Unlock the secrets to effective collaboration and agency cooperation in supporting veterans, as we welcome back Jonathan Oakley, the Senior Director of Mission United of Palm Beach County, on the Vets Connection podcast. Jonathan shares the remarkable progress Mission United has made over the past eight months, including the swift success of the inaugural Mission United summit. Held in partnership with Dade and Broward Counties, this event accelerated the resolution of pressing veterans' issues, from housing and financial stability to legal assistance and health and education, thanks to efficient teamwork and strategic planning.
Our conversation takes a deep dive into the complexities of navigating veterans' services across Florida, highlighting the involvement of nearly 50 agencies. With Jonathan, we explore the need for a unified strategy to present findings to government leaders, ensuring resources are aligned and efforts are maximized. Learn how Mission United acts as an essential bridge, connecting these agencies and helping them overcome the challenges of reaching veterans who might not know about available resources. Access to grants, increased exposure, and timely newsletters are some of the ways Mission United broadens the support network for veterans.
As we cast our eyes to future initiatives planned for 2025, discover the pivotal role of community engagement and the relentless spirit required to sustain fundraising and collaboration efforts. Be inspired by the dedicated individuals like Richard, who contribute to organizing meaningful events such as the 4th of July 5K and Veterans Day celebrations. Plus, you'll hear about the significance of persistence in navigating the veteran nonprofit landscape and fostering valuable connections through podcasts and partnerships. Stay tuned until the end for a vital public service announcement on resources like 988 and 211, crucial for veterans and their communities.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott McLean (00:01):
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McLean.
My guest today is JonathanOakley, senior Director of
Mission United of Palm BeachCounty, and this is Jonathan's
second trip.
He's the first repeat offenderon the Vets Connection podcast.
How you doing, jonathan?
Jonathan Oakley (00:17):
I'm doing great .
I'm not sure if that's an honoror a privilege or both.
Scott McLean (00:22):
Yeah yeah, welcome to the one man, one mike studio
sponsored by willow and palmconstruction at delray beach,
florida.
Willow and palm south florida'spremier builder.
From driveways to roofs tobuildings if you need it,
they'll build it.
You can find them atwillowandpalmcom there.
(00:43):
You, you go.
Got that out of the way.
Nice.
Now they're great.
They are absolutely great.
Jonathan Oakley (00:47):
This is a step up From the studio kitchen, from
the studio kitchen.
Yeah, the kitchen was beautiful.
Yeah, your home is beautiful,but there's no Hulk leering at
me.
There you go.
There's no intimidation factor.
Big pink couch.
Big pink couch, big pink couch.
Comfortable, a hundred percent.
Scott McLean (01:04):
There you go, there you go.
That's the selling point.
To get people to come in, Ihave to coax them in.
Jonathan Oakley (01:15):
You get to sit on a real comfortable big pink
couch.
It's a vibe, it's for thosethat haven't been here.
It's its own vibe.
There you go, missionaccomplished.
Scott McLean (01:20):
All right.
So yeah, it's been eight months, eight months since you were on
first.
Jonathan Oakley (01:25):
It's been a whirlwind.
Scott McLean (01:26):
Eight months.
That's amazing.
Yes, I looked at the data.
I'm like woof, where did thatgo?
All right.
So instead of you saying, ohwell, let me think back, I'll
just kind of bring it along Atthis point.
Eight months later, the currentgoals for Mission United Palm
Beach County has anythingchanged?
(01:47):
Is it still the same?
Jonathan Oakley (01:50):
Goals-wise, we're still working in the same
direction.
We're still operating under thesame pretenses of increasing
access for veterans right, tryto find ways to get the veterans
connected with the resources,increasing the ability for the
resources to connect withveterans and connect with each
other.
How do we build the network?
How do we get the network to bemore collaborative and
(02:11):
communicative to help solvethose problems more efficiently,
more effectively with lessresources?
Right?
And then you know we're afunding partner, so we still
provide grants.
In those eight months sincewe've issued a little over
$275,000 in grant funding, wehad a funder come into the
(02:36):
United Way with a little specialpot of money that went out to
three agencies specifically, andthen we had another grant cycle
that completed out in September, and so that was another
quarter million that walked outthe door to 14 agencies separate
.
You know, doing many differentthings.
(02:56):
So just another year in thelife.
Scott McLean (03:01):
Another year in the life of Mission United, palm
Beach County.
There we go, yes, so currentlywe just got done.
I was fortunate enough to beinvited to this through the One
man, one Mic Foundation.
Jonathan Oakley (03:15):
My cheap plug that I put in every episode I'm
down.
Scott McLean (03:18):
Yeah, we had the Mission United first ever summit
Yep, right Of the three DadeCounty, broward County.
First ever summit yeah, rightOf the three Dade County,
broward County, palm BeachCounty Yep, I'll just tell you
it was.
It was an amazing day.
I'm not just saying this, thisisn't lip service.
I was, uh, I was fortunateenough to be invited and I was
(03:39):
extremely impressed.
I've been to some of theseother type of summit things, uh,
over Extremely impressed.
I've been to some of theseother type of summit things over
the last, well, couple yearsbecause, since my involvement in
the nonprofit, the veterannonprofit space.
But I'll tell you what this onewas a grand slam, and I'm not
just saying that because he'ssitting in front of me it was a
grand slam.
So give the listeners a littlebackground on how that thing
(04:02):
came about and how it was pulledtogether and then, uh, take it
from there sure.
Jonathan Oakley (04:06):
So we started out last spring, uh, the bob
woodruff foundation.
It's a national levelorganization, uh, that has the
veterans as their, you know,main focus of effort and uh you
can look them up online huge,huge group.
And they had a foundationsummit and it was in Fort
(04:29):
Lauderdale, Broward, MichiganUnited hosted, and so myself,
Chris Shanks, who's the seniordirector for Michigan United,
Miami-Dade County United Way,and then James Heaton, who's the
VP for Michigan United andBroward's United Way.
We were all at this summit forBob Woodruff and we said we
should have our own and westarted discussing what makes a
(04:53):
good summit, what makes a badsummit, what do we want to
accomplish with this summit?
And we went into it with a fewdifferent ideas, but I think the
main focus was how do we bringthese agencies together so that
we can, one, get on the samepage and, two, how do we discuss
(05:14):
the issues that affect veteransin a space where everybody can
put their two cents in and letus know what they feel they're
good at, what they feel theyneed help with and what can we
do to make their jobs easier andwhat can we do to help them do
(05:38):
it more effectively.
So we put all this thought intoit and we were going to have it
next spring.
We were like we'll have it in ayear, this is great.
And then James sent out anemail in August and was like
we're going to have it inNovember and it was okay.
So cross the T's and dot theI's and work through the
(06:03):
logistics of this with a greatorganization Cloud9, that they
work with for event planningGreat group of folks Love them
to death.
They worked with us and we putthis thing together in a short
amount of time Shorter than wethought we were going to have
and so far all the feedback hasbeen great.
Scott McLean (06:24):
Everybody thought it went well.
Jonathan Oakley (06:26):
Everybody felt heard, everybody felt like the
structure was solid.
And now for follow-up is we hadAIs in the room listening to
the conversations, recording,taking notes and we had a few
other things going on.
So the hope is we're going tobuild this report about the four
(06:50):
areas right.
So we had housing andhomelessness and financial
stability as a room.
We had legal assistance andbenefit assistance.
We had health, so it's mental,spiritual, suicide prevention,
all of that um and like healthand education yeah, and then
(07:13):
education, yeah, so yeah,education and employment, and
employment.
That's what I'm saying.
So those four areas, uh, eachof those four areas will have a
report that comes out of theroom with the agencies and we
will understand how the vetspace is working in that area.
What do the vets need as far aseducation and employment?
(07:33):
What are our challenges in themental health space?
What about housing andfinancial stability?
And we'll be able to take thoseand put them to paper, generate
a report, and the goal nextspring would be to have another
event where we bring these togovernment leaders at the city,
(07:55):
county, state, federal level sothat they can help bring
resources to bear and theyunderstand what the agencies are
doing.
Right, the government knows thatthey can't do everything, right
?
Uh, they know they need theagencies that are doing the work
, you know, to help them in themission.
Well, the goal is to geteverybody pulling the rope the
same direction and and make sureeverybody's, everybody's doing
(08:18):
what we can.
So, so we'll take it and andput that together and and
hopefully the second go-roundright with the government
leaders will go as well as thefirst one with the agencies.
Scott McLean (08:30):
So how many agencies were there?
Almost 50.
Almost 50.
Now for the listeners thatmight not be familiar with it,
Dade County is Miami, BrowardCounty, which just equates to
Fort Lauderdale, and Palm BeachCounty, which equate to West
Palm Beach or Boca Raton.
A little plug for my town arethree absolutely different
(08:56):
counties.
Oh yes, I mean, they are 100%,Absolutely different counties
and to get agencies from eachone of those it's not like it's
a rival or anything, but wedon't see what's going on in
Dade, Dade doesn't see what'sgoing on in Palm Beach County,
and it was great to sit at thetable with some of these people
(09:18):
and just kind of get to knowthem and find out what they're
doing, and it was veryinformative from that side also
it's.
Jonathan Oakley (09:26):
It was informative for the agencies
that I've heard that thatlearned a lot about what's going
on in the other agencies or inthe other geographic areas right
, the other counties.
But I mean it's, it's almost amicrocosm.
I always say this when I whenpeople ask me about what we do
here in Palm Beach County andhow we're trying to connect
everybody, I tell them all thetime I said people in North
(09:48):
County don't know what's goingon in South County, people in
South County don't know what'sgoing on in North County and
nobody knows what's going on inWest County, right, yeah, so I
mean that's just within PalmBeach County.
Scott McLean (09:58):
Yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (09:59):
So imagine the same mantra occurs when you talk
about other places Broward,miami-dade, I mean, those are
light years away.
If Belle Glade is too far, thenLauderdale is even further than
that.
The only time people go down toFort Lauderdale is maybe to the
beach or to go to a Panthersgame.
(10:19):
The only time people go toMiami is to watch the Heat play
or on their way to the Keys.
I mean, so there's just, itgave us an opportunity to
connect all those bases and theMission United's in every
location.
Yeah, very different.
Mission United Broward is thegranddaddy of them all and is
(10:39):
huge and is a one-stop shop andis phenomenal.
James does a great job with allthe work that him and his staff
do for vets, and then Chris islike in the middle.
He does some of what James does, but not all the things that
James does, and he has his staffand then Palm Beach County's me
, and we're less hands-on withthe vets.
(11:03):
We're not hands-on with the vetsat all really.
Scott McLean (11:04):
I like that Chris actually sat in on some of these
meetings and I didn't know whohe was.
Like I, I I'd never met him andhe was in one of my, one of the
rooms with me and and I'mlistening to him talk, I'm like,
wow, this dude, he's on like he, he knows what he's talking
about.
And I'm like, what, what, what?
(11:27):
Uh, foundation is he with Right?
And come to find out that hewas right in there, you know, in
communicating and given his twocents.
I thought that was, that was uh, that was very he could have
just sat back in the back of theroom and listened.
That's a lot of what I did,yeah, and, and that's okay,
that's what you're there for.
You put it together.
You want to see how it goes?
Jonathan Oakley (11:48):
um, well, I think part of that was I told,
and I told james this when westarted talking about this um
and it.
So this was just me thing, itwasn't't necessarily a James or
Chris thing and we all kind ofviewed it different.
But I felt like we had PalmBeach County, had a lot of
agencies there, you know we had,you know yourself, with one man
one, mike Heard, careersourceLegal Aid, and I mean there was
(12:11):
you know a dozen agencies thatand some of them are our
partners.
You know David from Gray Team,I mean they're a funded partner.
So what I didn't want to do wasbe in the room while David and
Rhonda from Heard, you know, andsome of these people that are
funded partners.
I didn't want them to feel likethey had to say certain things
(12:32):
Great point About Miss United orsay like I wanted them to feel
comfortable without a fundersitting in the back.
There's no need to impress me,there's no need to like I'm not
going to go report back to mycouncil about what you said.
I want to make sure it was openand honest.
So I took a step back and justobserved.
Scott McLean (12:52):
Makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
But I can't wait to see whatcomes out of that.
I think it's going to beabsolutely productive, because
everybody left there with a goodfeeling and it was good to get
to see other agencies from twocounties over you know, and
hopefully that's the beginningof you know, many to come,
(13:15):
hopefully Every couple of years.
Jonathan Oakley (13:16):
Yeah, that's the goal.
That would probably make sense.
Scott McLean (13:18):
Yeah, uh.
So what current projects orinitiatives?
Uh, is Mission United PalmBeach County or you yourself?
You are Mission.
You are the Jonathan Oakleyfrom Mission United, palm Beach
County.
Jonathan Oakley (13:36):
I'll let that one slide.
I'll let that one slide.
I'll let that one slide.
Scott McLean (13:40):
What do you got going on?
Jonathan Oakley (13:41):
So the biggest thing we just came off you know,
Veterans Day, november.
Thousand events, not a thousand,but we had a lot of events
going on and the summit beingone of them.
So projects big.
You know, working with JamesChris trying to get this report
(14:03):
completed, get all thatinformation compiled and really
have a good product that cameout of this summit that
everybody loved.
Right, everybody loved it.
We got to have a product thateverybody loves too.
Yeah, or or, or the we losefaith, right, right.
So that's that's.
That's one mission.
(14:24):
We're going to have our Unitedfor Veterans event coming up in
February.
This will be the seconditeration for Palm Beach County,
united Way.
You know our mission United tohave this or the United for
veterans event, two days, youknow, day one mainly, uh, for
the resources, the agencies toget together, network, learn
(14:44):
about each other, talk throughsome stuff.
A mini version of the summitthat we just did.
Yeah, you know, I guess, forlack of a better phrase.
Uh, and then you know, day twois a resource fair, so vets from
all over the county can come in.
It'll be at Palm Beach Stateagain same place so looking
forward to putting that togetherwith Palm Beach State and their
(15:06):
Veteran Success Center.
The director there is part ofour council and a huge supporter
for Mission United, vet himself, so we'll get with Lewis and
get that taken care of.
But those are the two biggestyou know things that we're
working on and you know justobviously the, the day-to-day
(15:26):
operations, the grind of youknow that, uh, grant vetting,
grant processing, reporting andfundraising, because that's
always, always in our forefrontin our mind to raise funds to
help keep Michigan Unitedrolling.
Scott McLean (15:44):
Has there been an increase in agencies in the last
eight months that have kind ofreached out to you guys?
Jonathan Oakley (15:51):
Every year, yeah, every time.
I mean.
So year one, I mean here's anexample.
When we did our grant, I meanthis is an easy one.
The data's there, the math isthere.
Year one we had 12 agenciesapply for a grant, asked for a
little over $880,000.
Year two, the number ofagencies went up to 16.
(16:14):
Year three, it's up to 22.
You know, I mean, it's only,it's only going up the number of
people and that's just theagencies that are applying for
funding.
That's, it's not agencies thatwe're laying hands on right,
there are.
There are agencies, you know,one man, one mike foundation is
brand new, you know brand newhaven't applied for a grant.
(16:34):
You're here, you exist, right.
And there are other agencies,just like that, team RWB, and
there's a handful of them thatwe know are out there, we work
with, we talk to, but they justhaven't applied for a grant for
whatever reason.
Scott McLean (16:51):
Whether they know about it or not.
That's another thing.
Correct, and that's a lot ofword of mouth in this nonprofit
world.
Here, at least in Palm BeachCounty, a lot of it is word of
mouth 100% and, like I justtalked to you about a nonprofit
veteran before the podcast,you're like, oh, I got to talk
to them.
Jonathan Oakley (17:09):
Yeah.
Scott McLean (17:10):
Hook me up with them, yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (17:13):
Usually once a month, if not more, I get a.
Have you heard of this agency?
Right, and I'm like, no, neverheard of them.
Yeah, and it's an agency thatis here in Palm Beach County or
close.
Yeah, you know, martin,whatever, and you know they fly
under the radar.
And again, that's part of thereason what Mission United is
(17:33):
here to do, right, you have alot of agencies doing great work
, yeah, and is here to do right,you have a lot of agencies
doing great work, yeah, uh, andthey are so hyper-focused on
their mission, yes, and, and youknow, it's like the horse with
the blinders on right, theydon't get to see what's around
them.
They want to concentrate on whatthey're doing and their own
little, their their space, um,and, and so Mission United can
(17:54):
help be that advocate, help helpbe the person that can tell,
tell you what's going on allaround you.
And there are some agencies outthere that don't necessarily
want or need that.
There's an agency in North PalmBeach County that I've talked
to.
I've had lunch with the founder.
We email back and forth, but hewon't apply for a grant back
(18:17):
and forth, but he won't applyfor a grant.
He doesn't necessarily want tojump headfirst into what we do
because his demographic that heworks on is Special Forces.
Ah, okay, so it's very smallcommunity, very niche, and the
Special Forces community is verytight.
Yes, so he doesn't need helpright exposing, they help each
(18:39):
other exactly, I mean he's, he'ssf himself, yeah, so for him
it's, yes, it's not a need thathe has and you know what plugged
in.
Scott McLean (18:48):
It's kind of uh, you got to respect that correct,
because he's not looking at itjust to get the money correct,
like that's a, I don't need it,but, thank you, let somebody
else get it I put.
Jonathan Oakley (18:58):
I put as a fundraising events on our
calendars.
I I keep them plugged in towhat's going on in the in the
vet space.
But he fills his niche and hedoes it well, so we let him.
We let him be so.
Mission united in palm beachcounty has the ability to morph
and and give you what you need.
If you need some love to fillthe gaps, apply for a grant.
(19:21):
If you just want some exposureand connection, get added to the
mailing list.
I give everybody a shout-out inthe newsletter.
You want to put your stuff inthe newsletter?
Send me what you want me towrite.
I'll put it in there.
I'm not writing, but I'llpublish it.
I'll put it out in thenewsletter.
Send me what you want me towrite.
I'll put it in there.
I'm not writing, but I'll, I'll, I'll publish it.
Scott McLean (19:42):
I'll put it out in the ether.
Um and I.
I have to say that I'm kind offortunate in the sense that I
had my uh, I got my feet wet inthis world with herd foundation
and then, you know, I startedthis podcast and I start to
reach more people and talk tomore people and then I start my
foundation.
I get to reach more people andtalk to more people and that, I
(20:04):
think, helps uh, not only helpme, but I always mention mission
united.
I mentioned hurt.
I mean, I mentioned as manyfoundations as I can to people
and I think that needs to reallybe.
I'm grateful for it.
Yeah, and exposure I wouldn'thave known.
Probably maybe I wouldn't haveknown about mission United
because I'd be.
Yeah, it's not easy doing this,you know, starting it up and
(20:28):
getting it on.
It's getting it on its feet andgetting some traction.
And, yeah, I can see how peoplejust they got blinders on some
of these newer foundations thatdon't know Mission United exists
.
And Mission United exists tohelp us, literally to help us.
Jonathan Oakley (20:43):
The biggest thing is everybody has their own
little network right.
Herds Foundation has theirnetwork.
Yeah, great team, you know.
Connected Warriors 22.
Scott McLean (20:53):
Project 22, project.
You go on and on, yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (20:55):
And a lot of those networks overlap.
Yes, right, but there is anaspect to if you don't know, you
don't know.
So there are veterans that livein Boca and Delray, lauderdale,
pompano, hollywood, whatever,all through South Florida, that
have no idea about what allthese agencies do, yeah, that
(21:18):
have no idea about what allthese agencies do.
Yeah, and unless they getexposed in some way, shape or
form whether it's this podcastor it's a summit or it's a
resource fair or whatever, likethey just randomly hiccup into
it.
If they don't understand whatis out there and that's the
challenge that we always face isit's not reaching my network.
(21:41):
I can send my newsletter toevery agency in Palm Beach
County that I have, but theyalready know about Mission
United, they already know aboutmy calendar, they already know
about the resource map.
They already are aware of allthese things.
It's great that they have it,it's great that that resource is
there for them, but ideally,that resource and that calendar
and that map are for the onesthat have no idea.
(22:02):
Yeah, and that's the toughpeople to reach, that's the.
That's where the challengealways lies.
How do we get our message tothose who aren't already built
into this network?
Scott McLean (22:16):
Yeah, that is a that's a challenge.
It yeah, that's a challenge, itis that's a challenge.
But so how can, if somebody isin the community, the veteran
community, and they want to getinvolved with Mission United?
What's the website?
What's the?
Jonathan Oakley (22:30):
So you go I mean get to Mission United on
the United Way, palm BeachCounty.
Unitedwaypbcorg is the websiteand if you look at the top line
of the website Impact a littledrop-down pops up.
Mission United's there, bam.
Our calendar's there, ourresource map's there, my contact
information's there.
(22:50):
You can email me, jonathanOakley, j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n.
Oakley, like the sunglasses atunitedwaypbcorg.
You can email Mission United Atunitedwaypbcorg, and that comes
to me and my boss.
So there's a bunch of differentways that you can get a hold of
(23:12):
us.
Our phone number's on thewebsite and we get connected
with vets.
Try to connect with us on aregular basis and I will tell
you that our partner fornavigation.
So if you're a vet listeningand you're like hey.
I need some help.
Our partner for navigation is2-1-1.
(23:32):
So if you hit 2-1-1, you'll getconnected with the 2-1-1 on the
Palm Beach and Treasure Coastand the submenu in there.
I self-identify as a vet.
So once it gets past the thisemergency, please hang up, call
9-1-1.
You get past that.
It'll say if you're a vet,press one.
You'll get connected to chrisor scott and they have all the
(23:56):
resources I have, plus some,yeah, and and their peer
research, their peer mentors.
They're trained to do this, uh,and so they'll help you find an
agency to fulfill the needs youhave.
I have veterans that call me ona regular basis and I'll tell
them that.
And then, all right, dude, whatcan I do for you?
(24:17):
I?
Scott McLean (24:20):
can't hang up.
Yeah, exactly, I can't hang up,not yet.
Jonathan Oakley (24:24):
You're a veteran yourself.
I am.
Scott McLean (24:26):
Retired Marine.
Okay.
Jonathan Oakley (24:28):
Thanks for the crayons.
Scott McLean (24:30):
So how did they taste?
Purple tastes like grape,really, it does, it does.
Jonathan Oakley (24:36):
Okay, it's mental, it's mental If you think
it tastes like grape.
It tastes like grape, yeah, uh,but yeah, so we just uh, the
vet will call up and I'll try toconnect them as best I can to
resources, and a lot of timesit's, you know, I connect them
to the Palm Beach County VSOsRon Hultgren is the lead VSO
(24:57):
because it's a benefit question.
Or I connect them to legal aidbecause it's a legal question,
right?
So some of it's easy, some ofit's a little more challenging.
But you know, know, we do ourbest to meet the needs and if,
if the need can't be met withone of our agencies, I'm
connected with two or threenational level agencies that I
can reach out to.
American warrior partnership,bob woodruff foundation, uh,
(25:20):
they have national reach.
So if, if, by some chance,there is something in palm beach
county that doesn't match ityou, you know, between James and
Chris, john South, or those twonational agencies, chances are
we probably can figure it out.
It's a nut we can crack.
For the most part I will saythere's been a handful, less
(25:42):
than a handful, but you know,small minority of ones that,
sorry, not a whole lot we can dofor you I and I had put that
and I say this at the end ofevery episode.
Scott McLean (25:52):
Now that I have that little uh public service
announcement at the end about2-1-1 and what it offers, and uh
you know, and I always tell thelisteners listen to the end.
It might pertain to you assomebody you know, because they
offer a lot of services.
Jonathan Oakley (26:08):
It's one of the most unknown things and it's
shocking because it's such agreat resource.
It's almost frustratingly soshocking.
And before I did this MissionUnited gig, I worked for the
Palm Beach County SchoolDistrict as a JROTC instructor
at a school where two-on-onewould have been a handy thing to
(26:31):
know, and I mean I used to getphone calls from students on on
a regular basis that needed someresource, needed some help.
You know could have been food,money, a place to stay.
You know some kids get bootedat 18, whether they graduated
high school or not.
And so you know we get phonecalls from students that need
(26:53):
help and me and my partnerinstructor would work to try to
help them as best we could.
But I wish I'd have known about2-1-1 then.
Scott McLean (27:02):
That's a tightrope walking it is Because you're
dealing with kids and you can'tget too involved.
There's things that, yeah, thatmust have been.
That's a tightrope walking.
It is Because you're dealingwith kids and you can't get too
involved.
There's things that, yeah, thatmust have been a big challenge.
It was a challenge.
Jonathan Oakley (27:13):
But had we known, you know, if I had I
known that 2-on-1 exists and2-on-1 is a nationwide thing, it
is.
So if I had I known 2-on-1existed, it could have been an
answer to a lot of those phonecalls.
I would have their number atthe front of the classroom and I
knew 411, old schoolinformation.
811, I'm going to dig in myfront yard and I don't want to
(27:36):
break the water main.
No idea what 2-1-1 was.
No idea.
Scott McLean (27:41):
Yeah, I had an unfortunate phone call a little
while back.
That turned out to be.
It turned out fine.
But um, the individual wasgonna, his wife was telling him
over the phone call 2-1-1, call2-1-1.
And this kind of caught me offguard.
This phone call, it wasattempted suicide and a veteran
(28:02):
and and I was like whoa, no, no,no, no, no, don't, I'm glad'm
glad, you know about 211, butcall 988 and then hit one.
Jonathan Oakley (28:12):
In Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast.
It's the same place.
Scott McLean (28:15):
Is it really?
Jonathan Oakley (28:16):
Yeah, 211 of the Palm Beach and Treasure
Coast has the 988 contract.
Yeah, so, depending, and thereis one key difference I'm not
sure where they are in theprocess, but so when you call
811, 211, it even though, forlike for me, for my cell phone
it's a north carolina phonenumber yeah, um, but if I call
(28:38):
211, 811, it pings the towerthat the phone is hitting, okay,
and gives you the localresource based on the tower your
phone's.
Ah, okay, 988.
Last I I thought they weregoing to change, but last I
heard they hadn't yet is by uhzip code.
So if I call 988 on my cellphone, I'll get whoever's
(28:59):
contracted 988.
So that's in north carolina 252, as opposed to the cell tower
that I'm bouncing off of.
So, that being said, that'sthat's good information.
Theoretically, if you call 988and you have a 561 area code,
you're going to get the samepeople you would call.
If you call 2-1-1, you'll justkind of skip a couple steps.
(29:22):
I think 988 kind of skips theone of the telemenus.
Right like you, you almost getthe fr direct to a person, as
opposed to interesting having tolisten to.
If you're a vet, press one yeah, you're a not a vet press two.
You know you have to navigateyes you call nine and eight.
Scott McLean (29:38):
There's a reason yes, absolutely uh, so we kind
of touched on it.
So you have have your eventcoming up in February Mission
United Palm Beach County at PalmBeach State, which was a great
event last year.
It was a very productive twodays.
It was an interesting learningexperience for me, so I know
(29:59):
what to look forward to now.
I had never been in a room withthat many organizations, which
prompted this podcast.
As you know, that's the originof why this podcast as you know,
this that's not the origin ofwhy this podcast came about.
Um, so I didn't know theyexisted.
Jonathan Oakley (30:12):
If something half as good as this comes out
of this year's, I won.
I can die a happy man, I meanit was worth it.
Scott McLean (30:20):
Um, what else is coming up in 2025?
Anything other than that?
Do you just kind of take it?
Jonathan Oakley (30:26):
Well, I mean, obviously, we'll have the, the,
the summit part, right, With ourgovernment, uh, our government
entities for lack of a betterphrase right, Some elected
leaders, some government folks,uh, and we're going to bring
that information to them.
Uh, we'll have another grantcycle for, for uh agencies to
apply for, Uh, and we're alwaysworking, uh, to see what else is
(30:50):
out there.
Right, We've connected withBoca and we have our 4th of July
5K that we work with Boca on.
Scott McLean (31:01):
And that'll be another event we're going to do
and the Veterans Day event,which the Veterans Day event you
were talking, that was a reallygood event.
Jonathan Oakley (31:07):
dude, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Scott McLean (31:09):
It was really good , like I had friends in from out
of town veterans, probablyeight of them from Las Vegas to
Maryland.
They all came into town and Ispoke, I did it, but that wasn't
the point they said that was.
They just did it right.
They had a band playing areally good band.
Afterwards Everybody was happy.
(31:30):
It was just really a good.
It's the best Veterans Dayevent I'd ever been to.
Wow, shout out to Richard.
Jonathan Oakley (31:36):
Baller.
Scott McLean (31:36):
Yes, who put it together?
Jonathan Oakley (31:37):
He did a great job.
He's a friend of Mission United.
Yes, he works hard.
I did the Memorial Day eventlast year in Boca.
I spoke at it at the cemetery,yep, and then you know, they put
on that 5K in July.
He's the lead event guy therein Boca and he's really pushing
(32:03):
a lot of great events and heknows, he understands.
And the good thing aboutRichard is, if he doesn't know,
he'll ask.
So I get emails from him on theregular.
Hey, does this make sense?
Can we do this?
I'm like, yeah, absolutely,that sounds good to me.
Scott McLean (32:20):
How many veteran nonprofits do you talk to in a
week, roughly.
Jonathan Oakley (32:27):
Depends on the week, but anywhere from 10 to 20
depending on what's going on,and it varies for reasons, right
?
Yeah, yeah, I mean yesterday,you know I I went after, uh,
some morning meetings at theunited way.
I went to wounded veteran Fund.
They had their toy drivewrapping party for veteran
(32:49):
families, so a bunch of stuffthat had come into their
conference room.
And when I walked in, a careersource of Palm Beach County was
there.
So I crossed paths with theirCEO, who's on our advisory
council, julia DiTolo, crossedpaths with her as she was
walking out, but her staff wasstill there, frank and Tori and
(33:10):
them, and then Team RWB was inthere, you know.
So I mean there's threeagencies right there, you know,
in one shot, and so I got totalk and touch base with them
and see what's going on, and soit just depends on what's going
on that week.
Sometimes it's all business, youknow.
It's this vet called and Irefer them to legal aid and it's
(33:33):
a follow-up with them, or it'sa call to wound event relief or
stand down or Salvation Armybecause of something that's
coming up, or a vet that needshelp, or whatever.
And sometimes you know it'sjust to check in and see what's
going on Specifically withevents.
(33:53):
You know, yeah, I have an eventcoming up.
Yeah, is there anything I cando to help?
Scott McLean (33:58):
So we talked about fundraising and, well, Mission
United Always Is not.
Jonathan Oakley (34:06):
They don't just give money, they need money
always yeah, it's, it's achallenge, but we, we work in
the big space.
Yeah, I mean our fundraisinggoals robust.
This year.
It's there, I believe we'regonna.
We're gonna get there.
Good, um, we have have a plan.
(34:26):
It's just a matter of gettingpeople to pen the check.
Scott McLean (34:33):
Did you get my $100,000 check yet?
Jonathan Oakley (34:35):
It didn't get to you, I put it in the mail.
Scott McLean (34:38):
Just letting you know.
Jonathan Oakley (34:40):
You and the 10 other people.
It's something that I'm sureScott's learned as he's making
his way into this space.
There's a whole lot of peoplethat love vets and want to
support vets, and when it comestime to put pen to paper or
whatever, they disappear quitequickly.
Scott McLean (35:00):
Oh yeah, so I've learned that.
Jonathan Oakley (35:03):
Yes.
Scott McLean (35:03):
And that's okay.
And that's okay, you know, you,just move on.
I learned real fast.
Just move on.
Always, yes, and that's okay.
And that's okay, you know, youjust move on, I learned real
fast.
Just move on, always yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (35:11):
We just keep moving forward, yeah.
Scott McLean (35:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So what else?
Anything else you want to kindof push, I think?
Jonathan Oakley (35:20):
the biggest thing is just, I mean I want to
thank you, yeah, and thank thispodcast for everything that's
going on.
I mean, at the end of the day,this is a weekly listen for me.
I've learned about whether it'san agency.
You know that.
You've interviewed a vet thatyou've interviewed.
(35:42):
I've learned a lot fromlistening to your stuff.
Your second or first episodewith Ashley put me into 22
Project, yeah, and I'm walking,living, breathing alumni of them
, yeah, so I'm appreciative ofthat.
I mean, as a vet and as asenior director of miss united,
(36:04):
I'm grateful for everything you,you're doing.
I mean you turn me on toanother podcast.
Yeah, I uh eric's, yeah, yeah,I listen to the I'm fine podcast
on a regular basis.
Veteran podcast, veteranpodcast.
In fact, I, I, uh, I truly wantto go up and meet Brad, one of
these days.
Scott McLean (36:20):
Ah, yeah, yeah, his partner there, his co host,
yeah, his co-host the BlindMarine.
Jonathan Oakley (36:24):
Yeah, yeah, brad Stozik.
He's a comedian, yeah, and Ilove listening to their
interactions, but yeah, so it'sjust, it's refreshing, it's good
and it gives me a taste of, youknow, what goodness has come
out of some of the work thatwe've done here in Michigan
United.
So it's always good to bereminded of the victories, right
(36:48):
?
Scott McLean (36:48):
Yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the goals of
the One man, one Mic Foundationis I teach veterans how to
podcast from concept topublishing, and then I stay on
if they want me to help themproduce episodes or give advice.
That's the aftercare, becausethere needs to be more veteran
podcasts out there.
(37:08):
It's.
There's never been a time inthe history of this country that
a veteran is had moreopportunity to be, to be heard a
hundred percent.
And it's through.
It's not tick tock Instagram,those.
It's through podcasting.
Jonathan Oakley (37:20):
Yeah, this, uh, it's not TikTok, it's not
Instagram, it's throughpodcasting.
The medium is unique, yeah, inthat it you can do it any way
you want.
You can interact with it howyou want yeah, you can, and
there's a space for it.
Like you know, you go to TikTokor Instagram or some of the
other social media platforms andand their space is, they have
(37:42):
space for you in certain ways,but podcasting seems to be one
that is open to you.
Know, like we had thediscussion before, you could
have a broadcast, you can trulytackle issues, like you know
Eric and Brad do with the I'mFine, yeah, you know, and talk
through that you can createexposure or you can just tell
(38:05):
stories, and all of them havetheir own place that they occupy
in the podcast world.
So it's definitely unique inthat ability.
Scott McLean (38:15):
And I just actually this was not my
intention, but I just realized,and it's not a pat on the back
or anything for myself.
This was not my intention, butI just realized, and it's not a
pat on the back or anything formyself.
But what makes my website veryunique is that it's a resource
page.
Now there's 30 nonprofits upthere right, and it's got the
logo and it's got the websiteattached to it.
But again, I just kind ofrealized this.
(38:37):
What makes it unique is if youwant to know about Mission
United, you get an episode youcan listen to to get insight as
to what they are about.
Then you can go to the website.
Even if you listen to the first10 minutes, you're going to
know what they do, and who?
they are sure, and then you cango instead of just like what is
this, what is this?
And kind of click around.
I was like you know what.
(38:57):
That actually ended up.
Pretty good, yeah, you know,because now I get to hear what
Jonathan Oakley has to say orwhat Ashley Williams has to say
about 22 Project and like, oh,now I'm definitely going to go
look.
So it kind of adds a littlemore oomph to giving the veteran
or the family member of theveteran insight as to the
foundation.
Jonathan Oakley (39:18):
It's just more information, yeah, and with
information comes clarity andwith with that, you know you're
able to make the decision onyeah, uh, is this someone or
something that I can trust is,does it provide something that I
need, uh, or that I feel I want?
Yeah, you know, uh, and I meanyour podcast that you did with
(39:43):
Ashley.
You know that little statementshe made in there that talked
about, uh, the validation thatshe saw in the veterans when
they went through the spec scanwas for lack of a better phrase
triggering right In my mind.
I was like, oh snap, that'sokay, all right, I see how that
(40:05):
works.
And so I just emailed her andsaid, how does this work, like,
can I get in?
And she's like, yeah,absolutely apply.
And it was.
And it was.
It was.
(40:32):
The initial reading of my firstspec scan took place at the BRIC
, at their office there in theBoca Raton Innovation Campus,
and my wife was there with me.
So me and Tori sat there andlistened to Ashley tell you well
, here's where blood flow isless and because of this right,
all these are potential.
You know, issues and pitfallsand challenges you may face.
And me and my wife looked ateach other and we're like we're
(40:55):
just talking about this, like,literally, in the last three
weeks we just had theseconversations.
Literally in the last threeweeks we just had these
conversations.
Yeah, and so 100 I mean 100validated everything that we had
just discussed.
Does it make it better?
No, I mean just because you nowknow, doesn't, doesn't fix it
right it's still a work inprogress.
Now you know, but now you haveto understand why.
(41:16):
Yeah, right, like it just givesyou the understanding behind,
or science behind, what's goingon.
Yeah, and now you're, now I'min a better place.
Scott McLean (41:27):
And for the people that might not know what we're
talking about, the 22 Project isthey do hyperbaric oxygen
therapy treatment for veteranswith TBI, and it's that
treatment in itself is anamazing.
Jonathan Oakley (41:41):
Oh it's miracle .
Scott McLean (41:42):
Uh, that treatment in itself is is an amazing uh,
oh, it's miracle work.
Yeah, and I can get into thatwith another guest that I had
and it worked for him and hisepisode on this podcast was
heard by another veteran who wasgoing through the same thing he
was going through and he did itand he ended up reaching out to
him saying I listened to yourepisode and saved my life, it
changed my life.
(42:02):
It was you know.
So, these things, this is the,the, the effect that I hope this
has.
You know the butterfly effect.
Butterfly flaps his wings inAfrica.
Two weeks later, there's ahurricane in Florida.
You know, and that's what Ihope to do with this and this,
and I don't need anotherhurricane.
(42:22):
No, we didn't get any this year.
Jonathan Oakley (42:23):
So that's oh you did.
Doesn't touch boca, hurricanesdon't touch boca.
They got their special bubble.
Scott McLean (42:26):
That's right, we do all right, buddy.
Well listen.
Thanks for coming on again Ican't believe it's been eight
months, and well, you've seen alot has changed in eight months.
Jonathan Oakley (42:36):
This is this.
This is dynamite little studiothis is.
This is nice and I think thatseeing the space, the other mics
, the other headsets, Veteransare going to be sitting in these
100%.
And I challenge James and Christo come up here and let's get
(42:58):
the Mission Uniteds from allthree counties sitting in the
same room to an episode andlet's, let's got hammer us all
with questions yeah, yeah,absolutely well, I keep hounding
james about you know, gettingpodcasting involved in.
Scott McLean (43:13):
Good luck in the.
Yeah, yeah, he's a busy man, Iknow he is, I know, but I and I
hit him at it at the summit Iwas like podcasting mission
united.
He goes.
It's on my list.
Trust me, I have not forgotabout you.
Jonathan Oakley (43:27):
You're on the list.
You're like number five.
You'll get to three and thenyou'll drop to five and then
three, and then six, and thenhis list is ever dynamic.
I'll bug him next.
I'm visiting him next, next,next Thursday.
They're primed for somethinglike this, so I will.
I will definitely.
I'll plug.
You need to get to Delray.
(43:48):
You need to get to Delray?
Yeah, absolutely, and he'll seewhat.
Jump on the bright line, let'sgo.
Scott McLean (43:55):
Well, all right, my friend.
Again, thank you for coming on.
I always appreciate your time.
You know you talk about James,but you're just as busy as he is
and I appreciate you takingtime to come on the podcast and
reiterate to the listeners whatMission United is all about.
And Mission United BrowardCounty, Mission United Dade
County, Mission United PalmBeach County I mean they're all
(44:15):
great organizations doing greatwork for veterans and I
appreciate all three.
Now that I got to meet Chris,now I can have an appreciation
for Dade County and yeah, that'sit.
I want to thank everybody forlistening.
If you like it, share it.
I think it's a good resource forveterans, families of veterans,
to listen to and it's working.
(44:37):
It's working and it's due togood organizations that want to
come on and do that 40-minuteinterview, that 40-minute
infomercial, as I call it.
There we go, and if you're anorganization out there that's
listening and you want to be onthe podcast, you can reach me at
.
We'll just sayvetsconnectionpodcast at
gmailcom.
I always want to say one mic,one man, one mic Got to keep it
(45:02):
all separate.
I got to keep it separate.
It's a, it's a challenge vetsconnection podcast at gmailcom.
And well, we built anotherbridge today.
This is the second level ofthis bridge.
Oh yeah we're the bay bridge nowyeah we got a couple and, as I
said earlier in the podcast, uh,listen to the end is a great
public service announcementabout 988 and 211 and all the
(45:24):
resources that are offered toveterans, family members of
veterans, friends of veterans,and if you're just a listener
and you're not a veteran, itpertains to you also.
So, with that said, again thankyou for listening and you will
hear me in a new episode nextweek.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McLean.
My guest today is JonathanOakley, senior Director of
Mission United of Palm BeachCounty, and this is Jonathan's
second trip.
He's the first repeat offenderon the Vets Connection podcast.
How you doing, jonathan?
Jonathan Oakley (00:17):
I'm doing great .
I'm not sure if that's an honoror a privilege or both.
Scott McLean (00:22):
Yeah yeah, welcome to the one man, one mike studio
sponsored by willow and palmconstruction at delray beach,
florida.
Willow and palm south florida'spremier builder.
From driveways to roofs tobuildings if you need it,
they'll build it.
You can find them atwillowandpalmcom there.
(00:43):
You, you go.
Got that out of the way.
Nice.
Now they're great.
They are absolutely great.
Jonathan Oakley (00:47):
This is a step up From the studio kitchen, from
the studio kitchen.
Yeah, the kitchen was beautiful.
Yeah, your home is beautiful,but there's no Hulk leering at
me.
There you go.
There's no intimidation factor.
Big pink couch.
Big pink couch, big pink couch.
Comfortable, a hundred percent.
Scott McLean (01:04):
There you go, there you go.
That's the selling point.
To get people to come in, Ihave to coax them in.
Jonathan Oakley (01:15):
You get to sit on a real comfortable big pink
couch.
It's a vibe, it's for thosethat haven't been here.
It's its own vibe.
There you go, missionaccomplished.
Scott McLean (01:20):
All right.
So yeah, it's been eight months, eight months since you were on
first.
Jonathan Oakley (01:25):
It's been a whirlwind.
Scott McLean (01:26):
Eight months.
That's amazing.
Yes, I looked at the data.
I'm like woof, where did thatgo?
All right.
So instead of you saying, ohwell, let me think back, I'll
just kind of bring it along Atthis point.
Eight months later, the currentgoals for Mission United Palm
Beach County has anythingchanged?
(01:47):
Is it still the same?
Jonathan Oakley (01:50):
Goals-wise, we're still working in the same
direction.
We're still operating under thesame pretenses of increasing
access for veterans right, tryto find ways to get the veterans
connected with the resources,increasing the ability for the
resources to connect withveterans and connect with each
other.
How do we build the network?
How do we get the network to bemore collaborative and
(02:11):
communicative to help solvethose problems more efficiently,
more effectively with lessresources?
Right?
And then you know we're afunding partner, so we still
provide grants.
In those eight months sincewe've issued a little over
$275,000 in grant funding, wehad a funder come into the
(02:36):
United Way with a little specialpot of money that went out to
three agencies specifically, andthen we had another grant cycle
that completed out in September, and so that was another
quarter million that walked outthe door to 14 agencies separate
.
You know, doing many differentthings.
(02:56):
So just another year in thelife.
Scott McLean (03:01):
Another year in the life of Mission United, palm
Beach County.
There we go, yes, so currentlywe just got done.
I was fortunate enough to beinvited to this through the One
man, one Mic Foundation.
Jonathan Oakley (03:15):
My cheap plug that I put in every episode I'm
down.
Scott McLean (03:18):
Yeah, we had the Mission United first ever summit
Yep, right Of the three DadeCounty, broward County.
First ever summit yeah, rightOf the three Dade County,
broward County, palm BeachCounty Yep, I'll just tell you
it was.
It was an amazing day.
I'm not just saying this, thisisn't lip service.
I was, uh, I was fortunateenough to be invited and I was
(03:39):
extremely impressed.
I've been to some of theseother type of summit things, uh,
over Extremely impressed.
I've been to some of theseother type of summit things over
the last, well, couple yearsbecause, since my involvement in
the nonprofit, the veterannonprofit space.
But I'll tell you what this onewas a grand slam, and I'm not
just saying that because he'ssitting in front of me it was a
grand slam.
So give the listeners a littlebackground on how that thing
(04:02):
came about and how it was pulledtogether and then, uh, take it
from there sure.
Jonathan Oakley (04:06):
So we started out last spring, uh, the bob
woodruff foundation.
It's a national levelorganization, uh, that has the
veterans as their, you know,main focus of effort and uh you
can look them up online huge,huge group.
And they had a foundationsummit and it was in Fort
(04:29):
Lauderdale, Broward, MichiganUnited hosted, and so myself,
Chris Shanks, who's the seniordirector for Michigan United,
Miami-Dade County United Way,and then James Heaton, who's the
VP for Michigan United andBroward's United Way.
We were all at this summit forBob Woodruff and we said we
should have our own and westarted discussing what makes a
(04:53):
good summit, what makes a badsummit, what do we want to
accomplish with this summit?
And we went into it with a fewdifferent ideas, but I think the
main focus was how do we bringthese agencies together so that
we can, one, get on the samepage and, two, how do we discuss
(05:14):
the issues that affect veteransin a space where everybody can
put their two cents in and letus know what they feel they're
good at, what they feel theyneed help with and what can we
do to make their jobs easier andwhat can we do to help them do
(05:38):
it more effectively.
So we put all this thought intoit and we were going to have it
next spring.
We were like we'll have it in ayear, this is great.
And then James sent out anemail in August and was like
we're going to have it inNovember and it was okay.
So cross the T's and dot theI's and work through the
(06:03):
logistics of this with a greatorganization Cloud9, that they
work with for event planningGreat group of folks Love them
to death.
They worked with us and we putthis thing together in a short
amount of time Shorter than wethought we were going to have
and so far all the feedback hasbeen great.
Scott McLean (06:24):
Everybody thought it went well.
Jonathan Oakley (06:26):
Everybody felt heard, everybody felt like the
structure was solid.
And now for follow-up is we hadAIs in the room listening to
the conversations, recording,taking notes and we had a few
other things going on.
So the hope is we're going tobuild this report about the four
(06:50):
areas right.
So we had housing andhomelessness and financial
stability as a room.
We had legal assistance andbenefit assistance.
We had health, so it's mental,spiritual, suicide prevention,
all of that um and like healthand education yeah, and then
(07:13):
education, yeah, so yeah,education and employment, and
employment.
That's what I'm saying.
So those four areas, uh, eachof those four areas will have a
report that comes out of theroom with the agencies and we
will understand how the vetspace is working in that area.
What do the vets need as far aseducation and employment?
(07:33):
What are our challenges in themental health space?
What about housing andfinancial stability?
And we'll be able to take thoseand put them to paper, generate
a report, and the goal nextspring would be to have another
event where we bring these togovernment leaders at the city,
(07:55):
county, state, federal level sothat they can help bring
resources to bear and theyunderstand what the agencies are
doing.
Right, the government knows thatthey can't do everything, right
?
Uh, they know they need theagencies that are doing the work
, you know, to help them in themission.
Well, the goal is to geteverybody pulling the rope the
same direction and and make sureeverybody's, everybody's doing
(08:18):
what we can.
So, so we'll take it and andput that together and and
hopefully the second go-roundright with the government
leaders will go as well as thefirst one with the agencies.
Scott McLean (08:30):
So how many agencies were there?
Almost 50.
Almost 50.
Now for the listeners thatmight not be familiar with it,
Dade County is Miami, BrowardCounty, which just equates to
Fort Lauderdale, and Palm BeachCounty, which equate to West
Palm Beach or Boca Raton.
A little plug for my town arethree absolutely different
(08:56):
counties.
Oh yes, I mean, they are 100%,Absolutely different counties
and to get agencies from eachone of those it's not like it's
a rival or anything, but wedon't see what's going on in
Dade, Dade doesn't see what'sgoing on in Palm Beach County,
and it was great to sit at thetable with some of these people
(09:18):
and just kind of get to knowthem and find out what they're
doing, and it was veryinformative from that side also
it's.
Jonathan Oakley (09:26):
It was informative for the agencies
that I've heard that thatlearned a lot about what's going
on in the other agencies or inthe other geographic areas right
, the other counties.
But I mean it's, it's almost amicrocosm.
I always say this when I whenpeople ask me about what we do
here in Palm Beach County andhow we're trying to connect
everybody, I tell them all thetime I said people in North
(09:48):
County don't know what's goingon in South County, people in
South County don't know what'sgoing on in North County and
nobody knows what's going on inWest County, right, yeah, so I
mean that's just within PalmBeach County.
Scott McLean (09:58):
Yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (09:59):
So imagine the same mantra occurs when you talk
about other places Broward,miami-dade, I mean, those are
light years away.
If Belle Glade is too far, thenLauderdale is even further than
that.
The only time people go down toFort Lauderdale is maybe to the
beach or to go to a Panthersgame.
(10:19):
The only time people go toMiami is to watch the Heat play
or on their way to the Keys.
I mean, so there's just, itgave us an opportunity to
connect all those bases and theMission United's in every
location.
Yeah, very different.
Mission United Broward is thegranddaddy of them all and is
(10:39):
huge and is a one-stop shop andis phenomenal.
James does a great job with allthe work that him and his staff
do for vets, and then Chris islike in the middle.
He does some of what James does, but not all the things that
James does, and he has his staffand then Palm Beach County's me
, and we're less hands-on withthe vets.
(11:03):
We're not hands-on with the vetsat all really.
Scott McLean (11:04):
I like that Chris actually sat in on some of these
meetings and I didn't know whohe was.
Like I, I I'd never met him andhe was in one of my, one of the
rooms with me and and I'mlistening to him talk, I'm like,
wow, this dude, he's on like he, he knows what he's talking
about.
And I'm like, what, what, what?
(11:27):
Uh, foundation is he with Right?
And come to find out that hewas right in there, you know, in
communicating and given his twocents.
I thought that was, that was uh, that was very he could have
just sat back in the back of theroom and listened.
That's a lot of what I did,yeah, and, and that's okay,
that's what you're there for.
You put it together.
You want to see how it goes?
Jonathan Oakley (11:48):
um, well, I think part of that was I told,
and I told james this when westarted talking about this um
and it.
So this was just me thing, itwasn't't necessarily a James or
Chris thing and we all kind ofviewed it different.
But I felt like we had PalmBeach County, had a lot of
agencies there, you know we had,you know yourself, with one man
one, mike Heard, careersourceLegal Aid, and I mean there was
(12:11):
you know a dozen agencies thatand some of them are our
partners.
You know David from Gray Team,I mean they're a funded partner.
So what I didn't want to do wasbe in the room while David and
Rhonda from Heard, you know, andsome of these people that are
funded partners.
I didn't want them to feel likethey had to say certain things
(12:32):
Great point About Miss United orsay like I wanted them to feel
comfortable without a fundersitting in the back.
There's no need to impress me,there's no need to like I'm not
going to go report back to mycouncil about what you said.
I want to make sure it was openand honest.
So I took a step back and justobserved.
Scott McLean (12:52):
Makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
But I can't wait to see whatcomes out of that.
I think it's going to beabsolutely productive, because
everybody left there with a goodfeeling and it was good to get
to see other agencies from twocounties over you know, and
hopefully that's the beginningof you know, many to come,
(13:15):
hopefully Every couple of years.
Jonathan Oakley (13:16):
Yeah, that's the goal.
That would probably make sense.
Scott McLean (13:18):
Yeah, uh.
So what current projects orinitiatives?
Uh, is Mission United PalmBeach County or you yourself?
You are Mission.
You are the Jonathan Oakleyfrom Mission United, palm Beach
County.
Jonathan Oakley (13:36):
I'll let that one slide.
I'll let that one slide.
I'll let that one slide.
Scott McLean (13:40):
What do you got going on?
Jonathan Oakley (13:41):
So the biggest thing we just came off you know,
Veterans Day, november.
Thousand events, not a thousand,but we had a lot of events
going on and the summit beingone of them.
So projects big.
You know, working with JamesChris trying to get this report
(14:03):
completed, get all thatinformation compiled and really
have a good product that cameout of this summit that
everybody loved.
Right, everybody loved it.
We got to have a product thateverybody loves too.
Yeah, or or, or the we losefaith, right, right.
So that's that's.
That's one mission.
(14:24):
We're going to have our Unitedfor Veterans event coming up in
February.
This will be the seconditeration for Palm Beach County,
united Way.
You know our mission United tohave this or the United for
veterans event, two days, youknow, day one mainly, uh, for
the resources, the agencies toget together, network, learn
(14:44):
about each other, talk throughsome stuff.
A mini version of the summitthat we just did.
Yeah, you know, I guess, forlack of a better phrase.
Uh, and then you know, day twois a resource fair, so vets from
all over the county can come in.
It'll be at Palm Beach Stateagain same place so looking
forward to putting that togetherwith Palm Beach State and their
(15:06):
Veteran Success Center.
The director there is part ofour council and a huge supporter
for Mission United, vet himself, so we'll get with Lewis and
get that taken care of.
But those are the two biggestyou know things that we're
working on and you know justobviously the, the day-to-day
(15:26):
operations, the grind of youknow that, uh, grant vetting,
grant processing, reporting andfundraising, because that's
always, always in our forefrontin our mind to raise funds to
help keep Michigan Unitedrolling.
Scott McLean (15:44):
Has there been an increase in agencies in the last
eight months that have kind ofreached out to you guys?
Jonathan Oakley (15:51):
Every year, yeah, every time.
I mean.
So year one, I mean here's anexample.
When we did our grant, I meanthis is an easy one.
The data's there, the math isthere.
Year one we had 12 agenciesapply for a grant, asked for a
little over $880,000.
Year two, the number ofagencies went up to 16.
(16:14):
Year three, it's up to 22.
You know, I mean, it's only,it's only going up the number of
people and that's just theagencies that are applying for
funding.
That's, it's not agencies thatwe're laying hands on right,
there are.
There are agencies, you know,one man, one mike foundation is
brand new, you know brand newhaven't applied for a grant.
(16:34):
You're here, you exist, right.
And there are other agencies,just like that, team RWB, and
there's a handful of them thatwe know are out there, we work
with, we talk to, but they justhaven't applied for a grant for
whatever reason.
Scott McLean (16:51):
Whether they know about it or not.
That's another thing.
Correct, and that's a lot ofword of mouth in this nonprofit
world.
Here, at least in Palm BeachCounty, a lot of it is word of
mouth 100% and, like I justtalked to you about a nonprofit
veteran before the podcast,you're like, oh, I got to talk
to them.
Jonathan Oakley (17:09):
Yeah.
Scott McLean (17:10):
Hook me up with them, yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (17:13):
Usually once a month, if not more, I get a.
Have you heard of this agency?
Right, and I'm like, no, neverheard of them.
Yeah, and it's an agency thatis here in Palm Beach County or
close.
Yeah, you know, martin,whatever, and you know they fly
under the radar.
And again, that's part of thereason what Mission United is
(17:33):
here to do, right, you have alot of agencies doing great work
, yeah, and is here to do right,you have a lot of agencies
doing great work, yeah, uh, andthey are so hyper-focused on
their mission, yes, and, and youknow, it's like the horse with
the blinders on right, theydon't get to see what's around
them.
They want to concentrate on whatthey're doing and their own
little, their their space, um,and, and so Mission United can
(17:54):
help be that advocate, help helpbe the person that can tell,
tell you what's going on allaround you.
And there are some agencies outthere that don't necessarily
want or need that.
There's an agency in North PalmBeach County that I've talked
to.
I've had lunch with the founder.
We email back and forth, but hewon't apply for a grant back
(18:17):
and forth, but he won't applyfor a grant.
He doesn't necessarily want tojump headfirst into what we do
because his demographic that heworks on is Special Forces.
Ah, okay, so it's very smallcommunity, very niche, and the
Special Forces community is verytight.
Yes, so he doesn't need helpright exposing, they help each
(18:39):
other exactly, I mean he's, he'ssf himself, yeah, so for him
it's, yes, it's not a need thathe has and you know what plugged
in.
Scott McLean (18:48):
It's kind of uh, you got to respect that correct,
because he's not looking at itjust to get the money correct,
like that's a, I don't need it,but, thank you, let somebody
else get it I put.
Jonathan Oakley (18:58):
I put as a fundraising events on our
calendars.
I I keep them plugged in towhat's going on in the in the
vet space.
But he fills his niche and hedoes it well, so we let him.
We let him be so.
Mission united in palm beachcounty has the ability to morph
and and give you what you need.
If you need some love to fillthe gaps, apply for a grant.
(19:21):
If you just want some exposureand connection, get added to the
mailing list.
I give everybody a shout-out inthe newsletter.
You want to put your stuff inthe newsletter?
Send me what you want me towrite.
I'll put it in there.
I'm not writing, but I'llpublish it.
I'll put it out in thenewsletter.
Send me what you want me towrite.
I'll put it in there.
I'm not writing, but I'll, I'll, I'll publish it.
Scott McLean (19:42):
I'll put it out in the ether.
Um and I.
I have to say that I'm kind offortunate in the sense that I
had my uh, I got my feet wet inthis world with herd foundation
and then, you know, I startedthis podcast and I start to
reach more people and talk tomore people and then I start my
foundation.
I get to reach more people andtalk to more people and that, I
(20:04):
think, helps uh, not only helpme, but I always mention mission
united.
I mentioned hurt.
I mean, I mentioned as manyfoundations as I can to people
and I think that needs to reallybe.
I'm grateful for it.
Yeah, and exposure I wouldn'thave known.
Probably maybe I wouldn't haveknown about mission United
because I'd be.
Yeah, it's not easy doing this,you know, starting it up and
(20:28):
getting it on.
It's getting it on its feet andgetting some traction.
And, yeah, I can see how peoplejust they got blinders on some
of these newer foundations thatdon't know Mission United exists
.
And Mission United exists tohelp us, literally to help us.
Jonathan Oakley (20:43):
The biggest thing is everybody has their own
little network right.
Herds Foundation has theirnetwork.
Yeah, great team, you know.
Connected Warriors 22.
Scott McLean (20:53):
Project 22, project.
You go on and on, yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (20:55):
And a lot of those networks overlap.
Yes, right, but there is anaspect to if you don't know, you
don't know.
So there are veterans that livein Boca and Delray, lauderdale,
pompano, hollywood, whatever,all through South Florida, that
have no idea about what allthese agencies do, yeah, that
(21:18):
have no idea about what allthese agencies do.
Yeah, and unless they getexposed in some way, shape or
form whether it's this podcastor it's a summit or it's a
resource fair or whatever, likethey just randomly hiccup into
it.
If they don't understand whatis out there and that's the
challenge that we always face isit's not reaching my network.
(21:41):
I can send my newsletter toevery agency in Palm Beach
County that I have, but theyalready know about Mission
United, they already know aboutmy calendar, they already know
about the resource map.
They already are aware of allthese things.
It's great that they have it,it's great that that resource is
there for them, but ideally,that resource and that calendar
and that map are for the onesthat have no idea.
(22:02):
Yeah, and that's the toughpeople to reach, that's the.
That's where the challengealways lies.
How do we get our message tothose who aren't already built
into this network?
Scott McLean (22:16):
Yeah, that is a that's a challenge.
It yeah, that's a challenge, itis that's a challenge.
But so how can, if somebody isin the community, the veteran
community, and they want to getinvolved with Mission United?
What's the website?
What's the?
Jonathan Oakley (22:30):
So you go I mean get to Mission United on
the United Way, palm BeachCounty.
Unitedwaypbcorg is the websiteand if you look at the top line
of the website Impact a littledrop-down pops up.
Mission United's there, bam.
Our calendar's there, ourresource map's there, my contact
information's there.
(22:50):
You can email me, jonathanOakley, j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n.
Oakley, like the sunglasses atunitedwaypbcorg.
You can email Mission United Atunitedwaypbcorg, and that comes
to me and my boss.
So there's a bunch of differentways that you can get a hold of
(23:12):
us.
Our phone number's on thewebsite and we get connected
with vets.
Try to connect with us on aregular basis and I will tell
you that our partner fornavigation.
So if you're a vet listeningand you're like hey.
I need some help.
Our partner for navigation is2-1-1.
(23:32):
So if you hit 2-1-1, you'll getconnected with the 2-1-1 on the
Palm Beach and Treasure Coastand the submenu in there.
I self-identify as a vet.
So once it gets past the thisemergency, please hang up, call
9-1-1.
You get past that.
It'll say if you're a vet,press one.
You'll get connected to chrisor scott and they have all the
(23:56):
resources I have, plus some,yeah, and and their peer
research, their peer mentors.
They're trained to do this, uh,and so they'll help you find an
agency to fulfill the needs youhave.
I have veterans that call me ona regular basis and I'll tell
them that.
And then, all right, dude, whatcan I do for you?
(24:17):
I?
Scott McLean (24:20):
can't hang up.
Yeah, exactly, I can't hang up,not yet.
Jonathan Oakley (24:24):
You're a veteran yourself.
I am.
Scott McLean (24:26):
Retired Marine.
Okay.
Jonathan Oakley (24:28):
Thanks for the crayons.
Scott McLean (24:30):
So how did they taste?
Purple tastes like grape,really, it does, it does.
Jonathan Oakley (24:36):
Okay, it's mental, it's mental If you think
it tastes like grape.
It tastes like grape, yeah, uh,but yeah, so we just uh, the
vet will call up and I'll try toconnect them as best I can to
resources, and a lot of timesit's, you know, I connect them
to the Palm Beach County VSOsRon Hultgren is the lead VSO
(24:57):
because it's a benefit question.
Or I connect them to legal aidbecause it's a legal question,
right?
So some of it's easy, some ofit's a little more challenging.
But you know, know, we do ourbest to meet the needs and if,
if the need can't be met withone of our agencies, I'm
connected with two or threenational level agencies that I
can reach out to.
American warrior partnership,bob woodruff foundation, uh,
(25:20):
they have national reach.
So if, if, by some chance,there is something in palm beach
county that doesn't match ityou, you know, between James and
Chris, john South, or those twonational agencies, chances are
we probably can figure it out.
It's a nut we can crack.
For the most part I will saythere's been a handful, less
(25:42):
than a handful, but you know,small minority of ones that,
sorry, not a whole lot we can dofor you I and I had put that
and I say this at the end ofevery episode.
Scott McLean (25:52):
Now that I have that little uh public service
announcement at the end about2-1-1 and what it offers, and uh
you know, and I always tell thelisteners listen to the end.
It might pertain to you assomebody you know, because they
offer a lot of services.
Jonathan Oakley (26:08):
It's one of the most unknown things and it's
shocking because it's such agreat resource.
It's almost frustratingly soshocking.
And before I did this MissionUnited gig, I worked for the
Palm Beach County SchoolDistrict as a JROTC instructor
at a school where two-on-onewould have been a handy thing to
(26:31):
know, and I mean I used to getphone calls from students on on
a regular basis that needed someresource, needed some help.
You know could have been food,money, a place to stay.
You know some kids get bootedat 18, whether they graduated
high school or not.
And so you know we get phonecalls from students that need
(26:53):
help and me and my partnerinstructor would work to try to
help them as best we could.
But I wish I'd have known about2-1-1 then.
Scott McLean (27:02):
That's a tightrope walking it is Because you're
dealing with kids and you can'tget too involved.
There's things that, yeah, thatmust have been.
That's a tightrope walking.
It is Because you're dealingwith kids and you can't get too
involved.
There's things that, yeah, thatmust have been a big challenge.
It was a challenge.
Jonathan Oakley (27:13):
But had we known, you know, if I had I
known that 2-on-1 exists and2-on-1 is a nationwide thing, it
is.
So if I had I known 2-on-1existed, it could have been an
answer to a lot of those phonecalls.
I would have their number atthe front of the classroom and I
knew 411, old schoolinformation.
811, I'm going to dig in myfront yard and I don't want to
(27:36):
break the water main.
No idea what 2-1-1 was.
No idea.
Scott McLean (27:41):
Yeah, I had an unfortunate phone call a little
while back.
That turned out to be.
It turned out fine.
But um, the individual wasgonna, his wife was telling him
over the phone call 2-1-1, call2-1-1.
And this kind of caught me offguard.
This phone call, it wasattempted suicide and a veteran
(28:02):
and and I was like whoa, no, no,no, no, no, don't, I'm glad'm
glad, you know about 211, butcall 988 and then hit one.
Jonathan Oakley (28:12):
In Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast.
It's the same place.
Scott McLean (28:15):
Is it really?
Jonathan Oakley (28:16):
Yeah, 211 of the Palm Beach and Treasure
Coast has the 988 contract.
Yeah, so, depending, and thereis one key difference I'm not
sure where they are in theprocess, but so when you call
811, 211, it even though, forlike for me, for my cell phone
it's a north carolina phonenumber yeah, um, but if I call
(28:38):
211, 811, it pings the towerthat the phone is hitting, okay,
and gives you the localresource based on the tower your
phone's.
Ah, okay, 988.
Last I I thought they weregoing to change, but last I
heard they hadn't yet is by uhzip code.
So if I call 988 on my cellphone, I'll get whoever's
(28:59):
contracted 988.
So that's in north carolina 252, as opposed to the cell tower
that I'm bouncing off of.
So, that being said, that'sthat's good information.
Theoretically, if you call 988and you have a 561 area code,
you're going to get the samepeople you would call.
If you call 2-1-1, you'll justkind of skip a couple steps.
(29:22):
I think 988 kind of skips theone of the telemenus.
Right like you, you almost getthe fr direct to a person, as
opposed to interesting having tolisten to.
If you're a vet, press one yeah, you're a not a vet press two.
You know you have to navigateyes you call nine and eight.
Scott McLean (29:38):
There's a reason yes, absolutely uh, so we kind
of touched on it.
So you have have your eventcoming up in February Mission
United Palm Beach County at PalmBeach State, which was a great
event last year.
It was a very productive twodays.
It was an interesting learningexperience for me, so I know
(29:59):
what to look forward to now.
I had never been in a room withthat many organizations, which
prompted this podcast.
As you know, that's the originof why this podcast as you know,
this that's not the origin ofwhy this podcast came about.
Um, so I didn't know theyexisted.
Jonathan Oakley (30:12):
If something half as good as this comes out
of this year's, I won.
I can die a happy man, I meanit was worth it.
Scott McLean (30:20):
Um, what else is coming up in 2025?
Anything other than that?
Do you just kind of take it?
Jonathan Oakley (30:26):
Well, I mean, obviously, we'll have the, the,
the summit part, right, With ourgovernment, uh, our government
entities for lack of a betterphrase right, Some elected
leaders, some government folks,uh, and we're going to bring
that information to them.
Uh, we'll have another grantcycle for, for uh agencies to
apply for, Uh, and we're alwaysworking, uh, to see what else is
(30:50):
out there.
Right, We've connected withBoca and we have our 4th of July
5K that we work with Boca on.
Scott McLean (31:01):
And that'll be another event we're going to do
and the Veterans Day event,which the Veterans Day event you
were talking, that was a reallygood event.
Jonathan Oakley (31:07):
dude, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Scott McLean (31:09):
It was really good , like I had friends in from out
of town veterans, probablyeight of them from Las Vegas to
Maryland.
They all came into town and Ispoke, I did it, but that wasn't
the point they said that was.
They just did it right.
They had a band playing areally good band.
Afterwards Everybody was happy.
(31:30):
It was just really a good.
It's the best Veterans Dayevent I'd ever been to.
Wow, shout out to Richard.
Jonathan Oakley (31:36):
Baller.
Scott McLean (31:36):
Yes, who put it together?
Jonathan Oakley (31:37):
He did a great job.
He's a friend of Mission United.
Yes, he works hard.
I did the Memorial Day eventlast year in Boca.
I spoke at it at the cemetery,yep, and then you know, they put
on that 5K in July.
He's the lead event guy therein Boca and he's really pushing
(32:03):
a lot of great events and heknows, he understands.
And the good thing aboutRichard is, if he doesn't know,
he'll ask.
So I get emails from him on theregular.
Hey, does this make sense?
Can we do this?
I'm like, yeah, absolutely,that sounds good to me.
Scott McLean (32:20):
How many veteran nonprofits do you talk to in a
week, roughly.
Jonathan Oakley (32:27):
Depends on the week, but anywhere from 10 to 20
depending on what's going on,and it varies for reasons, right
?
Yeah, yeah, I mean yesterday,you know I I went after, uh,
some morning meetings at theunited way.
I went to wounded veteran Fund.
They had their toy drivewrapping party for veteran
(32:49):
families, so a bunch of stuffthat had come into their
conference room.
And when I walked in, a careersource of Palm Beach County was
there.
So I crossed paths with theirCEO, who's on our advisory
council, julia DiTolo, crossedpaths with her as she was
walking out, but her staff wasstill there, frank and Tori and
(33:10):
them, and then Team RWB was inthere, you know.
So I mean there's threeagencies right there, you know,
in one shot, and so I got totalk and touch base with them
and see what's going on, and soit just depends on what's going
on that week.
Sometimes it's all business, youknow.
It's this vet called and Irefer them to legal aid and it's
(33:33):
a follow-up with them, or it'sa call to wound event relief or
stand down or Salvation Armybecause of something that's
coming up, or a vet that needshelp, or whatever.
And sometimes you know it'sjust to check in and see what's
going on Specifically withevents.
(33:53):
You know, yeah, I have an eventcoming up.
Yeah, is there anything I cando to help?
Scott McLean (33:58):
So we talked about fundraising and, well, Mission
United Always Is not.
Jonathan Oakley (34:06):
They don't just give money, they need money
always yeah, it's, it's achallenge, but we, we work in
the big space.
Yeah, I mean our fundraisinggoals robust.
This year.
It's there, I believe we'regonna.
We're gonna get there.
Good, um, we have have a plan.
(34:26):
It's just a matter of gettingpeople to pen the check.
Scott McLean (34:33):
Did you get my $100,000 check yet?
Jonathan Oakley (34:35):
It didn't get to you, I put it in the mail.
Scott McLean (34:38):
Just letting you know.
Jonathan Oakley (34:40):
You and the 10 other people.
It's something that I'm sureScott's learned as he's making
his way into this space.
There's a whole lot of peoplethat love vets and want to
support vets, and when it comestime to put pen to paper or
whatever, they disappear quitequickly.
Scott McLean (35:00):
Oh yeah, so I've learned that.
Jonathan Oakley (35:03):
Yes.
Scott McLean (35:03):
And that's okay.
And that's okay, you know, you,just move on.
I learned real fast.
Just move on.
Always, yes, and that's okay.
And that's okay, you know, youjust move on, I learned real
fast.
Just move on, always yeah.
Jonathan Oakley (35:11):
We just keep moving forward, yeah.
Scott McLean (35:13):
Yeah, yeah.
So what else?
Anything else you want to kindof push, I think?
Jonathan Oakley (35:20):
the biggest thing is just, I mean I want to
thank you, yeah, and thank thispodcast for everything that's
going on.
I mean, at the end of the day,this is a weekly listen for me.
I've learned about whether it'san agency.
You know that.
You've interviewed a vet thatyou've interviewed.
(35:42):
I've learned a lot fromlistening to your stuff.
Your second or first episodewith Ashley put me into 22
Project, yeah, and I'm walking,living, breathing alumni of them
, yeah, so I'm appreciative ofthat.
I mean, as a vet and as asenior director of miss united,
(36:04):
I'm grateful for everything you,you're doing.
I mean you turn me on toanother podcast.
Yeah, I uh eric's, yeah, yeah,I listen to the I'm fine podcast
on a regular basis.
Veteran podcast, veteranpodcast.
In fact, I, I, uh, I truly wantto go up and meet Brad, one of
these days.
Scott McLean (36:20):
Ah, yeah, yeah, his partner there, his co host,
yeah, his co-host the BlindMarine.
Jonathan Oakley (36:24):
Yeah, yeah, brad Stozik.
He's a comedian, yeah, and Ilove listening to their
interactions, but yeah, so it'sjust, it's refreshing, it's good
and it gives me a taste of, youknow, what goodness has come
out of some of the work thatwe've done here in Michigan
United.
So it's always good to bereminded of the victories, right
(36:48):
?
Scott McLean (36:48):
Yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the goals of
the One man, one Mic Foundationis I teach veterans how to
podcast from concept topublishing, and then I stay on
if they want me to help themproduce episodes or give advice.
That's the aftercare, becausethere needs to be more veteran
podcasts out there.
(37:08):
It's.
There's never been a time inthe history of this country that
a veteran is had moreopportunity to be, to be heard a
hundred percent.
And it's through.
It's not tick tock Instagram,those.
It's through podcasting.
Jonathan Oakley (37:20):
Yeah, this, uh, it's not TikTok, it's not
Instagram, it's throughpodcasting.
The medium is unique, yeah, inthat it you can do it any way
you want.
You can interact with it howyou want yeah, you can, and
there's a space for it.
Like you know, you go to TikTokor Instagram or some of the
other social media platforms andand their space is, they have
(37:42):
space for you in certain ways,but podcasting seems to be one
that is open to you.
Know, like we had thediscussion before, you could
have a broadcast, you can trulytackle issues, like you know
Eric and Brad do with the I'mFine, yeah, you know, and talk
through that you can createexposure or you can just tell
(38:05):
stories, and all of them havetheir own place that they occupy
in the podcast world.
So it's definitely unique inthat ability.
Scott McLean (38:15):
And I just actually this was not my
intention, but I just realized,and it's not a pat on the back
or anything for myself.
This was not my intention, butI just realized, and it's not a
pat on the back or anything formyself.
But what makes my website veryunique is that it's a resource
page.
Now there's 30 nonprofits upthere right, and it's got the
logo and it's got the websiteattached to it.
But again, I just kind ofrealized this.
(38:37):
What makes it unique is if youwant to know about Mission
United, you get an episode youcan listen to to get insight as
to what they are about.
Then you can go to the website.
Even if you listen to the first10 minutes, you're going to
know what they do, and who?
they are sure, and then you cango instead of just like what is
this, what is this?
And kind of click around.
I was like you know what.
(38:57):
That actually ended up.
Pretty good, yeah, you know,because now I get to hear what
Jonathan Oakley has to say orwhat Ashley Williams has to say
about 22 Project and like, oh,now I'm definitely going to go
look.
So it kind of adds a littlemore oomph to giving the veteran
or the family member of theveteran insight as to the
foundation.
Jonathan Oakley (39:18):
It's just more information, yeah, and with
information comes clarity andwith with that, you know you're
able to make the decision onyeah, uh, is this someone or
something that I can trust is,does it provide something that I
need, uh, or that I feel I want?
Yeah, you know, uh, and I meanyour podcast that you did with
(39:43):
Ashley.
You know that little statementshe made in there that talked
about, uh, the validation thatshe saw in the veterans when
they went through the spec scanwas for lack of a better phrase
triggering right In my mind.
I was like, oh snap, that'sokay, all right, I see how that
(40:05):
works.
And so I just emailed her andsaid, how does this work, like,
can I get in?
And she's like, yeah,absolutely apply.
And it was.
And it was.
It was.
(40:32):
The initial reading of my firstspec scan took place at the BRIC
, at their office there in theBoca Raton Innovation Campus,
and my wife was there with me.
So me and Tori sat there andlistened to Ashley tell you well
, here's where blood flow isless and because of this right,
all these are potential.
You know, issues and pitfallsand challenges you may face.
And me and my wife looked ateach other and we're like we're
(40:55):
just talking about this, like,literally, in the last three
weeks we just had theseconversations.
Literally in the last threeweeks we just had these
conversations.
Yeah, and so 100 I mean 100validated everything that we had
just discussed.
Does it make it better?
No, I mean just because you nowknow, doesn't, doesn't fix it
right it's still a work inprogress.
Now you know, but now you haveto understand why.
(41:16):
Yeah, right, like it just givesyou the understanding behind,
or science behind, what's goingon.
Yeah, and now you're, now I'min a better place.
Scott McLean (41:27):
And for the people that might not know what we're
talking about, the 22 Project isthey do hyperbaric oxygen
therapy treatment for veteranswith TBI, and it's that
treatment in itself is anamazing.
Jonathan Oakley (41:41):
Oh it's miracle .
Scott McLean (41:42):
Uh, that treatment in itself is is an amazing uh,
oh, it's miracle work.
Yeah, and I can get into thatwith another guest that I had
and it worked for him and hisepisode on this podcast was
heard by another veteran who wasgoing through the same thing he
was going through and he did itand he ended up reaching out to
him saying I listened to yourepisode and saved my life, it
changed my life.
(42:02):
It was you know.
So, these things, this is the,the, the effect that I hope this
has.
You know the butterfly effect.
Butterfly flaps his wings inAfrica.
Two weeks later, there's ahurricane in Florida.
You know, and that's what Ihope to do with this and this,
and I don't need anotherhurricane.
(42:22):
No, we didn't get any this year.
Jonathan Oakley (42:23):
So that's oh you did.
Doesn't touch boca, hurricanesdon't touch boca.
They got their special bubble.
Scott McLean (42:26):
That's right, we do all right, buddy.
Well listen.
Thanks for coming on again Ican't believe it's been eight
months, and well, you've seen alot has changed in eight months.
Jonathan Oakley (42:36):
This is this.
This is dynamite little studiothis is.
This is nice and I think thatseeing the space, the other mics
, the other headsets, Veteransare going to be sitting in these
100%.
And I challenge James and Christo come up here and let's get
(42:58):
the Mission Uniteds from allthree counties sitting in the
same room to an episode andlet's, let's got hammer us all
with questions yeah, yeah,absolutely well, I keep hounding
james about you know, gettingpodcasting involved in.
Scott McLean (43:13):
Good luck in the.
Yeah, yeah, he's a busy man, Iknow he is, I know, but I and I
hit him at it at the summit Iwas like podcasting mission
united.
He goes.
It's on my list.
Trust me, I have not forgotabout you.
Jonathan Oakley (43:27):
You're on the list.
You're like number five.
You'll get to three and thenyou'll drop to five and then
three, and then six, and thenhis list is ever dynamic.
I'll bug him next.
I'm visiting him next, next,next Thursday.
They're primed for somethinglike this, so I will.
I will definitely.
I'll plug.
You need to get to Delray.
(43:48):
You need to get to Delray?
Yeah, absolutely, and he'll seewhat.
Jump on the bright line, let'sgo.
Scott McLean (43:55):
Well, all right, my friend.
Again, thank you for coming on.
I always appreciate your time.
You know you talk about James,but you're just as busy as he is
and I appreciate you takingtime to come on the podcast and
reiterate to the listeners whatMission United is all about.
And Mission United BrowardCounty, Mission United Dade
County, Mission United PalmBeach County I mean they're all
(44:15):
great organizations doing greatwork for veterans and I
appreciate all three.
Now that I got to meet Chris,now I can have an appreciation
for Dade County and yeah, that'sit.
I want to thank everybody forlistening.
If you like it, share it.
I think it's a good resource forveterans, families of veterans,
to listen to and it's working.
(44:37):
It's working and it's due togood organizations that want to
come on and do that 40-minuteinterview, that 40-minute
infomercial, as I call it.
There we go, and if you're anorganization out there that's
listening and you want to be onthe podcast, you can reach me at
.
We'll just sayvetsconnectionpodcast at
gmailcom.
I always want to say one mic,one man, one mic Got to keep it
(45:02):
all separate.
I got to keep it separate.
It's a, it's a challenge vetsconnection podcast at gmailcom.
And well, we built anotherbridge today.
This is the second level ofthis bridge.
Oh yeah we're the bay bridge nowyeah we got a couple and, as I
said earlier in the podcast, uh,listen to the end is a great
public service announcementabout 988 and 211 and all the
(45:24):
resources that are offered toveterans, family members of
veterans, friends of veterans,and if you're just a listener
and you're not a veteran, itpertains to you also.
So, with that said, again thankyou for listening and you will
hear me in a new episode nextweek.
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