February 17, 2025 • 58 mins
What drives a veteran to turn personal tragedy into a force for good? Join us as we uncover the inspiring journey of Joey McNutt, an Army veteran who founded Ronnie's Retreat, a non-profit dedicated to supporting homeless veterans. With insights from Carlene Parker and Nora Moreland of the American Legion Perry A Johns Post 6, we explore the pressing issues veterans face, including homelessness and the mental health challenges that can arise after military service. Carlene shares her vision to elevate Ronnie's Retreat through community engagement and prayer, setting the stage for transformative support for veterans and their families.
Dive deep into the emotional story behind Ronnie's Retreat, named in memory of Joey's brother, Ronnie McNutt, who battled mental health issues and sadly took his own life. Joey opens up about his military service and the stark realities many veterans face upon returning home, from the loss of purpose to the alarming rates of suicides. Through candid conversations, we highlight the urgent need for better mental health support systems and how Ronnie's Retreat seeks to offer a lifeline for veterans to find new purpose and community.
But that's not all; we also explore the innovative initiatives of Hinderless 22, including their tiny home community project and Pets for Vets program. These efforts not only provide shelter and job training but also foster self-sufficiency and emotional healing through animal companionship. As we navigate these impactful stories and initiatives, discover how community collaboration is playing a vital role in reshaping the lives of veterans, offering them hope and a path to recovery.
Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends and family. Drop us a line today at JDAllhands@outlook.com. If you'd like to become a sponsor of our show or advertise with us please send an email to jdallhands@outlook.com or call us at 662-902-6658.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jerry Allhands (00:00):
This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast.
Hard work, work, let's get itgoing.
Let's go, Hard work, work.
I'm your host, Jerry Allhands,a veteran of the US Air Force
and Army and a Mississippi PastDepartment Commander of the
American Legion.
Each week, we visit an AmericanLegion post and visit with the
Legion family there.
As we travel the state, we'llvisit with other groups and
(00:22):
organizations that are servingAmerica's veterans and their
families.
Today, if you enjoy thispodcast series, I'm asking that
you consider supporting us inwhatever fashion you can,
whether it's a monthlysubscription here on our
Buzzsprout page or by sponsoringan ad.
For more information on how youcan support this series, please
call 662-902-6658 or send atext.
(00:46):
Either way.
We appreciate you and thank youfor making this podcast
possible.
Today we are in NortheastMississippi at the American
Legion Perry A Johns Post no 6in Corinth, where we sit down
with Carlene Parker of the Unit6 American Legion Auxiliary and
Post 6 Commander Nora Moreland.
They introduce us to JoeyMcNutt, founder of Ronnie's
(01:09):
Retreat, a non-profitorganization helping homeless
veterans.
Nora Moreland (01:13):
Hard work is what they say Hard work, hard work.
I'm earning my pay.
Johnathan Michael Flemming (01:17):
Hard work, work.
Today I'm in NortheastMississippi, in the great town
of who.
Carlean Parker (01:23):
Of what Corinth, corinth, corinth.
Jerry Allhands (01:26):
One more.
Somebody else got to say itCorinth, and the choir says
Corinth, mississippi.
It's a beautiful community overhere.
The Crossroads, I think I'veheard it's referred to, so I may
have to call y'all theCrossroads from now on.
Just go with that.
We say that because I cannotsay the word without messing it
(01:49):
up.
It's kind of like sayingMassachusetts.
I never could say that either.
45 years in radio couldn't sayit Not going to happen.
Today I'm visiting with Post 6of the American Legion and they
have got an event coming up inthe future that we felt like
needed to be shared with thepublic, and Ms Carlene Parker,
if I understand correctly, isthe one who's leading up this
(02:11):
event.
Is that correct, carlene?
Carlean Parker (02:12):
Yes, well, next year, 2025, 2026, as of right
now, I'm an unopposed runningfor department president in
Mississippi for the auxiliary,ronnie's retreat is going to be
my special project.
So everything that we do, theproceeds will go to Ronnie's
(02:36):
retreat.
Jerry Allhands (02:37):
Carleen again, if you would introduce yourself
first name, last name and yourcurrent position with the
auxiliary.
Carlean Parker (02:42):
Carleen Parker.
I am the Unit 6 vice presidentand I am the Department First
Vice.
Jerry Allhands (02:50):
Carleen, please open us with a word of prayer.
Carlean Parker (02:52):
please, Heavenly Father, we approach your throne
just as humbly as we know how.
We ask you to give theblessings today on this podcast
that we're about to do and theones that we have already done
today.
We ask you to bless ourveterans, bless our government
and bless Joey and his family inthis endeavor for Ronnie's
(03:14):
retreat.
In Jesus' name, I pray.
Joey McNutt (03:17):
Amen.
Carlean Parker (03:18):
Amen.
Jerry Allhands (03:20):
And next to you is Joey McNutt.
Joey McNutt (03:23):
Joey McNutt, that's correct.
Jerry Allhands (03:25):
Joey, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Joey McNutt (03:28):
Well, I am an Army veteran, medically retired 23
years, two deployments to Iraqand when I retired I was looking
for somewhere to continue myservice, as they say when we get
out and I found Post 6 and tookme in like family and I've been
(03:49):
trying to come to every meetingI could when I'm out of work.
Jerry Allhands (03:53):
And appreciate that very much, and he's a
fellow beard holder, so I got tobe real happy about that.
Joey McNutt (03:57):
Well, it actually was a little bit longer until
this past summer.
I trimmed it on up a little bit.
Jerry Allhands (04:02):
Mine was until about two days ago.
Wife said Santa Claus is stillin the house.
We could do something aboutthis.
Right, I lost the weight.
What do you want?
Next to Joey is Nora Moreland.
Nora Moreland (04:14):
I am Nora Moreland.
I am currently the commander atPost 6 and I am the Northern
District President for ourauxiliary and, on top of that,
district 1.
Okay, and you're?
Jerry Allhands (04:26):
the Northern District President for our
auxiliary, and on top of thatyou're District 1.
Okay, and you're obviously aMarine.
Nora Moreland (04:32):
Yes, I am a Marine.
Jerry Allhands (04:34):
I'll say it again Once a Marine, always a
Marine, or is that ooh-rah?
Nora Moreland (04:38):
Ooh-rah.
Jerry Allhands (04:40):
See, there's a Marine in the house.
Nora Moreland (04:41):
Yes, hide the crayon.
Jerry Allhands (04:44):
We do that with much love.
Nora Moreland (04:46):
I know that.
That's why I tell you only thered one.
On yellow paper On yellow paper.
According to Mike.
Jerry Allhands (04:52):
Yeah, we need to get cameras in here.
Carly, tell us a little bitabout the project that's going
to be in the forefront for youas president, for the auxiliary
you know what.
Carlean Parker (05:06):
I'm going to turn that over to Joey and let
him explain exactly what thisproject is that they are trying
to do, but I will say that it isa very worthwhile project
because it deals with homelessveterans.
It deals with homeless veteransand we have found out just
(05:31):
recently that there's a lot ofcontroversy about our homeless
veterans and the things thatthey're trying to take away from
them, and they already havenothing.
So I'm going to let him explainwhat they're doing.
Jerry Allhands (05:40):
Joey, your plate's about to get a whole lot
bigger.
Joey McNutt (05:43):
Hey, I'm looking forward to it.
That's what I set out to do.
Jerry Allhands (05:46):
Before we get started on that, you said that
you were an Army vet.
Tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
What did you do in the Army?
Joey McNutt (05:52):
Well, I did a lot of things.
I started out as an M1 tanker,so I was an armor crewman, tank
operator.
I moved on from there, became achemical NCO.
I went to chemical warfareschool in Fort Dix, new Jersey,
so I was a chemical warfare NCO.
I also went to MOSQ and becamea 12th Bravo combat engineer.
(06:15):
So I moved around quite a bitand gained a lot of, quite a lot
of skills.
Then, of course, you got allyour extra additional duties.
You know I worked in operationsassistant operations NCO.
I've been human resourcessupervisors, I've been physical
security inspector andsupervisor.
So I've done a lot of things inmy military career.
(06:35):
I loved every bit of it andwish I was still there.
But they cut my five-year planthree years short.
Jerry Allhands (06:41):
Got.
It Can relate to that.
I I'm looking over, I'mcounting fingers to make sure
they're still all 10 there, youknow all still, there all still
there.
No, no splotches.
No, you know, I know about thechemical part been there done
that so 82nd airborne?
Yeah, whatever they wanted,it's what you did that's it.
Uh, you said iraq, iraq twice,yes, twice where at.
We went Iraq twice, yes, twice.
(07:01):
Where at?
Joey McNutt (07:03):
We went to.
I went to Andajoff the firsttime in 2005.
Stayed a year there, Came home,went back in 2008, and I was in
Baghdad at Biop and workedthere as mine clearing
operations, where we ran out andjust rode around and looked for
IEDs and cleared roadways andtried to make it safe for
(07:23):
everybody in the country.
Jerry Allhands (07:24):
And folks, I'm assuming there's still 10 toes
and I see 10 fingers.
So obviously he did his job anddid it well.
Joey McNutt (07:29):
So far.
Jerry Allhands (07:31):
God bless you.
Thank you so much for that too.
Appreciate you going over thereand doing that for us.
Thank you, thank you, nor yougot somebody besides you.
I think we need to get a phonenumber, because I'm hearing all
these girls already ringing upmy phone here.
He's married, I hear all theselawyers calling me.
Joey McNutt (07:46):
Yeah, actually yesterday was my 25th wedding
anniversary.
I don't know how my marriagelasted throughout my career that
way, but I think it's becausefor half of my marriage we
didn't even live together, so wereally didn't have to deal with
each other.
Jerry Allhands (08:00):
25 years, congratulations Wow.
Nora Moreland (08:03):
They still smile at each other too.
Jerry Allhands (08:05):
They still like each other.
Joey McNutt (08:06):
Yeah, 25 years yeah we kind of do that's beautiful
man.
Yeah, she's been with me thiswhole time.
It's like I say she's beengreat.
Jerry Allhands (08:14):
What's her name?
Joey McNutt (08:15):
Her name is Susan.
Jerry Allhands (08:16):
Susan McNutt.
Is she a veteran too?
Joey McNutt (08:18):
She is not, she is a veteran wife veteran.
There you go, she's dealt witha lot of the stuff and kept the
home front running when I wasdoing all my traveling and being
deployed.
Thank you, Any children.
We have one daughter.
She is married, have ason-in-law.
She is 37.
I have a 13-year-oldgranddaughter and a 5-year-old
(08:39):
grandson.
Jerry Allhands (08:40):
I don't know what you're drinking and eating,
but I want some Dang.
All right, joey, tell us aboutthis project.
Tell us about the Ronnie'sRetreat.
Joey McNutt (08:51):
All right.
Well, to tell you about theretreat, I have to give you a
little background information onit and why and how it came to
be.
My little brother's name isRonnie McNutt and he was also an
Army veteran, did four years inthe Army, floyd Dirac, and we
both struggled with our mentalhealth.
His, ultimately, was a bigissue that he couldn't overcome
(09:16):
and he ended up taking his ownlife over it.
Now my brother was always inservice to others, even when he
got out of the military, reallyinvolved in the church, always
volunteering to do communityservice.
So we thought you know, whatbetter way could we honor him
than to start a nonprofit in hisname and do community service
and service to veterans?
(09:36):
So we focused on the veteranside of mental health.
That's where we really startedat.
We really started at and uh,because we think that that is
the biggest lead to veteransunaliving their self.
Uh, I'll try to be politicallycorrect.
Jerry Allhands (09:54):
No, don't worry about being politically correct.
On this show that we are.
Joey McNutt (09:57):
We are veterans and and we are not politically
correct hey, that sounds good tome, all right, but uh, we have
more veterans committing suicideevery year the 22, a lot of
people.
They relate to the number 22because back in 2014, 2015, that
was the study that came outthat 22 veterans a day were
taking their own lives.
Well, now that number hascontinued to increase.
(10:19):
We're up to 44-plus veterans aday.
There's another 40-plusveterans a day that also
overdose on prescriptionpharmaceuticals, and they've
lost count of the homelessveterans.
Homeless veterans seem to getpushed to the side because, as
long as the issue doesn't haveto be addressed, it's not a
problem according to state lawand officials that we have
(10:42):
elected, and that's one of thebig issues we're dealing with
right now.
But anyway, so we started thisnonprofit and we were helping
veterans.
We started with helpingveterans with basic needs
because we think mental healthstarts at home as well.
Once people get out of themilitary, they kind of lose
their purpose, they kind of losetheir worth.
They leave all their friendsthat have become their brothers,
(11:03):
their sisters, and you know,when you serve in the military,
your buddies and battle buddies.
They become your mothers, yourfathers, your brothers, your
therapist.
You know You're everything toeach other.
You take care of each other.
Once people are discharged fromthe military, retire, get
medically retired, they go homeand they start losing
connections with those people.
Yeah, so they're out of place.
(11:25):
So we wanted to step in andfill that void, Because what
happens a lot of times?
They go into that depression.
They sit at home, they don'twant to go out in public Because
we're not comfortable in publicanymore.
Civilian world to us is it'sthe craziest thing.
So you have a lot that sitthere.
They go into their depressionsand if nobody's there to help
(11:46):
them or reach out, then a lot oftimes that mental health
struggle causes them to taketheir life and I firmly believe
that's one of the biggestreasons we're losing so many
veterans.
They feel out of place anddon't know where to turn.
So we try to fix that and weknow if a veteran can't provide
(12:06):
then that just makes his mentalhealth worse.
If we can step in and give thema hand up and we can lead them
in a direction of a better lifeand give them the tools they
need, then they start becomingself-sustaining again.
They can go from just livingand surviving to having a life
again.
So we were a nonprofit for aboutthree years doing a lot of
(12:29):
different things, and we weretrying to figure out what was
the best way that we could reacha lot of these veterans.
Veterans are they're proudpeople, they're stubborn people.
A lot of them are not going toreach out to you.
So we thought if we couldcreate something that would
allow us to reach out to you.
So we thought if we couldcreate something that would
allow us to reach out to them,then we could make things a
(12:50):
little better.
We could put them in the rightdirection.
So the homeless veterans that'swhere we wanted to start to
focus, because we startednoticing more homeless people
and more homeless people on thesides of the roads holding up
signs homeless veteran, homelessveteran.
And I got to thinking well, youknow, they were promised this
care when they served, when theygot out, they were promised to
(13:11):
be taken care of.
But the homeless veteranprograms are not all.
They're cracked up to be.
Basically, they're a blanketand a pillow.
Come back next week and we'llgive you a sandwich, and I've
seen that with my own eyessitting in the parking lot.
So we decided we wanted to buildsomething, but we didn't know
what all we wanted to build.
So we decided we're going tocall it ronnie's retreat.
(13:33):
We're going to build tiny homes.
We're going to get homelessveterans, take them off the
streets, put them in these tinyhomes.
We're going to fine-tuneprograms for their specific
needs to get them off the streetand back on their feet, and
that will include differentthings.
We also train service dogs forfree for veterans.
So we'll have our dog facilityout there on the same property
(13:54):
as well.
So they'll always have accessto ESAs for animal healing,
which is very special to mebecause I know how great that
can be very special to mebecause I know how great that
can be.
I've traveled a little bitsince I retired to a couple of
wolf dog rescue places that haveveterans programs and it was
just amazing to me.
(14:14):
So we're always going to havethose pets for vets is what I
like to say.
But we'll bring them in.
They'll have access to therapy,they'll have access to medical
care.
We'll make sure they get anybenefits that they work for,
because a lot of people don'trealize this.
You know the benefits they workfor through the Veterans
Services.
It's not an entitlement.
(14:34):
They work for that.
They work for it.
It's not something that thegovernment just gives them.
So we'll make sure they getthat, we'll make sure they have
everything they need work ontheir self, and what I like to
say is we're going to give themthe tools to regain their
self-worth, give them anotherpurpose and let them know that
they still mean something tosomebody.
Jerry Allhands (14:54):
Let's circle back to your brother.
If you don't mind, this isgoing to be a little sensitive,
and if you don't want to talkabout it, I understand.
But for our listeners we havethe opportunity to reach a
minimum of 10 000 people withthis podcast just in the
department of mississippi alone.
So you add another two to fourpeople in each household.
(15:14):
We're looking at about 40 000people all right and hopefully
we'll get further than that.
Tell me about your brother.
Tell me, I know that he was avet.
What happened?
Joey McNutt (15:28):
well.
He came home.
Uh, of course, like I said,struggle with mental health.
I started going to the va.
Of course he got medication and, as a lot of us do, as we go
and we think we're gettingbetter, we start pushing the
medication aside because wedon't like feeling the way that
we feel on the medication.
But he stayed very active in thecommunity.
(15:48):
He was always a big jokester.
He always talked a bunch ofjunk.
To me that's a brother.
We always had a great time whenwe all got together.
Uh, and with his job he hadmoved off for a little while, uh
, to smyrna, tennessee, so wewouldn't.
We weren't around a lot forabout a year after I retired,
but then he transferred backworking in New Albany.
(16:09):
So we were getting togetherevery two or three weekends and
grilling at a mom's.
You know, that's just kind ofwhat we did, but he was always
trying to help somebody.
He was a guy that would sitthere if he thought you felt bad
and he would sit there untilyou started smiling again.
Really, didn't matter to himhow long it took.
(16:31):
Uh, he knew people from allover the country, in the world.
He was a big gamer, onlinegamer, big social media guy
always on social media, so hehad connections all over the
place and I still have peoplesend me messages and different
things going.
Hey, man, your brother was agreat guy.
You know, we used to game withyour brother.
I'd be like, oh cool, wherey'all from?
Well, we're from, we're frommichigan I'm like I didn't even
know.
He knew anybody in michigan, youknow.
Yeah, so he uh he knew a lot ofpeople because he was always,
(16:55):
always trying to reach out toother people before he took care
of himself.
But about a week or two beforehe took his life he had actually
made another VA appointment.
And that's another thing thatwe really believe strongly in is
wait times cause veterans totake their lives because it was
going to be another two monthsbefore he could get into the VA,
(17:17):
and that's why we want to tryto be that first contact.
They need help at that moment.
They don't need to have to waittwo much to get in to see
mental health.
But he just started spiraling.
There was really no signs thatweekend.
He had been on a rafting tripin Chattanooga, tennessee, came
(17:39):
home, had a great time, calledand made sure we knew he had a
great time.
That's just the way my brotherwas.
Then later that evening, uh, Igot a phone call, said hey, you
might want to get on.
Get on facebook you know,something's going on with your
brother, so I get on and we'retrying to talk to him and a lot
(18:00):
of people out there probablyremember this, because my
brother, ronnie, was the veteranthat took his own life on
Facebook live.
He's the one that TikTok had tosend out warnings about,
facebook had to send outwarnings about um, and so a lot
of people know my brother andknow of my brother before they
ever met us or talked to us,because it was so it went so
(18:25):
viral.
Yeah, because it was screenrecorded from facebook and
uploaded to other sites andother social media platforms.
But that is, uh, that's kind ofthe quick rundown.
Uh, like I said, you would havenever knew that he was
struggling.
Everything was going great forhim, had a great job, he had, uh
, for my niece's birthday acouple months before he'd got
(18:49):
the whole family tickets to goto disney world I mean just
loving life and something justhappened that evening and it
changed his whole, his wholetrain of thought and just
disconnected his brain from reallife so no, no, outward signs
nothing to be no, not worriedabout none at all, yeah, so you
(19:11):
know we were discussing this inanother podcast recently about
how um easy it is for that darkcloud to move over you.
Jerry Allhands (19:20):
You know you can be smiling one moment and the
next something trigger.
I've been through that myselfright and uh you know you're
aware of the, the 988 number,that the is now out there
nationally.
Um, not sure how soon that wasin your brother's situation, if
it was available or not, but II'm making a point to always
tell people about that phonenumber right, you know right,
(19:42):
you call that that number to atleast talk to somebody.
Joey McNutt (19:46):
Right, yeah, the 988,.
It was actually established andput into effect about a year
after my brother's death.
Several months after mybrother's death is when we
started a nonprofit and thefirst T-shirts that we made
actually had the suicide hotlinenumber across the back.
Jerry Allhands (20:01):
Okay.
You have any more of thoseshirts.
I have a ton of shirts.
We'll we'll make that availableon this podcast as well, how
they can reach out on that.
For those who aren't aware, whoare hearing this podcast for the
first time, 988 is a nationalphone number that's been set up,
uh, not only for veterans butfor anybody who's having a
(20:23):
moment of, let's say, need,because it's not always the
person who's thinking abouthurting themselves or having a
desire to hurt themselves.
You could be having a really badmoment and just need to talk to
somebody, and maybe you don'twant to talk to a relative who's
going to rush over and give youwhat you feel like.
It's a hard time because youknow they love you, they want to
(20:44):
be there for you, but 988 is astranger who will listen without
judgment and they will get yourinformation and simply to be
able to reach out to you afterthey hang up the phone.
And I've got a personal friendwho's been through that, had a
family member commit suicide andyou know I'm not saying it's
(21:05):
the be-all, the end-all, butit's a step and many of us I'm
older than you, thank you withthat nice, perfect beard over
there you know we still haveorganizations, groups that get
together for PTS and things likethat, and sometimes you don't
want to go and sit in that roomand tell that story.
(21:25):
I still don't like that roomright, but it's a place to go
and I would encourage anybodylistening to today's podcast to
Ronnie's Retreat to please, asJoey says you know he was happy.
Joey McNutt (21:41):
Happy guy.
Jerry Allhands (21:42):
I was happy and I would rather hear you on a
phone call than go through whatyou went through, joey, and I
appreciate your brother'sservice and what you're doing.
Call 988 (21:51):
When a person calls 988, they're connected to a
crisis counselor.
Crisis is completelyself-defined.
If you're wondering if youshould call, you should probably
call.
A caller can expect to talkabout coping skills, talk about
resources and ways to moveforward beyond the call.
They can call us, they can chat, they can text and when they
(22:14):
come out on the other side,they're feeling better.
Call or text 988 or chat988lifelineorg.
Jerry Allhands (22:20):
Tell us some more.
How can somebody reach out toyou and support you in this?
Joey McNutt (22:25):
Well, the actual name of our whole nonprofit is
Hinderness 22, the Ronnie McNuttFoundation.
We go by Hinderness 22 22 andjust because the whole name is a
mouthful to say.
But we felt like we needed mybrother's name in it because
that's why we do what we do.
But just a just a little funnything is we were thinking about
(22:50):
what we were going to call itand it came out as what we'll
call it the Ronnie MagnetFoundation.
I said, said hey, you knowthat's a lot to say, it's going
to take up a lot of space on ashirt.
A lot of people are not goingto remember the whole name.
They're not going to know howto look us up on the internet.
So I said why don't we call itHinderless 22?
So some of my guys I've beentalking to about the nonprofit
(23:13):
said what is a Hinderless?
I said well, my brother'sscreen name.
He actually came up with analter ego when he was younger
and they were doing podcastswith a group called Just Us
Geeks and he called himselfHinderless, which meant to keep
going, never give up, keeppushing everybody.
So I said you know what betterway to honor his name than just
(23:36):
use his social media name too.
That's how it came withhinderless 22, so everybody
knows us as hinderless 22.
Uh, it's real easy to get intouch with us and contact us.
Uh, we're on all social mediasites.
Uh, facebook, we're hinderless22.
Ronnie magnet foundation tiktokis hinderless22rmf, instagram,
hinderless22rmf, and our websiteis hinderless22.org, and you
(24:02):
can go through the website.
It's got all of our contactstuff in it as well.
You can message us through thewebsite and it comes straight to
our organization's email.
So there's always easy ways toget in touch with us.
You can also go to ourmerchandise page on there.
Look at all the merchandise wehave and every sale.
The money goes straight intothe non-profit.
(24:22):
We are 501c3.
And so we sell all of ourmerchandise to raise money to do
the things that we do.
That's how we started and nowwe've gained a lot of support.
Of course, the American Legion,post 6, has been a big
supporter the Auxiliary, theRiders and we're getting the
(24:43):
word out more nowadays becausewe're in the community so much
and we're at all these festivalsand different things.
But, like I say, that's theeasiest way to get in contact
with us handlelist22.org.
You can click on send us aMessage, get in contact with any
time.
You can also go there and readour story.
You can read about Ronnie'sstory and why we started.
(25:04):
You can see some of the thingsthat we've done since we started
A lot of those things we stilldo and you can read more on
Ronnie's retreat and all thethings that we plan to do with
that Hard work.
Read more on.
Jerry Allhands (25:16):
Ronnie's retreat and all the things that we plan
to do with that let's pause fora moment to hear from some of
the people who have helped tomake this episode possible with
their financial support.
Be The One (25:24):
Hey, this is Kenny McMahon.
I'm the commander at Post 1990in Nesbitt, mississippi.
I just want to give a shout outto my son, matt McMahon, who's
serving in the United StatesNavy recently deployed.
He's aboard the USS Carl VinsonCVN-74.
You see these other Navypersonnel and some Marines right
(25:48):
, so I also want to recognize mydaughter.
Jerry Allhands (25:53):
If you're active duty, you know how stressful it
is being a spouse of a servingmember and especially when
they're deployed, a very specialthank you to Dean and Judy
Graves of Mount Vernon, missouri, for their support in making
this program possible, and avery special thank you to Laura
Allhands, whose constantencouragement has made this
program possible.
Joey McNutt (26:22):
Be willing to show up for a veteran.
Be willing to stick your nosewhere it doesn't belong.
Be willing to push and prod ifthings don't add up.
Be willing to trust your gut,follow your heart and take a
risk.
Nora Moreland (26:35):
Be willing to sit without saying a word, without
checking the time, withouttrying to solve.
Be The One (26:41):
Sometimes suicide wants to rip a person from this
world.
Be willing to grab with bothhands and hold on to a friend, a
spouse, a daughter a son, bethe one who's willing to ask to
guess wrong to even offendanother to keep them safe to
remind them that they arevaluable.
(27:03):
If you know a veteran, be theone to reach out and make them a
part of your life.
You won't believe what I say.
Johnathan Michael Flemming (27:16):
In the army.
You won't believe what I say Inthe army.
Ten boots, acus, talabans, hatsand Motorhomes hit the ground.
(27:38):
I I say in the army.
Jerry Allhands (27:58):
You won't believe what I say in the army.
So tell me more about thehousing, the small housing.
How big are we talking about?
Joey McNutt (28:13):
We're doing 12 by 20s, and so they're going to be
just a basic tiny home setup.
I know a lot of people watchthese shows about tiny homes and
they see these fancy thingswith all this cool stuff in them
.
Well, this is not that.
Jerry Allhands (28:27):
Okay.
Joey McNutt (28:27):
Okay, these are going to be basic housing units.
They'll have their bed, they'llhave a sitting somewhere to sit
.
They'll have their bathrooms,showers, it a sitting somewhere
to sit.
They'll have their bathrooms,showers.
It'll be basic living and theplan behind it is, for most of
them this will be transitional.
Now there will be some permanentresidents stay in these houses,
because we do have a lot ofvets, especially from vietnam
(28:50):
and korea.
They're older vets and ofcourse they they have a little
harder time and we would love tohave some of those guys stay on
our property and help with theproperty management part.
So some of these veterans onthe property would actually have
jobs on the property as well.
That gives them another purposeand another reason to wake up
every morning.
But a lot of it will be thetransitional housing and what
(29:14):
we'll do is we'll offer jobtraining skills to the younger
veterans that can still work.
We'll offer different programswith therapy and different
things, and what the end goal isis to guide them through the
steps to get back on their feet,to gain more permanent housing
and be more self-sustaining.
Jerry Allhands (29:36):
So is this a community?
Is this going to be like 10acres of small houses?
Joey McNutt (29:41):
yes small city, if you will yes, we've actually
started out on five acres now.
We have three tiny homes underconstruction at the moment.
Spring's coming, so the workwill begin to get completed
quicker now.
But yeah, we're hoping toexpand this over the next year
or two.
It's been small steps so farbecause as a non-profit you can
(30:03):
only work with what you gotright but we we have enough land
that we can expand up to 20acres, but I also want to put
out there too, because sothere's no misunderstanding this
is this is not a homelessshelter, right, this is a whole
program in itself and as we growwe hope to expand it from just
(30:28):
veterans to others that need alittle hand up, such as domestic
violence victims, sexualassault victims, recovery
recovery, drug recovery.
We have drug recovery assetsready to go, and that's another
big issue with the homelessveterans is they start
self-medicating.
So they get addicted to a lotof the drugs and alcohol, and I
(30:51):
can see how I did it myself.
When I was medically retired, Ilost all worth, all purpose, I
turned alcohol and I probablydrank more than this town could
hold.
I've been doing some things,working on myself as well,
because it's not only otherveterans that need a hand up, we
also have to hold ourselvesaccountable.
So I've been clean and sober,no alcohol, no anything, for
(31:19):
about a year and two months now,so that was one of my biggest
crutches which I drank alcoholpretty much all my life.
But once I was medically retiredand I lost all faith and hope
in life and that was what's sobad.
And that's what's so bad withthese veterans, especially these
homeless veterans.
They don't drink becausethey're having a few drinks with
(31:39):
their buddies and having a goodtime.
They're drinking becausethey're hating life.
Yeah, they're hating thesociety they're living in,
because they feel they don't fit.
So if we can help them get outof that as well and get back on
healthy coping mechanisms, ithelps a lot.
Get back on healthy copingmechanisms, it helps a lot.
Jerry Allhands (31:54):
Get that sense of pride back.
Joey McNutt (31:55):
Right.
Jerry Allhands (31:56):
Yeah Right, 12 by 20, right?
Yes, sir, that's about the sizeof a good-sized barracks dorm
room.
Joey McNutt (32:03):
Yeah.
Jerry Allhands (32:03):
Yeah.
Joey McNutt (32:04):
Pretty much.
Jerry Allhands (32:04):
Right now we're looking at single individuals.
Joey McNutt (32:07):
Single individuals and you know we're hoping that
down the line we may try to dosome a little bigger for
homeless veterans that may havea spouse that's homeless with
them or something like that,right.
Jerry Allhands (32:20):
All right, Fully insulated, air-conditioned heat
.
Joey McNutt (32:24):
Fully insulated, air-conditioned heat.
Eventually, we'll have internetas well, because a lot of
things are online.
Be The One (32:31):
The.
Joey McNutt (32:31):
VA system is online now.
A lot of things that you do isonline, so that will help them
drastically as well what is yourprimary need right now?
Jerry Allhands (32:40):
what?
What can we do to help?
Joey McNutt (32:41):
right now we're working on getting the
electrical power ran to it.
Um, we're, we've got to cut ourright away.
We've got a plan on that, butgetting the power ran is the
biggest thing right now.
Everything else we can prettymuch handle and take care of,
but we're not certified to runpower and electricity.
Yay.
Jerry Allhands (33:04):
So I guess that's where Carlene and Nora
come into play with this, andthe Legion riders as well.
So, carlene, tell me some ofwhat the plan is here.
Carlean Parker (33:12):
Well, like I said, next year, if I do become
department president, um, thatis going to be my special
project and we're going to bedoing several fundraisers.
We've already started on thegrant, the auxiliary foundation
grant.
Uh, we have to come up with 20of ten thousand dollars to apply
(33:32):
for that grant.
We've already got got $1,300 tothat since Thursday night.
Wait since this past Thursdaynight Since our meeting this
past Thursday night, a day and ahalf ago, as we're recording
this Right.
Okay, it's going to be somethingthat's going to be well worth
every dime and every effort thatgoes in to this project,
(33:56):
because we're going to behelping somebody and that's our
mission is to help our veteransand this, this money that was
raised this past thursday night.
That's a combination of the, ofthe entire combination of our
family, okay, our legion familythe auxiliary, the riders, the
sons, the post correct this isnot reaching out to the
community yet.
Jerry Allhands (34:17):
This is not yet but we're going there and not
yet
Nora Moreland (34:20):
nor tell me about what's going to be done in the
community one of the firstthings that I'm going to do is
I'm going to reach out to theother legions in my district and
in past, the word education keythat's one of the things we
learned in boot camp wasknowledge is power, and I'm
fixing to gain some moreknowledge on this grant she's
(34:43):
talking about and I'm fixing toshare, share, share.
Something I shared this pastThursday night at our meeting is
sharing, is caring, share.
I don't care if it's verbally,by mouth in town, if it's on
your facebook.
Share, and I know the legionriders on the poppies and
(35:08):
pancakes contest that we'regoing to be having.
That's what the money, thefunds that are raised from that
will be going to this.
Jerry Allhands (35:15):
Okay, and what is that?
Nora Moreland (35:18):
The Poppies and Pancakes contest.
We will be having that here atCorinth Post 6, 19 April.
Jerry Allhands (35:26):
Well, that's April 19th, what time 0-900-11.
That's 9 am.
9 am for greens.
Hey, you gotta be difficult.
Nora Moreland (35:43):
Nine to eleven am some things are just hard to
change.
Yes, nine to eleven you know, Ido that, I do know you do this
and I want to say somethingabout the poppy funds.
Carlean Parker (35:51):
The poppy funds a lot of people have a
misconception on that.
They think that they can justraise funds and give out poppies
and things like that and it canbe used for whatever.
But it cannot be.
It can only be used forveterans and that's it.
Whatever veterans need andthings like that.
It can't be used for anythingelse other than veterans If they
(36:14):
need socks, if they need food,whatever because we've given
food here to veterans and we'vegiven clothes and things like
that with our poppy funds.
Jerry Allhands (36:28):
And again, that is April 19th, 9 to 11 am.
Yes, sir, here at the AmericanLegion Hut.
That address, the physicaladdress again, is 511 South Tate
Street, Corinth, Mississippi,38834.
So we were looking at raising aminimum of $2,000 to get the
grant, if I'm correct on this.
Nora Moreland (36:49):
The first one.
Jerry Allhands (36:50):
The first one.
Nora Moreland (36:50):
The first one we're not stopping at one, so
this could be done multipletimes Okay.
Jerry Allhands (36:55):
Once the $10,000 is, I guess you get the $2,000,
.
You apply for the grant.
What's the turnaround time ongetting the actual funds back?
Does anyone know?
And everybody looks over to MsTina Hurst, she's our grant
applier.
Carlean Parker (37:11):
Oh, so the grant committee meets four times a
year.
Depending on when we get thegrant in, we'll determine when
we get the funds back.
Jerry Allhands (37:21):
It takes 30, 60 days, 90 days, you think.
Carlean Parker (37:25):
I think it took two weeks for me to get approval
back last time because I timedit right.
Jerry Allhands (37:29):
Okay, all right.
So we're looking at long-termmost, maybe maybe 90 days, a
little bit longer.
To get this back, did Iunderstand you?
You already have three housesout there at the site we have
three out there that are underconstruction under construction.
Yeah, we're finished currentlyfinishing the insides of them,
so would ten thousand dollarsthat they're talking about, this
(37:52):
grant?
Would that enable you to dowhat you need to do as far as
getting electricity into thearea?
Joey McNutt (37:58):
Yes, sir, definitely would.
Jerry Allhands (38:01):
What kind of cooperation are you getting?
Is this a city or county?
Joey McNutt (38:04):
We're in the county .
Okay, we're actually.
The land we're on was actuallypart of a different county at
the time, because Ronnie'sRetreat is in Tishomingo County
and part of the land wasactually considered P a
different county at the time,because Ronnie's Retreat is in
Tishomingo County and part ofthe land was actually considered
Prentice County at one time.
And it's real comical when thepolice get called anywhere out
(38:25):
there because either county,they can't decide who's supposed
to respond.
But yeah, we're out in thecounty, so we don't have a lot
of the restrictions that youwould have in the city limits.
And one of the better thingsabout that is is a serene
location, so the veterans thatare being housed there don't
have to deal with the hustle andbustle of city, all the traffic
, all the things going on, allthe things that may trigger them
(38:48):
.
They can have a serene,peaceful place for their healing
process and going through theseprograms to get back on their
feet.
Jerry Allhands (38:55):
You read my mind .
Serenity is a beautiful thingwhen you're trying to get back
there.
Carlean Parker (39:01):
And the work they've done thus far has been
powered by generators.
Jerry Allhands (39:09):
I was saying what kind of cooperation are you
getting from the county on this?
Is it Mississippi Energy?
What do you need?
Joey McNutt (39:16):
we have tishmingle county power electric
association.
Uh, they've agreed to try towork with us some uh, they give
us some quotes.
I could probably go buy a niceused car for those quotes.
But uh, they're offering tosome of their workers, are
actually offering some freelabor.
So that helps Any little bit.
(39:37):
Helps Our supervisor for ourcounty, the one that takes care
of all the road maintenance andall that.
He's been real good in thatdistrict for us.
They came out, they put us someculverts in.
We had a citizen of the townthat's closest to us, which is
Burnsville.
We had a guy there that doeslogging and he also had
(39:58):
bulldozers.
He said, hey, I'd love to comeout there if you need some dose
of work done.
He came out and he dozed offour road, got it ready for the
gravel and uh, you know, everylittle bit has helped because
when we started this pull up onthe side of the road spot of
woods, I took out my chainsawand just started cutting trees.
That's how I cut my whole roadinto this property.
(40:18):
Um, and I was wondering how Iwas going to get get the rest of
the road built because weneeded dozer work.
But we've had a few of thecitizens have mostly stepped up
more than, say, the the countyhas.
But the county is alwayssupportive, of course, and offer
to help any way they can.
Jerry Allhands (40:41):
This whole project started again when.
Joey McNutt (40:46):
At first we had a different idea.
We were actually working with anonprofit before we started
Ronnie's Retreat and it wasgoing to be something a little
bit different.
Nonprofit before we startedRonnie's Retreat and it was
going to be something a littlebit different.
But, as we know, life changesso things change sometimes.
No hard feelings for anybodythat was involved.
But we decided to go adifferent direction and we
(41:09):
decided to build it our way In away that we felt may be more
helpful.
So I began last spring, springof 24.
That's when I began to work onthe property.
I think it was 24, late 23,early 24.
Be The One (41:28):
Okay.
Joey McNutt (41:29):
That's when I burned out my first chainsaw and
had to go get another one.
Jerry Allhands (41:34):
I seen a lot right there.
I see a lot right there.
That's saying a lot, All right,so we're basically a year into
it more or less Right.
Right, Tell me a little bitabout the Pets for Vets portion
of this.
In my mind's eye I'm seeing asmall community of veterans.
This is the old soldier in me.
(41:57):
I'm seeing the flagpole in thecenter.
I'm too old to do push-ups andsit-ups, but I'm seeing the yard
in the front.
You know what I'm saying.
Right right, the white paintedrocks you remember those.
I may be too young for that, butyou know I'm seeing this and
I'm loving the Pets for Vets.
Is that going to be out there,a part of it?
Joey McNutt (42:18):
Yes, yes, our dog kennels and everything will be
right on the property and, as amatter of fact, the vet stand
there, will be responsible foranimal health with these animals
.
That gets them connected tothat animal, the animal healing
portion.
And what's so great about thatand having the dogs directly on
(42:40):
that property?
Because, like I said, wealready trained service dogs for
free for veterans as well, andwe've trained several since we
began.
But having the animals rightthere on location, if a veteran
does require service animal,then they're going to be
directly involved in trainingthat service animal theirself.
Plus, some of the otherveterans will be involved in
(43:00):
helping train some of theseanimals if they feel that they
want to and that's part of thepath to bettering their own life
.
Then that also gives themanother skill to help them
regain their worth and anotherskill to offer the world, and
that's kind of what we we missis the service to our countries
(43:21):
uh, getting out of the service.
Jerry Allhands (43:22):
you know that first year is hard enough as it
is, as you acclimate to being acivilian, no longer a soldier
sailoror, airman, marine, spacecadet, what they call space
guardian.
It's going to be a while tofigure that one out, but yeah,
it's that year.
(43:44):
For me at least it was theminimum.
It's probably longer trying toadapt to the fact that there
wasn't a mission, right.
And whether we realize it or ornot, even as civilians we have
a day-to-day mission.
We just may have to make thatmission.
Joey McNutt (43:57):
It sounds like you've got a great one ahead of
you there right and and that'swhat it's about, we, we, we have
to find our mission.
Uh, once we get out, we losethat mission, as you said.
So we have, we have to focus onfinding a mission we can do
here in the civilian world.
That doesn't necessarily haveto be with civilians.
It can be something just as wein the American Legion do is a
(44:21):
mission for our veterans.
But I agree with you that firstyear is almost self-devastation
because you don't fit in withanyone, even the people you know
from your hometowns.
They've been working in otherthings.
You've been in this structured,you know the structured life.
(44:42):
Everything's laid out.
You know what you're doing,you've got a purpose, you've got
a mission Every day and youknow it.
Where all your friends backhome really don't have that,
they get up, they go to a job.
Jerry Allhands (44:58):
If they don't feel like doing it.
Joey McNutt (44:58):
They call in, they go home.
You know I mean, you havenothing in common anymore.
I did try that one time.
Nora Moreland (45:01):
I try sometimes uh, are you in the military or
afterwards?
Joey McNutt (45:04):
in the military in the military.
Try that one time the greatestthing to me in the military when
I was working there is when wegot the, the laptops, the
government laptops to work on.
Uh, because it was real easy tocall and say, hey, I'm working
from home today I'm not feelingwell, and uh, it was great.
Just check my email thatmorning.
I go fishing all day, come backin, check my email, send a few
(45:26):
and they think I've really beenworking.
We missed out on that, didn'twe?
Nora Moreland (45:30):
yes, we did.
He said laptop.
Jerry Allhands (45:32):
I'm thinking what's a computer?
We didn't we?
Yes, we did.
He said laptop.
Nora Moreland (45:34):
I'm thinking what's a computer?
We didn't have cell phones yetwhen I was in Cell phone.
Jerry Allhands (45:38):
Wow man the Mars cars.
Joey McNutt (45:42):
I remember feeling, like you know, having that
feeling that we really made itin the military, though, when we
went from the typewriter to theword processor Back in the
early 90s.
Jerry Allhands (45:51):
Yeah, I remember a word processor.
Joey McNutt (45:54):
We were stepping up in the world.
Jerry Allhands (45:58):
See, I love these talks.
Carlean Parker (46:00):
We can do this all day long.
Jerry Allhands (46:01):
The, the pets for vets is.
That's an ongoing thing thatyou've been doing for a while.
Joey McNutt (46:08):
Yeah, we've been doing that since we began our
nonprofit because we we feellike service dogs and ESAs.
They're veterans, lifeline.
That's another thing that givesthem a purpose to get up every
morning.
They care for this animal andthis animal cares for them.
It gives them their life back.
It helps them feel morecomfortable getting out of the
house, going to different eventsand going just going to the
(46:29):
supermarket, because a lot ofour anxieties when we're out in
public is the crowds, the peoplegetting too close, we can't see
everybody, we don't know what,everything, what's going on.
And these, these animals, they,just they give you that comfort
the where you can go to thegrocery store and shop for your
groceries.
You're not just trying to runin and run out.
Uh, they, they, they let youget back to going to watch your
(46:51):
grandkids and their sportingevents at schools.
You know they help you get yourlife back.
Jerry Allhands (46:56):
I heard you say the word or phrase ESA, esa.
What is that?
Joey McNutt (47:00):
That is emotional support animal.
Okay, and the difference isbetween the ESA and the service
dog and a lot of people don'trealize this is.
The service dog is trained witha task to help someone who
needs it.
Most of our service dogs aremental health service dogs.
They're trained to startnoticing the different actions
(47:26):
in a person.
When they start having anxiety,ptsd, they start sensing these
things and they bring them outof that zoned-out state.
The ESA emotional supportanimal.
Basically, to be an ESA, allyou have to do is make sure your
dog's house-trained.
I mean, I got four dogs at myhouse.
They could all be consideredESAs but they're not considered
(47:49):
service dogs, so they're notallowed in a lot of the same
businesses and places that aservice dog is so you have
certification on these animalsthat that uh are.
Jerry Allhands (48:01):
Are the animals, are they donated to a veteran
or does the veteran purchasethem?
Joey McNutt (48:05):
both.
Uh, there's been some veteranswhere we have found the animal
for the veteran and there's someveterans that call and say, hey
, you know, I've already gotthis, this dog, and I really my
doctor has said I could reallybe of service with a service dog
and I was wondering if youcould train them.
So we train dogs that theyalready have, we we source out
(48:26):
and look for dogs that will makegood service dog candidates to
train, and not every dog that wetrain turns into a service dog,
because some dogs just they,they just don't make the service
dog.
Uh, it's something that's veryspecific.
They've got to have a certaindemeanor, of course, um, and
some of them just don't, andthat's no big deal.
I mean, that's just the way itis.
(48:48):
They're still good dogs alldogs matter.
All dogs matter as a matter offact that's how I ended up with
two of the ones that I havecertification of paperwork.
Jerry Allhands (48:58):
How is that done ?
Joey McNutt (48:59):
there is actually no certification that you are
required to have, there's nonational registry, um, and now
you can go online and buy alittle identification card says
they're a service dog all daylong.
They sell them on Amazon for$20, you know.
But a lot of the businessowners and a lot of, say,
landlords and housingcommunities, they don't realize
(49:21):
that they want some kind ofpaperwork, and so we recommend
that you have a statement fromyour doctor saying that they
recommended for you to have thisservice dog.
Now do you say service dog?
And that usually is great.
The ADA says that you don'thave to make your service dog
(49:42):
perform to satisfy anyone'squestions about your service dog
, but businesses, owners anddifferent places are allowed to
ask you a couple of questionsand all that's on the ADA
website for specifics.
Jerry Allhands (49:55):
I think the minister did that when I got
married.
Joey McNutt (49:58):
Yeah, yeah.
And my wife said I do so shewas stuck with me as her service
animal.
Jerry Allhands (50:06):
She spoke up too soon.
I'll tell you I am definitelyher working dog.
Pets for Vets.
Can that be found on the samesite, thehinderless22.org, or is
there a different site for that?
Joey McNutt (50:20):
No, it's all on the same site.
We don't actually call it Petsfor Vets.
It's just something that we'vedone since we began and it talks
about the things that we'vedone training the service dogs
and different things.
On one page it talks about alot of the things that we do and
that we've done training theservice dogs and different
things.
On one page it talks about alot of the things that we do and
that we've done, and then wehave a separate page that talks
about Ronnie's retreat andanother page that talks about
(50:42):
the story of how we started andmy brother's story.
So you can see all that.
We have a donation button aswell on our page.
I always like to throw out.
We have the donation button aswell on our page, Very important
.
But I also tell a lot of peoplethat donation is not always
money.
Time is a great donation, Scrapbuilding materials great
(51:04):
donation, so it doesn't alwayshave to be about money.
There's a lot of ways that youcan volunteer and donate and
contribute without it beingmoney, and at the cost of
materials today, that could bevery worthwhile.
Nora Moreland (51:16):
Yes, Is there a list of things that you need?
Joey McNutt (51:20):
We don't currently have a list of things on the
website that we need, but thatis something that we can very
well come up with and put outthere for anyone who wants to
look, because we're alwaysneeding something.
It's like I tell people we're anonprofit, we're always broken,
we always need stuff.
It's the hardest I've everworked for no paycheck.
Jerry Allhands (51:41):
This job right here, right now, Right right.
So tell me, are there picturesof the little houses?
Are they on the website as well, or will they?
Joey McNutt (51:49):
I think there's some pictures on there already.
I have an IT guy that handlesall that.
I just send him stuff and therewill be some more stuff getting
uploaded next week on thewebsite as well, because what
seems to happen is, especiallythrough the winter, the website
kind of gets overlooked a littlebit.
It's usually, honestly, thelast thing on my mind is the
(52:09):
website, so if it's not thereyet, it's usually usually my
fault, even though I don'tupdate it.
But uh, yeah, we usually try toupdate it every four, four to
five months, depending.
We do have also have an areathat tells upcoming events of
where we'll be, what will begoing on with those events and
different things of that natureas well on our website is there
(52:31):
a contact phone number on there?
there is not a contact phonenumber on there and I will
explain that that nature as wellon our website.
Is there a contact phone numberon there?
There is not a contact phonenumber on there and I will
explain that to you as well.
When we started, we had acontact phone number.
Since my brother's suicide wason Facebook Live and it was so
viral, people actually got ahold of our information.
We received a lot of harassment.
(52:53):
We had to make a lot of oursocial media stuff private
because of the comments andpeople would post the videos in
the comments of my brother.
And when we posted our phonenumber on our website for our
contact phone number, the phoneconstantly blew up with people
calling and saying my brother'slast words and telling us it was
(53:15):
you know.
Oh, it's your fault, you shouldhave saved him.
Oh, you need to do it too.
Different things of that nature.
So we had to cut our phone andthat gives that way.
We can.
We can prove everything thatcomes through the social media
and through our email and ifpeople want to volunteer or
donate, that's yeah, they can gothrough there, um, but I mean,
(53:36):
a lot of people have my phonenumber.
I don't mind that.
We just we trust people, wegive it to our trusted people.
But you can reach out throughthe website.
We'll respond.
It may be in the evening,because I still also work a
full-time job can relate yep,but we will get back to you uh.
Social media I talk to a lot ofpeople through social media.
(53:57):
They reach out to us throughmessenger on facebook, through
tiktok inbox.
That's where most of uh most ofthe people are reaching out to
us from.
But we get a lot, of, a lot ofpeople messages in our email
through the website and thatwebsite again is
hinderless22.org.
Jerry Allhands (54:13):
And for those of us who are auditorily disabled,
spell Hinderless22.
Joey McNutt (54:19):
H-I-N-D-E-R-L-E-S-S .
Jerry Allhands (54:23):
And would you believe I wrote H-E-N, it's
H-I-N.
Joey McNutt (54:27):
Well, when we first began, even our bank spelled it
H-E-N on our nonprofit bankaccount.
Nora Moreland (54:34):
Thank you and.
Joey McNutt (54:34):
I told them, told him I said and my brother, right
well, lived here all his lifeand had an account here, so wow,
so hinderlessh-i-n-d-e-r-l-e-s-s the number
two, two dot org yes, siranything you'd like to add
before we go today?
well, you know, I just I justlike, though, out there, you
know, especially to our veterans, don't be afraid to reach out.
(54:57):
You still got family out here.
You got people here that care.
It's okay to show your emotions.
Don't keep it bottled up.
Get it all out.
If you need a way to do that,you can contact us.
We'll help you with that aswell.
There's lots of things out herethat can help you get through
from today to tomorrow.
Nothing that happens to youtoday is important enough for
you to take your life over.
It's just a bad day.
(55:17):
It's not a bad life.
Jerry Allhands (55:19):
Yeah, Nora put those crayons down.
Last words for us.
Nora Moreland (55:26):
I just want to say that I'm really proud of the
fact that I've met Joey.
I hate the circumstances thatwe had to meet under.
I've met Joey.
I hate the circumstances thatwe had to meet under, but I am
willing and ready to do whateverI can do as a Marine, as a
person, as a human being, tohelp him complete his mission.
I thank you.
Joey McNutt (55:49):
I thank y'all.
Jerry Allhands (55:50):
And I thank your wife for sharing you with us.
Joey McNutt (55:53):
She definitely needs it.
Jerry Allhands (56:00):
And Carlene.
Carlean Parker (56:00):
If you would, I'm going to ask you to close us
with prayer today.
Heavenly Father, again weapproach your throne as humbly
as we know how, and we thank youfor the opportunity for us to
gather here today and be able todo the things that we've done
in order to serve our veteransbetter.
Bless us all as we go home.
Watch over Jerry as he travelssouth.
Keep the storms away.
(56:22):
In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
Jerry Allhands (56:25):
Amen, thank you, thank you, thank you.
And that was our visit with JoyMcNutt, a US Army veteran, who
is continuing to serve Americaand her veterans by honoring his
late brother, ronnie, also a USArmy veteran, with a nonprofit
program called Ronnie's Retreat.
He's helping homeless veteranswith a home and much more.
Be sure to join us next Mondaymorning as we travel to Olive
(56:49):
Branch, mississippi, and visitwith Post 2022 Commander Bob
Bunton and the newest AmericanLegion post in the Department of
Mississippi, terry.
Carlean Parker (56:57):
Terry Adams Commander, post 1, American
Legion Department of Tennessee.
Jerry Allhands (57:01):
Bob Bunyton, Commander of Post 2022.
Olive Branch, also ViceCommander of the 2nd District.
Carlean Parker (57:08):
I would hope that you'll all join us again
for another podcast.
Jerry does a great job and hespreads the good word for us, so
please come back and join usagain for another podcast.
Jerry does a great job and hespreads the good word for us, so
please come back and join usagain, A very special thank you
to Jonathan Michael Fleming forhis musical talents.
Jerry Allhands (57:25):
You can find his CDs and videos on Spotify,
Amazon Music and YouTube.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to your
feedback and ask that yousubscribe, too and share the
Veterans Sound Off podcast withyour friends and YouTube.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to your
feedback and ask that yousubscribe to and share the
Veterans Sound Off podcast withyour friends and family.
If you have a comment, asuggestion or questions, or you
would like to become a supporterof this podcast, please send an
(57:46):
email to jdallhands atoutlookcom that's
J-D-A-L-L-H-A-N-D-S atOutlookcom, or by calling
662-902-6658, and we'll get backto you as soon as possible.
This has been a production ofAllh ands Media LLC, with
(58:07):
offices in Rena Lara,Mississippi.
All Rights Reserved.
This is the Veterans Sound Off Podcast.
Hard work, work, let's get itgoing.
Let's go, Hard work, work.
I'm your host, Jerry Allhands,a veteran of the US Air Force
and Army and a Mississippi PastDepartment Commander of the
American Legion.
Each week, we visit an AmericanLegion post and visit with the
Legion family there.
As we travel the state, we'llvisit with other groups and
(00:22):
organizations that are servingAmerica's veterans and their
families.
Today, if you enjoy thispodcast series, I'm asking that
you consider supporting us inwhatever fashion you can,
whether it's a monthlysubscription here on our
Buzzsprout page or by sponsoringan ad.
For more information on how youcan support this series, please
call 662-902-6658 or send atext.
(00:46):
Either way.
We appreciate you and thank youfor making this podcast
possible.
Today we are in NortheastMississippi at the American
Legion Perry A Johns Post no 6in Corinth, where we sit down
with Carlene Parker of the Unit6 American Legion Auxiliary and
Post 6 Commander Nora Moreland.
They introduce us to JoeyMcNutt, founder of Ronnie's
(01:09):
Retreat, a non-profitorganization helping homeless
veterans.
Nora Moreland (01:13):
Hard work is what they say Hard work, hard work.
I'm earning my pay.
Johnathan Michael Flemming (01:17):
Hard work, work.
Today I'm in NortheastMississippi, in the great town
of who.
Carlean Parker (01:23):
Of what Corinth, corinth, corinth.
Jerry Allhands (01:26):
One more.
Somebody else got to say itCorinth, and the choir says
Corinth, mississippi.
It's a beautiful community overhere.
The Crossroads, I think I'veheard it's referred to, so I may
have to call y'all theCrossroads from now on.
Just go with that.
We say that because I cannotsay the word without messing it
(01:49):
up.
It's kind of like sayingMassachusetts.
I never could say that either.
45 years in radio couldn't sayit Not going to happen.
Today I'm visiting with Post 6of the American Legion and they
have got an event coming up inthe future that we felt like
needed to be shared with thepublic, and Ms Carlene Parker,
if I understand correctly, isthe one who's leading up this
(02:11):
event.
Is that correct, carlene?
Carlean Parker (02:12):
Yes, well, next year, 2025, 2026, as of right
now, I'm an unopposed runningfor department president in
Mississippi for the auxiliary,ronnie's retreat is going to be
my special project.
So everything that we do, theproceeds will go to Ronnie's
(02:36):
retreat.
Jerry Allhands (02:37):
Carleen again, if you would introduce yourself
first name, last name and yourcurrent position with the
auxiliary.
Carlean Parker (02:42):
Carleen Parker.
I am the Unit 6 vice presidentand I am the Department First
Vice.
Jerry Allhands (02:50):
Carleen, please open us with a word of prayer.
Carlean Parker (02:52):
please, Heavenly Father, we approach your throne
just as humbly as we know how.
We ask you to give theblessings today on this podcast
that we're about to do and theones that we have already done
today.
We ask you to bless ourveterans, bless our government
and bless Joey and his family inthis endeavor for Ronnie's
(03:14):
retreat.
In Jesus' name, I pray.
Joey McNutt (03:17):
Amen.
Carlean Parker (03:18):
Amen.
Jerry Allhands (03:20):
And next to you is Joey McNutt.
Joey McNutt (03:23):
Joey McNutt, that's correct.
Jerry Allhands (03:25):
Joey, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Joey McNutt (03:28):
Well, I am an Army veteran, medically retired 23
years, two deployments to Iraqand when I retired I was looking
for somewhere to continue myservice, as they say when we get
out and I found Post 6 and tookme in like family and I've been
(03:49):
trying to come to every meetingI could when I'm out of work.
Jerry Allhands (03:53):
And appreciate that very much, and he's a
fellow beard holder, so I got tobe real happy about that.
Joey McNutt (03:57):
Well, it actually was a little bit longer until
this past summer.
I trimmed it on up a little bit.
Jerry Allhands (04:02):
Mine was until about two days ago.
Wife said Santa Claus is stillin the house.
We could do something aboutthis.
Right, I lost the weight.
What do you want?
Next to Joey is Nora Moreland.
Nora Moreland (04:14):
I am Nora Moreland.
I am currently the commander atPost 6 and I am the Northern
District President for ourauxiliary and, on top of that,
district 1.
Okay, and you're?
Jerry Allhands (04:26):
the Northern District President for our
auxiliary, and on top of thatyou're District 1.
Okay, and you're obviously aMarine.
Nora Moreland (04:32):
Yes, I am a Marine.
Jerry Allhands (04:34):
I'll say it again Once a Marine, always a
Marine, or is that ooh-rah?
Nora Moreland (04:38):
Ooh-rah.
Jerry Allhands (04:40):
See, there's a Marine in the house.
Nora Moreland (04:41):
Yes, hide the crayon.
Jerry Allhands (04:44):
We do that with much love.
Nora Moreland (04:46):
I know that.
That's why I tell you only thered one.
On yellow paper On yellow paper.
According to Mike.
Jerry Allhands (04:52):
Yeah, we need to get cameras in here.
Carly, tell us a little bitabout the project that's going
to be in the forefront for youas president, for the auxiliary
you know what.
Carlean Parker (05:06):
I'm going to turn that over to Joey and let
him explain exactly what thisproject is that they are trying
to do, but I will say that it isa very worthwhile project
because it deals with homelessveterans.
It deals with homeless veteransand we have found out just
(05:31):
recently that there's a lot ofcontroversy about our homeless
veterans and the things thatthey're trying to take away from
them, and they already havenothing.
So I'm going to let him explainwhat they're doing.
Jerry Allhands (05:40):
Joey, your plate's about to get a whole lot
bigger.
Joey McNutt (05:43):
Hey, I'm looking forward to it.
That's what I set out to do.
Jerry Allhands (05:46):
Before we get started on that, you said that
you were an Army vet.
Tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
What did you do in the Army?
Joey McNutt (05:52):
Well, I did a lot of things.
I started out as an M1 tanker,so I was an armor crewman, tank
operator.
I moved on from there, became achemical NCO.
I went to chemical warfareschool in Fort Dix, new Jersey,
so I was a chemical warfare NCO.
I also went to MOSQ and becamea 12th Bravo combat engineer.
(06:15):
So I moved around quite a bitand gained a lot of, quite a lot
of skills.
Then, of course, you got allyour extra additional duties.
You know I worked in operationsassistant operations NCO.
I've been human resourcessupervisors, I've been physical
security inspector andsupervisor.
So I've done a lot of things inmy military career.
(06:35):
I loved every bit of it andwish I was still there.
But they cut my five-year planthree years short.
Jerry Allhands (06:41):
Got.
It Can relate to that.
I I'm looking over, I'mcounting fingers to make sure
they're still all 10 there, youknow all still, there all still
there.
No, no splotches.
No, you know, I know about thechemical part been there done
that so 82nd airborne?
Yeah, whatever they wanted,it's what you did that's it.
Uh, you said iraq, iraq twice,yes, twice where at.
We went Iraq twice, yes, twice.
(07:01):
Where at?
Joey McNutt (07:03):
We went to.
I went to Andajoff the firsttime in 2005.
Stayed a year there, Came home,went back in 2008, and I was in
Baghdad at Biop and workedthere as mine clearing
operations, where we ran out andjust rode around and looked for
IEDs and cleared roadways andtried to make it safe for
(07:23):
everybody in the country.
Jerry Allhands (07:24):
And folks, I'm assuming there's still 10 toes
and I see 10 fingers.
So obviously he did his job anddid it well.
Joey McNutt (07:29):
So far.
Jerry Allhands (07:31):
God bless you.
Thank you so much for that too.
Appreciate you going over thereand doing that for us.
Thank you, thank you, nor yougot somebody besides you.
I think we need to get a phonenumber, because I'm hearing all
these girls already ringing upmy phone here.
He's married, I hear all theselawyers calling me.
Joey McNutt (07:46):
Yeah, actually yesterday was my 25th wedding
anniversary.
I don't know how my marriagelasted throughout my career that
way, but I think it's becausefor half of my marriage we
didn't even live together, so wereally didn't have to deal with
each other.
Jerry Allhands (08:00):
25 years, congratulations Wow.
Nora Moreland (08:03):
They still smile at each other too.
Jerry Allhands (08:05):
They still like each other.
Joey McNutt (08:06):
Yeah, 25 years yeah we kind of do that's beautiful
man.
Yeah, she's been with me thiswhole time.
It's like I say she's beengreat.
Jerry Allhands (08:14):
What's her name?
Joey McNutt (08:15):
Her name is Susan.
Jerry Allhands (08:16):
Susan McNutt.
Is she a veteran too?
Joey McNutt (08:18):
She is not, she is a veteran wife veteran.
There you go, she's dealt witha lot of the stuff and kept the
home front running when I wasdoing all my traveling and being
deployed.
Thank you, Any children.
We have one daughter.
She is married, have ason-in-law.
She is 37.
I have a 13-year-oldgranddaughter and a 5-year-old
(08:39):
grandson.
Jerry Allhands (08:40):
I don't know what you're drinking and eating,
but I want some Dang.
All right, joey, tell us aboutthis project.
Tell us about the Ronnie'sRetreat.
Joey McNutt (08:51):
All right.
Well, to tell you about theretreat, I have to give you a
little background information onit and why and how it came to
be.
My little brother's name isRonnie McNutt and he was also an
Army veteran, did four years inthe Army, floyd Dirac, and we
both struggled with our mentalhealth.
His, ultimately, was a bigissue that he couldn't overcome
(09:16):
and he ended up taking his ownlife over it.
Now my brother was always inservice to others, even when he
got out of the military, reallyinvolved in the church, always
volunteering to do communityservice.
So we thought you know, whatbetter way could we honor him
than to start a nonprofit in hisname and do community service
and service to veterans?
(09:36):
So we focused on the veteranside of mental health.
That's where we really startedat.
We really started at and uh,because we think that that is
the biggest lead to veteransunaliving their self.
Uh, I'll try to be politicallycorrect.
Jerry Allhands (09:54):
No, don't worry about being politically correct.
On this show that we are.
Joey McNutt (09:57):
We are veterans and and we are not politically
correct hey, that sounds good tome, all right, but uh, we have
more veterans committing suicideevery year the 22, a lot of
people.
They relate to the number 22because back in 2014, 2015, that
was the study that came outthat 22 veterans a day were
taking their own lives.
Well, now that number hascontinued to increase.
(10:19):
We're up to 44-plus veterans aday.
There's another 40-plusveterans a day that also
overdose on prescriptionpharmaceuticals, and they've
lost count of the homelessveterans.
Homeless veterans seem to getpushed to the side because, as
long as the issue doesn't haveto be addressed, it's not a
problem according to state lawand officials that we have
(10:42):
elected, and that's one of thebig issues we're dealing with
right now.
But anyway, so we started thisnonprofit and we were helping
veterans.
We started with helpingveterans with basic needs
because we think mental healthstarts at home as well.
Once people get out of themilitary, they kind of lose
their purpose, they kind of losetheir worth.
They leave all their friendsthat have become their brothers,
(11:03):
their sisters, and you know,when you serve in the military,
your buddies and battle buddies.
They become your mothers, yourfathers, your brothers, your
therapist.
You know You're everything toeach other.
You take care of each other.
Once people are discharged fromthe military, retire, get
medically retired, they go homeand they start losing
connections with those people.
Yeah, so they're out of place.
(11:25):
So we wanted to step in andfill that void, Because what
happens a lot of times?
They go into that depression.
They sit at home, they don'twant to go out in public Because
we're not comfortable in publicanymore.
Civilian world to us is it'sthe craziest thing.
So you have a lot that sitthere.
They go into their depressionsand if nobody's there to help
(11:46):
them or reach out, then a lot oftimes that mental health
struggle causes them to taketheir life and I firmly believe
that's one of the biggestreasons we're losing so many
veterans.
They feel out of place anddon't know where to turn.
So we try to fix that and weknow if a veteran can't provide
(12:06):
then that just makes his mentalhealth worse.
If we can step in and give thema hand up and we can lead them
in a direction of a better lifeand give them the tools they
need, then they start becomingself-sustaining again.
They can go from just livingand surviving to having a life
again.
So we were a nonprofit for aboutthree years doing a lot of
(12:29):
different things, and we weretrying to figure out what was
the best way that we could reacha lot of these veterans.
Veterans are they're proudpeople, they're stubborn people.
A lot of them are not going toreach out to you.
So we thought if we couldcreate something that would
allow us to reach out to you.
So we thought if we couldcreate something that would
allow us to reach out to them,then we could make things a
(12:50):
little better.
We could put them in the rightdirection.
So the homeless veterans that'swhere we wanted to start to
focus, because we startednoticing more homeless people
and more homeless people on thesides of the roads holding up
signs homeless veteran, homelessveteran.
And I got to thinking well, youknow, they were promised this
care when they served, when theygot out, they were promised to
(13:11):
be taken care of.
But the homeless veteranprograms are not all.
They're cracked up to be.
Basically, they're a blanketand a pillow.
Come back next week and we'llgive you a sandwich, and I've
seen that with my own eyessitting in the parking lot.
So we decided we wanted to buildsomething, but we didn't know
what all we wanted to build.
So we decided we're going tocall it ronnie's retreat.
(13:33):
We're going to build tiny homes.
We're going to get homelessveterans, take them off the
streets, put them in these tinyhomes.
We're going to fine-tuneprograms for their specific
needs to get them off the streetand back on their feet, and
that will include differentthings.
We also train service dogs forfree for veterans.
So we'll have our dog facilityout there on the same property
(13:54):
as well.
So they'll always have accessto ESAs for animal healing,
which is very special to mebecause I know how great that
can be very special to mebecause I know how great that
can be.
I've traveled a little bitsince I retired to a couple of
wolf dog rescue places that haveveterans programs and it was
just amazing to me.
(14:14):
So we're always going to havethose pets for vets is what I
like to say.
But we'll bring them in.
They'll have access to therapy,they'll have access to medical
care.
We'll make sure they get anybenefits that they work for,
because a lot of people don'trealize this.
You know the benefits they workfor through the Veterans
Services.
It's not an entitlement.
(14:34):
They work for that.
They work for it.
It's not something that thegovernment just gives them.
So we'll make sure they getthat, we'll make sure they have
everything they need work ontheir self, and what I like to
say is we're going to give themthe tools to regain their
self-worth, give them anotherpurpose and let them know that
they still mean something tosomebody.
Jerry Allhands (14:54):
Let's circle back to your brother.
If you don't mind, this isgoing to be a little sensitive,
and if you don't want to talkabout it, I understand.
But for our listeners we havethe opportunity to reach a
minimum of 10 000 people withthis podcast just in the
department of mississippi alone.
So you add another two to fourpeople in each household.
(15:14):
We're looking at about 40 000people all right and hopefully
we'll get further than that.
Tell me about your brother.
Tell me, I know that he was avet.
What happened?
Joey McNutt (15:28):
well.
He came home.
Uh, of course, like I said,struggle with mental health.
I started going to the va.
Of course he got medication and, as a lot of us do, as we go
and we think we're gettingbetter, we start pushing the
medication aside because wedon't like feeling the way that
we feel on the medication.
But he stayed very active in thecommunity.
(15:48):
He was always a big jokester.
He always talked a bunch ofjunk.
To me that's a brother.
We always had a great time whenwe all got together.
Uh, and with his job he hadmoved off for a little while, uh
, to smyrna, tennessee, so wewouldn't.
We weren't around a lot forabout a year after I retired,
but then he transferred backworking in New Albany.
(16:09):
So we were getting togetherevery two or three weekends and
grilling at a mom's.
You know, that's just kind ofwhat we did, but he was always
trying to help somebody.
He was a guy that would sitthere if he thought you felt bad
and he would sit there untilyou started smiling again.
Really, didn't matter to himhow long it took.
(16:31):
Uh, he knew people from allover the country, in the world.
He was a big gamer, onlinegamer, big social media guy
always on social media, so hehad connections all over the
place and I still have peoplesend me messages and different
things going.
Hey, man, your brother was agreat guy.
You know, we used to game withyour brother.
I'd be like, oh cool, wherey'all from?
Well, we're from, we're frommichigan I'm like I didn't even
know.
He knew anybody in michigan, youknow.
Yeah, so he uh he knew a lot ofpeople because he was always,
(16:55):
always trying to reach out toother people before he took care
of himself.
But about a week or two beforehe took his life he had actually
made another VA appointment.
And that's another thing thatwe really believe strongly in is
wait times cause veterans totake their lives because it was
going to be another two monthsbefore he could get into the VA,
(17:17):
and that's why we want to tryto be that first contact.
They need help at that moment.
They don't need to have to waittwo much to get in to see
mental health.
But he just started spiraling.
There was really no signs thatweekend.
He had been on a rafting tripin Chattanooga, tennessee, came
(17:39):
home, had a great time, calledand made sure we knew he had a
great time.
That's just the way my brotherwas.
Then later that evening, uh, Igot a phone call, said hey, you
might want to get on.
Get on facebook you know,something's going on with your
brother, so I get on and we'retrying to talk to him and a lot
(18:00):
of people out there probablyremember this, because my
brother, ronnie, was the veteranthat took his own life on
Facebook live.
He's the one that TikTok had tosend out warnings about,
facebook had to send outwarnings about um, and so a lot
of people know my brother andknow of my brother before they
ever met us or talked to us,because it was so it went so
(18:25):
viral.
Yeah, because it was screenrecorded from facebook and
uploaded to other sites andother social media platforms.
But that is, uh, that's kind ofthe quick rundown.
Uh, like I said, you would havenever knew that he was
struggling.
Everything was going great forhim, had a great job, he had, uh
, for my niece's birthday acouple months before he'd got
(18:49):
the whole family tickets to goto disney world I mean just
loving life and something justhappened that evening and it
changed his whole, his wholetrain of thought and just
disconnected his brain from reallife so no, no, outward signs
nothing to be no, not worriedabout none at all, yeah, so you
(19:11):
know we were discussing this inanother podcast recently about
how um easy it is for that darkcloud to move over you.
Jerry Allhands (19:20):
You know you can be smiling one moment and the
next something trigger.
I've been through that myselfright and uh you know you're
aware of the, the 988 number,that the is now out there
nationally.
Um, not sure how soon that wasin your brother's situation, if
it was available or not, but II'm making a point to always
tell people about that phonenumber right, you know right,
(19:42):
you call that that number to atleast talk to somebody.
Joey McNutt (19:46):
Right, yeah, the 988,.
It was actually established andput into effect about a year
after my brother's death.
Several months after mybrother's death is when we
started a nonprofit and thefirst T-shirts that we made
actually had the suicide hotlinenumber across the back.
Jerry Allhands (20:01):
Okay.
You have any more of thoseshirts.
I have a ton of shirts.
We'll we'll make that availableon this podcast as well, how
they can reach out on that.
For those who aren't aware, whoare hearing this podcast for the
first time, 988 is a nationalphone number that's been set up,
uh, not only for veterans butfor anybody who's having a
(20:23):
moment of, let's say, need,because it's not always the
person who's thinking abouthurting themselves or having a
desire to hurt themselves.
You could be having a really badmoment and just need to talk to
somebody, and maybe you don'twant to talk to a relative who's
going to rush over and give youwhat you feel like.
It's a hard time because youknow they love you, they want to
(20:44):
be there for you, but 988 is astranger who will listen without
judgment and they will get yourinformation and simply to be
able to reach out to you afterthey hang up the phone.
And I've got a personal friendwho's been through that, had a
family member commit suicide andyou know I'm not saying it's
(21:05):
the be-all, the end-all, butit's a step and many of us I'm
older than you, thank you withthat nice, perfect beard over
there you know we still haveorganizations, groups that get
together for PTS and things likethat, and sometimes you don't
want to go and sit in that roomand tell that story.
(21:25):
I still don't like that roomright, but it's a place to go
and I would encourage anybodylistening to today's podcast to
Ronnie's Retreat to please, asJoey says you know he was happy.
Joey McNutt (21:41):
Happy guy.
Jerry Allhands (21:42):
I was happy and I would rather hear you on a
phone call than go through whatyou went through, joey, and I
appreciate your brother'sservice and what you're doing.
Call 988 (21:51):
When a person calls 988, they're connected to a
crisis counselor.
Crisis is completelyself-defined.
If you're wondering if youshould call, you should probably
call.
A caller can expect to talkabout coping skills, talk about
resources and ways to moveforward beyond the call.
They can call us, they can chat, they can text and when they
(22:14):
come out on the other side,they're feeling better.
Call or text 988 or chat988lifelineorg.
Jerry Allhands (22:20):
Tell us some more.
How can somebody reach out toyou and support you in this?
Joey McNutt (22:25):
Well, the actual name of our whole nonprofit is
Hinderness 22, the Ronnie McNuttFoundation.
We go by Hinderness 22 22 andjust because the whole name is a
mouthful to say.
But we felt like we needed mybrother's name in it because
that's why we do what we do.
But just a just a little funnything is we were thinking about
(22:50):
what we were going to call itand it came out as what we'll
call it the Ronnie MagnetFoundation.
I said, said hey, you knowthat's a lot to say, it's going
to take up a lot of space on ashirt.
A lot of people are not goingto remember the whole name.
They're not going to know howto look us up on the internet.
So I said why don't we call itHinderless 22?
So some of my guys I've beentalking to about the nonprofit
(23:13):
said what is a Hinderless?
I said well, my brother'sscreen name.
He actually came up with analter ego when he was younger
and they were doing podcastswith a group called Just Us
Geeks and he called himselfHinderless, which meant to keep
going, never give up, keeppushing everybody.
So I said you know what betterway to honor his name than just
(23:36):
use his social media name too.
That's how it came withhinderless 22, so everybody
knows us as hinderless 22.
Uh, it's real easy to get intouch with us and contact us.
Uh, we're on all social mediasites.
Uh, facebook, we're hinderless22.
Ronnie magnet foundation tiktokis hinderless22rmf, instagram,
hinderless22rmf, and our websiteis hinderless22.org, and you
(24:02):
can go through the website.
It's got all of our contactstuff in it as well.
You can message us through thewebsite and it comes straight to
our organization's email.
So there's always easy ways toget in touch with us.
You can also go to ourmerchandise page on there.
Look at all the merchandise wehave and every sale.
The money goes straight intothe non-profit.
(24:22):
We are 501c3.
And so we sell all of ourmerchandise to raise money to do
the things that we do.
That's how we started and nowwe've gained a lot of support.
Of course, the American Legion,post 6, has been a big
supporter the Auxiliary, theRiders and we're getting the
(24:43):
word out more nowadays becausewe're in the community so much
and we're at all these festivalsand different things.
But, like I say, that's theeasiest way to get in contact
with us handlelist22.org.
You can click on send us aMessage, get in contact with any
time.
You can also go there and readour story.
You can read about Ronnie'sstory and why we started.
(25:04):
You can see some of the thingsthat we've done since we started
A lot of those things we stilldo and you can read more on
Ronnie's retreat and all thethings that we plan to do with
that Hard work.
Read more on.
Jerry Allhands (25:16):
Ronnie's retreat and all the things that we plan
to do with that let's pause fora moment to hear from some of
the people who have helped tomake this episode possible with
their financial support.
Be The One (25:24):
Hey, this is Kenny McMahon.
I'm the commander at Post 1990in Nesbitt, mississippi.
I just want to give a shout outto my son, matt McMahon, who's
serving in the United StatesNavy recently deployed.
He's aboard the USS Carl VinsonCVN-74.
You see these other Navypersonnel and some Marines right
(25:48):
, so I also want to recognize mydaughter.
Jerry Allhands (25:53):
If you're active duty, you know how stressful it
is being a spouse of a servingmember and especially when
they're deployed, a very specialthank you to Dean and Judy
Graves of Mount Vernon, missouri, for their support in making
this program possible, and avery special thank you to Laura
Allhands, whose constantencouragement has made this
program possible.
Joey McNutt (26:22):
Be willing to show up for a veteran.
Be willing to stick your nosewhere it doesn't belong.
Be willing to push and prod ifthings don't add up.
Be willing to trust your gut,follow your heart and take a
risk.
Nora Moreland (26:35):
Be willing to sit without saying a word, without
checking the time, withouttrying to solve.
Be The One (26:41):
Sometimes suicide wants to rip a person from this
world.
Be willing to grab with bothhands and hold on to a friend, a
spouse, a daughter a son, bethe one who's willing to ask to
guess wrong to even offendanother to keep them safe to
remind them that they arevaluable.
(27:03):
If you know a veteran, be theone to reach out and make them a
part of your life.
You won't believe what I say.
Johnathan Michael Flemming (27:16):
In the army.
You won't believe what I say Inthe army.
Ten boots, acus, talabans, hatsand Motorhomes hit the ground.
(27:38):
I I say in the army.
Jerry Allhands (27:58):
You won't believe what I say in the army.
So tell me more about thehousing, the small housing.
How big are we talking about?
Joey McNutt (28:13):
We're doing 12 by 20s, and so they're going to be
just a basic tiny home setup.
I know a lot of people watchthese shows about tiny homes and
they see these fancy thingswith all this cool stuff in them
.
Well, this is not that.
Jerry Allhands (28:27):
Okay.
Joey McNutt (28:27):
Okay, these are going to be basic housing units.
They'll have their bed, they'llhave a sitting somewhere to sit
.
They'll have their bathrooms,showers, it a sitting somewhere
to sit.
They'll have their bathrooms,showers.
It'll be basic living and theplan behind it is, for most of
them this will be transitional.
Now there will be some permanentresidents stay in these houses,
because we do have a lot ofvets, especially from vietnam
(28:50):
and korea.
They're older vets and ofcourse they they have a little
harder time and we would love tohave some of those guys stay on
our property and help with theproperty management part.
So some of these veterans onthe property would actually have
jobs on the property as well.
That gives them another purposeand another reason to wake up
every morning.
But a lot of it will be thetransitional housing and what
(29:14):
we'll do is we'll offer jobtraining skills to the younger
veterans that can still work.
We'll offer different programswith therapy and different
things, and what the end goal isis to guide them through the
steps to get back on their feet,to gain more permanent housing
and be more self-sustaining.
Jerry Allhands (29:36):
So is this a community?
Is this going to be like 10acres of small houses?
Joey McNutt (29:41):
yes small city, if you will yes, we've actually
started out on five acres now.
We have three tiny homes underconstruction at the moment.
Spring's coming, so the workwill begin to get completed
quicker now.
But yeah, we're hoping toexpand this over the next year
or two.
It's been small steps so farbecause as a non-profit you can
(30:03):
only work with what you gotright but we we have enough land
that we can expand up to 20acres, but I also want to put
out there too, because sothere's no misunderstanding this
is this is not a homelessshelter, right, this is a whole
program in itself and as we growwe hope to expand it from just
(30:28):
veterans to others that need alittle hand up, such as domestic
violence victims, sexualassault victims, recovery
recovery, drug recovery.
We have drug recovery assetsready to go, and that's another
big issue with the homelessveterans is they start
self-medicating.
So they get addicted to a lotof the drugs and alcohol, and I
(30:51):
can see how I did it myself.
When I was medically retired, Ilost all worth, all purpose, I
turned alcohol and I probablydrank more than this town could
hold.
I've been doing some things,working on myself as well,
because it's not only otherveterans that need a hand up, we
also have to hold ourselvesaccountable.
So I've been clean and sober,no alcohol, no anything, for
(31:19):
about a year and two months now,so that was one of my biggest
crutches which I drank alcoholpretty much all my life.
But once I was medically retiredand I lost all faith and hope
in life and that was what's sobad.
And that's what's so bad withthese veterans, especially these
homeless veterans.
They don't drink becausethey're having a few drinks with
(31:39):
their buddies and having a goodtime.
They're drinking becausethey're hating life.
Yeah, they're hating thesociety they're living in,
because they feel they don't fit.
So if we can help them get outof that as well and get back on
healthy coping mechanisms, ithelps a lot.
Get back on healthy copingmechanisms, it helps a lot.
Jerry Allhands (31:54):
Get that sense of pride back.
Joey McNutt (31:55):
Right.
Jerry Allhands (31:56):
Yeah Right, 12 by 20, right?
Yes, sir, that's about the sizeof a good-sized barracks dorm
room.
Joey McNutt (32:03):
Yeah.
Jerry Allhands (32:03):
Yeah.
Joey McNutt (32:04):
Pretty much.
Jerry Allhands (32:04):
Right now we're looking at single individuals.
Joey McNutt (32:07):
Single individuals and you know we're hoping that
down the line we may try to dosome a little bigger for
homeless veterans that may havea spouse that's homeless with
them or something like that,right.
Jerry Allhands (32:20):
All right, Fully insulated, air-conditioned heat
.
Joey McNutt (32:24):
Fully insulated, air-conditioned heat.
Eventually, we'll have internetas well, because a lot of
things are online.
Be The One (32:31):
The.
Joey McNutt (32:31):
VA system is online now.
A lot of things that you do isonline, so that will help them
drastically as well what is yourprimary need right now?
Jerry Allhands (32:40):
what?
What can we do to help?
Joey McNutt (32:41):
right now we're working on getting the
electrical power ran to it.
Um, we're, we've got to cut ourright away.
We've got a plan on that, butgetting the power ran is the
biggest thing right now.
Everything else we can prettymuch handle and take care of,
but we're not certified to runpower and electricity.
Yay.
Jerry Allhands (33:04):
So I guess that's where Carlene and Nora
come into play with this, andthe Legion riders as well.
So, carlene, tell me some ofwhat the plan is here.
Carlean Parker (33:12):
Well, like I said, next year, if I do become
department president, um, thatis going to be my special
project and we're going to bedoing several fundraisers.
We've already started on thegrant, the auxiliary foundation
grant.
Uh, we have to come up with 20of ten thousand dollars to apply
(33:32):
for that grant.
We've already got got $1,300 tothat since Thursday night.
Wait since this past Thursdaynight Since our meeting this
past Thursday night, a day and ahalf ago, as we're recording
this Right.
Okay, it's going to be somethingthat's going to be well worth
every dime and every effort thatgoes in to this project,
(33:56):
because we're going to behelping somebody and that's our
mission is to help our veteransand this, this money that was
raised this past thursday night.
That's a combination of the, ofthe entire combination of our
family, okay, our legion familythe auxiliary, the riders, the
sons, the post correct this isnot reaching out to the
community yet.
Jerry Allhands (34:17):
This is not yet but we're going there and not
yet
Nora Moreland (34:20):
nor tell me about what's going to be done in the
community one of the firstthings that I'm going to do is
I'm going to reach out to theother legions in my district and
in past, the word education keythat's one of the things we
learned in boot camp wasknowledge is power, and I'm
fixing to gain some moreknowledge on this grant she's
(34:43):
talking about and I'm fixing toshare, share, share.
Something I shared this pastThursday night at our meeting is
sharing, is caring, share.
I don't care if it's verbally,by mouth in town, if it's on
your facebook.
Share, and I know the legionriders on the poppies and
(35:08):
pancakes contest that we'regoing to be having.
That's what the money, thefunds that are raised from that
will be going to this.
Jerry Allhands (35:15):
Okay, and what is that?
Nora Moreland (35:18):
The Poppies and Pancakes contest.
We will be having that here atCorinth Post 6, 19 April.
Jerry Allhands (35:26):
Well, that's April 19th, what time 0-900-11.
That's 9 am.
9 am for greens.
Hey, you gotta be difficult.
Nora Moreland (35:43):
Nine to eleven am some things are just hard to
change.
Yes, nine to eleven you know, Ido that, I do know you do this
and I want to say somethingabout the poppy funds.
Carlean Parker (35:51):
The poppy funds a lot of people have a
misconception on that.
They think that they can justraise funds and give out poppies
and things like that and it canbe used for whatever.
But it cannot be.
It can only be used forveterans and that's it.
Whatever veterans need andthings like that.
It can't be used for anythingelse other than veterans If they
(36:14):
need socks, if they need food,whatever because we've given
food here to veterans and we'vegiven clothes and things like
that with our poppy funds.
Jerry Allhands (36:28):
And again, that is April 19th, 9 to 11 am.
Yes, sir, here at the AmericanLegion Hut.
That address, the physicaladdress again, is 511 South Tate
Street, Corinth, Mississippi,38834.
So we were looking at raising aminimum of $2,000 to get the
grant, if I'm correct on this.
Nora Moreland (36:49):
The first one.
Jerry Allhands (36:50):
The first one.
Nora Moreland (36:50):
The first one we're not stopping at one, so
this could be done multipletimes Okay.
Jerry Allhands (36:55):
Once the $10,000 is, I guess you get the $2,000,
.
You apply for the grant.
What's the turnaround time ongetting the actual funds back?
Does anyone know?
And everybody looks over to MsTina Hurst, she's our grant
applier.
Carlean Parker (37:11):
Oh, so the grant committee meets four times a
year.
Depending on when we get thegrant in, we'll determine when
we get the funds back.
Jerry Allhands (37:21):
It takes 30, 60 days, 90 days, you think.
Carlean Parker (37:25):
I think it took two weeks for me to get approval
back last time because I timedit right.
Jerry Allhands (37:29):
Okay, all right.
So we're looking at long-termmost, maybe maybe 90 days, a
little bit longer.
To get this back, did Iunderstand you?
You already have three housesout there at the site we have
three out there that are underconstruction under construction.
Yeah, we're finished currentlyfinishing the insides of them,
so would ten thousand dollarsthat they're talking about, this
(37:52):
grant?
Would that enable you to dowhat you need to do as far as
getting electricity into thearea?
Joey McNutt (37:58):
Yes, sir, definitely would.
Jerry Allhands (38:01):
What kind of cooperation are you getting?
Is this a city or county?
Joey McNutt (38:04):
We're in the county .
Okay, we're actually.
The land we're on was actuallypart of a different county at
the time, because Ronnie'sRetreat is in Tishomingo County
and part of the land wasactually considered P a
different county at the time,because Ronnie's Retreat is in
Tishomingo County and part ofthe land was actually considered
Prentice County at one time.
And it's real comical when thepolice get called anywhere out
(38:25):
there because either county,they can't decide who's supposed
to respond.
But yeah, we're out in thecounty, so we don't have a lot
of the restrictions that youwould have in the city limits.
And one of the better thingsabout that is is a serene
location, so the veterans thatare being housed there don't
have to deal with the hustle andbustle of city, all the traffic
, all the things going on, allthe things that may trigger them
(38:48):
.
They can have a serene,peaceful place for their healing
process and going through theseprograms to get back on their
feet.
Jerry Allhands (38:55):
You read my mind .
Serenity is a beautiful thingwhen you're trying to get back
there.
Carlean Parker (39:01):
And the work they've done thus far has been
powered by generators.
Jerry Allhands (39:09):
I was saying what kind of cooperation are you
getting from the county on this?
Is it Mississippi Energy?
What do you need?
Joey McNutt (39:16):
we have tishmingle county power electric
association.
Uh, they've agreed to try towork with us some uh, they give
us some quotes.
I could probably go buy a niceused car for those quotes.
But uh, they're offering tosome of their workers, are
actually offering some freelabor.
So that helps Any little bit.
(39:37):
Helps Our supervisor for ourcounty, the one that takes care
of all the road maintenance andall that.
He's been real good in thatdistrict for us.
They came out, they put us someculverts in.
We had a citizen of the townthat's closest to us, which is
Burnsville.
We had a guy there that doeslogging and he also had
(39:58):
bulldozers.
He said, hey, I'd love to comeout there if you need some dose
of work done.
He came out and he dozed offour road, got it ready for the
gravel and uh, you know, everylittle bit has helped because
when we started this pull up onthe side of the road spot of
woods, I took out my chainsawand just started cutting trees.
That's how I cut my whole roadinto this property.
(40:18):
Um, and I was wondering how Iwas going to get get the rest of
the road built because weneeded dozer work.
But we've had a few of thecitizens have mostly stepped up
more than, say, the the countyhas.
But the county is alwayssupportive, of course, and offer
to help any way they can.
Jerry Allhands (40:41):
This whole project started again when.
Joey McNutt (40:46):
At first we had a different idea.
We were actually working with anonprofit before we started
Ronnie's Retreat and it wasgoing to be something a little
bit different.
Nonprofit before we startedRonnie's Retreat and it was
going to be something a littlebit different.
But, as we know, life changesso things change sometimes.
No hard feelings for anybodythat was involved.
But we decided to go adifferent direction and we
(41:09):
decided to build it our way In away that we felt may be more
helpful.
So I began last spring, springof 24.
That's when I began to work onthe property.
I think it was 24, late 23,early 24.
Be The One (41:28):
Okay.
Joey McNutt (41:29):
That's when I burned out my first chainsaw and
had to go get another one.
Jerry Allhands (41:34):
I seen a lot right there.
I see a lot right there.
That's saying a lot, All right,so we're basically a year into
it more or less Right.
Right, Tell me a little bitabout the Pets for Vets portion
of this.
In my mind's eye I'm seeing asmall community of veterans.
This is the old soldier in me.
(41:57):
I'm seeing the flagpole in thecenter.
I'm too old to do push-ups andsit-ups, but I'm seeing the yard
in the front.
You know what I'm saying.
Right right, the white paintedrocks you remember those.
I may be too young for that, butyou know I'm seeing this and
I'm loving the Pets for Vets.
Is that going to be out there,a part of it?
Joey McNutt (42:18):
Yes, yes, our dog kennels and everything will be
right on the property and, as amatter of fact, the vet stand
there, will be responsible foranimal health with these animals
.
That gets them connected tothat animal, the animal healing
portion.
And what's so great about thatand having the dogs directly on
(42:40):
that property?
Because, like I said, wealready trained service dogs for
free for veterans as well, andwe've trained several since we
began.
But having the animals rightthere on location, if a veteran
does require service animal,then they're going to be
directly involved in trainingthat service animal theirself.
Plus, some of the otherveterans will be involved in
(43:00):
helping train some of theseanimals if they feel that they
want to and that's part of thepath to bettering their own life
.
Then that also gives themanother skill to help them
regain their worth and anotherskill to offer the world, and
that's kind of what we we missis the service to our countries
(43:21):
uh, getting out of the service.
Jerry Allhands (43:22):
you know that first year is hard enough as it
is, as you acclimate to being acivilian, no longer a soldier
sailoror, airman, marine, spacecadet, what they call space
guardian.
It's going to be a while tofigure that one out, but yeah,
it's that year.
(43:44):
For me at least it was theminimum.
It's probably longer trying toadapt to the fact that there
wasn't a mission, right.
And whether we realize it or ornot, even as civilians we have
a day-to-day mission.
We just may have to make thatmission.
Joey McNutt (43:57):
It sounds like you've got a great one ahead of
you there right and and that'swhat it's about, we, we, we have
to find our mission.
Uh, once we get out, we losethat mission, as you said.
So we have, we have to focus onfinding a mission we can do
here in the civilian world.
That doesn't necessarily haveto be with civilians.
It can be something just as wein the American Legion do is a
(44:21):
mission for our veterans.
But I agree with you that firstyear is almost self-devastation
because you don't fit in withanyone, even the people you know
from your hometowns.
They've been working in otherthings.
You've been in this structured,you know the structured life.
(44:42):
Everything's laid out.
You know what you're doing,you've got a purpose, you've got
a mission Every day and youknow it.
Where all your friends backhome really don't have that,
they get up, they go to a job.
Jerry Allhands (44:58):
If they don't feel like doing it.
Joey McNutt (44:58):
They call in, they go home.
You know I mean, you havenothing in common anymore.
I did try that one time.
Nora Moreland (45:01):
I try sometimes uh, are you in the military or
afterwards?
Joey McNutt (45:04):
in the military in the military.
Try that one time the greatestthing to me in the military when
I was working there is when wegot the, the laptops, the
government laptops to work on.
Uh, because it was real easy tocall and say, hey, I'm working
from home today I'm not feelingwell, and uh, it was great.
Just check my email thatmorning.
I go fishing all day, come backin, check my email, send a few
(45:26):
and they think I've really beenworking.
We missed out on that, didn'twe?
Nora Moreland (45:30):
yes, we did.
He said laptop.
Jerry Allhands (45:32):
I'm thinking what's a computer?
We didn't we?
Yes, we did.
He said laptop.
Nora Moreland (45:34):
I'm thinking what's a computer?
We didn't have cell phones yetwhen I was in Cell phone.
Jerry Allhands (45:38):
Wow man the Mars cars.
Joey McNutt (45:42):
I remember feeling, like you know, having that
feeling that we really made itin the military, though, when we
went from the typewriter to theword processor Back in the
early 90s.
Jerry Allhands (45:51):
Yeah, I remember a word processor.
Joey McNutt (45:54):
We were stepping up in the world.
Jerry Allhands (45:58):
See, I love these talks.
Carlean Parker (46:00):
We can do this all day long.
Jerry Allhands (46:01):
The, the pets for vets is.
That's an ongoing thing thatyou've been doing for a while.
Joey McNutt (46:08):
Yeah, we've been doing that since we began our
nonprofit because we we feellike service dogs and ESAs.
They're veterans, lifeline.
That's another thing that givesthem a purpose to get up every
morning.
They care for this animal andthis animal cares for them.
It gives them their life back.
It helps them feel morecomfortable getting out of the
house, going to different eventsand going just going to the
(46:29):
supermarket, because a lot ofour anxieties when we're out in
public is the crowds, the peoplegetting too close, we can't see
everybody, we don't know what,everything, what's going on.
And these, these animals, they,just they give you that comfort
the where you can go to thegrocery store and shop for your
groceries.
You're not just trying to runin and run out.
Uh, they, they, they let youget back to going to watch your
(46:51):
grandkids and their sportingevents at schools.
You know they help you get yourlife back.
Jerry Allhands (46:56):
I heard you say the word or phrase ESA, esa.
What is that?
Joey McNutt (47:00):
That is emotional support animal.
Okay, and the difference isbetween the ESA and the service
dog and a lot of people don'trealize this is.
The service dog is trained witha task to help someone who
needs it.
Most of our service dogs aremental health service dogs.
They're trained to startnoticing the different actions
(47:26):
in a person.
When they start having anxiety,ptsd, they start sensing these
things and they bring them outof that zoned-out state.
The ESA emotional supportanimal.
Basically, to be an ESA, allyou have to do is make sure your
dog's house-trained.
I mean, I got four dogs at myhouse.
They could all be consideredESAs but they're not considered
(47:49):
service dogs, so they're notallowed in a lot of the same
businesses and places that aservice dog is so you have
certification on these animalsthat that uh are.
Jerry Allhands (48:01):
Are the animals, are they donated to a veteran
or does the veteran purchasethem?
Joey McNutt (48:05):
both.
Uh, there's been some veteranswhere we have found the animal
for the veteran and there's someveterans that call and say, hey
, you know, I've already gotthis, this dog, and I really my
doctor has said I could reallybe of service with a service dog
and I was wondering if youcould train them.
So we train dogs that theyalready have, we we source out
(48:26):
and look for dogs that will makegood service dog candidates to
train, and not every dog that wetrain turns into a service dog,
because some dogs just they,they just don't make the service
dog.
Uh, it's something that's veryspecific.
They've got to have a certaindemeanor, of course, um, and
some of them just don't, andthat's no big deal.
I mean, that's just the way itis.
(48:48):
They're still good dogs alldogs matter.
All dogs matter as a matter offact that's how I ended up with
two of the ones that I havecertification of paperwork.
Jerry Allhands (48:58):
How is that done ?
Joey McNutt (48:59):
there is actually no certification that you are
required to have, there's nonational registry, um, and now
you can go online and buy alittle identification card says
they're a service dog all daylong.
They sell them on Amazon for$20, you know.
But a lot of the businessowners and a lot of, say,
landlords and housingcommunities, they don't realize
(49:21):
that they want some kind ofpaperwork, and so we recommend
that you have a statement fromyour doctor saying that they
recommended for you to have thisservice dog.
Now do you say service dog?
And that usually is great.
The ADA says that you don'thave to make your service dog
(49:42):
perform to satisfy anyone'squestions about your service dog
, but businesses, owners anddifferent places are allowed to
ask you a couple of questionsand all that's on the ADA
website for specifics.
Jerry Allhands (49:55):
I think the minister did that when I got
married.
Joey McNutt (49:58):
Yeah, yeah.
And my wife said I do so shewas stuck with me as her service
animal.
Jerry Allhands (50:06):
She spoke up too soon.
I'll tell you I am definitelyher working dog.
Pets for Vets.
Can that be found on the samesite, thehinderless22.org, or is
there a different site for that?
Joey McNutt (50:20):
No, it's all on the same site.
We don't actually call it Petsfor Vets.
It's just something that we'vedone since we began and it talks
about the things that we'vedone training the service dogs
and different things.
On one page it talks about alot of the things that we do and
that we've done training theservice dogs and different
things.
On one page it talks about alot of the things that we do and
that we've done, and then wehave a separate page that talks
about Ronnie's retreat andanother page that talks about
(50:42):
the story of how we started andmy brother's story.
So you can see all that.
We have a donation button aswell on our page.
I always like to throw out.
We have the donation button aswell on our page, Very important
.
But I also tell a lot of peoplethat donation is not always
money.
Time is a great donation, Scrapbuilding materials great
(51:04):
donation, so it doesn't alwayshave to be about money.
There's a lot of ways that youcan volunteer and donate and
contribute without it beingmoney, and at the cost of
materials today, that could bevery worthwhile.
Nora Moreland (51:16):
Yes, Is there a list of things that you need?
Joey McNutt (51:20):
We don't currently have a list of things on the
website that we need, but thatis something that we can very
well come up with and put outthere for anyone who wants to
look, because we're alwaysneeding something.
It's like I tell people we're anonprofit, we're always broken,
we always need stuff.
It's the hardest I've everworked for no paycheck.
Jerry Allhands (51:41):
This job right here, right now, Right right.
So tell me, are there picturesof the little houses?
Are they on the website as well, or will they?
Joey McNutt (51:49):
I think there's some pictures on there already.
I have an IT guy that handlesall that.
I just send him stuff and therewill be some more stuff getting
uploaded next week on thewebsite as well, because what
seems to happen is, especiallythrough the winter, the website
kind of gets overlooked a littlebit.
It's usually, honestly, thelast thing on my mind is the
(52:09):
website, so if it's not thereyet, it's usually usually my
fault, even though I don'tupdate it.
But uh, yeah, we usually try toupdate it every four, four to
five months, depending.
We do have also have an areathat tells upcoming events of
where we'll be, what will begoing on with those events and
different things of that natureas well on our website is there
(52:31):
a contact phone number on there?
there is not a contact phonenumber on there and I will
explain that that nature as wellon our website.
Is there a contact phone numberon there?
There is not a contact phonenumber on there and I will
explain that to you as well.
When we started, we had acontact phone number.
Since my brother's suicide wason Facebook Live and it was so
viral, people actually got ahold of our information.
We received a lot of harassment.
(52:53):
We had to make a lot of oursocial media stuff private
because of the comments andpeople would post the videos in
the comments of my brother.
And when we posted our phonenumber on our website for our
contact phone number, the phoneconstantly blew up with people
calling and saying my brother'slast words and telling us it was
(53:15):
you know.
Oh, it's your fault, you shouldhave saved him.
Oh, you need to do it too.
Different things of that nature.
So we had to cut our phone andthat gives that way.
We can.
We can prove everything thatcomes through the social media
and through our email and ifpeople want to volunteer or
donate, that's yeah, they can gothrough there, um, but I mean,
(53:36):
a lot of people have my phonenumber.
I don't mind that.
We just we trust people, wegive it to our trusted people.
But you can reach out throughthe website.
We'll respond.
It may be in the evening,because I still also work a
full-time job can relate yep,but we will get back to you uh.
Social media I talk to a lot ofpeople through social media.
(53:57):
They reach out to us throughmessenger on facebook, through
tiktok inbox.
That's where most of uh most ofthe people are reaching out to
us from.
But we get a lot, of, a lot ofpeople messages in our email
through the website and thatwebsite again is
hinderless22.org.
Jerry Allhands (54:13):
And for those of us who are auditorily disabled,
spell Hinderless22.
Joey McNutt (54:19):
H-I-N-D-E-R-L-E-S-S .
Jerry Allhands (54:23):
And would you believe I wrote H-E-N, it's
H-I-N.
Joey McNutt (54:27):
Well, when we first began, even our bank spelled it
H-E-N on our nonprofit bankaccount.
Nora Moreland (54:34):
Thank you and.
Joey McNutt (54:34):
I told them, told him I said and my brother, right
well, lived here all his lifeand had an account here, so wow,
so hinderlessh-i-n-d-e-r-l-e-s-s the number
two, two dot org yes, siranything you'd like to add
before we go today?
well, you know, I just I justlike, though, out there, you
know, especially to our veterans, don't be afraid to reach out.
(54:57):
You still got family out here.
You got people here that care.
It's okay to show your emotions.
Don't keep it bottled up.
Get it all out.
If you need a way to do that,you can contact us.
We'll help you with that aswell.
There's lots of things out herethat can help you get through
from today to tomorrow.
Nothing that happens to youtoday is important enough for
you to take your life over.
It's just a bad day.
(55:17):
It's not a bad life.
Jerry Allhands (55:19):
Yeah, Nora put those crayons down.
Last words for us.
Nora Moreland (55:26):
I just want to say that I'm really proud of the
fact that I've met Joey.
I hate the circumstances thatwe had to meet under.
I've met Joey.
I hate the circumstances thatwe had to meet under, but I am
willing and ready to do whateverI can do as a Marine, as a
person, as a human being, tohelp him complete his mission.
I thank you.
Joey McNutt (55:49):
I thank y'all.
Jerry Allhands (55:50):
And I thank your wife for sharing you with us.
Joey McNutt (55:53):
She definitely needs it.
Jerry Allhands (56:00):
And Carlene.
Carlean Parker (56:00):
If you would, I'm going to ask you to close us
with prayer today.
Heavenly Father, again weapproach your throne as humbly
as we know how, and we thank youfor the opportunity for us to
gather here today and be able todo the things that we've done
in order to serve our veteransbetter.
Bless us all as we go home.
Watch over Jerry as he travelssouth.
Keep the storms away.
(56:22):
In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
Jerry Allhands (56:25):
Amen, thank you, thank you, thank you.
And that was our visit with JoyMcNutt, a US Army veteran, who
is continuing to serve Americaand her veterans by honoring his
late brother, ronnie, also a USArmy veteran, with a nonprofit
program called Ronnie's Retreat.
He's helping homeless veteranswith a home and much more.
Be sure to join us next Mondaymorning as we travel to Olive
(56:49):
Branch, mississippi, and visitwith Post 2022 Commander Bob
Bunton and the newest AmericanLegion post in the Department of
Mississippi, terry.
Carlean Parker (56:57):
Terry Adams Commander, post 1, American
Legion Department of Tennessee.
Jerry Allhands (57:01):
Bob Bunyton, Commander of Post 2022.
Olive Branch, also ViceCommander of the 2nd District.
Carlean Parker (57:08):
I would hope that you'll all join us again
for another podcast.
Jerry does a great job and hespreads the good word for us, so
please come back and join usagain for another podcast.
Jerry does a great job and hespreads the good word for us, so
please come back and join usagain, A very special thank you
to Jonathan Michael Fleming forhis musical talents.
Jerry Allhands (57:25):
You can find his CDs and videos on Spotify,
Amazon Music and YouTube.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to your
feedback and ask that yousubscribe, too and share the
Veterans Sound Off podcast withyour friends and YouTube.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode and look forward to your
feedback and ask that yousubscribe to and share the
Veterans Sound Off podcast withyour friends and family.
If you have a comment, asuggestion or questions, or you
would like to become a supporterof this podcast, please send an
(57:46):
email to jdallhands atoutlookcom that's
J-D-A-L-L-H-A-N-D-S atOutlookcom, or by calling
662-902-6658, and we'll get backto you as soon as possible.
This has been a production ofAllh ands Media LLC, with
(58:07):
offices in Rena Lara,Mississippi.
All Rights Reserved.
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