Rally Point 48 11.01.2024

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rally pointers fun.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
In good afternoon and morning wherever you're going to be
in the world today across the world. This is James
the Sartimmring with Amena Laciado Locano Bam folks here with
you at the rally point, and of course we have
the man behind the microphone, Zayna Brain. How are we
doing today, folks.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
I'm 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 outstaying show today, all right,
So for.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
This segment, we have with us in the studio Philip Mackler,
and he is the director of Community Engagement for Operation
Warrior Resolution.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
So Philip, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
We're glad to have you this morning, and we just
want to talk with you about what Operation Warrior Resolution is,
help our listeners understand what your organization exists to do
and also how you guys help people in the community
and beyond.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Well, thank you very much for having me this morning. Amanda.
Very happy to be here. And it was funny I
was messaging you this morning. I didn't realize that we
had actually met a few years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
World, isn't it.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
It is a small world. And I looked it up
and it was coming up on my phone and I'm like,
who is this person? And why do I have her number?
Because my brain forgets so many things. And then I
saw that we had met at a church, and then
I had the note in there that you were an
Army veteran, your Air Force veteran, Army vetter, and I
apologize for breaking you down.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
An ash, No, that's okay, Air Force, I'm Aerica.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Thank you very much for your service.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Remember, folks, Army Air Force used to be one before
World War Two, I know.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
And now now we bicker like silly siblings.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Right there, you go.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
To make fun of each other.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
I was going to say, I take plenty of heat
for having been in the Air Force, so got to
shuck it out where I can.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh wow, folks. Anyways, welcome to the show. And Philip,
first of all, thank you for your sacrifice. Could you
tell America a little bit about yourself and during your
service and how you got to this point.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
So I grew grew up here in southwest Florida. I
graduated from Venice High School in nineteen ninety nine, and
I joined my beloved Marine Corps that summer. And as
the listeners will probably already know, the Marine Corps is
the best branch of the military.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Here we go, folks, and it stopped.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
So I did four years active duty in the Marine
Corps and I did my first combat tour for the
initial invasion of Iraq in two thousand and three, and
it was right at the end of my enlistment. So
I was one of those guys that they just did
the stop loss too. So they said, yeah, not going anywhere,
remember the show. We're done. And then when they got

(02:50):
us back, it was go, go, go, go, get out.
You're done. And I'm like, whoa, Now I'm back in
the civilian world.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
And being twenty two years years old twenty right at
twenty three year you don't think of things that you
should be thinking of at the time. And there were
challenges that I recognized, but as a young man, you
don't talk to anyone about those issues. So I just
internalized it and I became a deputy with Hillsborough County

(03:18):
Sheriff's Office, which is the Tampa Bay area, and then
a few months into that, I still had that piece
where I still wanted to serve. And the closest military
police unit for the Marine Corps was in Alabama at
the time for reserves. So I'm like, I'm not driving
up there once a month. So I looked around and
I found an Army reserve military police unit in Florida.

(03:40):
So my Marine Corps buddies to this day still won't
talk to me.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
But come on, have you diss owned?

Speaker 4 (03:48):
I lowered my standards and I joined Wow, wait.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Wait, wait, what happened to Once a Marine, always a
Marine is still true?

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, I see, even.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
If you step out and you cross over into a
different branch. Because we had people in the Air Force
who were prior Marines, and they were like, I made
the right decision coming over to the Air Force. A yeah,
I'd say they came to the good life. Like I've
told y'all, you know, the Navy and the Marine Corps.
You all navigate by the stars. Marine Corps and the
Army sleep under the stars, and the Air Force showed
as our Tdy Hotels by the number of stars.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Proud of that statement. I'm okay with that.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
You heard it here, folks.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
So you switched over to an army military police unit
here in Florida.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Where were they located?

Speaker 4 (04:30):
They were located in Crystal River.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Okay, very nice.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
So from there I got redeployed and activated and sent
to Afghanistan for a year.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
And then upon coming back to the United States, it
was again, there's different, there's pieces of the puzzle in
your brain that aren't connecting anymore, and I had quite
a few years of downward spiral. I attempted to get
some services at the VA, and there are some amazing
men and women that work at the VA. There's also

(05:00):
some very big potholes cracks that are and their family
fall through, and I fell through quite a few of those,
and I still this is a one of those impactful
moments that hit me right away. I finally went to
go try and get some mental health at the VA,

(05:22):
and I went and I'm sitting across from this therapist
and as you can imagine, going to those, you're very nervous,
and I'm like, it's like, tell me about yourself. I'm
like well, let's start with you tell me about yourself.
And he's like, well, just graduated from college. Like, oh congratulations.
I'm like, did you ever serve in the military. He's like, no,
where did you work before this? This is my first job.

(05:45):
And so I lost my temper and I said a
couple very harsh things to him. Are you supposed to
help me when you have zero life experience? You have
zero military experience? And I exploded. I left and I
didn't come back for about out nine years. So my
life started going, started spiraling down the drain. So to

(06:07):
deal with my issues, I decided to ignore them and
started helping others. So in two thousand and seven ish,
I started my own organization to help other veterans. So
instead of dealing with my issues, I'm going to go
out in the community and help others. And that's how
I first got my feet wet into helping veterans. But
to tie it back with the gentleman as I was,

(06:30):
my life was spinning out of control. Another one of
those milestones, I had married my wife. She grew up
down here in South County south Sarasota County as well,
and we knew each other growing up and we reconnected.
She finished college in Tampa and she was working at
Saint Joseph's Hospital. And I've always wanted kids, and I

(06:52):
was just in such a bad place. I'm the youngest
of six, so I wanted to have a lot of kids,
and I was in such a bad place that I
told her one and I'm like, I don't want to
have kids anymore. And we were married at this time,
and I didn't know it at the time when she
was pregnant.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Oh, so I was like, so you thought you knew
what you wanted.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Clearly somebody had a better plan.

Speaker 4 (07:16):
For you, and it was She didn't say anything. She
just imagine the wife being like, oh, what's going on.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Saving that and being like, oh goodness. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:25):
So she she held on to that for a little
bit longer, talked to her friends and her parents, and
then she finally told me, and I was like, it's
time to take the initiative for myself and I need
to go back and I need to get some help
for myself. And I was just I have a very
good game face. So a lot of people didn't know
the challenges I was going through. And so I finally

(07:49):
went back to the VA and guess who was waiting
there for me? Same god, same gentleman.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Nine years later.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yes, wow, hey, but to his I did the guy
the guy has more life experience at this point.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
Oh yeah, I gave him his first life ex exactly.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was going to say, well, by freaking fire.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
So I asked him, I'm like, do you remember me?
He's like, I almost quit because of you. And I
was like, whoa. He's like, that was like my first
actual day on the job.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Whoa.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
And He's like, I went home and I was reevalidating,
reevaluating my life because you asked valid questions. How am
I going to help? He ended up becoming one of
the head guys at the Mental health for James A.
Haley in the Tampa Bay area and does amazing things
for veterans.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well, hopefully that experience that he had with you was
a pivotal moment in his career for him to reevaluate
how he will how he dealt with veterans from that place.
Does he win Green?

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (08:46):
I'm sure it did. I'm sure that kind of reshaped
everything and he probably put things through the lens that
you put in front of him that day. But that's
awesome that you still you saw him again, so you
kind of had a chance to make things right if
you will. And then also it sounds like you still
have contact of some kind with this person, maybe through
your organizations or any events that you do, or have

(09:09):
you not seen him.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
Since I haven't seen him. I haven't talked with him
in probably about two years. But over the years he
was integral And like I said, there are some amazing
people at the VA, and once you learn how to
play the game of the VA and know who the
people are in front of them, you can do amazing
things to help veterans.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, because unfortunately the VA is bureau crazy. Like a
lot of other things.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I will say that I found that you've hit the
nail on the head of kind of the core nucleus
of our show to the point where from your first
involvement in the military came back and you felt, you know,
you fail a sort of kind of way. But we
had that mystique of being marines or army folk. We

(09:52):
care ourselves well because we world depends upon us. We
cannot fail. That's how we're indoctrinated our service. And then
you have the moment of truth when you're going, well,
I've done my time in service and now I need help.
And when you turn to those for help, one to
tell you to get out of service, Nope, you're done

(10:12):
thinking very much. There's no instruction booklet, there's no telling
where to go. You're out on your own and you've
got to figure out for yourself. And we kind of
go back to our own instincts of being a military person. Okay,
I'm going to take initiative. I'm going to the VA.
And then you go to the VA and they don't
have the answers because you got somebody who's brand new,
who's never dealt with the veteran before. To the point

(10:33):
that we're trying to make here is the fact that
you've gotten to this point ten years, nine years later,
or how many years are we talking about from the
time that you left, it was a good years. You
now you've now gone almost half circle on that, defying
yourself at a point where you see the deficiencies in
our in our service in the VA. And hopefully, if

(10:54):
I'm reading into this properly, this is what led to
the creation of your organization to kind of help build
the gaps where they fell short.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
So yes, there's lots of different pieces to get to
where I am now with OWR. Those were all stepping stones.
So throughout the next eighteen years, I served on multiple boards,
multiple committees, and my passion was to help our heroes
and their families, and I would put between twenty and

(11:22):
forty hours a week because there was that huge void
where these men and women needed these services and who's
stepping up. We had to find these people. And now
one of my main jobs as a director of Community
Engagement for Operation Warrior Resolution is making connections with other
organizations who are having that impact because us as a nonprofit,

(11:44):
we're not doing this ourselves. We are combining with all
the other organizations.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
And plus, it's so important to make sure that nobody's
operating in a vacuum or duplicating effort, because the other
thing you see is there are so many groups in
a community and everybody's running in a different, diferent direction
where the goal is the same. So it is so
important to try to bring everybody together and get everybody
kind of singing off the same sheet of music so

(12:10):
that you know the roles are clearly defined. Everybody has
their lane, but at the same time, you're working together
to that greater cause rather than everybody running in a
million different directions.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yes, and that's a perfect way to go into one
of my talking points that I wanted to talk about today.
I had an opportunity to check out Goodwill Mannesota. They
have a veteran services up in Sarasota, Nice and the
Manateee area, and I had no idea that they did
these things. So they have a task force with about
one hundred veteran organizations. They meet quarterly, and they meet

(12:42):
to find what the issues are in the community and
to help them together and to connect everyone. So they
have a location in Northport. So I went and met Ryan,
who's their representative down here, said, Hey, how about we
reduplicate what they're doing there. He said, let me get
the blessing. He got the blessed, and we are looking
to reduplicate, reduplicate that effort starting the first quarter of

(13:05):
twenty twenty five. We are going to create a task
force from anyone in Charlotte County. Punta Gorda. We have
a location to meet, We're going to get there. We're
gonna have a guest speaker each quarter. We're gonna have
chow there for people. That's awesome and just what we
talked about because we looked and there isn't it, and
it's so hard to find these people. So we're going
to put it all in one place. So when that

(13:25):
veteran is searching, he kept connects to one of us.
He's got the whole group that is there supporting him.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
That is two main talking points. Number one, have you
heard of Charlotte County Veterans Council. I have.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
So we want to get them involved because Charlotte County.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
St about an hour. Their meeting is.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
At of the clock this morning, so they stop at
that border. Yes, so this so we we we don't
have county limits.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
We don't have so we are we want you can
be regional correct.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
We want their people involved. We want Sarasota County's Veterans Coalition,
which is which we already talked to them, getting them
because everyone needs to be on this because north Port
is in that area that part of at Charlotte County.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Partners it's like Inglewood, Yeah, straddles county.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
Line and they get lost these land and our main
goal is to help the veterans and their families and
that's what we're going to make happen.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
In Part two as an affect of the rally point media,
we're now on our show. We start to create something
called a Veteran Resource Guide. Charlotte Kayan create a resource
guide for Charlotte County which basically accumulates all the resources
that are within it partnerships. We had an epiphany like going, Okay,

(14:35):
why don't we make this for veterans. So rather than
it was stressing about looking where you go where to
get this, why would just put everything in a book
and make it very simple, whether a hashtag thing or
an email or phone numbers. Then go I need housing,
turn to chap through housing and there they go. Any
organization that does that we could have a different conversation

(14:56):
after us, because I think it makes a sense that
if we unite the cause. I figure between Sarah Sutter,
Charlotte Colly, and Lead kinderre of over one hundred thousand
veterans individually, now multiply it by four. Can you figure
households children get four hundred thousand, maybe half a million
people veteran related alone, and those are families in the
vetta themselves. We need to be able to kind of

(15:17):
unite and kind of organize rather than waste resources to
an independent project, right and kind of cohesively work in
the same direction and cause, Okay, you got that section
of the pie. I got this pie, and they have
that one, so we can attack the problem, kind of
flank the whole problem, and kind of stamp it out
as a whole. So arin I mean work can be

(15:38):
a part of that because the whole point of the
rally point is to rally our resources and help the
masses of the masses being veterans in our families. That
is awesome.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
But while Jay was speaking, Amanda handed me the Community
Resource Directory and I'm going to cut and paste every
single thing about this and add it to We're going
to add.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
We're going to add that's the example that we're building
the Veteran Resource Guide off of.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
So we have the temple, so it is beautiful.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
So if you do not have one, and you're living
in the Charlotte County area, you need to find one
of these because they have amazing resources. I'm sure Amanda
will put up there there how to get one of
these our locations that they can pick up a one.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Three cases in the car right now.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, they're saying County Administration.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Driving down the road alongside him.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
Any County Administration building in Charlotte County should have access
to these resource guides. Definitely, the one on Murdoch will
have it, and the one on Santasa, the Max Horton Complex,
those should have community resource directories as well, so that
should be something. Probably Family Services Center on Gibraltar. All
of those locations you can find that there.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Every single rec center in Charlotte County has copies of those,
and we just ordered another twenty thousand of those because
they go very fast.

Speaker 3 (16:54):
So I guess to kind of get us back on
track though, tell us about Operation war Resolution and what
services they because I obviously I do my homework before
people come on the show, so I saw some pretty
cool stuff, but I wanted to give you an opportunity
to talk about it first.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
So Operation Warrior Resolution was founded in twenty eighteen by
Kendra Simpkins, who is our founder and our CEO, and
she was having challenges navigating the VA system as well
and active duty. And I'm going to leave that open
and I'm going to stop right there because I would
strongly encourage you to have her on your show, because

(17:32):
having her come on your show and telling her story,
I would mess it out and it's just impactful. But
she took that and she went and got her Masters
and mental health to start helping others because of the
challenges that she went through. And now here we are.
We are a nonprofit organization that is helping hundreds of
veterans a year. So how are we helping those veterans.

(17:53):
Our main program that we have is a five day
tactical retreat that we do. It's our start off place,
so it's all free and covered for the veterans. They
come out and we don't just talk about mental health.
We do whole health, so we look for the holistic approach,
so we're working on body and mind. We have a
professional chef come out and we cook for them the

(18:14):
whole weekend. We have a nutritionists come out. We have
massage therapists.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
We have a massage therapy. Did it for me? I
was like, y'all had me at massage therapy?

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, that is a highlight down.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Like Charlie Brown for all of that. And I didn't
even know about the personal chef. I didn't see that part.
But I'm all about food too.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
So Chef Alex is a Marine Corps veteran again, so
you have the top food as wrong as long as
as well as the top cut.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
You guys are allowed to season food.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
The MRIs he cooks for us are amazing.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
That's a fair point though, because the Marine Corps and
the Army, when I was deployed with the Army, they
were actually allowed to season food and it tasted so good.
We had a girl that when she redeployed back to
the States, she wanted a farewell party and she wanted
the army unit to make her food for the farewell party,
and they did.

Speaker 1 (19:01):
It was that good. So Chef Alex comes and cooks.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yes. So the main highlight of it is our brain
based healing. So I'm not a mental health provider, so
I'm going to I usually don't like to read, but
I am going to read what it is so I
don't mess it up and then everyone will laugh at me.
So brain based healing includes a specialized treatment that you
utilizes neural plus did playfors Yes?

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Thank you?

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Remember marine?

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Marines are only allowed to speak in one to two
syllable words.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, to write so many words with those crans.

Speaker 4 (19:41):
Right, yes, to resolve trauma and optimize the brain function.
This treatment causes the brain to fully process and integrate
without having to re experience. I want to emphasize that
when they're talking to our therapy. I've been through multiple
mental health programs and some some of them they want
to palace, they want you to they want you to

(20:04):
relive it over and over, and at OWR we do not,
in any way whatsoever bring those up. But what they
do is they're optimizing your brain so and rewiring it.
And with this program, we have an eighty percent success
rate of Kendra that was in an article for Military Times,

(20:24):
and eighty percent successful for veterans going through our program.
And to me, that is amazing because there it's not
a one shoe fits one size fits all. Different things
help different veterans, and there are amazing programs out there.
And as I told you before, we connect people. We
work with the VET Center. I see a therapist at
the VET Center, but I've also gone through this program

(20:46):
and it has done amazing things for myself. So that
that is our main bread and butter. So after the
five day retreat and it transforms you, but you're like Okay,
go back to the real world. Real world hits you
like I didn't even I turned on my phone after
these I tried to give myself that whole weekend, turned
off my phone. When I turned it back on, and

(21:09):
then I'm like you just your head goes down. I'm
like life, life just smacked me right again. So fortunately
OWR has ninety days of coaching after that. So we
meet and we have team discussions and each person has goals,
and we talk about their goals. What were the challenges
you had this week? And when we're in these meetings,

(21:29):
things that come up besides mental health, and a veteran says, oh,
I'm so stressed out. I didn't do my taxes and
I have these issues, and I say, I know a
person for that. So then that's where we use our
resources with all our other organizations to connect these veterans
with businesses that want to support our heroes and their
families and other organizations. So again, it's not us taking

(21:50):
everything we are passing out. We are getting the.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Word out there to networking.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Yeah, and that is the key to success for helping
our veterans.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yes, it is. My question is based on that holistic philosophy.
Is it one of those you go to the retreat
that a nine and eight coaching? Is it like a
lifelong process or can the veterans say I want to
go back because I'm feeling I'm slipping here.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
So our mental health, our therapists, providers are there for you.
You can always come back and talk with them. They
are there whenever you need them, and even before you
know that you need them, we are there ready to help.
And that's a I'm going to cut to one of
us stories. You asked me a question was what is
something impactful? And this is a great opportunity. Probably a

(22:37):
month ago, Sunday afternoon outside with my family and I
get a call from a gentleman I had never met, well,
i'd met this gentleman before, but we didn't say a word.
We were doing a canoeing and kayaking excursion for veterans,
and the person that was running it said, Mock. My
last name is Mackler, and a lot of people call
me Mock, Like, Hey, do you want to say something
about ODWBR. I said, yeah, absolutely, so I spoke a

(22:59):
little bit. I was there with my wife and my
two boys, and we go out and we go canoeing,
and guy never says anything to me. Like I saw
him and I couldn't tell who he was, but I
kind of saw everyone there shook their hands. And this
was probably two weeks later. He calls me. He's like,
you're not going to remember me, but I heard what
you said, and I got your card from somebody and

(23:20):
I need help, And I said, tell me what's going on.
So he gave me a brief thing. He's like, I'm
trying to get services at the VA and it's looking
like it's going to be weeks until they can see me.
And he said, I don't have weeks, I said. I
asked him some tough questions. Are you in a spot

(23:41):
right now? I said, so. My background is also retired
from law enforcement, so we asked those tough questions. Where
are as questions assessment? Where are you at right now?
Do you need somebody right now? Are you going to
hurt yourself and hurt others? And he wasn't at that spot,
but he was going down that path. So I said,
I will have someone to you within twenty four hours.

(24:02):
So I sent an email out to my team that night.
It's the weekends. People are there with their families within
an hour two of the mental health I can take them.
I can take them. So that next day, I'm sorry,
that evening we had someone talking to him. Now we're
going to step it up one more. I got another
Sunday evening. For some reason, Sunday evenings is the time

(24:25):
a retired law enforcement officer calls me. He's like, Philip,
I'm on my way to a car dealership. There is
a retired law enforcement off officer and a veteran. He's
sitting between two cars. He's ready to end it. Wow's
and he's retired law enforcement, so he knows to assess
as well. So I'm like, as soon as you get there,

(24:48):
keep me updated. And he called patrol guys to have
them come out should it it turned bad, and then
you need to take those next steps to put in
protective custody. But those are the longest minutes when you're
waiting for someone to call you as they're driving there,
and you just like Himney Christmas. Just the slowest minutes.
So finally he gets there, he's like, I got him.

(25:10):
He's good. He's going to come home with me tonight.
Do you have someone he can speak to. I'm like,
let me get somebody. We had someone that morning to
speak with him, and so instead of waiting months when
you're in crisis, you need somebody now. Yes, so we
had somebody ready for him to talk with him, and
they spent four hours with him and it was life changing.

(25:32):
The impact for that veteran.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
And it all goes back to networking. Yeah, that gentleman,
that deputy is not a veteran that called me, but
he knew I worked with the veterans and he knew
I was that go to guy that I would get
stuff done. So that is what we're here to do.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
And see, these kinds of stories are the impactful things
that our community needs to hear because there are people
out there who want to get involved and want to help,
and they don't know where to start. So how can
if our listeners hear your stories today and want to
get involved with Operation Warrior Resolution, how.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Can they do that?

Speaker 4 (26:07):
Like?

Speaker 3 (26:08):
How can they reach out to you guys? What's your website?
Are there options for them to donate? Maybe they don't
feel like they have the skill set, but they really
want to help and contribute. Are there ways for people
to connect with you guys online? And are there ways
for people to donate if they wish to do so, Yes, all.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Of the above, And I'm going to officially make an
announcement that hasn't been made yet. You guys are getting
the first one that we are publicly announcing to this
as of November first, we are moving into seven and
a half acres and it is going to be our
future retreat center.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Wonderful congratulations.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
So we have put a down payment on it and
we have begun fundraising and there are some amazing community
members that are stepping up, but we still have a
ways to go, and there is an amazing foundation who
is going to match the funds. So a way to
give back is going to our website at Operation Warrior

(27:09):
Resolution dot org and you can click donate and everything
you do on there up to three hundred dollars per
person per month gets matched. So should you do one
hundred dollars a month for a year, you're donating a thousand,
that it's doubled the two thousand. So that is amazing
opportunity for everyone to be a part. Even if you
only have twenty five dollars, you can do that. Twenty

(27:30):
five dollars just turned to fifty dollars and it's directly
impacted our heroes and their family. So this property is beautiful.
It's got a creek going through it, a freshwater creek
with a spring, and it's just when I first time
I went on that property, just a peacefulness that hits
you when you go there, and that's what we're looking for.
So we're gonna have there's already fruit cheese on there,

(27:52):
so it goes with our holistic feed eating healthy and
that inflammatory. We're gonna have gardens for the veterans to
work at. We're gonna have fruit stuff, We're gonna have
mental health on site so they can go there, they
can come with their families. So that is the exciting announcement.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
Wonderful you heard it here first on the.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Earlier first So yeah, again doing our job the rilly
point baby, folks. If you need any help in the
near future, please remember the contact this organization to help
support this cause because you know what they're helping us
in the long run. And like we said before, we
have pain, it becomes a passion. Your passion becomes a
purpose and with purpose, that becomes a plan. And right now,

(28:30):
the four piece of just been executed folks, and we
thanksfull to having you on our show.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Thank you, yes, thanks Philip for being on the show.
Philip Mockler, the director of Community Engagement with the Operation
Warrior Resolution, thanks again, thank.

Speaker 4 (28:41):
You so much.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
And now we have with us SHAWNA.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
Willis, who is the business development manager for Right at
Home Southwest Florida, and her colleague Kim Spencer, who is
the sales manager at Brookdale Senior Living, and they are
here today to talk to us about their upcoming Home
Goods for Heroes Drive, which if I'm not mistaken, may
even be ongoing as we speak. So ladies, welcome to
the show. Thanks for coming on and tell us about

(29:07):
what you both do between Right at Home Southwest Florida,
Shauna and Kim with Brookdale, tell us about your roles
with that, but also definitely we want to talk about
home Goods for Heroes.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Okay, So this is Shauna. I was Right at Home.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
I'm the business development manager. So my key responsibilities is
to make people aware in this Charlotte County specific area
about Right at Home and the services they provide to
not only seniors but individuals with disabilities.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
Are some temporary elements.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
That they need additional help at home, so we can
come in and we can provide anything from your light
housekeeping and companionship to full hands on care to assist
with bathing, dressin grooming, Alzheimer's and dementia care, transportation to appointments,
and just being there to kind of provide companionship for
those who are lonely just need a little extra support.

(30:01):
And we cover all of Charlotte County, parts of DeSoto County,
and parts of Lower Sarasota County.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Very cool.

Speaker 6 (30:09):
Hi, I'm Kim. I'm with Brookdale Senior Living. We're an
assisted living community. We have kind of same thing that
she was saying. Will assist with showers, bathing or showers,
dress and grooming, all your meals, housekeeping, med management. We
do have the limited nursing service license, so we're able
to provide catheter care, colostomy care, diabetic care. We're a

(30:31):
small community with forty two apartments, so we're very homelike,
very family like, and I sist families and their perspective
residents to find placement.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Awesome. Well, thank you for what you both do.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
That's a huge piece of our community here in southwest Florida.
I think most people do kind of associate Florida as
being the place people go to kind of retire and
enjoy the good life and the sunshine. So there's definitely
a need for what both of you do in the community.
So thank you very much for that. And Shauna, I
understand your former military spouse.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
I am.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
I've been with my husband twenty four years and he's
done seventeen and a half years in the Air Force Reserve.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Awesome, very coopouse. Also wonderful out.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Numbered again, take that army is outnumbered man.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
So let's talk about home Goods for Heroes. So this
is sponsored by Volunteers of America Florida and you guys
are basically helping support veterans through doing a drive to
collect different goods and items that they might need at
this time of year.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Is that correct correct?

Speaker 6 (31:38):
So with a veterans village, they usually have an average
stay of there of three to six months. They were
helping them get a job, find a place to live.
So we are doing a fundraiser getting new items to
help them start their new house, whether you know the
kitchen items, things that start adding up. But this way
they can go into this house with some basic supplies wonderful.

Speaker 5 (31:59):
Kim and I kind of came up with this as
a collaborative effort, and we, you know, being really local
and wanting to support veterans, we kind of thought what
would be a good way to kind of give back
around the holidays this time of year, and we kind
of just came up with us together, and we knew
that the Veterans Village and Pana Gorda was local and

(32:20):
really good at helping transition the veterans back into society,
so we partnered with them and asked them if we
could do this for them.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
Very cool.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
So they take veterans who are maybe in a state
of homelessness or in between homes or displaced, maybe even
especially with the hurricanes that we've had happened lately, So
they help them, if I'm understanding, like kind of get
their bearings again, get them kind of settled, and then
when they're ready to move back into a place that

(32:47):
they can call their own, they kind of help with
that transition.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Yes, most definitely, And as a veteran myself, I want
to say thank you for what you have done thus far.
One of the things I've always found inspirational about you guys.
Is that me Being in the army, I've seen effective
squads and platoons. But I had the opportunity to join
you guys a month ago and I was advised you

(33:15):
were doing a little program at Brookdale. I attended with
one of my colleagues at the Health Department, and when
I went there, you guys came with specifics. I mean,
we all have our moments of having people, you know,
banter in a meeting, but it was nothing but business
when the minute I sat down. And that's impressive from
my standpoint. And from that time in one month from

(33:39):
forming the name of Home Goods for Heroes to flash
forward tonight today two hurricanes in you guys are fully functional.
And I would say, thinking on behalf of veterans that
you see us and the struggles that we go through
and the fact that you're providing us an opportunity to
have a fresh start, UH means a lot. We're not

(34:02):
the biggest people that ask for help for ourselves or
accept it or accept it. But for you to put
this together and be practical about it, and it's it's
not a handout, it's a hand up for us. And
I'll say thank you from my heart because I'll say this,

(34:23):
veterans who have who have a scene for themselves, take
care of themselves. And if you put us in a
position where were you're helping us succeed in our mission,
which is our lives and whatnot, We're not gonna let
you down. And honestly, like I said, I'm a little
speechless about it, and I'm thankful that you allowed me

(34:46):
to be a part of that. And with the hurricane
and whatnot, you still gots trooped through. I mean, you
had an activity last weekend. We'll tell tell America about that.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
We were at Bird's Harley Davidson Saturday doing a collection there.
They actually have our box there will be there till
November twenty second, but they allowed us to set up
a table and talk to people there as they kind
of came through so to help support it wonderful.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I was there on Saturday, later in the afternoon, probably
around four o'clock, and there was quite a large crowd
there even then, so I imagine earlier in the day
I was helping a different event for veterans that was
going on in the community. But I imagine there were
probably thousands of people that passed by throughout the day.

Speaker 6 (35:28):
It was definitely a large crowd and getting the chance
to even explain what we were doing and the reason
behind it. You know, my own step dad he served
in the Korean War, so it's you know, and he
was so proud of his service.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
So absolutely as he should be.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, you're part of our veteran families.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Well, defin really, I was going to say, it's nice
that we live in a community that's very veterans supportive,
if not, I mean, there are a lot of veterans
that live in our area, but it's just nice to
live in a place where people's services appreciated and the
veterans are supported when they need it. But the work
that you guys are doing through home Goods for here
is you're restoring people's dignity because in some ways, you know,

(36:04):
if you I mean, I've been in a place where
I was I don't necessarily want to stay homeless, but
I'll say definitely displaced. I couldn't live in my home
for over half a year after Hurricane Ian. And it's
hard to, like you said, Jay, it's hard to ask
for help. It's hard to accept help because it's just
so humbling and overwhelming. It's not that you don't want it,

(36:24):
it's that you just feel like, how could I ever
repay this? Even though that's not what people want. They
don't want you to repay it. But at the same time,
it's like what you're doing here not only is going
to restore their dignity, but I mean, if there are
anything like me, I mean, I was in the Air
Force for twenty years. When people rallied around us after
Ian and helped us the way that they did, it

(36:46):
became a mission that I will spend the rest of
my life paying forward the kindness and goodness that people
did for my family and me. And so I feel
like that's what you're doing here with home goods for Heroes,
is you're restoring people's dignity. But I think for a
lot of the people who are on the receiving end
of this, I think that's going to actually kind of
help spark that flame of wanting to continue paying it

(37:06):
forward and doing more to give back to others because
it so much was given to them. So I mean,
the list, you know, you can go can you go
online and find this?

Speaker 5 (37:17):
You can? So we have a QR code on our flyers,
our flyers are throughout all of Charlotte County. We have
about eighteen volunteer donation sites, all local businesses who have
offered up their space to have a box to collect
donations in. We also have a Facebook page where you
can go and find out some information. You just have

(37:38):
to type in home goods for euros and we're keeping
it all local, so all the funds, everything that we
receive for donations, whether it's money or items, are going back.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
In this area only wonderful.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
And there are items, I mean for those of you
that might not have seen these posters yet, the items
are pretty simple. It's things like twin sheets and blankets,
bath and hand towels, like daily living items. Maybe extension cords,
splash lights, batteries, a coffee pot. That's most of us veterans,
they're definitely coffee drinkers. So's that's like a mission critical

(38:14):
item right there.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Toasters, trash can.

Speaker 5 (38:18):
Drives that you know they collect, toiletries, they collect things
of that nature. But you know they get a lot
of that, they don't get the essential items they need.
Think about when you're first starting out, you know, you
go to college, you get out of college, and now
you have your first apartment, and you don't know where
to begin.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Right when I moved out of the dorms, I was
in the thrift stores looking at like little twenty five
cent glasses or like little ten dollars, like end tables
or something, trying to put something together.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
So you're right, you don't really know where to start.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
And to be able to have people, you know, just
be able to give you a big basket of things
and say here you go, this will help you get
your footing.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
Absolutely definitely. I had a question, what was the origin
of Home Good for Heroes?

Speaker 1 (39:00):
What was what created that marked that idea for you guys.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
For me, it was, you know, I had known about
the Veterans village, came across it just being because of
what I do and just was kind of doing some research.
Seanna was trying to think of a veterans she was
going to do something else. So we just pulled our resources,
realizing that these people are homeless. These are our veterans
who served our country and gave us our freedom, and
we just wanted to give back to them. So and

(39:26):
meeting with Nancy Ortiz, who oversees Volunteers of America, and
they are the ones that oversee the veterans village, you know,
what is it that we can do for them?

Speaker 1 (39:34):
And this is what we came up with, efficient and effective.
I love it.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
We were talking earlier with another guest about how sometimes
with veteran friendly groups, it's like we're all so well intended,
but sometimes we all run in five million different directions
when we're all pursuing the same goal. So it's wonderful
that the two of you pulled your resources and said,
let's just get everybody to make one big party here
and have this happened so that it didn't feel like.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Too much chasten after very giving.

Speaker 5 (40:01):
I mean, we see the drives for children, we see
the drives for elders that need things at the holidays,
and I feel like the veterans, you know, often get
forgotten until we come upon Veterans Day Memorial Day, and
both of us having backgrounds of you know, family that
have served, we wanted to really focus on that.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
That's wonderful definitely, And as I'm saying back here and
listening to this, I'm going in America, I want you
to put this in perspective. You hear weekend and week
out talk about how we feel that veterans aren't recognized
after service is done, and technically our service isn't done
even a rally uniform, and for family members of recent

(40:43):
military service individuals, note that there is a deficiency and
recognition for those who've done their time and then have
to live with the results of their service. And folks,
like anything else, anything takes its toll, and there's something
we can do and some things that we can't, but
to have it recognized, to give us assistance, to get

(41:05):
us back on the horse, so to speak, that's tremendous
from a civilian perspective. And I hate calling you civilians,
so you're really not. You're part of the veteran family
through your associations, because you're part of our group when
they go. When we serve, you serve with your I.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Was going to say, the spouses and the kids are
what keep you going when you're deployed or when you're
sent you know TDY for a prolonged period of time.
That's who keeps things going at home, and that's who
kind of keeps your motivation going to one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
And when we're not there, our community hopefully fills in
the blank for our families to kind of help them
get them along until we get back to our homes.
And it's profound to see it happen not coming from
us all the time, and in the perception of you
now taking action that was like immediate. I'm going, folks,

(41:53):
I've worked for financial firms and they deally dally and
they talk about what's going to happen, and you need
another mean to talk about. We just did when I
say start from one to ze in about a minute,
home goods from the name Home Goods for Heroes. The
next week, flowers were made and a plan was established
to distribute boxes throughout Charlotte County. And I was like, going, well, shoot,

(42:17):
if we had these people in the military, we have the.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Problem we have right now, we're going to say, your
logistics would be like.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I mean, it was logistic machine. I'm going, wow, I
should take notes because I get shared us with a
couple of units and talking about efficiency, You're like wow,
my head was spinning.

Speaker 5 (42:34):
I mean, we really did put this together in a
matter of three weeks. Three weeks, and we had volunteers,
we had sponsors, we had donation locations, all within.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
Three and a half weeks.

Speaker 4 (42:45):
Yes, we had t shirts made.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
I mean, you name it, we had it on the
nice So that's definitely teach.

Speaker 6 (42:51):
Sean and I both we work so well together and
we when we get together, we plan and move forward.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
So in our previous show we said something about when
you have a pain, it becomes a passion. The passion
becomes a purpose, and a purpose becomes a plan and
without even knowing any of that, you guys do it
every day. My question is where can people find some
of these boxes? There's one at eleven D love And

(43:17):
Boulevard at the Health Department. So and we have a
whole bunch of socks. Oh my goodness, you have cases
of them. So we're filling that up. Where can we
find some of these boxes so we can have them
have Charlotte County or those contribute. Oh that's another question
I'll ask contribute to the cost. And can people contribute.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Long distance if they're not in Southwest Florida because we
are kind of syndicated throughout the country. So if there
are people listening in other states, is there an address
where they could have things shipped? If they go on
Amazon and find items after looking at your flyer on
Facebook or that kind of thing, like can.

Speaker 6 (43:54):
Ship it to either one of us. Our address Brookdale
Senior Living is one eight for zero Akron Boulevard in
Port Charlotte three three nine four eight.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
Your address is four three one five South Access Road, Inglewood,
Florida three four two two four.

Speaker 6 (44:12):
Locally, our boxes are well at the end of this month.
Is a Cruise Bank and Trust and Murdoch we've got
it like Michigan Credit Union, the VFW, the Moose Lodge
Army Navy Store.

Speaker 5 (44:24):
And that's post seven seven seven. The Inglewood Elks, we
have them at the barbershop in Pontagorda on Taylor Road.
Each of our sponsors locations, so we have them at
the EMADISUS office in Port Charlotte, Bert's Black widow Son,
Harbor SBG Insurance Group. I mean, they're pretty much throughout

(44:46):
the whole county. And if you don't know where it
is and you're interested, you can reach out to either
of us and we can get you the information. Whether
you're looking to help us with some of the events collections,
or you're looking.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
To donate awesome and people can contact you via the
Facebook page for Home Goods for Heroes.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
Can they send a message. They can Okay, they.

Speaker 5 (45:06):
Can you know, call either one of us directly.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
If they want to call me.

Speaker 6 (45:11):
Cam at Brookdale it's nine four one seven four three
nine three zero zero.

Speaker 5 (45:15):
And Shawna is ninety four one two one four zero
two five eight.

Speaker 6 (45:21):
So the nice part about this is on December the sixth.
Our collection actually ends November twenty second, but then on
December sixth we will actually be going to the veterans
village presenting all the items that are collected, and then
we'll be having a little get together for them some
you know, the typical like.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
A sandwich reception with like like refreshments, spot it so and.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Then the box Trilie fox Trot.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Oh, yes, Charlie Fox Track.

Speaker 5 (45:44):
I was also going to have a barber shop has
offered to give free haircuts that day to the veterans.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Wonderful, very cool. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
I wondered about Charlie Foxtrot because I just threw a
surprise fiftieth birthday party for my husband and when I
showed up, there's a picnic table that's actually pretty well
with donations for this, and so I remember asking because
the owner was like, do you want us to move this?
And I was like, no anything, I'm like, believe it
where it is. I'm like, I want the people who
are coming to my husband's party to see it so

(46:12):
that if they feel led to contribute, then they will.
And then it kind of became like a pseudo joke
where they were like, are these your husband's birthday presents?
And it actually was great that people wanted to be
funny and have jokes like that, because then I could
be like, no, actually, it's home goods for heroes, So
if you want to donate to veterans who have needs
this holiday season, then you can see what's out there

(46:32):
and you can donate it too. And then it kind
of put the light bulb on for them, like oh okay.
So it was kind of funny, but it was also
a good segue into making sure that we got some
visibility for your cause.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Most definitely, And before we end this, I had a
question to ask. There's an individual would like to give
a give a headboard in queen size bed, a full
size bed to the cause, and I just got that
last weekend, So how is that possible?

Speaker 5 (47:01):
Could coordinate that with Nancy directly?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Okay, yeah, well we'll handle those details probably logistics after
the show. But let me tell you something again, We've
been around the block for a little while and it's
far in fee between someone and take the initiatives, say
did the deficiency in our community and then all of
a sudden from that deficiency make it into a living,
breathing cause that's taken Charlotte by a storm. And I

(47:28):
say again, I can't say thank you enough.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Do you guys need volunteers to help you with the
distribution on December sixth or do you pretty much have
that taken care of?

Speaker 5 (47:37):
Or I mean we could always use extra bodies for sure,
if anybody is interested.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (47:42):
We also are doing a little get together on November
the sixth at the Amvets Post seven seven seven. We've
had a lovely group of women who saw our fire
in the community and they actually created a sign up
sheet between eight women's gathering groups and they want to
do like a little happy hour from one to three,

(48:03):
bring in their donations, wrap them and get them all together,
take some photos, and then we're going.

Speaker 4 (48:08):
To deliver them. Also.

Speaker 5 (48:10):
Very so, we've had some other companies reach out to
us directly with their own versions of how can we help,
and they've kind of collaborated with us. So if you
guys are interested or anybody in the community wants to
come out that afternoon also, they would love to have you.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Awesome and AMVET seven seven seven is located on Route
seven seventy six McCall Road in Inglewood, so if people
are kind of wondering where that is, so that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
One to three pm.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Okay, great, I'm actually putting it in my planner right
now so that way it's there. But yeah, so it's
it's a wonderful thing that you guys are doing. And
it looks like there's so many different ways for people
to get involved. Just to make sure we have your
information again, if you wouldn't mind sharing your phone numbers
for people to reach you and also shipping addresses if

(48:57):
people are out of the area but want to have
donations mailed in Okay.

Speaker 6 (49:03):
Kim Spencer with Brookdale Senior Living phone number is nine
four one seven four three nine three zero zero, or
you can shift to one eight four four zero Cochrane
Boulevard in Port Charlotte.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
Three three nine four eight and Shauna Willis.

Speaker 5 (49:18):
My phone number is nine four one two one four
zero two five eight and it's right at home in
Inglewood at four three one five South Access Road, Inglewood,
Florida three four two two four wonderful.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
And so this is the inaugural home goods for Heroes.
Do you think this will probably be something that kind
of becomes an annual tradition in the county.

Speaker 1 (49:43):
Or yes, I think that goal wonderful. Okay, great. I
would say I didn't want to like obligate or put
anything out started plan that. I'm like, this would be
an amazing annual event for the community.

Speaker 6 (49:56):
It's not an obligation.

Speaker 5 (49:58):
Yes, And you know, I know this year the hurricanes
kind of hit us, so we may not do as
well as we were hoping.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
But I do know whatever we.

Speaker 5 (50:07):
Do collect is going to be a blessing to everybody
that's going to receive it. And we're just hoping that
we can continue to do this annually.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Absolutely, a journey starts with the first step. So this is,
you know, this year being the first step.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
I mean I think it's going to still be successful
because I think not only you know, as a community,
my understanding is when we get hit with things like
hurricanes and stuff like that, if anything, it kind of
bans us together even closer, and it has people wanting
to help their neighbors or helping others, even if they've
also been affected. Sometimes it's just as therapeutic for them

(50:40):
to go out and help other people rather than to
focus on their own problems. So I do see this
being very successful and a great way to give back
to the community for sure. So with that, Shanna Willis
and Kim Spencer, thank you so much for being on
the show to talk to us about Home Goods for Heroes,
and we look forward to having you back on the

(51:00):
show maybe in the new year to talk about the
successes and the wonderful, impactful stories that are going to
come out of your mission here.

Speaker 2 (51:09):
America support Home Goods for Heroes, the sorry just gave
it out.

Speaker 6 (51:13):
Thank you guys, Thank you for your service.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
And anything else I forget.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
About I think so just thanks to our sponsors at
no Medicare Solutions, Derek Get It Done 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

(51:38):
appreciate 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 show and how
they can listen, whether it's locally in Southwest Florida on

(51:58):
one hundred point nine FM or on the free iHeartRadio app.
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 RETS Across America Radio
on Fridays at three pm, so you can find both
Rees Across America Radio and WCCF via the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Outstanding, and folks, remember we're here for you veterans and
our communities alike. These connections we're making abroad 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.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
And with that being said, Rally Pointers fall Out