. You
can email me directly at Danboil dot com. Yes I
have an assistant, but I personally answer every single email.
(22:51):
So if you want to just have a conversation, no
sales bitch, just how to get up, get out, get moving,
ultimately embrace every single day with your health, your fitness,
and your mindset, I would love to have a conversation
with you.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
This is awesome exactly. This is how great things are
made and good things are born out of, you know,
just having conversations and talking with each other. So I mean,
it's a beautiful, wonderful thing when veterans come together and
can make something wonderful happen, where before there was not
really that kind of thing in place.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So go ahead, go ahead, sarge, No, you go ahead.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
So I want to So I host typically host three
retreats a year, some domestically, some internationally. But what I
learned in the last several years of hosting retreats, so
my whole community is virtual, but I try to bring
people together at least three times a year in real life. Right,
high five, thugs, handshakes, whatever that takes. What we've learned
is when we rent a facility, the most important right,
(23:53):
let me ask you, what do you think the most
important room is in the facility we rent. So think
of an airbnbvrbo our retreat center. What do you think
is the best and most important room?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Kitchen?
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Any Kisson.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Zaying guests the kitchen, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Said, the dining room. So what we learned is when
we break bread and sit down, we have the best
conversations that are our quintessential meal. My last name is
boyle Is. We always host a shrimp boil boh y
help and that very first meal. So we have it
(24:30):
everything of retreat wow and that that's been the Literally
my wife is, really, to be honest with you, the
one who picks out each and every location and then
she sends them to me and says, what do you think?
We go back and forth. I'm like Bay first of
all has to have a wow factor. Second of all,
we have to make sure you're right with the kitchen,
a big kitchen and a big dining room table. And
if it doesn't have that, we'll just look for a
different a different place.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Awesome. Well, thanks for being on this show today, Dane.
We really appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. Trainer Dane Boyle,
you'll be hearing from him monthly on the Positively Caffeinated
segment of our show.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Most Definitely in America. Me I knewest member. And again, Dana,
want to say one of the things that makes the
ring point so special or veterans like yourself, and I'll
say it, These are todays I'm proud to be a
US veteran because we do what we do best from
what we did in our past, and we help our
fellow veterans in our communities simply out of purpose. And again,
(25:27):
thank you very much for being here in a part
of our programming.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
All right, next, we have on the show another returning guest.
We have Lieutenant Colonel retired Aaron burretta who is a
founder and co chair of Greater Pine Island Alliance Long
Term Recovery Group and his partner in crime, if you will,
Aaron Lawler Lambert. She is the executive director of Greater
Pine Island Alliance Long Term Recovery Group. Good morning, Erin
(25:50):
and Erin thank you for being on the show again.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Good morning. Thanks for having us, Yes, thank you for
having us back.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Absolutely so. Obviously it's been a pretty that full last
month in Florida for our you know, people that don't know,
we've had quite a few named storms come through. We've
had Helene and now Milton.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Tornadoes.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I was going to say, so, I'm sure that's keeping
you all busy. If you could just give us a
give our listeners a real quick recap of what Greater
Pine Island Alliance Long Term Recovery Group is. What you do,
how you impact the community, so that folks kind of
understand how that all correlates.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
Yes, the great upon On Alliance Long Term Recovery Group,
we stood up after Hurricane I. We are a nonprofit
and we stood up to be the hub for local
authors and collaborate with other organizations so that we can
reduce duplication of efforts for recovery. So our primary focus
is returning every survivor home. Long term recovery groups have phases,
(26:55):
So one of them is preparedness and that's before the storm,
preparedness and mitigation, then responsimnately following, and then recovery. So
the focus to the organization is we help our clients
and help individuals all the way through the process. So
with Ian, we were in recovery mode, which was helping
people get their homes put back together, get drive all
back and get flooring back in. Now with Helene and Milton,
(27:18):
we're very much into response mode, which is getting the
mucking guts done so that mold doesn't grow in people's homes,
doing the immediate things to help them get into a
more safe environment since poststorm, with the bacteria, with mold,
with things that can occur those homes that have been
in and day with flood waters can become dangerous to
(27:39):
individuals' healths. So from that, we use volunteers, we use grants,
and we use donations, and we get out into our
community and help people. So immediately falling Helene that week loan.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
We reached out. Actually Week News locally helped us to
a call to action. We were able to get six
hundred volunteer hours out there in the field to help
people mucking gut. So our goal, like we said, is
to return every Survivor film. Right now, we're.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
Definitely just in the response mode and trying to get
people's homes cleaned out that have been impacted so much
by the Leine and then Milton.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
And we've been inundated with requests both obviously with Poleene
and now since Milton. The great thing is we've had
a beautiful response from communities, even outside of the Time
Island community driving in. We've had volunteers as far as
Boca bringing supplies. We've had volunteers drive up from Maples
to help. So with that being said, I know a
(28:34):
lot of people think, well, I don't have a strong
enough back to muck and gut. We also need health
Here in our office, just answering phone calls and volunteer
coordination and organizing supplies, we can assist as many survivors
as rapidly as possible, because, as we all know, it
is crucial within the time frame to get those dangerous
and hazardous materials out of the home so they do
(28:55):
not do further damage to both the property and the
health both physical and mental the survivors.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Absolutely, and that's really helpful that you provide information on
the differing levels of volunteerism. I was actually just sitting
talking with some friends yesterday and one of them she
was concerned about that She's like, I have a really
bad back and a really bad hit, but I really
want to help people. So definitely putting out there that
there are differing levels based on you know, ability and
(29:24):
whatnot to be able to assist, that's huge, So we
appreciate you sharing that. Can you tell us kind of
what you've been up to you since you were on
our show but prior to Helene and Milton's unwelcome visits, So.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Yes, after our last vision on your show, we continued
our support for the hurricane and survivors, and like I mentioned,
we're in the process of getting skilled labor helping people
get back into their homes into that safe, sanitary, secure
environment from me and we still have families living in trailers,
we still have a lot of individuals displaced, and so
(29:59):
that process has been long over the last two years,
partially hindering that they have been working on the bridge
coming into Mattliche, so that slowed down even some people
who were trying to get delivery of new mobile homes.
That slowed some of that delivery down coming to the island.
So we continued that focus and then all of a sudden, Helene,
which you know, with one hundred and fifty hundred and
(30:21):
sixty miles off shore. That storm surge came in. At
the time the island had not received any evacuation order,
so it really caught some people by surprise. As Helene
came in, storm surge was not as high as Hurricane Ian,
but it was the second hive at a time recorded
for this area. So we had homes impacted that were
(30:44):
not impacted by Ian. It just came in from a
different direction, and so Bokeilia took a lot of heavy flooding.
Were in Hurricane In it did not. So prior to fleeing,
we had begun to get preparedness ready. We had to
contacted the American recross United and we have put out
the figula, hey we may need some help with this
storm coming in. And sure enough, the morning after Helene
(31:08):
went through, we went right into response mode and that
was the mucking guts and so really it's it's been
NonStop since Helene been. With Milton coming around the corner,
we doubled our efforts of busting support and you know, we.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
Took a pause two days before Helene with our response
and shifted directly into preparedness with our volunteers, so instead of,
you know, we kind of put down the muck buckets
and picked back up the drills to help people board
up move furniture at a higher areas, and then obviously
encouraged everyone to evacuate to a safe location for the storm.
(31:49):
Then we turned right back around to response after Hallen
and then paused again for Milton, and then it's kind
of that's been a bean.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Our sounds really sybilical.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
Yeah, every every week it's kind of okay, what are
we preparing this week or are we responding this week?
And we get our battle plan together and that's.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
What we do so absolutely. And I bet you're watching
those seven day forecasts or you know, projections for what's
going on out in the Atlantic like a hawk, because
I know I watch them too this time of year.
Speaker 7 (32:21):
We're just you know, we're good faith that hopefully that
was the last or this season for us.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I'm like knocking on my head right now as you
say that, yes, probably left shoulder.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Do what you guys do?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I oh no, because right now we've been hit two
weeks in a row, well two yeah, two weeks.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
In a row with storms, and there are parts of
the state historically my my mother's family. They're all in
Bervard County, and at one point I was stationed at
Patrick Air Force Base. But in two thousand and four
they got like something like four storms in four weeks,
and they were all hurricanes, if I'm not mistaken. So yeah,
i'd really like not to say hold my beer on
(33:03):
that one over here on political Code, I'd really like
not to compete for that title. But yeah, it's definitely
something that's on people's minds. But I think probably even
more so in the immediate it's how do we even
start to recover from this, especially if you kind of
got hit not once, but twice in like two.
Speaker 7 (33:23):
Weeks, It is difficult. So one of the things that
we've done for preparedness, and I'll highlight one of our
veterans groups that helped out is great upon o Onlines
had donated starlinks to different facilities throughout the island so
that an immediate aftermath of a storm, if communications were
knocked out, that people could get active communication through the Internet.
So after Milton's here very quickly, the VFW on Ponton
(33:46):
was one of those locations, and so they were able
to open up with the generator run the starlink, provide
breakfast and food and just a place for people to come. So,
you know, just veterans helping veterans and helping our local communities.
It is so important to do that.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, once again proving just because we're out of the service,
the service is not out of us yet though outstanding
on the VFW.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
On that behalf exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
That being the case, I had a question for you. You
kind of hit a nail on the head mental health.
Have you guys encountered any stress out? I guess occupants,
teeds of being a residence.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
Absolutely, you know. I was at a gentleman's house today.
He's been residing in his car since the storm. It's
this third time. Doesn't know what he's going to do
right now. I think there are a lot of people
on their second and third time that they realized it
might not be tenable to continue and they don't know
what they're going to do. We've encountered several people who
have said they're done, they're moving, they just can't do
(34:42):
it anymore. And I think it's you know, I think
it impacts all ages.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You know, I want to know the agents were species.
I was going to say evacuated because my dog couldn't
handle it again, so I would dare say all ages
and multiple species of beings in this area because I
think our past obviously also kind of take a hit
with that, and so it's that's not something you want
to overlook either. But I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 8 (35:06):
And continue, and I think, well, and it's interesting. Just
like no two storms are different, no two people experience
trauma the same way. So we always talk with our
volunteers that be cognizant, so you be on the lookout
for any particular triggers, anything that we need to further
a systems with. You know, you have people that jump
into hyperactive mode of volunteerism and that's how they handle
(35:27):
the trauma better. Whereas you have, you know, people who
can't even get out of their own way to allow
a volunteer to help them be in a more secure
and planetary environment. So we're always on the lookout for
what the response to trauma is from our different survivors
so we can make sure that we help provide them
with the systems that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
They need most definitely, most definitely, and again it's amazing
how you two kind of activate when this kind of
hit stuff in and now it's coming to a point
you got to take care of home at some point
and in the employe of this process. Thank you very
much for your sacrifices, guys, I mean.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Thank you absolutely. But also we were talking about how
your reach. Even though your name is Greater Pine Island Alliance,
you also sit on the board of another organization as well.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (36:10):
Yes, we're associated board members for Florida and vo ED,
which is volunteer organizations active in disaster. There is a
national vo ED and then at the state level you
have Loorida of bo ED. In an emergency such as this,
loridavo ED ends up under ees F fifteen and they
have a seat in the EOC Emergency Operations Center, Ford Data,
Florida and Tallahassee. And so every day at two o'clock
(36:31):
a two days before storms come in and then the
week's following significant disasters, we have a state level call
where we're able to put out to other volunteer organizations
what is needed in our community or if we hear
of a need in another community, and able to cross
talk across the state. And it's really phenomenal with the
calls achieved. I remember when I first joined Florida had
(36:51):
a couple of years ago. First time I mentioned the need,
I was overwhelmed by the number of people that were
able to call in and say, our organization is in
the area because there's a lot of vaunteer organizations we
don't know about. So it's a platform in which you
can create the cross talk across state and move resources
to where they're needed.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
That's wonderful. And how can people if they need help
but they're not sure where to start, like, how can
they get plugged into that? Is it a matter of
going through Greater Pine Island Alliance and making their need known?
Or is there an actual floridav ad.
Speaker 8 (37:18):
Site with me in the Greater Pine Island area? And
for those listeners who understand what that area is, go
to GPI Alliance dot org like on the get help tab.
If that's too challenging you do not have internet service
right now, you can call our office two three, nine
by five eight or nine zero one for those not
in our media area. We are happy to help. But
the most expeditious thing that they can do is go
(37:40):
on the American Red Cross app, and Themergan Cross has
an emergency app that they can download and they can
receive assystems that way. The local United Ways all across
at the southwest Florida area actually I believe all the
way up through the Tampa area and have so that
there emergency call lines as well in our area at
two one one. I'm not sure if that is across
the board. I'm sorry, I don't have that information at
(38:00):
my finger to apply that. Definitely, you reach out to
your local American Red Cross and the United Wave partners
for immediate naples and yeah, I'm Florida go At as well.
Speaker 5 (38:09):
I believe there is so.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
You Way and Red Cross are both Florida fo AD
members and they help brief out at these calls at
the stadio c level. So there's state level numbers, especiate
level moments, multiple levels that people join, but that is
more where we crosstalk. So reach out to your local
organization and they will get you in touch with the help.
You know. For example, one great organization up there in
Tampa which I know got hit very hard in the storm,
(38:31):
Rebuild Together Tampa Bay is a great organization. They're in
multiple counties and they're very, very active in that area.
They've been doing distroll supplies up there, They've been helping
people get back into their homes. So there's oftentimes a
local organization and.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
If you don't have the access or the information are
concerned about how those processes work. They've also reach out
to your faith based based communities and worship centers. Almost
all that I know of are active in some way
or at least have someone manning the phone lines to
point you in the local So there are resources. These
don't ever feel like you're going in alone. As we
always say here at GPIA, the road to recovery is long,
(39:08):
but together we are stronger than the surge, and that
goes across I know all of the community is e resilient.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Made absolutely I would agree with that. That's a lot
of great information that you guys shared and we appreciate it.
So going forward, I mean, right now, I'm sure as
soon as we finish this segment with you today, you're
probably going to be right back boots on the ground.
What what did the next couple months look like for
a Greater Pine Island Alliance and what you guys are doing.
Speaker 7 (39:31):
I think for us, we meet it weeks ahead are
so it's going to be mostly in the muck and
gut and just helping people get the furniture out, get
their homes cleaned up. From there, we obediately transition right
back into the recovery mode where we're working with organizations.
One of them working with right now is the inter
National Alliance Club to get supplies brought in rebuilding supplies.
So first you've got to get poined up.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
Then we moved to.
Speaker 7 (39:52):
Rebuilding and bring those supplies in. So it'll be asking
for donations. It'll be asking for supply donations, monetary donations
to keep the office open and running so that we
can get these people back in their home than you
don't really say a few years. I think this set
us back. Unfortunately, set us back a couple of years.
So there were homes that we were very close to
being complete form mean that are now redamaged.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Oh yeah, that's kind of what I figured. So it's
kind of having to restart the clock on them or
maybe just push it back, you know, the goalpost a
little bit farther.
Speaker 8 (40:21):
Well, and just the breath of the floodwaters on this
particular one, because it impacted it's such a larger area
of our community. Our list more than triples in the
past few weeks of our caseload. Therefore, that's also going
to come with We'll be we'll be doing a great
deal of sundraising for supplies monetary funds because as we
can all imagine, think about it, how much it costs
(40:42):
to just remodel your home if you wanted to let alone,
if you took eight feet of water, six feet of water,
four feet of water, lost your roof, you know that
that cost dramatically increases. And a lot of our elderly
in our veteran population do not have the means with
which to do those replaced. So lots of lots of
fundraising and any any donation, whether it be one dollar
(41:04):
one million dollars, definitely goes to and should be certainly
earmarked for a veterando nation.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Absolutely, And I was going to say, you guys have
a wonderful network already for people that do fundraisers for
you in your area, which is that's got to be
some kind of a comfort to know that you know,
hopefully those groups can once again help you with the
fundraising aspect.
Speaker 7 (41:24):
We're hoping so, but we definitely need funds raised. One
of the things I'm trying to get back is on
the anniversary of hurricane in these that have been two years,
the grant funds for my disaster case managers expired and
so then of course within that same exact week, we
got hit by a hurricane one again later, So raising
funds for passy for disaster case managers. So they're the
(41:46):
ones that once we move in the recovery phase again,
they do the day to day with the client, helping
the client get a clear path to recovery, seeing what
that looks like. So you're definitely looking for capacity. Feel
free to give us a call if you're interested in
helping us with a capacity that's two three, nine, five,
five eight or nine zero one. Where you can donate
through our website at www dot g PI Alliance dot org.
(42:08):
And so we do need help, and we appreciate. We
will keep marching on, We'll keep working with volunteers and
anything we've got, but we definitely still need.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Financial help absolutely. And that's I was going to say
that case managers sound like a critical piece of the puzzle.
I mean, really, at every stage, every person on your
team is a critical piece. But I mean, that's that's
huge to have that run out. I mean, you definitely
need to make sure that that's in place or continue
for you know, continuity purposes.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
And right now what the team is doing is some
of the team has taken on extra you know load
and next responsibilities while we're while we're working through that process.
It just you know, just still happening with Tier and
very shav In and you know, different funding sources, that's
all along, they're available and timing is everything with these storms,
I guess, but we are you know, we'll keep our
spirits up and we're going to still fight for our community,
our veterans and all of our.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Friends most definitely.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And for any advice you want to give give out
to some of our listeners that are hearing this and
or hearing you for the first time, what would you
tell them right now in regards to their situation.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Well, I'd say for listeners who are in the affected area,
I would just say, please pay attention to your mental
health and how you're doing. If this is your first
time experiencing it, you need to be able to take
break and it's okay to pause, and it's okay to
reach out for help. I think if you're an affected area,
a lot of times we feel my neighbor got it worse,
So I don't want to take help away from somebody
else who needs it. I would say you definitely, you
(43:25):
definitely need it, you definitely deserve it. Get some resk.
You can't wear yourself out to the point where you know,
I've seen it where people physically end up in the
hospital because they push themselves beyond what they could do.
The other thing I'd say is, if you're in an
area that was not affected, feel free. There's a lot
of great organizations, whether it the Ores, the Red Cross,
United Way, organizations involved in disaster reliefs. And if you
can't volunteer, aren't in an area for to know your
(43:47):
show reaches far across the country, please give donations to
an organization you feel that would best use it. And
there are many organizations, and the American Red Cross does
a good job of distributing it to organizations and helping
smaller graphs roots like myself. If you'd like to it
directly to my foorganization, we would certainly appreciate it. But
I think there's a lot of ways to get involved
and it's different for where you're at in the nation
(44:07):
most definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
I mean, it's just there's so much information to share,
and it's wonderful that you guys are such a plethora
of kind of kind of a one stop shop for
a good bit of information. I think a lot of
people are still trying to figure out some of the
stuff that we've talked about today, as far as how
do I get assistance or how do I, you know,
jump in and join the fight and help people with rebuilding.
I think it's kind of one of those things where
(44:29):
everybody wants to help, but not everybody knows where to
start exactly. So I think it's great that you put
that out there. I know I've seen some stuff on
social media where groups talk about that they are receiving
donations from as far as Nebraska, Ohio, you know, just
all around the country. People are sending supplies and materials
for not only our area, but obviously other areas that
(44:52):
have been similarly, if not more so, impacted or devastated
by these storms. So I think it's it's endearing to
see that that comes through. But it's wonderful to know that,
you know, in our own backyard because y'all are slightly
south of us, that we have that kind of resource
and that that relationship with you all, to have you
on the show regularly, to kind of give updates, to
(45:12):
continue relaying information, and to kind of share your experiences
on the ground, if you will, what's what's really going
on in our communities, and kind of being that puls
for everyone exactly.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
And Aaron and Aaron, one of the things I kind
of sat back here today and thought about was I
was wondering what would have happened to all those people
that you've helped already if you weren't there doing that.
And the impact, the positive impact you have had in
your community and abroad probably speaks volumes because I'm one
of those people who believes in the philosophy of good
(45:45):
creates good, and if you can't help one person do good,
then that's a whole community that can't be helped. And
that being the case, I wanted to make sure that
you knew, and I'm appreciate you noticed already that you're
doing God's work in so many ways and that you're
helping other people positive at time times of trauma and
just situations. But the fact of the matter is I say,
(46:06):
thank you very much and God bless you.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I'm thankful for you being a part of our programming.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 8 (46:12):
We're so grateful that you reached out to us and
you're letting us keep this area and keep the means
in the eyes of the nation. We are very very
grateful to help spread that word and for all the
great work that you guys are doing as well.
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Thank you one last time. Would you mind sharing your
contact information, just one last time if people need a
chance to write it down so that they can make
contact or figure out how to plug in or receive
assistance or donate hopefully.
Speaker 8 (46:37):
Absolutely, yeah, thank you for Our website is www dot
g Gialliance dot org, or you can call the office
phone number two three, nine, five, five eight or nine
zero one. Our office hours are Monday through Friday nine
to four I'm sorry, Monday through Thursday nine to four,
(46:58):
Friday nine to noon as obviously if we don't have
holidays a hurricane exactly.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
Well.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Thank you again, Aaron Burretta and Aaron Lawler Lambert for
being on the show today. We really appreciate you guys,
and we look forward to having you back on the
show again in the near future.
Speaker 7 (47:13):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for pot.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
You out Famblas.
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Yeah.
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(48:44):
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Speaker 2 (49:28):
Outstanding and folks, remember we're here for you veterans and
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And with that being said
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Rally pointers fall out w
Rally pointers falling.
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Folks here with you at the rally point.
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How are we doing today, folks, good, loving life.
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Don't settle for less than you deserve. These vsos are
(01:24):
trained professionals who know the VA system inside and out.
Your vsos will help you navigate the maze and get
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don't wait another minute. Call your local service officer today
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(01:47):
vsos are free, confidential, and here to fight for you.
His message brought to you by your friends. On Friday
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at the Rally Point Veterans, sign up and roll out.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, folks, we're back, and I think you all remember
we had Dane Boyle on the show previously. Dane's out
in Texas. He's a veteran Air Force veteran and a trainer,
and so we wanted to have him back on the
show more regularly because if you remember his segment, it
was very positive and it was kind of a punch
of positivity that all of us needed. So we were
(02:26):
kind of talking about how our conversations on the Rally
Point Show were kind of like a bit of a
coffee talk. If you will. So we're deciding to call
this segment Positively Caffeinated with Dane Boyle. So good morning, Dane,
welcome to the show again.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
Good morning, Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here.
You already put a smile on my face.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, then I would say that's half the battle, right.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Exactly, absolutely absolutely, So let's.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Talk about what you've been up to. You actually have
a lot of programs where you share a lot of
goodness on Facebook, and if you can tell us about
your Facebook page and such and how people can get
in touch with you if they want to have you know,
their morning Danish if you will, because I know that
you kind of have pseudo coin that term making it
(03:13):
d A n E is h. So let's talk about me.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
If you ever get a daily Danish, I always capitalized
dn E and it was literally my first hashtag on
Twitter before I had any I don't know if I
really know what I'm doing now when it comes to
social media, but I do my best for sure.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
So the easiest way really on Facebook is literally I
am who I am. My brand is me and it's
Dame Boil and I'm cond web sting. I'm kind of
like share I might Beyonce, it's just Dame.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So someone where one moniker and so.
Speaker 5 (03:46):
You heard me, yeah, heard me on the rally point
and we can just start a healthy conversation at unlock
the next level of awesomess. We were talking in the
green room. I like to say I have a green room,
because we were talking before you hit record. Rightly have
a green room. And I don't need special eminems like
van Halen did. But anyway, it was all about ultimately
aging of awesomeess. They were very kind to say that
(04:10):
the you guys gave me compliments about who I am,
what I look like, and what I do. And I
will gladly give you my Senior Citizen discount card. But
I want you age with awesomeess and I want you
to the same. I want to take all the vets
out there. My passion points are veterans and teachers, and
I've been both.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Thank you and am both.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
You're welcome.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
And if you remember on the first time I said
I'm a fourth generation veteran, I didn't know I was
going to do that. Actually, it was just one of
those things that just kind of I did.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It came upon you didn't come to military. It kind
of came upon me. It was like, this might be
a good idea to springboard into adulthood because I was
going nowhere. So yeah, it kind of comes upon you too.
Speaker 5 (04:53):
Me too, I realized making minimum wage and living on
my own and I didn't want to go to college
wasn't going to get me very far in the world.
So I've been glassed, and I'll tell you how to
get in touch with me in some programs due to
use every single dollar of my GI bill and as
a Texas veteran, so all my Texas vets out there,
if you don't know about the Hazeloed Act, please go
(05:14):
online and learn about it. Once you use all of
your federal benefits, the state of Texas will then also
pay for up to one hundred and fifty hours of
public education. Wow, and you can give it to your
children and stepchildren.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Hopefully Governor DeSantis and some of our state legislators are
listening to this as well. That sounds like a great idea.
Speaker 5 (05:41):
Well, it's what pays for my graduate school. And if
you really want to know behind the current, I didn't
go to graduate school because I really want it too. Necessarily,
I just can't afford to pay my student loans back
at the time, and it deferred them. And I actually
told I've been a college professor, so I've told students
that has opened up the world for me for sure.
But then my son has used the Hazelood Act to
(06:02):
paper part of his school. And now my stepdaughter who
is at Texas A and M University, is paying for
her tuition and so she should not have any student
loans that I'll pay for that. And now I use
all of the hundred and fifty hours.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Pretty cool, That's wonderful.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
It's a huge benefit, right, It's a huge benefit if
we talked about and so I go ahead.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I know, most definitely, I was agreeing.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
To go with you. Yeah, it's one of those benefits
that I didn't know many many years ago as a
high school coach and I was sitting at a conference
and I was working with just this gentleman was now
a teacher and he was retired maybe and quot The
easiest thing when you were sitting around a group of
coaches when you don't know somebody's name, is just call
him coach because they're going to answer anyway. He's like
a coach, you know what? What the hazel Wood Act
(06:44):
is And I'm like, I have no idea what that is.
And I'm sure it was back when we had dial up,
you know, and he went home, I looked it up.
I'm like, I want to use that.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Sweet dad.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Sorry, Chare, I had a question for you, since you're
a fountain of positivity, I was wondering if you could
give some advice for some of our listeners that if
you were to turn on a TV set, there's like
a whole plethora of stressors out there, and one I
empathize with teachers every day of their lives because right
(07:18):
I think they're the second coming to service members for
what they have to do and deal with with their
day to day job and it's not just a nine
to five, But that could be part of my part
of the first question I'm asking, But for all the
stressors out there, what are your recommendations for our listeners
to kind of be able to be able to cope
and find, you know, a relief and some resources to
(07:42):
help them cope with those cope with those stressors.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Absolutely, And last time I also mentioned Mark Twain, Who's
quotes I absolutely love. First of all, he said, if
you want to the world to be a better place.
Don't read the newspaper. It works exactly today, right right,
turn off the effen news. Yes, quit watching the news
because it's Do you ever leave the news from ten
at least? To my world? At tend to ten thirty?
(08:06):
I guess on the east coast, it's eleven to eleven thirty.
You go, May I know the best half hour I
spent all day?
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Never?
Speaker 5 (08:14):
Never?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If anything? Make sure well, little hamster on the wheel, go,
Oh my goodness, Now what do I need to do
for sure?
Speaker 5 (08:23):
So the first thing I think is true, I'm not kidding.
Turn off the news. Then go get your ass outside.
Go outside. Nature is natural, zan it the sun on
your face, the wind, the rain.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Look.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
I try to challenge all of our trail blazers, which
is my community, to be weather proof. Now. I don't
want you to get be stuck in a flood or
any of that stuff or lightning. But get outside and
don't look for a perfect weather. And all my army guys,
isn't rain like a perfect army day? Yes, it is correct, right,
but get outside and then truly truly examine who you
(08:57):
hang around with. They tell us that we're the product
of the five people would hang around with. If your
friends complain, guess what you're going to probably do. So
recently were we were part of a we were hosting
a fishing tournament to raise money and it was in
this small, unincorporated Texas town. It probably would take you
back fifty years just the way the town was. No fire,
no school, none of that. But it was a pretty
cool place. But then there was this little bar that
(09:18):
we were doing things in and everybody smoked and drank.
I've never been a smoker, but I'm like, pull on
my ufe ran. If I was here, I think I'd
be a smoker because that's what everybody did. So it
just reminded me. I'm not hating on smoker as any
of that. I'm just saying you are the product that
pop you surround yourself with. So right, So long story short,
I think you have to have the mantra. So I
(09:41):
Amanda alluded to my daily Danish. So I'll have a
whole list, kind of like if you ever watch to
ncis right jessor, it gives had a ton of rules. Yes,
minor daily Danish. One is to wake up and be amazing.
Two every day's a great day, and I'll skip There's
a whole bunch, but the most important one is to
never waste a heartbeat. And when you realize that we
are blessed to be here today and may not be
(10:02):
the perfect day. If you have no idea what's going
to happen, and you cannot control anybody else reacts, you
can't control even in that split second, be sa. If
somebody cut you off on the highway, you give them
this finger or you just let them go and go
and maybe they're in a bigger hurry than I am today.
Speaker 6 (10:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I will say that given the recent atmosphere that we're
in as a nation, and as you know, certain regions
of our country are having weather dilemmas and issues, I
can definitely see how that is applicable, most definitely in
regards to news. I've never seen anyone walk away from
(10:39):
intelligence set without anxiety, stress, or anger or accombination at all.
Three and we were trying, and we walk through the
door all happy and whatnot. The first thing they ask
you is why you're so happy? Am I going to
Today's today? Today's three today? And I hope onesday it
comes around. So I'm in complete agreement with that whole situation.
May I ask in regards to being able to if
(11:05):
a person is struggling with that attaining those things for themselves,
what would you offer someone that's struggling with that attaining
that that internal happiness.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Absolutely, it's well Number one, understand it's a process. Understand
that you didn't graduate VMC on day one. You had
to go through all six, eight, thirteen weeks, depending on
where you went. So it's one day at a time.
And my first action and this is literally the first
action every single one of my one on one our
group members get and I want you to make a
(11:35):
list of ten things that bring you joy. Ten kings
that put a smile on your face. Not your mom, dad, brother, sister,
and because I live in Texas, not your or your teo.
That's your aunt and uncle. And the idea is that
sometimes as we age, and you've been told so many times,
don't do this. You know, children are are scheme, not heard,
whatever that is, that we forget what truly brings us
joy in the world. And once you can go back
(11:57):
and look at that list, or you put it on
your monitor, put on your dashboard, put it in the bathroom,
put it above the toilet, put on the entry to
the garage. You start to see it every day. You
start remind yourself I love to see the sunrise, sunset,
run and jump in a puddle, play with kids, climb mountains,
listen to music, dance who knows what that is? Remind
yourself those things bring you joy, and then go do it.
And then determine what sets your soul on fire and
(12:19):
go do that.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Wow, that's impactful right there.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, buzz, it's a pretty good mission and a good
way to get people kind of thinking in that direction.
I love how you talk about like reflecting on positivity.
As far as you've sent me something recently it said
every action is a reflection of your commitment to greatness,
which I think we've talked about this before. Like most
people they don't wake up in the morning and go, yeah,
(12:43):
I'm just gonna go be awful today or I'm just
you know what I mean, Like I'm just not going
to do my best. I'm just kind of here.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Most people don't typically do that.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
There we go.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I mean to your point, I don't think we wake
up ago. I think I'm gonna suck today. Hopefully you
wake up thinking you did the best job I can. Again,
even when I took my first official job at Wendy's.
You know, when I was a kid in old enough
to throw newspapers, shovel sidewalks, mow lawns. You know, my
old man said, if you're going to flip burgers, be
the best burger flipper.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
The thing that I try to teach and I actually
send a message today, is we have to control the controllable.
So you wake up with a positive attitude. You want
to do the best job you can, be the best mom, dad,
et cetera. But we don't control the people around us
and the actions. And again going back, it's our response
to that. So I sent a message earlier this week.
It said, how do you do anything? Is how you
(13:33):
do everything. It's in a small, consistent effort. So the
biggest change has happened, whether it's how you start your day,
how you show up for yourself in those tough moments,
or how you approach your goals and everything else that matters.
So again, I don't believe, like you said that most
of us think we're going to just suck tonight. We
have to remember that how we do everything or anything
is how we do everything. And again, going back to
(13:53):
what Sarge said or asked, it's truly the idea that
we have to know that it's showing up each and
every day. Every day is not perfect. Another thing I
teach is that when whatever your goals are, when you're
successful for out of seven days in the week, you've
won the week. When you repeat that three weeks out
of four, you've won the month, And when you repeat
that eight month out of twelve, you've won a year.
So quit looking to be perfect and understand be the
(14:14):
best you can every day, hit reset after you wake up,
and start again and again and again and again to
go from there.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Absolutely, yeah, I remember you sending out that message about,
you know, kind of making sure you're not too caught
up on doing everything perfectly and you know the same
every single day, trying to but not you know, holding
it over your own head if you don't. So that
was that was definitely helpful for me because I'm a
recovering perfectionist. So yeah, but I.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Like to ask people real quick if they made one
hundred on every single test or made straight a's all
the way through school. And I've yet to have somebody say, yes,
I'm sure there's somebody out there, but sure it wasn't
me exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
I was going to say, for sure. It's a matter
of kind of just learning to kind of forgive yourself
or give yourself grace and kind of move forward. So
most definitely. But we were also kind of talking about
it one moment. How you know that we're affiliated with
Reese Across America Radio, who we truly appreciate them helping
us get, you know, our show out there to the masses,
(15:15):
especially for folks that are outside of Southwest Florida. But
you told us that you have a story about Retes
across America, So I mean, we would love to hear it.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
I do. So. I have a friend whose mother is
a long haul truck driver and they were bringing the reef.
So I live near San Antonio, Texas, and they put
out a call, you know, to have to explain to
what it was, what their mission was. Would anybody liked
to do it? And I thought I would love to
do that. What was at Fort San Houston National Cemetery?
I actually the high school I went to was literally
(15:45):
right across the street in the National Cemetery. I knew
that I'm driving there, and I'm thinking I had met
My dad is buried at Fort sand Houston National Cemetery.
My grandmother is it or it's housed a national cemetery
at the time, my grandfather wasn't but he is now,
and so driving there, I got super emotional, thinking I've
(16:09):
never seen my dad's headstone. I don't believe for me,
I don't have to go there to talk to my
dad or my grandmother or have memory. But I got
emotional and I learned how to because all the obviously
in the national cemeteries, all the headstones are exactly the same,
so you have to know what lane to go down
or what area they're in. And it was, you know,
I carried all the wreaths around and I found my dad,
(16:29):
I found my grandmother, and I, you know, some tears
rolled down. I always wear a baseball hat, almost always backwards,
and even told my dad, hey, I know you never
liked it, but I still wear my hat backwards and
I love you on I misue, and at the same
time I was told that we ultimately died twice, the
time they were put six feet under and the last
time your name is uttered on earth. So every single
(16:53):
headstone that I was blessed to put a wreath on.
I took up my hat, took a knee, and I said,
you know, thank you for your a private so and
so or Sergeant so and so, or Colonel so and
so so that at least for a moment they continued
to live. And I've been able to do that for
the last several years. I don't know, to be honest
with you, how long ago, but I make it part
of my December mission to go help with Reads across America.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Nice. Yeah, we're very much looking forward to it here
in Punagorda. I've participated with Reads Across America before as
well in other parts of Florida. But yeah, we're excited
this year as the Rally Point Show to kind of
have our inaugural wreathling with the Rally Point Show at
the cemetery in Punagorda.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Most definitely, and we're thankful to have them as partnership
with our programming and our ability to support other cemeteries
around the nation. But we've focused on Punta Gorda in
local ones here in Florida to kind of help home
first and then help out there. But one of the
things we're proud of that. Anyone wants to go through
one rollypoint dot org and Kriklondie across America page click
(18:01):
the Field of Honor and they can choose what cemetery
you want to send your wreath to directly through our show,
and that way we can give honor to those who's
made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our morals in the
valor of our country.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
That's fantastic, absolutely, and we have a partnership put together
where for every wreath that's sold through one Rallypoint dot org,
proceeds will help further the mission at the William Argaines
Junior Veterans Memorial Park, So a portion of the proceeds
from the sale of those wreaths that we receive will
go on to make sure that that park is finished out.
(18:40):
And that's a park in our area that has a
lot of memorials and tributes to military members, first responders.
There's a Bay Route Memorial Tower that's actually being built
as we speak. And then the park also has like
walking paths, they have calisthenics station, they have kayak launches,
(19:02):
so just a lot of good stuff has been put
in there. Oh, my goodness, and I would be remiss.
I'm sure Stephen R. Deutch just sitting in his office
right now, going don't forget to mention the playground. Yes,
they have a playground that represents every single branch of
the military and first responders, and it's actually pretty cool
and a pretty wide range. At first, I thought only
little kids could use it, but I actually went there
(19:25):
a few months ago and it's I saw high school
kids on the swings, So I mean, I think it
kind of appeals to a wide range of age groups.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Most definitely, if my math correct. If my math is correct,
it's a couple like thirty acres long or wine as
in the whole the size of the facility. So there's
probably room for growth down the road. But it definitely
stands as a landmark for both our military and our
fallen law enforcement that law enforcement service first responders that
(19:55):
have also taken the altar sacrifice and defending the morals
of our country. And when we play, they take care
of our families and our homes when we're gone, So
they have the same rate as we do.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
With my opinion.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Anyway, exactly, but yeah, so I mean that's like the
wide reach that reads across America has I mean, that's
just in our community, so I can only imagine the
reach that reachs across America facilitates in other communities as well,
where not only are they honoring the fallen in December,
laying those roats and paying tribute, like you said, speaking
(20:27):
their name so that they live once more, but also
you know, just the community programs that the sale of
those rates helps facilitate. I just I can only imagine,
you know, the breadth and the scope of that.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Coke.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
Now, I love that and that playground you talk of.
It sounds like someplace where coach game would actually be hive.
I would abstlutely love to be there and see that
one of these data would Well.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You might have to make a trip out and come
see it, because there's there's usually there are quite a
few ceremonies that happen out there. I know the beay
Root Memorial Towers will be dedicated formally at some point.
Once they're completed. There will probably be a ribbon cutting,
and we can keep you informed of that. But yeah,
it's definitely worth coming out and seeing if you haven't before,
(21:15):
and just kind of enjoying the view and the setting.
They also do parades right outside of that park for
Veterans' Day I think every other year. So so yeah,
it's a pretty central part of the community. I would
say a lot of people are well aware of it.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Well most definitely. But I had a question about the
caffe in It show.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I'm positively caffeated.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
I really would like to make that one on something.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
It has a resonation that I like, and I think
we should make that really a part of our programming.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
That's the plan. The plan is that Dane will be
on the show once a month for Positively Caffeated Outstanding.
Where that's set.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, folks, I guess eyes have it.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, you guys will definitely be hearing more about Dane's positively.
The cool thing is is if you want to get
on his his mailing list. If you will, Dane, why
don't you tell people how to find you on social
media so that they can link up with you. Get
involved with receiving the daily Danish and other good little
(22:21):
nuggets that you push out from time to time via
text or messager or whatever format you use.
Speaker 5 (22:28):
Absolutely I can. Again, we talked about just looking for
me personally on Facebook, I'm on Instagram Dane Underscore Boil
Underscore Coaching. I'm on YouTube Dame Boil Coaching also and
also on TikTok, So those are my main resources. You
can email me directly at Danboil dot com. Yes I
have an assistant, but I personally answer every single email.
(22:51):
So if you want to just have a conversation, no
sales bitch, just how to get up, get out, get moving,
ultimately embrace every single day with your health, your fitness,
and your mindset, I would love to have a conversation
with you.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
This is awesome exactly. This is how great things are
made and good things are born out of, you know,
just having conversations and talking with each other. So I mean,
it's a beautiful, wonderful thing when veterans come together and
can make something wonderful happen, where before there was not
really that kind of thing in place.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
So go ahead, go ahead, sarge, No, you go ahead.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
So I want to So I host typically host three
retreats a year, some domestically, some internationally. But what I
learned in the last several years of hosting retreats, so
my whole community is virtual, but I try to bring
people together at least three times a year in real life. Right,
high five, thugs, handshakes, whatever that takes. What we've learned
is when we rent a facility, the most important right,
(23:53):
let me ask you, what do you think the most
important room is in the facility we rent. So think
of an airbnbvrbo our retreat center. What do you think
is the best and most important room?
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Kitchen?
Speaker 5 (24:04):
Any Kisson.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Zaying guests the kitchen, Yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
Said, the dining room. So what we learned is when
we break bread and sit down, we have the best
conversations that are our quintessential meal. My last name is
boyle Is. We always host a shrimp boil boh y
help and that very first meal. So we have it
(24:30):
everything of retreat wow and that that's been the Literally
my wife is, really, to be honest with you, the
one who picks out each and every location and then
she sends them to me and says, what do you think?
We go back and forth. I'm like Bay first of
all has to have a wow factor. Second of all,
we have to make sure you're right with the kitchen,
a big kitchen and a big dining room table. And
if it doesn't have that, we'll just look for a
different a different place.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Awesome. Well, thanks for being on this show today, Dane.
We really appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. Trainer Dane Boyle,
you'll be hearing from him monthly on the Positively Caffeinated
segment of our show.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Most Definitely in America. Me I knewest member. And again, Dana,
want to say one of the things that makes the
ring point so special or veterans like yourself, and I'll
say it, These are todays I'm proud to be a
US veteran because we do what we do best from
what we did in our past, and we help our
fellow veterans in our communities simply out of purpose. And again,
(25:27):
thank you very much for being here in a part
of our programming.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
All right, next, we have on the show another returning guest.
We have Lieutenant Colonel retired Aaron burretta who is a
founder and co chair of Greater Pine Island Alliance Long
Term Recovery Group and his partner in crime, if you will,
Aaron Lawler Lambert. She is the executive director of Greater
Pine Island Alliance Long Term Recovery Group. Good morning, Erin
(25:50):
and Erin thank you for being on the show again.
Speaker 7 (25:53):
Good morning. Thanks for having us, Yes, thank you for
having us back.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Absolutely so. Obviously it's been a pretty that full last
month in Florida for our you know, people that don't know,
we've had quite a few named storms come through. We've
had Helene and now Milton.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Tornadoes.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I was going to say, so, I'm sure that's keeping
you all busy. If you could just give us a
give our listeners a real quick recap of what Greater
Pine Island Alliance Long Term Recovery Group is. What you do,
how you impact the community, so that folks kind of
understand how that all correlates.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
Yes, the great upon On Alliance Long Term Recovery Group,
we stood up after Hurricane I. We are a nonprofit
and we stood up to be the hub for local
authors and collaborate with other organizations so that we can
reduce duplication of efforts for recovery. So our primary focus
is returning every survivor home. Long term recovery groups have phases,
(26:55):
So one of them is preparedness and that's before the storm,
preparedness and mitigation, then responsimnately following, and then recovery. So
the focus to the organization is we help our clients
and help individuals all the way through the process. So
with Ian, we were in recovery mode, which was helping
people get their homes put back together, get drive all
back and get flooring back in. Now with Helene and Milton,
(27:18):
we're very much into response mode, which is getting the
mucking guts done so that mold doesn't grow in people's homes,
doing the immediate things to help them get into a
more safe environment since poststorm, with the bacteria, with mold,
with things that can occur those homes that have been
in and day with flood waters can become dangerous to
(27:39):
individuals' healths. So from that, we use volunteers, we use grants,
and we use donations, and we get out into our
community and help people. So immediately falling Helene that week loan.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
We reached out. Actually Week News locally helped us to
a call to action. We were able to get six
hundred volunteer hours out there in the field to help
people mucking gut. So our goal, like we said, is
to return every Survivor film. Right now, we're.
Speaker 7 (28:03):
Definitely just in the response mode and trying to get
people's homes cleaned out that have been impacted so much
by the Leine and then Milton.
Speaker 8 (28:12):
And we've been inundated with requests both obviously with Poleene
and now since Milton. The great thing is we've had
a beautiful response from communities, even outside of the Time
Island community driving in. We've had volunteers as far as
Boca bringing supplies. We've had volunteers drive up from Maples
to help. So with that being said, I know a
(28:34):
lot of people think, well, I don't have a strong
enough back to muck and gut. We also need health
Here in our office, just answering phone calls and volunteer
coordination and organizing supplies, we can assist as many survivors
as rapidly as possible, because, as we all know, it
is crucial within the time frame to get those dangerous
and hazardous materials out of the home so they do
(28:55):
not do further damage to both the property and the
health both physical and mental the survivors.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Absolutely, and that's really helpful that you provide information on
the differing levels of volunteerism. I was actually just sitting
talking with some friends yesterday and one of them she
was concerned about that She's like, I have a really
bad back and a really bad hit, but I really
want to help people. So definitely putting out there that
there are differing levels based on you know, ability and
(29:24):
whatnot to be able to assist, that's huge, So we
appreciate you sharing that. Can you tell us kind of
what you've been up to you since you were on
our show but prior to Helene and Milton's unwelcome visits, So.
Speaker 7 (29:38):
Yes, after our last vision on your show, we continued
our support for the hurricane and survivors, and like I mentioned,
we're in the process of getting skilled labor helping people
get back into their homes into that safe, sanitary, secure
environment from me and we still have families living in trailers,
we still have a lot of individuals displaced, and so
(29:59):
that process has been long over the last two years,
partially hindering that they have been working on the bridge
coming into Mattliche, so that slowed down even some people
who were trying to get delivery of new mobile homes.
That slowed some of that delivery down coming to the island.
So we continued that focus and then all of a sudden, Helene,
which you know, with one hundred and fifty hundred and
(30:21):
sixty miles off shore. That storm surge came in. At
the time the island had not received any evacuation order,
so it really caught some people by surprise. As Helene
came in, storm surge was not as high as Hurricane Ian,
but it was the second hive at a time recorded
for this area. So we had homes impacted that were
(30:44):
not impacted by Ian. It just came in from a
different direction, and so Bokeilia took a lot of heavy flooding.
Were in Hurricane In it did not. So prior to fleeing,
we had begun to get preparedness ready. We had to
contacted the American recross United and we have put out
the figula, hey we may need some help with this
storm coming in. And sure enough, the morning after Helene
(31:08):
went through, we went right into response mode and that
was the mucking guts and so really it's it's been
NonStop since Helene been. With Milton coming around the corner,
we doubled our efforts of busting support and you know, we.
Speaker 8 (31:25):
Took a pause two days before Helene with our response
and shifted directly into preparedness with our volunteers, so instead of,
you know, we kind of put down the muck buckets
and picked back up the drills to help people board
up move furniture at a higher areas, and then obviously
encouraged everyone to evacuate to a safe location for the storm.
(31:49):
Then we turned right back around to response after Hallen
and then paused again for Milton, and then it's kind
of that's been a bean.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Our sounds really sybilical.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
Yeah, every every week it's kind of okay, what are
we preparing this week or are we responding this week?
And we get our battle plan together and that's.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
What we do so absolutely. And I bet you're watching
those seven day forecasts or you know, projections for what's
going on out in the Atlantic like a hawk, because
I know I watch them too this time of year.
Speaker 7 (32:21):
We're just you know, we're good faith that hopefully that
was the last or this season for us.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I'm like knocking on my head right now as you
say that, yes, probably left shoulder.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Do what you guys do?
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I oh no, because right now we've been hit two
weeks in a row, well two yeah, two weeks.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
In a row with storms, and there are parts of
the state historically my my mother's family. They're all in
Bervard County, and at one point I was stationed at
Patrick Air Force Base. But in two thousand and four
they got like something like four storms in four weeks,
and they were all hurricanes, if I'm not mistaken. So yeah,
i'd really like not to say hold my beer on
(33:03):
that one over here on political Code, I'd really like
not to compete for that title. But yeah, it's definitely
something that's on people's minds. But I think probably even
more so in the immediate it's how do we even
start to recover from this, especially if you kind of
got hit not once, but twice in like two.
Speaker 7 (33:23):
Weeks, It is difficult. So one of the things that
we've done for preparedness, and I'll highlight one of our
veterans groups that helped out is great upon o Onlines
had donated starlinks to different facilities throughout the island so
that an immediate aftermath of a storm, if communications were
knocked out, that people could get active communication through the Internet.
So after Milton's here very quickly, the VFW on Ponton
(33:46):
was one of those locations, and so they were able
to open up with the generator run the starlink, provide
breakfast and food and just a place for people to come. So,
you know, just veterans helping veterans and helping our local communities.
It is so important to do that.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, once again proving just because we're out of the service,
the service is not out of us yet though outstanding
on the VFW.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
On that behalf exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
That being the case, I had a question for you. You
kind of hit a nail on the head mental health.
Have you guys encountered any stress out? I guess occupants,
teeds of being a residence.
Speaker 7 (34:21):
Absolutely, you know. I was at a gentleman's house today.
He's been residing in his car since the storm. It's
this third time. Doesn't know what he's going to do
right now. I think there are a lot of people
on their second and third time that they realized it
might not be tenable to continue and they don't know
what they're going to do. We've encountered several people who
have said they're done, they're moving, they just can't do
(34:42):
it anymore. And I think it's you know, I think
it impacts all ages.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
You know, I want to know the agents were species.
I was going to say evacuated because my dog couldn't
handle it again, so I would dare say all ages
and multiple species of beings in this area because I
think our past obviously also kind of take a hit
with that, and so it's that's not something you want
to overlook either. But I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 8 (35:06):
And continue, and I think, well, and it's interesting. Just
like no two storms are different, no two people experience
trauma the same way. So we always talk with our
volunteers that be cognizant, so you be on the lookout
for any particular triggers, anything that we need to further
a systems with. You know, you have people that jump
into hyperactive mode of volunteerism and that's how they handle
(35:27):
the trauma better. Whereas you have, you know, people who
can't even get out of their own way to allow
a volunteer to help them be in a more secure
and planetary environment. So we're always on the lookout for
what the response to trauma is from our different survivors
so we can make sure that we help provide them
with the systems that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
They need most definitely, most definitely, and again it's amazing
how you two kind of activate when this kind of
hit stuff in and now it's coming to a point
you got to take care of home at some point
and in the employe of this process. Thank you very
much for your sacrifices, guys, I mean.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Thank you absolutely. But also we were talking about how
your reach. Even though your name is Greater Pine Island Alliance,
you also sit on the board of another organization as well.
Is that correct?
Speaker 7 (36:10):
Yes, we're associated board members for Florida and vo ED,
which is volunteer organizations active in disaster. There is a
national vo ED and then at the state level you
have Loorida of bo ED. In an emergency such as this,
loridavo ED ends up under ees F fifteen and they
have a seat in the EOC Emergency Operations Center, Ford Data,
Florida and Tallahassee. And so every day at two o'clock
(36:31):
a two days before storms come in and then the
week's following significant disasters, we have a state level call
where we're able to put out to other volunteer organizations
what is needed in our community or if we hear
of a need in another community, and able to cross
talk across the state. And it's really phenomenal with the
calls achieved. I remember when I first joined Florida had
(36:51):
a couple of years ago. First time I mentioned the need,
I was overwhelmed by the number of people that were
able to call in and say, our organization is in
the area because there's a lot of vaunteer organizations we
don't know about. So it's a platform in which you
can create the cross talk across state and move resources
to where they're needed.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
That's wonderful. And how can people if they need help
but they're not sure where to start, like, how can
they get plugged into that? Is it a matter of
going through Greater Pine Island Alliance and making their need known?
Or is there an actual floridav ad.
Speaker 8 (37:18):
Site with me in the Greater Pine Island area? And
for those listeners who understand what that area is, go
to GPI Alliance dot org like on the get help tab.
If that's too challenging you do not have internet service
right now, you can call our office two three, nine
by five eight or nine zero one for those not
in our media area. We are happy to help. But
the most expeditious thing that they can do is go
(37:40):
on the American Red Cross app, and Themergan Cross has
an emergency app that they can download and they can
receive assystems that way. The local United Ways all across
at the southwest Florida area actually I believe all the
way up through the Tampa area and have so that
there emergency call lines as well in our area at
two one one. I'm not sure if that is across
the board. I'm sorry, I don't have that information at
(38:00):
my finger to apply that. Definitely, you reach out to
your local American Red Cross and the United Wave partners
for immediate naples and yeah, I'm Florida go At as well.
Speaker 5 (38:09):
I believe there is so.
Speaker 7 (38:10):
You Way and Red Cross are both Florida fo AD
members and they help brief out at these calls at
the stadio c level. So there's state level numbers, especiate
level moments, multiple levels that people join, but that is
more where we crosstalk. So reach out to your local
organization and they will get you in touch with the help.
You know. For example, one great organization up there in
Tampa which I know got hit very hard in the storm,
(38:31):
Rebuild Together Tampa Bay is a great organization. They're in
multiple counties and they're very, very active in that area.
They've been doing distroll supplies up there, They've been helping
people get back into their homes. So there's oftentimes a
local organization and.
Speaker 8 (38:45):
If you don't have the access or the information are
concerned about how those processes work. They've also reach out
to your faith based based communities and worship centers. Almost
all that I know of are active in some way
or at least have someone manning the phone lines to
point you in the local So there are resources. These
don't ever feel like you're going in alone. As we
always say here at GPIA, the road to recovery is long,
(39:08):
but together we are stronger than the surge, and that
goes across I know all of the community is e resilient.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Made absolutely I would agree with that. That's a lot
of great information that you guys shared and we appreciate it.
So going forward, I mean, right now, I'm sure as
soon as we finish this segment with you today, you're
probably going to be right back boots on the ground.
What what did the next couple months look like for
a Greater Pine Island Alliance and what you guys are doing.
Speaker 7 (39:31):
I think for us, we meet it weeks ahead are
so it's going to be mostly in the muck and
gut and just helping people get the furniture out, get
their homes cleaned up. From there, we obediately transition right
back into the recovery mode where we're working with organizations.
One of them working with right now is the inter
National Alliance Club to get supplies brought in rebuilding supplies.
So first you've got to get poined up.
Speaker 5 (39:51):
Then we moved to.
Speaker 7 (39:52):
Rebuilding and bring those supplies in. So it'll be asking
for donations. It'll be asking for supply donations, monetary donations
to keep the office open and running so that we
can get these people back in their home than you
don't really say a few years. I think this set
us back. Unfortunately, set us back a couple of years.
So there were homes that we were very close to
being complete form mean that are now redamaged.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
Oh yeah, that's kind of what I figured. So it's
kind of having to restart the clock on them or
maybe just push it back, you know, the goalpost a
little bit farther.
Speaker 8 (40:21):
Well, and just the breath of the floodwaters on this
particular one, because it impacted it's such a larger area
of our community. Our list more than triples in the
past few weeks of our caseload. Therefore, that's also going
to come with We'll be we'll be doing a great
deal of sundraising for supplies monetary funds because as we
can all imagine, think about it, how much it costs
(40:42):
to just remodel your home if you wanted to let alone,
if you took eight feet of water, six feet of water,
four feet of water, lost your roof, you know that
that cost dramatically increases. And a lot of our elderly
in our veteran population do not have the means with
which to do those replaced. So lots of lots of
fundraising and any any donation, whether it be one dollar
(41:04):
one million dollars, definitely goes to and should be certainly
earmarked for a veterando nation.
Speaker 1 (41:10):
Absolutely, And I was going to say, you guys have
a wonderful network already for people that do fundraisers for
you in your area, which is that's got to be
some kind of a comfort to know that you know,
hopefully those groups can once again help you with the
fundraising aspect.
Speaker 7 (41:24):
We're hoping so, but we definitely need funds raised. One
of the things I'm trying to get back is on
the anniversary of hurricane in these that have been two years,
the grant funds for my disaster case managers expired and
so then of course within that same exact week, we
got hit by a hurricane one again later, So raising
funds for passy for disaster case managers. So they're the
(41:46):
ones that once we move in the recovery phase again,
they do the day to day with the client, helping
the client get a clear path to recovery, seeing what
that looks like. So you're definitely looking for capacity. Feel
free to give us a call if you're interested in
helping us with a capacity that's two three, nine, five,
five eight or nine zero one. Where you can donate
through our website at www dot g PI Alliance dot org.
(42:08):
And so we do need help, and we appreciate. We
will keep marching on, We'll keep working with volunteers and
anything we've got, but we definitely still need.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
Financial help absolutely. And that's I was going to say
that case managers sound like a critical piece of the puzzle.
I mean, really, at every stage, every person on your
team is a critical piece. But I mean, that's that's
huge to have that run out. I mean, you definitely
need to make sure that that's in place or continue
for you know, continuity purposes.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
And right now what the team is doing is some
of the team has taken on extra you know load
and next responsibilities while we're while we're working through that process.
It just you know, just still happening with Tier and
very shav In and you know, different funding sources, that's
all along, they're available and timing is everything with these storms,
I guess, but we are you know, we'll keep our
spirits up and we're going to still fight for our community,
our veterans and all of our.
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Friends most definitely.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
And for any advice you want to give give out
to some of our listeners that are hearing this and
or hearing you for the first time, what would you
tell them right now in regards to their situation.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Well, I'd say for listeners who are in the affected area,
I would just say, please pay attention to your mental
health and how you're doing. If this is your first
time experiencing it, you need to be able to take
break and it's okay to pause, and it's okay to
reach out for help. I think if you're an affected area,
a lot of times we feel my neighbor got it worse,
So I don't want to take help away from somebody
else who needs it. I would say you definitely, you
(43:25):
definitely need it, you definitely deserve it. Get some resk.
You can't wear yourself out to the point where you know,
I've seen it where people physically end up in the
hospital because they push themselves beyond what they could do.
The other thing I'd say is, if you're in an
area that was not affected, feel free. There's a lot
of great organizations, whether it the Ores, the Red Cross,
United Way, organizations involved in disaster reliefs. And if you
can't volunteer, aren't in an area for to know your
(43:47):
show reaches far across the country, please give donations to
an organization you feel that would best use it. And
there are many organizations, and the American Red Cross does
a good job of distributing it to organizations and helping
smaller graphs roots like myself. If you'd like to it
directly to my foorganization, we would certainly appreciate it. But
I think there's a lot of ways to get involved
and it's different for where you're at in the nation
(44:07):
most definitely.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
I mean, it's just there's so much information to share,
and it's wonderful that you guys are such a plethora
of kind of kind of a one stop shop for
a good bit of information. I think a lot of
people are still trying to figure out some of the
stuff that we've talked about today, as far as how
do I get assistance or how do I, you know,
jump in and join the fight and help people with rebuilding.
I think it's kind of one of those things where
(44:29):
everybody wants to help, but not everybody knows where to
start exactly. So I think it's great that you put
that out there. I know I've seen some stuff on
social media where groups talk about that they are receiving
donations from as far as Nebraska, Ohio, you know, just
all around the country. People are sending supplies and materials
for not only our area, but obviously other areas that
(44:52):
have been similarly, if not more so, impacted or devastated
by these storms. So I think it's it's endearing to
see that that comes through. But it's wonderful to know that,
you know, in our own backyard because y'all are slightly
south of us, that we have that kind of resource
and that that relationship with you all, to have you
on the show regularly, to kind of give updates, to
(45:12):
continue relaying information, and to kind of share your experiences
on the ground, if you will, what's what's really going
on in our communities, and kind of being that puls
for everyone exactly.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
And Aaron and Aaron, one of the things I kind
of sat back here today and thought about was I
was wondering what would have happened to all those people
that you've helped already if you weren't there doing that.
And the impact, the positive impact you have had in
your community and abroad probably speaks volumes because I'm one
of those people who believes in the philosophy of good
(45:45):
creates good, and if you can't help one person do good,
then that's a whole community that can't be helped. And
that being the case, I wanted to make sure that
you knew, and I'm appreciate you noticed already that you're
doing God's work in so many ways and that you're
helping other people positive at time times of trauma and
just situations. But the fact of the matter is I say,
(46:06):
thank you very much and God bless you.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
I'm thankful for you being a part of our programming.
Speaker 1 (46:11):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 8 (46:12):
We're so grateful that you reached out to us and
you're letting us keep this area and keep the means
in the eyes of the nation. We are very very
grateful to help spread that word and for all the
great work that you guys are doing as well.
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Thank you one last time. Would you mind sharing your
contact information, just one last time if people need a
chance to write it down so that they can make
contact or figure out how to plug in or receive
assistance or donate hopefully.
Speaker 8 (46:37):
Absolutely, yeah, thank you for Our website is www dot
g Gialliance dot org, or you can call the office
phone number two three, nine, five, five eight or nine
zero one. Our office hours are Monday through Friday nine
to four I'm sorry, Monday through Thursday nine to four,
(46:58):
Friday nine to noon as obviously if we don't have
holidays a hurricane exactly.
Speaker 5 (47:03):
Well.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Thank you again, Aaron Burretta and Aaron Lawler Lambert for
being on the show today. We really appreciate you guys,
and we look forward to having you back on the
show again in the near future.
Speaker 7 (47:13):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for pot.
Speaker 3 (47:14):
You out Famblas.
Speaker 9 (47:16):
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(47:39):
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what are you waiting for? Contact Derek Anderson at two
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(48:01):
up an appointment and on behalf of ATNA and the
Rally point show. We are glad to meet.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (48:07):
Every day the men and women of the United States
Marine Corps stand ready to defend the American way of life,
the proud the Marines and anything else.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I forget it out.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
I think so, just thanks to our sponsors at no
Medicare Solutions, Derek get It, Don Anderson. Thanks to one
hundred point nine WCCFFM for putting us on the air
on Friday morning so you guys can hear us. Thank
you to Reach Across America Radio as well for having
us on their radio broadcasts as well. We just appreciate
(48:44):
all the opportunities to put visibility on organizations that are
veteran centric. You don't have to be a veteran to
listen to the show or to be on this show.
If you support us, if you love us, so just
thanks and please continue telling people about our and how
they can listen, whether it's locally in Southwest Florida on
one hundred point nine FM or on the free iHeartRadio app.
(49:08):
If they pull that up and they search WCCF on
Fridays at nine am, they can find our show. And
then also we are aired on RITZA Across America Radio
on Fridays at three pm, so you can find both
RETESA Across America Radio and WCCF via the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
Outstanding and folks, remember we're here for you veterans and
our communities alike. These connections we're making a broad and
locally our resources to be utilized by our communities and
our veterans. That's what they're there for. That's where we're
bringing them to you. And you give us the strength
and energy to bring them, bring them to you through us.
And with that being said
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Rally pointers fall out w
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