August 19, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, Kris talks with Katy McCauley about leading a small but mighty team making a big difference especially in Wounded Warriors Family Support.
With only seven people on staff, Katy’s organization runs lean, operates mostly online, and still manages to create meaningful, real-world impact.
They discuss how to stay efficient, keep people first, and turn online connections into tangible change — proof that big results don’t always require big teams.
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@wwfsorg
https://wwfs.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
I am positively Chris Pace and you are actively listening to
conversation with Chris. Hey everyone, what's up?
It's Chris. I am here today with a very
special guest, Kate McAuley. Did I say that correctly, Kate?
Yes, you did. Hello.
She's here to tell us all about some fantastic things for
veterans. OK, not all veterans, but the
(00:33):
best veterans. No, I'm just kidding.
Kate, how are you? I'm doing wonderful, thank you.
Tell me about your program. Tell me about how you got into
your program. So I have been with the
organization for over 18 years. I was the first employee that
was hired by Colonel John Folsom.
He's our founder and president, and we've been serving combat
(00:56):
wounded veterans and their families and caregivers for
about 22 years now with the programs that we serve.
And you guys are tied directly to wounded warriors, right?
You're just the family support side.
We are, we are. And we have a couple programs
that I'll talk a little bit about today.
One in particular is called Mobility is Freedom, and this
(01:17):
was designed probably about 2018.
Colonel Folsom was doing some research and realized that
combat wounded veterans missing limbs were losing their driving
independence. And one of the reasons why they
were losing their driving independence is because of the
specialized equipment and the cost of the vehicle and the cost
(01:39):
of the technology to bring in the adoptive equipment.
So we opened up a program calledMobility as Freedom, hoping to
really spread the word and help veterans get mobilized.
And it's been very successful. The organization spends about
$1.5 million a year bringing in modifications and also through
(02:01):
vehicle grants. And we have companies, Assurant
Foundation and some other companies that sponsor us and
sponsor a vehicle. So they'll actually purchase the
vehicle for us. And we pick the combat wounded
veteran and we do kind of a a truck grant with that company.
And we've been doing that, like I said, for about 7-8 years now.
(02:23):
How many go ahead? I'm sorry.
I said very successful program. We probably do about 30 truck
grants a year and those are about $30,000 each.
And then depending on if we teamup with a company or foundation,
sometimes we'll do a full truck grant with the modifications
(02:44):
included for that veteran. We identify the veteran prior to
us purchasing the vehicle to make sure that it's going to be
a fit for them. In the past, we went ahead and
modified the vehicles with liftsand all kinds of stuff.
Well, not every veteran has the same condition or needs the same
(03:04):
modification. So that's something we were able
to evolve and and you know, again, identify that veteran
ahead of time so we know what the needs are.
That's so huge. I know that the Veterans
Administration offers a car something modification
allowance, but it's only available to certain people and
(03:25):
they only give away a certain amount of them each year.
And I know a lot of my veteran friends who need extra
assistance in vehicles and things like that.
And So what a beautiful thing todo.
I mean, that's, well, it's freedom.
What I was going to mention too,is the organization Wounded
Warriors Family Support. We, we're never looking to, you
(03:45):
know, do what somebody else is doing.
We are really looking to identify gaps in services and
challenges that veterans are facing, and we saw this as a big
need not only for suicide awareness.
You think about these and the predominantly men that have been
disfigured from stepping on IE D's or just the battles that
(04:05):
they were in. And so you're have a veteran
that's living with their injuries for sometimes up to 20
years and the injuries aren't getting any better.
A lot of them are having so manysurgeries in a year, maybe 20-30
surgeries just to stay intact. And this is just a way for
America to say, listen, we haven't forgot your sacrifice.
(04:27):
Even though the VA does do a $25,000 allowance, it's a one
time allowance from our understanding.
And like I said, these veterans were injured, you know, almost
20 years ago. So they've already used up their
allowance for modifications and also for their their driving
independence. So they really fall through that
(04:49):
gap. And so you have a lot of
veterans that are just basicallystuck at home without the
ability to drive. That's 100% true.
And I'm one of those people. I mean, I was stuck at home.
Now fortunately I've been able to get myself a a mobile home of
us. But actually there's so many
things that I need with neuropathy and with the TB eyes
(05:13):
and even having all my limbs without being able to feel them,
they're not a whole lot better. So, you know, they're having
lifts and having camera systems.Even tried a Tesla because I
thought maybe that would help mea lot because I have Vertigo.
So certainly there's a big need for it.
And there's a lot of people out there that I know have struggled
to be able to get themselves mobile.
(05:35):
And if you take away someone's mobility, you take away their
freedom completely so. Something that we just, we just
get up and we go, you know, we don't even think about it.
For granted, right? You just have nothing to worry
about. You get in your car, you try
fine. These guys definitely need more
than that. So that's a big program.
You've been rolling that out forwhat, 7 years now?
Yeah, it's been, it's been very,very valuable.
(05:57):
I I remember one time somebody asked me, well, you know, when
you grant this vehicle, what is,what was the veteran say?
And just so you know, we grant their title, when we give it to
them, they get the title, it's theirs.
We will never take it back if something happened to that
veteran, it stays in their family.
They they do it whatever they dowith it.
(06:17):
So that's that's a point I'd like to make When we gift
something, we gift it for for good, but I forgot where we were
tracking with that we. Were just talking about the
seven years you've been doing this and how many people have
benefited from it. And it's probably been a quite a
number 'cause I see on your Instagram and LinkedIn and
there's always somebody gaining a new vehicle or a new
(06:38):
modification, which is brilliant.
I mean brilliant. How many do you think you've had
so far? Since the program, I would say
over over 100 veterans, over 100veterans, easy.
But like I mentioned, we do a $30,000 grant and there are
(06:58):
other organizations that we're doing, I think it was Semper Fi
that was doing a $30,000 grant. This is about a year ago, and
the cost of the vehicles went upso much for $60,000, you can
barely buy a vehicle. But what was nice is they would
team up like they would get $30,000 from our organization.
(07:19):
And then they pulled from say, Semper Fi when they were funding
this. And so they were able to get a
$60,000 truck, which is pretty fabulous.
Yeah. It's.
Pretty. Fabulous and and you guys want
trucks, You don't you don't wantvans.
I know that you don't want. Any vans?
I personally like minivans, but yeah, most of us thought we'd
like to have a truck if. They like to have a truck.
(07:40):
I drive a truck for sure, so. But yeah, that's amazing.
What an incredible thing to do. So tell me about the program
itself and how it got started and.
So Colonel Folsom, he did a lot of research on the Internet.
He always was on the Internet looking at things and looking at
ways we could create programs without recreating something
that somebody else is doing. And when he came through the
(08:04):
mobility part of veterans, he thought this, this is a really
good fit. And we've had one veteran that
was denied. And here's another thing,
another subject that we could talk about, There's a lot of
denials with the VA system. So a lot of veterans are being
denied for their mobility or forwhatever they need.
(08:25):
And I personally, being in the industry for as long as I have,
I think there's a, a shortfall in how the paperwork is filled
out. I think that that people need to
have, or veterans need to have somebody there to help them
navigate the paperwork for thesetype of benefits.
And I'll tell you why I'm not ACPA.
(08:47):
So I have to have my taxes done every year, right?
I'm not going to do my taxes. I'm going to have a professional
do my taxes. I, I feel like with veterans
that they need to have that, that specialized legal or
whatever that is to help them with that paperwork.
Because when they're trying to do it themselves and they keep
(09:07):
getting denied 8 years in a row,it really leaves a bad taste in
their mouth. And they're like, I had a guy
driving and this is a true storywith a broomstick for seven
years. And he said we they found out
about us through a referral through one of the programs that
we work through. But at the same time, I was
(09:30):
like, how how could you be usinga broomstick to drive your
vehicle? But he really was.
But one amazing thing when I getthe pleasure to be present to
give the keys over when we're granting a vehicle, they'll say,
Kate, you know, we just thought America forgot about us.
(09:53):
You know, we didn't. We just didn't know that there
were organizations like you out here.
We just didn't realize that the American people really, really
care about us. And that's what I want people to
know that the organization, we, we do the best we can.
We're 100% transparent. We have the highest rating that
(10:13):
you can earn. And we want our veterans to know
that we do care and we're doing direct support to the veteran.
He's getting a modification, he's getting a vehicle, he's
getting something that's going to make his life, quality of
life a lot better for him and his family.
Wow. And that's you guys are directly
affiliated with the Wounded Warriors program or is there a
(10:34):
separate application? We are different.
We are separate. We are our own nonprofit, 5O1C3.
We're not affiliated with any other Wounded Warrior.
If they have Wounded Warrior in their name, we are not
affiliated with them. We're Wounded Warriors Family
Support located in Omaha, NE. We're a national organization.
(10:55):
We've been nationally recognizedfor over 10 years and we are
just very fortunate to be here. We're not at wartime.
We just know that the American people love what we're doing
because they keep funding us andkeep wanting us to keep doing
what we're doing because it's making a big difference.
That's fantastic. And yeah, so just so people
(11:16):
know, and it's still for only for combat wounded vets after
2001. Yes, yes, we work, we, we work
with the, the veteran family. So the spouse and if they have a
caregiver, what we created for the wife, which is basically in
most instances the primary caregiver for the veteran, they
(11:38):
were burning out after 10-15 years.
There were no programs for the caregivers 10 years ago.
And so we opened up a respite care specifically for veterans
and also for their caregivers orfor their spouse.
And So what happens to the veteran when his wife suddenly
has come down with breast cancer?
(11:59):
Because for all these years, she's taking care of the kids
health, she's taking care of herveteran's health, but she didn't
take care of her own health. So now she has breast cancer.
And and this is a true story andthere's more than one.
There's a, there's a lot of females dealing with breast
cancer right now that have veteran husbands.
And So what happens to the household?
(12:21):
She's their primary caregiver. We can step in when I say we,
the organization, we have agencies hired nationally around
the United States. So if we get a call of an
accident and illness or emergency from a veteran family
caregiver or the, you know, the veteran himself, we can actually
(12:42):
get there faster than the VA. We can get the application
process and get someone sent outto their house for some home
health care if they needed help with bathing or some daily
living assistance, if they needed some groceries or they
needed somebody to cook for them.
And we do that on a temporary basis.
We're not looking to, you know, keep them on our care forever.
(13:06):
It's just during that time wheretheir family's in crisis.
And so that has been very, very successful.
We work with a hundreds of families a year through that
program. A lot of them that go through
respite or or elderly veterans, combat wounded veterans and they
are basically just out of caregiver hours and they're just
(13:27):
really looking for some type of relief, even if it is just
temporarily. Absolutely.
I mean, it's a such a big deal. And I agree with you on the the
finding advocates that understand the VA application
process, because let's be honest, I don't think anybody
understands the VA's process. And they've made it so
complicated that it took me 10 years from date of application
(13:50):
to going in front of a federal judge and then getting all of my
disabilities approved. And it was crazy, 10 years of my
life, I spent don't getting denied, getting denied, getting
denied. And you, you don't know what how
to do the paperwork correctly. Then you mess up.
Now you're set back to the beginning, you know, and it's
like, it's just so frustrating. And then you try and do VA math
(14:12):
and it's like, if you're at 80%,you only need 70% to get to
100%. And you're like, wait, what?
It's just complicated. It's really complicated.
And I, I wish more veterans would reach out and get help for
that. And I've noticed it just in my
line of work that I don't. And because people will say to
me, Kate, why is the government not taking care of these people?
(14:33):
I just had somebody say it at a Rotary event the other day.
And I adjust it by saying, listen, you know, I don't know.
I don't know why. But I do know that they do rely
on charities like us to do that type of work because that's why
we're here. And that's why we're, you know,
we don't pay taxes. But yeah, it's, it's a really
(14:55):
difficult process to figure out.I wouldn't be able to figure it
out. No, no, no.
So do you guys offer some assistance with that now or is
that something we? Don't, but I would think that
that would be a niche. I, I think we are pretty full
with what we have on our plate, but I do like to, you know, let
people know that it is a situation that, you know, people
(15:15):
could help out with. And I do know of some attorneys
that do it pro bono, but they'reonly going to do so many pro
bono. I mean, let's face it, you know,
and there's not a lot of them out there that are willing to do
that. Yeah, that's true.
And so I tell me about some of the other programs you guys
offer. So yeah, we have right now, we
(15:36):
have our welding school going onat the UAW in Dearborn, MI.
We have 10 veterans that we fly them out or they drive out.
A lot of them are not from the Dearborn area.
So they come around, come from all over the United States and
they're at Dearborn for an 8 week course.
(15:56):
It's accelerated. They learn how to Weld and they
get certifications and dependingon how many, how well they do,
they can walk away with up to five certifications.
So it's something that we are partnered with the UAW and
they've been doing this for about 8 years with us.
(16:17):
We do two classes every year. The classes run upwards of
hundreds of thousands of dollarsdue to the training center that
we utilize, the instructors, thetextbooks and all that is
included for the veteran. We pay for their lodging while
they're there, their food is taken care of, and then it just
(16:38):
gives them a chance to learn a new trade.
And you know, the blue collar isreally suffering right now.
They can't fill enough spots. And so a lot of the veterans
that go through this, they have a job placement at the end with
the UAW or we have a board member that has, he's got a gas
(16:58):
company in Odessa, TX and he'll take just about anybody that
wants to move to go there and work for him.
So we've had some really successful veterans.
We had a double amputee veteran.This is the first time this ever
happened. And you know, at the training
center, it's all concrete. And this particular veteran, we
(17:20):
had to buy him specialized shoesso he wouldn't get electrocuted,
if that makes sense. So we learn new things as we go
along, how to make everybody safe when they're at school.
But yeah, that was a new thing for us.
So we, we buy their shoes, we get them equipped and basically
they go to school for 8 weeks. And when they're done, we're
(17:43):
hoping that they, you know, got a skill and they want to go on
to bigger and better things in the welding industry.
Yeah, absolutely. Great job.
Like you said, big time demand for it right now with
everything. We had a homeless guy, a
homeless veteran that our my colleague is a retired Master
(18:03):
Gunny. He works out of our San Antonio
office and he vets all of the welding participants.
And he's, he's just really, really good at it.
But he was, somebody must have called him.
This veteran was a homeless veteran living on the street and
he went through our welding program, did very, very well.
(18:26):
And he's now an underwater diverdoing welding, making in the
uppers of 100, some $1000. So there's some really good
success stories that come out ofthe classes.
We had one gentleman that was a very shaky and tremors and his
hands shook and he wanted to go through the welding school.
(18:50):
And the instructors, they're so amazing.
They're older. They they were all veterans.
They've been at the UAW, they volunteer their time.
They're just very gracious gentleman and they helped him be
able to make jewelry. And so this veteran that you
would think that probably didn'thave any skills to go into
(19:11):
welding is now selling jewelry kind of out of an RV type of
thing, traveling around, sellingthem at little shops and stores.
And so you just never know what the impact of your program is
going to bring to a family and allow them to grow.
The ripple effects just helps everybody along the way.
(19:32):
So it does now. Do you have programs just for
the spouses or? Like, well, our respite care is
pretty much for the spouses. We have some retreats and things
that we do with some other organizations.
We also have welding. We have the resorts.
The resorts are Orlando, FL and what we do is we have about 200
(19:56):
families that we send per year. It's an all inclusive, pretty
much seven days away for you to reconnect and heal with your
family. It was designed 22 years ago
when we had very young soldiers being critically injured with
very, very young wives and young, young children.
(20:17):
And they, once they were able totravel, they would take this
trip with their family. And sometimes, you know, mom or
dad came back disfigured. And so it was a challenge for
them to see their, their family in a, in a new way.
And so this was a way for them to reconnect and make new, new
memories. And, you know, they're going to
(20:38):
be OK as a family. And so that was one of our main
focuses, you know, back in the early 2000s, 2007, 2008, so.
A long time ago. Yeah, yeah, it was a long time
ago. And you know what?
It's still supported today. We still send 200 people there.
(20:58):
Universal Studios, they grant usabout $150,000 in tickets.
And not just tickets. They do the Gold Pass, they do
the parking. Our veterans are moved to the
top of the, they're not waiting in any lines.
They're just they really pull out the red carpet for our
veterans and and we've had a 22 year relationship with them.
(21:21):
So we really appreciate that. Really long time 22 years
relationship with anybody is. Difficult, I know.
Let alone a theme park, but. Yeah, that's.
Such a necessary thing too, to get people to go.
So you got into it because you're doing real estate, is
that right? I was, yes, I was a real estate
agent. I will say I always wanted to be
(21:43):
the best real estate agent, Chris, always.
But you know what, I just wasn'tthat great at it.
I made I made a living at it. But let's be real, I was not the
best. And I think for me, if I would
have went in with a big real estate company instead of trying
to do a small company and not want to pay all the fees and all
(22:03):
the dues, I would have probably done that differently.
But then I wouldn't be where I'mat today.
So I got to meet Colonel Folsom in the real estate office.
So he changed my life. Legitimately like 18 years
later. Yes, who would have known?
You know, and in the charity world, you know, when I took
this position many years ago, I always thought that it would
(22:26):
probably be a temporary positionbecause I just didn't know how
sustainable A nonprofit organization was going to be in
Omaha. You know, let's face it, I had
no idea. But here we are.
And you know, we're funded by America, so we're doing
something right. That's right.
(22:46):
And I don't know how many vets are in Omaha, but I don't know
that I know where Omaha is on a map.
It's right in the middle. It's right in the middle.
Of the state. That's Nebraska, right?
I just got out now. Yeah.
We learn as we go, right? We do, but it has been a journey
that is for sure. It's been a great journey.
I've been able to do so many things.
(23:08):
I've been able to sit with families and learn about what it
was like when the wife got the phone call that her husband was
injured. I've gotten to go on cruise
ships with families, just, it's just been a neat journey.
So let's go with a best memory from the past 18 years.
(23:31):
That's a tough one. The best memory.
Anything jumps to your front of your head is like it's just an
absolutely special. Moment the I think one of a
special moment for me was when we granted a vehicle to a double
amputee veteran and his two sons.
They were probably 8 and six say, and we were, we went to
(23:53):
Chantilly, VA. And that's where they pick their
vehicle up. And then the people that have
done the modifications, they'll teach the veteran and show the
veteran how to use the modification.
So the last thing you want is them driving off and the battery
goes dead or something crazy happens and you don't know what
you're going to do to fix it. So we want to make sure that
(24:15):
they get that information. But he was just like speeding
along. I still see him, his name was
JD, speeding along in his littlewheelchair, you know, and his
kids were so excited. They're jumping around the truck
and I just kind of, kind of wentdown to his level.
He's in a wheelchair. And I just said, hey, what do
you think about all this? And he just looked at me and he
said, I just can't believe it, Kate.
(24:36):
He goes American did America didnot forget us.
And he just felt like he was notleft behind.
And it was just a really, reallycool thing.
So. And you know, people would look
at me when I first started working here, when I started
traveling and talking about the organization, I would get these
(24:57):
plaques. People would be like, oh, Kate
McCauley, Wounded warriors, let's give her this plaque.
And I have all these plaques from all these things.
Well, then your ego starts to get really big too.
Like, wow, look at me, I'm traveling.
I'm getting all these people to like me.
And they like are what we do. And they're giving me all these
plaques. Before you know it now this is
(25:18):
going back 1015 years. So this is wow, though.
I was in my office and all my walls had plaques on them and
all these little special oh Kate, Kate.
Right out of boys out of. Boys.
And so I thought to myself, thisis not about me.
This is about wounded warriors. This is about veterans.
And I took all the plaques down and I don't ever put them back
(25:41):
up because I don't need to have a pat on my back because our
veterans are the ones that sacrifice.
And if I can be that middle person to bring them, you know,
that grant or whatever it is, then that's my purpose in life.
And that's OK. But you, you can't really lose
(26:02):
yourself in times of, you know, thinking that, wow, we're just
so great. But there's always somebody
better. That's that's how I I learned
it. Or different, maybe not better,
but different. That's a better way to put it.
Seems to me like all the nonprofits out there for
veterans have their own niche and they kind of stay within
(26:22):
their boundaries. And that's kind of great because
it gives everybody a little bit of the space to kind of work
together. So I think it's going to be an
umbrella company that brings alltogether that will end the
veteran suicide epidemic becauseso many people have so many
ideas and skill sets and different things that they offer
modalities of healing, but they're all spread out and that
(26:44):
many of them communicate well because everybody's so busy.
I imagine you're busy. Actually, I know you're busy.
I see how busy you are. Very tough to get on your
schedule. It can be at times, but let's
try to make time. Certainly a selfless job, you
know, you really have to sacrifice a lot of yourself, but
I love those moments too where you feel gratitude from someone
(27:05):
that's genuine and you realize you change that person and their
families lives forever. They'll never forget you, you
know, and that's that's the realgratitude.
That's really what we're doing out here.
So many more programs to talk about.
Yes, we have some other ones. Let me think, what did we would
we miss? We talked about respite, we
talked about mobility. We talked about welding.
(27:27):
I will talk about if you want meto talk about the Dunham House.
The Dunham House is a development agreement between
Wounded Warriors Family Support and the Dunham house.org, two
separate organizations. However, Colonel Folsom founded
both and so Colonel Folsom stepped down about five years
(27:50):
ago and retired. He's our president emeritus and
he started the Dunham house.org and that is a 30 unit, 30
residents for combat wounded veterans with TBI and other
combat wounded wounds. And we will have the
state-of-the-art. It's the first of its kind.
(28:14):
I don't know that it's ever beendone in the country.
This will be a pilot for the forthe organization and also for
the Dunham House. But Jason Dunham, Corporal Jason
Dunham, threw his body over a grenade to save his unit and he
actually survived for about 5 days until his parents had to
take him off life support. And so the building is named
(28:36):
after Corporal Jason Dunham. And he was about 20, I think he
was 2021 when he died. He was very, very young.
And so his parents, they live inBuffalo, NY.
We've been on Fox and Friends many years ago.
This has been on our radar for about 7 years.
And we wanted to do something for the veterans that are are
(28:59):
basically left without a spouse.Maybe their wife left, maybe
they never married, but they're severely injured and their
parents are taking care of them.So what happens when parents
are, you know, they're at their in their 80s now.
What's going to happen to the veteran when mom or dad is no
longer able to take care of them?
And so that was always in the back of our mind.
(29:21):
What can we do better? And fortunately for Wounded
Warriors, we've always had, I'llknock on wood, a surplus in
funding every year and our programs are at 88% ratio.
So 88 of 88% of the money that we're bringing in is going
directly to support our programs, but there was also a
(29:44):
surplus after that 88%. And so we were able to save it
and put it in some investments and let it grow a little bit for
us. And we always knew that we were
going to build this facility without government money.
Building without government money means that we can build as
beautiful as we want to. We don't have any restrictions.
(30:08):
And so the building that we're building, it's it cost $10
million. It's under construction.
It started construction May 6th and it should be done in about
12 months. It's in Omaha, NE in this middle
of the universe. It's a we're national, so we're
(30:28):
going to get veterans from all over the country.
Our application will go live in a couple weeks on our website
and even though we're a year from being finished, we will
start accepting and and going through applications.
But we're going to have a selection committee that will
actually go through the applications.
And one thing we don't want to do is get a veteran in our
(30:52):
facility that maybe needs more care than we can offer.
So we want to really make sure that we vet them carefully
because we don't want to make ita cross country move and just to
fill a fill a unit. Basically we want to make sure
that it's going to be a good fit.
And so we have a committee that will do that for us.
But tell you a little bit about the building.
(31:13):
They're 30 units. They're one bedrooms.
They're all individual units. But they're also designed where
if they want to connect a door with a neighbor, they could.
So if they wanted to, you know, entertain or whatever.
But we will have state-of-the-art walking trails.
We will have lit lit pathways. We'll have a memorial there.
(31:37):
We're doing the first memorial since 9:11.
We'll be on the property. And we will be naming every
single combat veteran that died in Afghanistan and Iraq since
2001. Wow, I bet that's quite a list.
Yes, it actually we looked at the list, it was around 6000
(31:57):
something, but we will be takingoff the people that didn't dying
in combat. So if they if they died say in a
car accident and it wasn't combat related, they would not
be on the list. What about training exercise?
Training. I don't think so.
I think they have to be like a purple, like a Purple Heart type
(32:21):
of thing. But we're in the in the works of
developing the exterior of the building, which will be
absolutely beautiful. We were able to save a lot of
the trees. We have secured 40 acres.
We're building on 8.5. So we have another 30 acres to
either expand or possibly go into a Phase 2.
(32:43):
So this will be independent carewith daily living help.
And then we're hoping to do moreof an assisted care for the next
wing and then maybe skilled is kind of what we're looking at.
But right now we just got to focus on the one.
That's right, just one. Just one.
Just one. Step at a time, one step.
At a time can't. Understand the big pictures too
much? So is there anything else you'd
(33:04):
like to tell the audience about you?
About me, I'm just a, you know, normal Midwestern girl, real
estate background, banking background, did really well in
business, owned a concrete company at one time and we are
just very lean here as far as we, we have 7 board members, 6
(33:27):
employees and we get the job done.
Tell ya, we, we love our veterans and we're really
working hard to make sure that the programs we have aligned
with the need that's out there. That's fantastic.
Yeah. All from Omaha, NE.
All from Omaha, somebody said tome, why Omaha?
(33:49):
Well, why not? But it's where we it's where we
live, it's where we were founded.
And I think that you know, if things take off the way we
expect them to, especially with the Dunham house, we will
probably be building in other areas is our hope.
And what's fabulous about it is again, it's being built with
America's money. I mean, that's, that's what's
(34:12):
amazing. And I don't think our our
constituents, our donors, our investors, they just don't get
the thank you that they need. They really don't.
Some of them don't want it, but we certainly want to give it to
them because we appreciate it. We wouldn't be here without
them. No, it definitely takes
everybody takes a village, right?
(34:33):
Yeah, small village. So people can find you at your
website they. Can.
Yeah, we can. Wound of ours.
Family support.org or wwfs.org, you can give us a call.
We're available to meet with youto talk to you.
If you have a veteran in need, let us talk to us.
If we can't help them, we'll tryto source other resources.
(34:55):
One thing we don't do is just send you out a list.
We make sure that they're vettedbefore we send you out a
resource list. Because it's so irritating to
get 20 a list of 20 and realize that none of none of these
people are going to help me. And a lot of times that happens,
the organization that I'm working for, we're very small
(35:17):
enough to, if there's an exception, there's times where
we can make exceptions because let's face it, there's sometimes
where you just don't have the right paperwork or you just
might be missing something. And we we certainly can
understand that at times. It does happen.
It does. It's.
All of us, even the best of us so.
(35:39):
Right. That's not just a disability
thing. That's not everybody thing.
That isn't everything. So Woody Warriors family support
doc. Yep, yeah.
Then how do they go about applying for the sale of the
vehicle grants? Is that on the?
Website, so the vehicle grants and all of our application, all
of our processes on our website,wwfs.org and just click down the
(36:00):
programs, you'll see all the programs and you just put your
application in and we'll have a case manager call you back
within 24 hours. Fantastic.
Fantastic. Yeah.
Wow. I'm I'm impressed as you're
doing a lot with seven people out there know how to rescue.
Very much so we are spread thin,but we don't mind because that
(36:21):
it's important that we are doingwhat we're doing and we're
really starting to be recognizedfor our good work and and we
appreciate that and we appreciate you Chris letting us
come on and you know, talking about what we're doing because
it is important and we don't spend a lot of money on
fundraising because of our charity rating.
(36:42):
We're really restricted on really our outreach and so being
on your platform and, you know, being able to talk about what
we're talking about and it just really makes a difference
because it gets us that next step of being looked at by other
people. So we appreciate that.
(37:02):
No, no, it's, it's definitely mypleasure.
Anything that supports veterans,I'm all for it.
And you guys are obviously doinga fantastic job.
So. Well, I hope I can meet you
someday in person. I I know I I do travel to
Florida every once in a while soif I get close I it will
definitely try to link up with you for.
(37:22):
Sure. I've got a bus so I can move
around wherever you are. So, and I'm heading out this
Wednesday to Canada, OK, South NCalifornia and then the Ozarks
all in the next month, OK. It's going to be exciting to be
out and about. I don't know where Nebraska is
in that hole. It's not.
(37:42):
It's not very close at all. Matter of fact, it's not very
close to anything. No, it's not.
Close at all. That's a nice thing, though.
You got some isolation. Right.
Some right? So yeah, we'll do it again.
We'll talk about some more stuffthat's going on, maybe even have
a one of the recipients of one of the autos.
Yeah, actually, actually and andyeah, let me let me work on
(38:04):
that. I've got a couple things going
on. Yeah, that'd.
Be great. That would really inspire some
people and give them a chance tosee you guys do it in action.
I like it. I like.
It everybody go to woundedwarriorsfamilysupport.org.
And say hi. And say hello to.
Donate. Say hi.
Super nice. She'll respond right away, I
promise. Within at least seven days.
(38:26):
We'll give you some room to workwith since you got locked out
there. But yeah, I didn't realize how
many people you only have. We had seven people.
That's very small for what you're doing.
Very small, yeah, everyone's in San Antonio.
So again, we're just very lean here, but we get the job done.
We're pretty much Internet based.
So a lot of our, like I said, our applications come in online
and we we've got them here at the office and we do make.
(38:49):
Sure. We tag everybody out there and
thank you so much for taking time out today.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
It's. Up right away and get it out to
the people. Thank you.
Talk soon. Have a wonderful day.
All right. You too, friend.
I am positively Chris Pace and you are actively listening to
conversation with Chris. Hey everyone, what's up?
It's Chris. I am here today with a very
special guest, Kate McAuley. Did I say that correctly, Kate?
Yes, you did. Hello.
She's here to tell us all about some fantastic things for
veterans. OK, not all veterans, but the
(00:33):
best veterans. No, I'm just kidding.
Kate, how are you? I'm doing wonderful, thank you.
Tell me about your program. Tell me about how you got into
your program. So I have been with the
organization for over 18 years. I was the first employee that
was hired by Colonel John Folsom.
He's our founder and president, and we've been serving combat
(00:56):
wounded veterans and their families and caregivers for
about 22 years now with the programs that we serve.
And you guys are tied directly to wounded warriors, right?
You're just the family support side.
We are, we are. And we have a couple programs
that I'll talk a little bit about today.
One in particular is called Mobility is Freedom, and this
(01:17):
was designed probably about 2018.
Colonel Folsom was doing some research and realized that
combat wounded veterans missing limbs were losing their driving
independence. And one of the reasons why they
were losing their driving independence is because of the
specialized equipment and the cost of the vehicle and the cost
(01:39):
of the technology to bring in the adoptive equipment.
So we opened up a program calledMobility as Freedom, hoping to
really spread the word and help veterans get mobilized.
And it's been very successful. The organization spends about
$1.5 million a year bringing in modifications and also through
(02:01):
vehicle grants. And we have companies, Assurant
Foundation and some other companies that sponsor us and
sponsor a vehicle. So they'll actually purchase the
vehicle for us. And we pick the combat wounded
veteran and we do kind of a a truck grant with that company.
And we've been doing that, like I said, for about 7-8 years now.
(02:23):
How many go ahead? I'm sorry.
I said very successful program. We probably do about 30 truck
grants a year and those are about $30,000 each.
And then depending on if we teamup with a company or foundation,
sometimes we'll do a full truck grant with the modifications
(02:44):
included for that veteran. We identify the veteran prior to
us purchasing the vehicle to make sure that it's going to be
a fit for them. In the past, we went ahead and
modified the vehicles with liftsand all kinds of stuff.
Well, not every veteran has the same condition or needs the same
(03:04):
modification. So that's something we were able
to evolve and and you know, again, identify that veteran
ahead of time so we know what the needs are.
That's so huge. I know that the Veterans
Administration offers a car something modification
allowance, but it's only available to certain people and
(03:25):
they only give away a certain amount of them each year.
And I know a lot of my veteran friends who need extra
assistance in vehicles and things like that.
And So what a beautiful thing todo.
I mean, that's, well, it's freedom.
What I was going to mention too,is the organization Wounded
Warriors Family Support. We, we're never looking to, you
(03:45):
know, do what somebody else is doing.
We are really looking to identify gaps in services and
challenges that veterans are facing, and we saw this as a big
need not only for suicide awareness.
You think about these and the predominantly men that have been
disfigured from stepping on IE D's or just the battles that
(04:05):
they were in. And so you're have a veteran
that's living with their injuries for sometimes up to 20
years and the injuries aren't getting any better.
A lot of them are having so manysurgeries in a year, maybe 20-30
surgeries just to stay intact. And this is just a way for
America to say, listen, we haven't forgot your sacrifice.
(04:27):
Even though the VA does do a $25,000 allowance, it's a one
time allowance from our understanding.
And like I said, these veterans were injured, you know, almost
20 years ago. So they've already used up their
allowance for modifications and also for their their driving
independence. So they really fall through that
(04:49):
gap. And so you have a lot of
veterans that are just basicallystuck at home without the
ability to drive. That's 100% true.
And I'm one of those people. I mean, I was stuck at home.
Now fortunately I've been able to get myself a a mobile home of
us. But actually there's so many
things that I need with neuropathy and with the TB eyes
(05:13):
and even having all my limbs without being able to feel them,
they're not a whole lot better. So, you know, they're having
lifts and having camera systems.Even tried a Tesla because I
thought maybe that would help mea lot because I have Vertigo.
So certainly there's a big need for it.
And there's a lot of people out there that I know have struggled
to be able to get themselves mobile.
(05:35):
And if you take away someone's mobility, you take away their
freedom completely so. Something that we just, we just
get up and we go, you know, we don't even think about it.
For granted, right? You just have nothing to worry
about. You get in your car, you try
fine. These guys definitely need more
than that. So that's a big program.
You've been rolling that out forwhat, 7 years now?
Yeah, it's been, it's been very,very valuable.
(05:57):
I I remember one time somebody asked me, well, you know, when
you grant this vehicle, what is,what was the veteran say?
And just so you know, we grant their title, when we give it to
them, they get the title, it's theirs.
We will never take it back if something happened to that
veteran, it stays in their family.
They they do it whatever they dowith it.
(06:17):
So that's that's a point I'd like to make When we gift
something, we gift it for for good, but I forgot where we were
tracking with that we. Were just talking about the
seven years you've been doing this and how many people have
benefited from it. And it's probably been a quite a
number 'cause I see on your Instagram and LinkedIn and
there's always somebody gaining a new vehicle or a new
(06:38):
modification, which is brilliant.
I mean brilliant. How many do you think you've had
so far? Since the program, I would say
over over 100 veterans, over 100veterans, easy.
But like I mentioned, we do a $30,000 grant and there are
(06:58):
other organizations that we're doing, I think it was Semper Fi
that was doing a $30,000 grant. This is about a year ago, and
the cost of the vehicles went upso much for $60,000, you can
barely buy a vehicle. But what was nice is they would
team up like they would get $30,000 from our organization.
(07:19):
And then they pulled from say, Semper Fi when they were funding
this. And so they were able to get a
$60,000 truck, which is pretty fabulous.
Yeah. It's.
Pretty. Fabulous and and you guys want
trucks, You don't you don't wantvans.
I know that you don't want. Any vans?
I personally like minivans, but yeah, most of us thought we'd
like to have a truck if. They like to have a truck.
(07:40):
I drive a truck for sure, so. But yeah, that's amazing.
What an incredible thing to do. So tell me about the program
itself and how it got started and.
So Colonel Folsom, he did a lot of research on the Internet.
He always was on the Internet looking at things and looking at
ways we could create programs without recreating something
that somebody else is doing. And when he came through the
(08:04):
mobility part of veterans, he thought this, this is a really
good fit. And we've had one veteran that
was denied. And here's another thing,
another subject that we could talk about, There's a lot of
denials with the VA system. So a lot of veterans are being
denied for their mobility or forwhatever they need.
(08:25):
And I personally, being in the industry for as long as I have,
I think there's a, a shortfall in how the paperwork is filled
out. I think that that people need to
have, or veterans need to have somebody there to help them
navigate the paperwork for thesetype of benefits.
And I'll tell you why I'm not ACPA.
(08:47):
So I have to have my taxes done every year, right?
I'm not going to do my taxes. I'm going to have a professional
do my taxes. I, I feel like with veterans
that they need to have that, that specialized legal or
whatever that is to help them with that paperwork.
Because when they're trying to do it themselves and they keep
(09:07):
getting denied 8 years in a row,it really leaves a bad taste in
their mouth. And they're like, I had a guy
driving and this is a true storywith a broomstick for seven
years. And he said we they found out
about us through a referral through one of the programs that
we work through. But at the same time, I was
(09:30):
like, how how could you be usinga broomstick to drive your
vehicle? But he really was.
But one amazing thing when I getthe pleasure to be present to
give the keys over when we're granting a vehicle, they'll say,
Kate, you know, we just thought America forgot about us.
(09:53):
You know, we didn't. We just didn't know that there
were organizations like you out here.
We just didn't realize that the American people really, really
care about us. And that's what I want people to
know that the organization, we, we do the best we can.
We're 100% transparent. We have the highest rating that
(10:13):
you can earn. And we want our veterans to know
that we do care and we're doing direct support to the veteran.
He's getting a modification, he's getting a vehicle, he's
getting something that's going to make his life, quality of
life a lot better for him and his family.
Wow. And that's you guys are directly
affiliated with the Wounded Warriors program or is there a
(10:34):
separate application? We are different.
We are separate. We are our own nonprofit, 5O1C3.
We're not affiliated with any other Wounded Warrior.
If they have Wounded Warrior in their name, we are not
affiliated with them. We're Wounded Warriors Family
Support located in Omaha, NE. We're a national organization.
(10:55):
We've been nationally recognizedfor over 10 years and we are
just very fortunate to be here. We're not at wartime.
We just know that the American people love what we're doing
because they keep funding us andkeep wanting us to keep doing
what we're doing because it's making a big difference.
That's fantastic. And yeah, so just so people
(11:16):
know, and it's still for only for combat wounded vets after
2001. Yes, yes, we work, we, we work
with the, the veteran family. So the spouse and if they have a
caregiver, what we created for the wife, which is basically in
most instances the primary caregiver for the veteran, they
(11:38):
were burning out after 10-15 years.
There were no programs for the caregivers 10 years ago.
And so we opened up a respite care specifically for veterans
and also for their caregivers orfor their spouse.
And So what happens to the veteran when his wife suddenly
has come down with breast cancer?
(11:59):
Because for all these years, she's taking care of the kids
health, she's taking care of herveteran's health, but she didn't
take care of her own health. So now she has breast cancer.
And and this is a true story andthere's more than one.
There's a, there's a lot of females dealing with breast
cancer right now that have veteran husbands.
And So what happens to the household?
(12:21):
She's their primary caregiver. We can step in when I say we,
the organization, we have agencies hired nationally around
the United States. So if we get a call of an
accident and illness or emergency from a veteran family
caregiver or the, you know, the veteran himself, we can actually
(12:42):
get there faster than the VA. We can get the application
process and get someone sent outto their house for some home
health care if they needed help with bathing or some daily
living assistance, if they needed some groceries or they
needed somebody to cook for them.
And we do that on a temporary basis.
We're not looking to, you know, keep them on our care forever.
(13:06):
It's just during that time wheretheir family's in crisis.
And so that has been very, very successful.
We work with a hundreds of families a year through that
program. A lot of them that go through
respite or or elderly veterans, combat wounded veterans and they
are basically just out of caregiver hours and they're just
(13:27):
really looking for some type of relief, even if it is just
temporarily. Absolutely.
I mean, it's a such a big deal. And I agree with you on the the
finding advocates that understand the VA application
process, because let's be honest, I don't think anybody
understands the VA's process. And they've made it so
complicated that it took me 10 years from date of application
(13:50):
to going in front of a federal judge and then getting all of my
disabilities approved. And it was crazy, 10 years of my
life, I spent don't getting denied, getting denied, getting
denied. And you, you don't know what how
to do the paperwork correctly. Then you mess up.
Now you're set back to the beginning, you know, and it's
like, it's just so frustrating. And then you try and do VA math
(14:12):
and it's like, if you're at 80%,you only need 70% to get to
100%. And you're like, wait, what?
It's just complicated. It's really complicated.
And I, I wish more veterans would reach out and get help for
that. And I've noticed it just in my
line of work that I don't. And because people will say to
me, Kate, why is the government not taking care of these people?
(14:33):
I just had somebody say it at a Rotary event the other day.
And I adjust it by saying, listen, you know, I don't know.
I don't know why. But I do know that they do rely
on charities like us to do that type of work because that's why
we're here. And that's why we're, you know,
we don't pay taxes. But yeah, it's, it's a really
(14:55):
difficult process to figure out.I wouldn't be able to figure it
out. No, no, no.
So do you guys offer some assistance with that now or is
that something we? Don't, but I would think that
that would be a niche. I, I think we are pretty full
with what we have on our plate, but I do like to, you know, let
people know that it is a situation that, you know, people
(15:15):
could help out with. And I do know of some attorneys
that do it pro bono, but they'reonly going to do so many pro
bono. I mean, let's face it, you know,
and there's not a lot of them out there that are willing to do
that. Yeah, that's true.
And so I tell me about some of the other programs you guys
offer. So yeah, we have right now, we
(15:36):
have our welding school going onat the UAW in Dearborn, MI.
We have 10 veterans that we fly them out or they drive out.
A lot of them are not from the Dearborn area.
So they come around, come from all over the United States and
they're at Dearborn for an 8 week course.
(15:56):
It's accelerated. They learn how to Weld and they
get certifications and dependingon how many, how well they do,
they can walk away with up to five certifications.
So it's something that we are partnered with the UAW and
they've been doing this for about 8 years with us.
(16:17):
We do two classes every year. The classes run upwards of
hundreds of thousands of dollarsdue to the training center that
we utilize, the instructors, thetextbooks and all that is
included for the veteran. We pay for their lodging while
they're there, their food is taken care of, and then it just
(16:38):
gives them a chance to learn a new trade.
And you know, the blue collar isreally suffering right now.
They can't fill enough spots. And so a lot of the veterans
that go through this, they have a job placement at the end with
the UAW or we have a board member that has, he's got a gas
(16:58):
company in Odessa, TX and he'll take just about anybody that
wants to move to go there and work for him.
So we've had some really successful veterans.
We had a double amputee veteran.This is the first time this ever
happened. And you know, at the training
center, it's all concrete. And this particular veteran, we
(17:20):
had to buy him specialized shoesso he wouldn't get electrocuted,
if that makes sense. So we learn new things as we go
along, how to make everybody safe when they're at school.
But yeah, that was a new thing for us.
So we, we buy their shoes, we get them equipped and basically
they go to school for 8 weeks. And when they're done, we're
(17:43):
hoping that they, you know, got a skill and they want to go on
to bigger and better things in the welding industry.
Yeah, absolutely. Great job.
Like you said, big time demand for it right now with
everything. We had a homeless guy, a
homeless veteran that our my colleague is a retired Master
(18:03):
Gunny. He works out of our San Antonio
office and he vets all of the welding participants.
And he's, he's just really, really good at it.
But he was, somebody must have called him.
This veteran was a homeless veteran living on the street and
he went through our welding program, did very, very well.
(18:26):
And he's now an underwater diverdoing welding, making in the
uppers of 100, some $1000. So there's some really good
success stories that come out ofthe classes.
We had one gentleman that was a very shaky and tremors and his
hands shook and he wanted to go through the welding school.
(18:50):
And the instructors, they're so amazing.
They're older. They they were all veterans.
They've been at the UAW, they volunteer their time.
They're just very gracious gentleman and they helped him be
able to make jewelry. And so this veteran that you
would think that probably didn'thave any skills to go into
(19:11):
welding is now selling jewelry kind of out of an RV type of
thing, traveling around, sellingthem at little shops and stores.
And so you just never know what the impact of your program is
going to bring to a family and allow them to grow.
The ripple effects just helps everybody along the way.
(19:32):
So it does now. Do you have programs just for
the spouses or? Like, well, our respite care is
pretty much for the spouses. We have some retreats and things
that we do with some other organizations.
We also have welding. We have the resorts.
The resorts are Orlando, FL and what we do is we have about 200
(19:56):
families that we send per year. It's an all inclusive, pretty
much seven days away for you to reconnect and heal with your
family. It was designed 22 years ago
when we had very young soldiers being critically injured with
very, very young wives and young, young children.
(20:17):
And they, once they were able totravel, they would take this
trip with their family. And sometimes, you know, mom or
dad came back disfigured. And so it was a challenge for
them to see their, their family in a, in a new way.
And so this was a way for them to reconnect and make new, new
memories. And, you know, they're going to
(20:38):
be OK as a family. And so that was one of our main
focuses, you know, back in the early 2000s, 2007, 2008, so.
A long time ago. Yeah, yeah, it was a long time
ago. And you know what?
It's still supported today. We still send 200 people there.
(20:58):
Universal Studios, they grant usabout $150,000 in tickets.
And not just tickets. They do the Gold Pass, they do
the parking. Our veterans are moved to the
top of the, they're not waiting in any lines.
They're just they really pull out the red carpet for our
veterans and and we've had a 22 year relationship with them.
(21:21):
So we really appreciate that. Really long time 22 years
relationship with anybody is. Difficult, I know.
Let alone a theme park, but. Yeah, that's.
Such a necessary thing too, to get people to go.
So you got into it because you're doing real estate, is
that right? I was, yes, I was a real estate
agent. I will say I always wanted to be
(21:43):
the best real estate agent, Chris, always.
But you know what, I just wasn'tthat great at it.
I made I made a living at it. But let's be real, I was not the
best. And I think for me, if I would
have went in with a big real estate company instead of trying
to do a small company and not want to pay all the fees and all
(22:03):
the dues, I would have probably done that differently.
But then I wouldn't be where I'mat today.
So I got to meet Colonel Folsom in the real estate office.
So he changed my life. Legitimately like 18 years
later. Yes, who would have known?
You know, and in the charity world, you know, when I took
this position many years ago, I always thought that it would
(22:26):
probably be a temporary positionbecause I just didn't know how
sustainable A nonprofit organization was going to be in
Omaha. You know, let's face it, I had
no idea. But here we are.
And you know, we're funded by America, so we're doing
something right. That's right.
(22:46):
And I don't know how many vets are in Omaha, but I don't know
that I know where Omaha is on a map.
It's right in the middle. It's right in the middle.
Of the state. That's Nebraska, right?
I just got out now. Yeah.
We learn as we go, right? We do, but it has been a journey
that is for sure. It's been a great journey.
I've been able to do so many things.
(23:08):
I've been able to sit with families and learn about what it
was like when the wife got the phone call that her husband was
injured. I've gotten to go on cruise
ships with families, just, it's just been a neat journey.
So let's go with a best memory from the past 18 years.
(23:31):
That's a tough one. The best memory.
Anything jumps to your front of your head is like it's just an
absolutely special. Moment the I think one of a
special moment for me was when we granted a vehicle to a double
amputee veteran and his two sons.
They were probably 8 and six say, and we were, we went to
(23:53):
Chantilly, VA. And that's where they pick their
vehicle up. And then the people that have
done the modifications, they'll teach the veteran and show the
veteran how to use the modification.
So the last thing you want is them driving off and the battery
goes dead or something crazy happens and you don't know what
you're going to do to fix it. So we want to make sure that
(24:15):
they get that information. But he was just like speeding
along. I still see him, his name was
JD, speeding along in his littlewheelchair, you know, and his
kids were so excited. They're jumping around the truck
and I just kind of, kind of wentdown to his level.
He's in a wheelchair. And I just said, hey, what do
you think about all this? And he just looked at me and he
said, I just can't believe it, Kate.
(24:36):
He goes American did America didnot forget us.
And he just felt like he was notleft behind.
And it was just a really, reallycool thing.
So. And you know, people would look
at me when I first started working here, when I started
traveling and talking about the organization, I would get these
(24:57):
plaques. People would be like, oh, Kate
McCauley, Wounded warriors, let's give her this plaque.
And I have all these plaques from all these things.
Well, then your ego starts to get really big too.
Like, wow, look at me, I'm traveling.
I'm getting all these people to like me.
And they like are what we do. And they're giving me all these
plaques. Before you know it now this is
(25:18):
going back 1015 years. So this is wow, though.
I was in my office and all my walls had plaques on them and
all these little special oh Kate, Kate.
Right out of boys out of. Boys.
And so I thought to myself, thisis not about me.
This is about wounded warriors. This is about veterans.
And I took all the plaques down and I don't ever put them back
(25:41):
up because I don't need to have a pat on my back because our
veterans are the ones that sacrifice.
And if I can be that middle person to bring them, you know,
that grant or whatever it is, then that's my purpose in life.
And that's OK. But you, you can't really lose
(26:02):
yourself in times of, you know, thinking that, wow, we're just
so great. But there's always somebody
better. That's that's how I I learned
it. Or different, maybe not better,
but different. That's a better way to put it.
Seems to me like all the nonprofits out there for
veterans have their own niche and they kind of stay within
(26:22):
their boundaries. And that's kind of great because
it gives everybody a little bit of the space to kind of work
together. So I think it's going to be an
umbrella company that brings alltogether that will end the
veteran suicide epidemic becauseso many people have so many
ideas and skill sets and different things that they offer
modalities of healing, but they're all spread out and that
(26:44):
many of them communicate well because everybody's so busy.
I imagine you're busy. Actually, I know you're busy.
I see how busy you are. Very tough to get on your
schedule. It can be at times, but let's
try to make time. Certainly a selfless job, you
know, you really have to sacrifice a lot of yourself, but
I love those moments too where you feel gratitude from someone
(27:05):
that's genuine and you realize you change that person and their
families lives forever. They'll never forget you, you
know, and that's that's the realgratitude.
That's really what we're doing out here.
So many more programs to talk about.
Yes, we have some other ones. Let me think, what did we would
we miss? We talked about respite, we
talked about mobility. We talked about welding.
(27:27):
I will talk about if you want meto talk about the Dunham House.
The Dunham House is a development agreement between
Wounded Warriors Family Support and the Dunham house.org, two
separate organizations. However, Colonel Folsom founded
both and so Colonel Folsom stepped down about five years
(27:50):
ago and retired. He's our president emeritus and
he started the Dunham house.org and that is a 30 unit, 30
residents for combat wounded veterans with TBI and other
combat wounded wounds. And we will have the
state-of-the-art. It's the first of its kind.
(28:14):
I don't know that it's ever beendone in the country.
This will be a pilot for the forthe organization and also for
the Dunham House. But Jason Dunham, Corporal Jason
Dunham, threw his body over a grenade to save his unit and he
actually survived for about 5 days until his parents had to
take him off life support. And so the building is named
(28:36):
after Corporal Jason Dunham. And he was about 20, I think he
was 2021 when he died. He was very, very young.
And so his parents, they live inBuffalo, NY.
We've been on Fox and Friends many years ago.
This has been on our radar for about 7 years.
And we wanted to do something for the veterans that are are
(28:59):
basically left without a spouse.Maybe their wife left, maybe
they never married, but they're severely injured and their
parents are taking care of them.So what happens when parents
are, you know, they're at their in their 80s now.
What's going to happen to the veteran when mom or dad is no
longer able to take care of them?
And so that was always in the back of our mind.
(29:21):
What can we do better? And fortunately for Wounded
Warriors, we've always had, I'llknock on wood, a surplus in
funding every year and our programs are at 88% ratio.
So 88 of 88% of the money that we're bringing in is going
directly to support our programs, but there was also a
(29:44):
surplus after that 88%. And so we were able to save it
and put it in some investments and let it grow a little bit for
us. And we always knew that we were
going to build this facility without government money.
Building without government money means that we can build as
beautiful as we want to. We don't have any restrictions.
(30:08):
And so the building that we're building, it's it cost $10
million. It's under construction.
It started construction May 6th and it should be done in about
12 months. It's in Omaha, NE in this middle
of the universe. It's a we're national, so we're
(30:28):
going to get veterans from all over the country.
Our application will go live in a couple weeks on our website
and even though we're a year from being finished, we will
start accepting and and going through applications.
But we're going to have a selection committee that will
actually go through the applications.
And one thing we don't want to do is get a veteran in our
(30:52):
facility that maybe needs more care than we can offer.
So we want to really make sure that we vet them carefully
because we don't want to make ita cross country move and just to
fill a fill a unit. Basically we want to make sure
that it's going to be a good fit.
And so we have a committee that will do that for us.
But tell you a little bit about the building.
(31:13):
They're 30 units. They're one bedrooms.
They're all individual units. But they're also designed where
if they want to connect a door with a neighbor, they could.
So if they wanted to, you know, entertain or whatever.
But we will have state-of-the-art walking trails.
We will have lit lit pathways. We'll have a memorial there.
(31:37):
We're doing the first memorial since 9:11.
We'll be on the property. And we will be naming every
single combat veteran that died in Afghanistan and Iraq since
2001. Wow, I bet that's quite a list.
Yes, it actually we looked at the list, it was around 6000
(31:57):
something, but we will be takingoff the people that didn't dying
in combat. So if they if they died say in a
car accident and it wasn't combat related, they would not
be on the list. What about training exercise?
Training. I don't think so.
I think they have to be like a purple, like a Purple Heart type
(32:21):
of thing. But we're in the in the works of
developing the exterior of the building, which will be
absolutely beautiful. We were able to save a lot of
the trees. We have secured 40 acres.
We're building on 8.5. So we have another 30 acres to
either expand or possibly go into a Phase 2.
(32:43):
So this will be independent carewith daily living help.
And then we're hoping to do moreof an assisted care for the next
wing and then maybe skilled is kind of what we're looking at.
But right now we just got to focus on the one.
That's right, just one. Just one.
Just one. Step at a time, one step.
At a time can't. Understand the big pictures too
much? So is there anything else you'd
(33:04):
like to tell the audience about you?
About me, I'm just a, you know, normal Midwestern girl, real
estate background, banking background, did really well in
business, owned a concrete company at one time and we are
just very lean here as far as we, we have 7 board members, 6
(33:27):
employees and we get the job done.
Tell ya, we, we love our veterans and we're really
working hard to make sure that the programs we have aligned
with the need that's out there. That's fantastic.
Yeah. All from Omaha, NE.
All from Omaha, somebody said tome, why Omaha?
(33:49):
Well, why not? But it's where we it's where we
live, it's where we were founded.
And I think that you know, if things take off the way we
expect them to, especially with the Dunham house, we will
probably be building in other areas is our hope.
And what's fabulous about it is again, it's being built with
America's money. I mean, that's, that's what's
(34:12):
amazing. And I don't think our our
constituents, our donors, our investors, they just don't get
the thank you that they need. They really don't.
Some of them don't want it, but we certainly want to give it to
them because we appreciate it. We wouldn't be here without
them. No, it definitely takes
everybody takes a village, right?
(34:33):
Yeah, small village. So people can find you at your
website they. Can.
Yeah, we can. Wound of ours.
Family support.org or wwfs.org, you can give us a call.
We're available to meet with youto talk to you.
If you have a veteran in need, let us talk to us.
If we can't help them, we'll tryto source other resources.
(34:55):
One thing we don't do is just send you out a list.
We make sure that they're vettedbefore we send you out a
resource list. Because it's so irritating to
get 20 a list of 20 and realize that none of none of these
people are going to help me. And a lot of times that happens,
the organization that I'm working for, we're very small
(35:17):
enough to, if there's an exception, there's times where
we can make exceptions because let's face it, there's sometimes
where you just don't have the right paperwork or you just
might be missing something. And we we certainly can
understand that at times. It does happen.
It does. It's.
All of us, even the best of us so.
(35:39):
Right. That's not just a disability
thing. That's not everybody thing.
That isn't everything. So Woody Warriors family support
doc. Yep, yeah.
Then how do they go about applying for the sale of the
vehicle grants? Is that on the?
Website, so the vehicle grants and all of our application, all
of our processes on our website,wwfs.org and just click down the
(36:00):
programs, you'll see all the programs and you just put your
application in and we'll have a case manager call you back
within 24 hours. Fantastic.
Fantastic. Yeah.
Wow. I'm I'm impressed as you're
doing a lot with seven people out there know how to rescue.
Very much so we are spread thin,but we don't mind because that
(36:21):
it's important that we are doingwhat we're doing and we're
really starting to be recognizedfor our good work and and we
appreciate that and we appreciate you Chris letting us
come on and you know, talking about what we're doing because
it is important and we don't spend a lot of money on
fundraising because of our charity rating.
(36:42):
We're really restricted on really our outreach and so being
on your platform and, you know, being able to talk about what
we're talking about and it just really makes a difference
because it gets us that next step of being looked at by other
people. So we appreciate that.
(37:02):
No, no, it's, it's definitely mypleasure.
Anything that supports veterans,I'm all for it.
And you guys are obviously doinga fantastic job.
So. Well, I hope I can meet you
someday in person. I I know I I do travel to
Florida every once in a while soif I get close I it will
definitely try to link up with you for.
(37:22):
Sure. I've got a bus so I can move
around wherever you are. So, and I'm heading out this
Wednesday to Canada, OK, South NCalifornia and then the Ozarks
all in the next month, OK. It's going to be exciting to be
out and about. I don't know where Nebraska is
in that hole. It's not.
(37:42):
It's not very close at all. Matter of fact, it's not very
close to anything. No, it's not.
Close at all. That's a nice thing, though.
You got some isolation. Right.
Some right? So yeah, we'll do it again.
We'll talk about some more stuffthat's going on, maybe even have
a one of the recipients of one of the autos.
Yeah, actually, actually and andyeah, let me let me work on
(38:04):
that. I've got a couple things going
on. Yeah, that'd.
Be great. That would really inspire some
people and give them a chance tosee you guys do it in action.
I like it. I like.
It everybody go to woundedwarriorsfamilysupport.org.
And say hi. And say hello to.
Donate. Say hi.
Super nice. She'll respond right away, I
promise. Within at least seven days.
(38:26):
We'll give you some room to workwith since you got locked out
there. But yeah, I didn't realize how
many people you only have. We had seven people.
That's very small for what you're doing.
Very small, yeah, everyone's in San Antonio.
So again, we're just very lean here, but we get the job done.
We're pretty much Internet based.
So a lot of our, like I said, our applications come in online
and we we've got them here at the office and we do make.
(38:49):
Sure. We tag everybody out there and
thank you so much for taking time out today.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
It's. Up right away and get it out to
the people. Thank you.
Talk soon. Have a wonderful day.
All right. You too, friend.
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