November 25, 2024 • 17 mins
Larry Jackson's journey from a Navy veteran to the co-founder of the Ben Jackson Foundation is both touching and inspiring. In this episode, we're honored to hear from Larry as he shares the heartfelt story of his late son Ben, whose legacy lives on through the foundation. Designed to support young active-duty service members in reconnecting with their families during the holidays, the "Ticket Home Award" has, to date, helped countless service members bridge the physical and emotional distance from their loved ones. Join us as Larry recounts the challenges and triumphs of launching a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening family bonds, and learn about the profound mental health benefits of these reunions.
We also examine what sets the Ben Jackson Foundation apart. Unlike many organizations that focus on veterans, this foundation is dedicated solely to active-duty military members. Through community events and fundraising efforts in Wisconsin, they have raised over half a million dollars and are aiming for even greater impacts. Larry's gratitude for the community's support shines through, as does his appreciation for the opportunity to share this vital work. Whether you're connected to the military or simply value the power of family and community, this episode promises a moving and enlightening narrative.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:00):
Good morning.
I'm Larry Zillik, director ofCulinary Services here at the
Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, andthis week our guest is Larry
Jackson, one of the co-foundersof the Ben Jackson Foundation.
This is a unique organizationthat I ran across just on the
web one day and I'd never seenanything like it, and it's just
(00:20):
a great, great service that theyprovide.
They offer financial assistanceto young service members so
that they can get a ticket homeand come home and visit their
families for the holidays,whether they're on a CONUS or
out-of-country assignment.
So it's just really a fantasticidea.
(00:43):
Larry, welcome to the podcast.
Larry Jackson (00:45):
Thanks, Larry.
It's really great.
A fantastic idea, Larry welcometo the podcast.
Larry Zilliox (00:48):
Thanks, larry, it's really great to be here.
So if you would tell us alittle bit about how you came to
form the organization and areyou prior service yourself?
Larry Jackson (00:57):
Yes, I'm a Navy veteran from quite a long time
ago.
Served in the Navy in the early1990s.
Larry Zilliox (01:04):
The foundation is named after your son, ben.
Yeah, and can you tell us alittle bit about Ben and how the
organization came to be namedafter him?
Larry Jackson (01:14):
Sure, my son, ben , graduated from high school in
Wisconsin in 2016.
Before he graduated, he wasplanning to go into the Air
Force, enlisted in the lateentry program.
So he graduated and then wentoff to basic training in San
Antonio Texas tech school alsoTexas and then got orders to go
(01:35):
overseas to Masao, japan.
So that was a big adjustmentfor someone who was 19 years old
at the time.
You know, it's an adjustmentthat most young people going
into the military right at highschool go through.
So he went to Japan.
He was I mean, it was a 14 hourtime difference.
So it was, it was a lot.
(01:55):
Uh, it was difficult really forus to find any sort of time to
talk when we were both awake andwe weren't working or he was
not working.
Um, so, you know, there weredefinitely some points where he
was just being in a newenvironment, where you know that
he has to be around the world,struggled, you know, a little
bit with just getting his legsunderneath him.
So I think the distance was abit of an issue for him
(02:17):
originally, but he quickly, youknow, made a lot of friends and
had a really great time in Japan.
At some point in January of 2018, he messaged me while I was on
a work trip and say hey, I'dlove to come home and surprise
everybody.
Uh, come back to Wisconsin.
See, see a bunch of people.
Can you help me out with aticket?
(02:37):
Uh, tickets airline ticketsfrom Northern Japan through
Tokyo and finally to Madison ranabout, you know, $2,000.
And this is six years ago,almost, I guess almost seven
years ago.
Um, so he, he needed some helppaying for the ticket, cause
that's about what he makes in amonth.
So I got on some.
I got him a ticket.
I had an airline mile because Itraveled for work.
(03:00):
So he came home, had a visit Uh, we had a great time surprised
a lot of people.
I was the only person that knewhe was coming back.
So after that week, he went backto Japan.
My wife brought him to theairport and then, about six
weeks after he got back, acouple of Air Force officers
came to our door and told him hehad been killed in an accident
(03:21):
on base.
So with that, we had a lot ofpeople donating money to us.
Really just, you know, kind oflike, we set up a quote memorial
fund.
We didn't really know what wewere going to do with it.
And then my youngest son,matthew, said hey, you know we
were talking about what weshould do with it.
He said Ben got to come homefor a visit, see his family.
(03:41):
We should help other people dothe same thing, and that seemed
like the perfect thing to do.
So we created what became theBen Jackson Foundation to
essentially provide almost likea pseudo scholarship to young
people enlisting in the militaryout of high school to help them
cover that ticket cost whenthey wanted to come home.
(04:02):
As a matter of fact, when Benwas home he told us a lot of his
friends were jealous becausewhile they could get the time
off from work and they can takethe leave, they just couldn't
afford the ticket to get back.
Larry Zilliox (04:13):
Yeah, I know personally.
I was stationed in Guam and itwas a long haul, time-wise
number one, but also the costwas prohibitive for almost
everybody.
Well, that's a terrible way tohave to come about forming an
organization like this, but justthe service that you provide is
(04:36):
amazing.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe process.
Are these, we'll call them,grants process?
Are these, we'll call them?
Larry Jackson (04:48):
grants available to any service member, or just
Air Force, yeah, so we've namedit the Ticket Home Award.
So it's available to anyenlisted member of the military
that's been in less than fouryears.
So our target demographic isenlisted, so officers aren't
eligible, and essentiallyroughly your first duty station.
So our target demographic isenlisted, so officers aren't
eligible, and essentiallyroughly your first duty station.
(05:09):
So our criteria is you've beenin the military less than four
years.
There are some cases where theyactually haven't been able to
come home in their first fouryears.
So in those cases we can stillhelp them out too, but that's
the eligibility.
We can still help them out too,but that's the eligibility.
We do have a process by whichwe will review applications and
(05:33):
select them, because we get farmore applications in a month
than we could possibly support.
So we do have a process to lookat those and grant the ticket
onwards.
Larry Zilliox (05:40):
And the application process, that's
through your webpage.
Larry Jackson (05:43):
Yeah, so if you go to benjacksonfoundationorg.
Slash apply, you'll get anapplication.
We take applications throughoutthe month and then at the end
of the month we start reviewingapplications received in the
prior month.
So we give out awards once amonth, so usually by the middle
(06:04):
of the following month peoplewill be notified if their
application was approved or not.
So anyone in October thatapplied we just sent out
notifications about a week ago.
Larry Zilliox (06:16):
And if I was a young service member thinking
about applying and let's say Iwanted to come home for
Christmas when should I apply?
Is that going to be like earlyOctober or?
Larry Jackson (06:30):
Yeah, so there's really not a necessarily a time
limit.
If somebody applied in Januaryand then got awarded in February
, they could still use it, youknow, down the line in Christmas
for that year.
So there's not really an enddate per se.
Yeah, but you know, if afterthere are some cases where we
(06:52):
just don't hear from the personfor a couple of years and then
we just kind of essentially geta grant that award to someone
else if they haven't used itafter a couple of years of them,
yeah, and how many awards doyou do roughly a month?
I would say on average, in aballpark we have about 15 awards
per month.
Wow, and that's what we cansupport with our current level
(07:14):
of fundraising.
So always looking for new, newdonors and sources of support.
But, um, that's about, I wouldsay, on average, and I will say
in November, so the currentmonth that we're in, um, and I'm
not sure when, when this will,when people will be listening to
this, but every November we dowhat we call Home for the
Holidays campaign, so we try toraise an additional amount of
(07:36):
money in November to let as manypeople come home in, let's say,
december, january, as possible.
So this year our goal is toreach $30,000 in November.
Larry Zilliox (07:47):
While we're on that topic, our listeners know
that when I'm ever talking abouta nonprofit, we're directing
them to the webpage.
So I want everybody to go tothe benjacksonfoundationorg and
you will see, as like everyother veteran service
(08:07):
organization, that donate buttonis right up there at the top
right-hand corner.
Now, normally it's red, butit's blue because of the Air
Force, and I want everybody tostart hitting that button and
give what you can.
I went through the process andmade a donation and it took all
of two minutes.
So it's not a struggle, it'ssimple.
(08:28):
Just go tobenjacksonfoundationorg and the
first thing I want you to do ishammer that donate button and
donate what you can.
Especially veterans, they knowwhat it's like to be stationed
far away, not be able to make ithome for a holiday.
I remember my firstThanksgiving.
(08:50):
I was in basic training and Iwas ill and was not in the
hospital, but they had thisthing in the Air Force down at
Lackland called the IntermediateCare Facility, and it's where
you went when you were sick, butyou weren't sick enough for the
hospital, but you couldn't bein your training group, and
(09:12):
that's where I spent my firstThanksgiving and it wasn't fun.
And then being overseas too.
You think more about yourfamily and your loved ones when
you're away and it's a holiday.
So being able to support theBen Jackson Foundation and to
(09:33):
give out as many awards aspossible to bring young service
members home for the holidays,it's just awesome.
Where do you see theorganization in, say, five years
?
Larry Jackson (09:49):
Well, that's a great question.
I mean, at some point we wouldlove to be at a point where we
could say yes to everyone.
That applies, I think.
You know I don't know howrealistic that is necessarily,
but I can tell you that werecently hit a significant
milestone of, essentially, wehave given out over half a
(10:10):
million dollars in ticket homeawards.
So I think and really themajority of that has come has
happened since May of 2021.
So I think we'll definitely beover a million dollars in ticket
home awards granted by thatpoint for sure.
Wow.
Larry Zilliox (10:29):
And what about corporate sponsorship?
Do you have any companies thatcome alongside to help?
Larry Jackson (10:34):
We nothing, nothing big.
You know we're always lookingfor support that.
You know.
If there's a company out thereor organization that feels
strongly about supportingmilitary causes, we would love
to, you know, work with them.
I will say that something aboutus which you alluded to in the
beginning.
We are a little different in acouple ways than a lot of
(10:57):
organizations.
We are a little different in acouple of ways than a lot of
organizations.
One is, like you mentioned we,there's not a lot of
organizations out there thathelp young people or or really
military in general.
Getting home, when we firststarted the organization, I
really thought that there wouldbe, you know, many organizations
that do this.
So I first figured I'd go tryto see what other organizations
(11:19):
were doing and was quicklysurprised to find out I couldn't
really find any.
So in that regard we're prettyunique.
I'm not going to say no one doesit, but I mean we're pretty
unique in that way.
And then the other way isthere's a lot of great
organizations out there thatsupport veteran causes.
We are different in that wesupport active duty military,
(11:40):
and not only that, but youngactive duty military when
they're especially, you know,might be struggling with the
stresses of being in a newenvironment away from home,
stresses of the job of justbeing in the military in general
, which can be stressful, and alot of times, as you know,
you're talking about your firstThanksgiving.
(12:00):
Sometimes people just need toget back into their support
structure that they had theirwhole lives.
So that's where we feel likewe're definitely unique and
different in that we help, weall support mental health in a
way that is is unique yeah, butso important.
Larry Zilliox (12:20):
I mean.
You know, when I saw your webpage, I was just amazed I'm.
I was thinking, wow, I hadn'teven thought about something
like this.
This is just great.
Again, listeners, it's thebenjacksonfoundationorg.
Take a look.
There'sa great video on there.
Assuming your wife made thevideo that talks about what
(12:41):
they're all about.
I encourage everybody to take alook at that, but be sure to
donate.
They also have a CFC number, soif you're a contractor or
you're a government employee,look them up in the CFC
directory and consider makingthat donation as well.
So it's an ongoing thing.
(13:03):
You guys are located inWisconsin.
Where are you in Wisconsin?
Larry Jackson (13:08):
Just in the Madison area.
Okay, so central Wisconsin.
Larry Zilliox (13:13):
Yeah, yeah.
I have fond memories as a kidof Wisconsin.
I grew up in Illinois so wecouldn't drink.
We had to go to Wisconsin todrink.
Larry Jackson (13:25):
Yeah, but also, yeah, I think they changed the
drinking age right when I gotinto ice, when I started high
school.
They just changed it from 18 to21, or something.
Larry Zilliox (13:36):
Yeah, I know it was 18 when I was growing up,
but also we went fishing uparound Madison Lake, wabisa, and
it's a wonderful area.
Madison's a great town too.
Do you do any local fundraisingthere?
So if there are people in yourarea that they can go, do
anything that you host.
Larry Jackson (13:57):
Yeah, we have a few different things that we do
during the year.
Um, so we're actually based innew glaris, wisconsin, if you're
familiar with that at all.
Um, so there's a couple oflocal businesses that um support
us, and then we have a festivalin the fall.
So the so bailey's run greatwinery.
Um, they, they actually bottlea wine for us every year and
(14:20):
then donate.
Uh, I guess this is the fourthyear that they donated six
thousand dollars um based on thesales of the wine.
And then, uh, we have anotherhouse in town that they they
have a veterans day event for usevery year and then, and then
we're always out at Oktoberfestin at the end of September in
(14:42):
New Glarus.
So a lot of people, if you'rewilling to come out to uh to
spend the weekend in New Glarus.
So we have a lot of greatconversations that weekend.
Larry Zilliox (14:50):
Wow, that's awesome.
Okay, well, listeners, ifyou're in Wisconsin, if you're
in that area, you want to payspecial attention to any of the
events that they have, and I'massuming that's all on your
webpage, right?
Larry Jackson (15:03):
Yeah, and usually that'll be posted on our
Facebook page as well.
So I would say, also check outthe webpage, and we're most
active on Facebook and Instagram.
Larry Zilliox (15:13):
Great, all right.
Once again the webpage isbenjacksonfoundationorg.
Go, take a look, be sure todonate, help them reach their
November goal and we can get asmany young service members home
for the holidays as possible.
What you all do is reallyspecial and I think our veteran
(15:35):
listeners really appreciate itand understand that you do
really serve a unique purposethat I hadn't even considered,
but I'm glad I ran across yourwebpage and I really really
appreciate you taking the timeto join us and tell us all about
your son and this wonderfulorganization.
Larry Jackson (15:58):
Thank you, larry, for having me and for the
donation you made, and I'llthank all of your listeners who
took the time to hear aboutBen's story and all of your
listeners who are helping us bydonating, so I really appreciate
all of it.
Thank you so much.
Larry Zilliox (16:15):
So, listeners, we'll have another episode next
Monday morning at 0500.
If you have any questions orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
Good morning.
I'm Larry Zillik, director ofCulinary Services here at the
Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, andthis week our guest is Larry
Jackson, one of the co-foundersof the Ben Jackson Foundation.
This is a unique organizationthat I ran across just on the
web one day and I'd never seenanything like it, and it's just
(00:20):
a great, great service that theyprovide.
They offer financial assistanceto young service members so
that they can get a ticket homeand come home and visit their
families for the holidays,whether they're on a CONUS or
out-of-country assignment.
So it's just really a fantasticidea.
(00:43):
Larry, welcome to the podcast.
Larry Jackson (00:45):
Thanks, Larry.
It's really great.
A fantastic idea, Larry welcometo the podcast.
Larry Zilliox (00:48):
Thanks, larry, it's really great to be here.
So if you would tell us alittle bit about how you came to
form the organization and areyou prior service yourself?
Larry Jackson (00:57):
Yes, I'm a Navy veteran from quite a long time
ago.
Served in the Navy in the early1990s.
Larry Zilliox (01:04):
The foundation is named after your son, ben.
Yeah, and can you tell us alittle bit about Ben and how the
organization came to be namedafter him?
Larry Jackson (01:14):
Sure, my son, ben , graduated from high school in
Wisconsin in 2016.
Before he graduated, he wasplanning to go into the Air
Force, enlisted in the lateentry program.
So he graduated and then wentoff to basic training in San
Antonio Texas tech school alsoTexas and then got orders to go
(01:35):
overseas to Masao, japan.
So that was a big adjustmentfor someone who was 19 years old
at the time.
You know, it's an adjustmentthat most young people going
into the military right at highschool go through.
So he went to Japan.
He was I mean, it was a 14 hourtime difference.
So it was, it was a lot.
(01:55):
Uh, it was difficult really forus to find any sort of time to
talk when we were both awake andwe weren't working or he was
not working.
Um, so, you know, there weredefinitely some points where he
was just being in a newenvironment, where you know that
he has to be around the world,struggled, you know, a little
bit with just getting his legsunderneath him.
So I think the distance was abit of an issue for him
(02:17):
originally, but he quickly, youknow, made a lot of friends and
had a really great time in Japan.
At some point in January of 2018, he messaged me while I was on
a work trip and say hey, I'dlove to come home and surprise
everybody.
Uh, come back to Wisconsin.
See, see a bunch of people.
Can you help me out with aticket?
(02:37):
Uh, tickets airline ticketsfrom Northern Japan through
Tokyo and finally to Madison ranabout, you know, $2,000.
And this is six years ago,almost, I guess almost seven
years ago.
Um, so he, he needed some helppaying for the ticket, cause
that's about what he makes in amonth.
So I got on some.
I got him a ticket.
I had an airline mile because Itraveled for work.
(03:00):
So he came home, had a visit Uh, we had a great time surprised
a lot of people.
I was the only person that knewhe was coming back.
So after that week, he went backto Japan.
My wife brought him to theairport and then, about six
weeks after he got back, acouple of Air Force officers
came to our door and told him hehad been killed in an accident
(03:21):
on base.
So with that, we had a lot ofpeople donating money to us.
Really just, you know, kind oflike, we set up a quote memorial
fund.
We didn't really know what wewere going to do with it.
And then my youngest son,matthew, said hey, you know we
were talking about what weshould do with it.
He said Ben got to come homefor a visit, see his family.
(03:41):
We should help other people dothe same thing, and that seemed
like the perfect thing to do.
So we created what became theBen Jackson Foundation to
essentially provide almost likea pseudo scholarship to young
people enlisting in the militaryout of high school to help them
cover that ticket cost whenthey wanted to come home.
(04:02):
As a matter of fact, when Benwas home he told us a lot of his
friends were jealous becausewhile they could get the time
off from work and they can takethe leave, they just couldn't
afford the ticket to get back.
Larry Zilliox (04:13):
Yeah, I know personally.
I was stationed in Guam and itwas a long haul, time-wise
number one, but also the costwas prohibitive for almost
everybody.
Well, that's a terrible way tohave to come about forming an
organization like this, but justthe service that you provide is
(04:36):
amazing.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe process.
Are these, we'll call them,grants process?
Are these, we'll call them?
Larry Jackson (04:48):
grants available to any service member, or just
Air Force, yeah, so we've namedit the Ticket Home Award.
So it's available to anyenlisted member of the military
that's been in less than fouryears.
So our target demographic isenlisted, so officers aren't
eligible, and essentiallyroughly your first duty station.
So our target demographic isenlisted, so officers aren't
eligible, and essentiallyroughly your first duty station.
(05:09):
So our criteria is you've beenin the military less than four
years.
There are some cases where theyactually haven't been able to
come home in their first fouryears.
So in those cases we can stillhelp them out too, but that's
the eligibility.
We can still help them out too,but that's the eligibility.
We do have a process by whichwe will review applications and
(05:33):
select them, because we get farmore applications in a month
than we could possibly support.
So we do have a process to lookat those and grant the ticket
onwards.
Larry Zilliox (05:40):
And the application process, that's
through your webpage.
Larry Jackson (05:43):
Yeah, so if you go to benjacksonfoundationorg.
Slash apply, you'll get anapplication.
We take applications throughoutthe month and then at the end
of the month we start reviewingapplications received in the
prior month.
So we give out awards once amonth, so usually by the middle
(06:04):
of the following month peoplewill be notified if their
application was approved or not.
So anyone in October thatapplied we just sent out
notifications about a week ago.
Larry Zilliox (06:16):
And if I was a young service member thinking
about applying and let's say Iwanted to come home for
Christmas when should I apply?
Is that going to be like earlyOctober or?
Larry Jackson (06:30):
Yeah, so there's really not a necessarily a time
limit.
If somebody applied in Januaryand then got awarded in February
, they could still use it, youknow, down the line in Christmas
for that year.
So there's not really an enddate per se.
Yeah, but you know, if afterthere are some cases where we
(06:52):
just don't hear from the personfor a couple of years and then
we just kind of essentially geta grant that award to someone
else if they haven't used itafter a couple of years of them,
yeah, and how many awards doyou do roughly a month?
I would say on average, in aballpark we have about 15 awards
per month.
Wow, and that's what we cansupport with our current level
(07:14):
of fundraising.
So always looking for new, newdonors and sources of support.
But, um, that's about, I wouldsay, on average, and I will say
in November, so the currentmonth that we're in, um, and I'm
not sure when, when this will,when people will be listening to
this, but every November we dowhat we call Home for the
Holidays campaign, so we try toraise an additional amount of
(07:36):
money in November to let as manypeople come home in, let's say,
december, january, as possible.
So this year our goal is toreach $30,000 in November.
Larry Zilliox (07:47):
While we're on that topic, our listeners know
that when I'm ever talking abouta nonprofit, we're directing
them to the webpage.
So I want everybody to go tothe benjacksonfoundationorg and
you will see, as like everyother veteran service
(08:07):
organization, that donate buttonis right up there at the top
right-hand corner.
Now, normally it's red, butit's blue because of the Air
Force, and I want everybody tostart hitting that button and
give what you can.
I went through the process andmade a donation and it took all
of two minutes.
So it's not a struggle, it'ssimple.
(08:28):
Just go tobenjacksonfoundationorg and the
first thing I want you to do ishammer that donate button and
donate what you can.
Especially veterans, they knowwhat it's like to be stationed
far away, not be able to make ithome for a holiday.
I remember my firstThanksgiving.
(08:50):
I was in basic training and Iwas ill and was not in the
hospital, but they had thisthing in the Air Force down at
Lackland called the IntermediateCare Facility, and it's where
you went when you were sick, butyou weren't sick enough for the
hospital, but you couldn't bein your training group, and
(09:12):
that's where I spent my firstThanksgiving and it wasn't fun.
And then being overseas too.
You think more about yourfamily and your loved ones when
you're away and it's a holiday.
So being able to support theBen Jackson Foundation and to
(09:33):
give out as many awards aspossible to bring young service
members home for the holidays,it's just awesome.
Where do you see theorganization in, say, five years
?
Larry Jackson (09:49):
Well, that's a great question.
I mean, at some point we wouldlove to be at a point where we
could say yes to everyone.
That applies, I think.
You know I don't know howrealistic that is necessarily,
but I can tell you that werecently hit a significant
milestone of, essentially, wehave given out over half a
(10:10):
million dollars in ticket homeawards.
So I think and really themajority of that has come has
happened since May of 2021.
So I think we'll definitely beover a million dollars in ticket
home awards granted by thatpoint for sure.
Wow.
Larry Zilliox (10:29):
And what about corporate sponsorship?
Do you have any companies thatcome alongside to help?
Larry Jackson (10:34):
We nothing, nothing big.
You know we're always lookingfor support that.
You know.
If there's a company out thereor organization that feels
strongly about supportingmilitary causes, we would love
to, you know, work with them.
I will say that something aboutus which you alluded to in the
beginning.
We are a little different in acouple ways than a lot of
(10:57):
organizations.
We are a little different in acouple of ways than a lot of
organizations.
One is, like you mentioned we,there's not a lot of
organizations out there thathelp young people or or really
military in general.
Getting home, when we firststarted the organization, I
really thought that there wouldbe, you know, many organizations
that do this.
So I first figured I'd go tryto see what other organizations
(11:19):
were doing and was quicklysurprised to find out I couldn't
really find any.
So in that regard we're prettyunique.
I'm not going to say no one doesit, but I mean we're pretty
unique in that way.
And then the other way isthere's a lot of great
organizations out there thatsupport veteran causes.
We are different in that wesupport active duty military,
(11:40):
and not only that, but youngactive duty military when
they're especially, you know,might be struggling with the
stresses of being in a newenvironment away from home,
stresses of the job of justbeing in the military in general
, which can be stressful, and alot of times, as you know,
you're talking about your firstThanksgiving.
(12:00):
Sometimes people just need toget back into their support
structure that they had theirwhole lives.
So that's where we feel likewe're definitely unique and
different in that we help, weall support mental health in a
way that is is unique yeah, butso important.
Larry Zilliox (12:20):
I mean.
You know, when I saw your webpage, I was just amazed I'm.
I was thinking, wow, I hadn'teven thought about something
like this.
This is just great.
Again, listeners, it's thebenjacksonfoundationorg.
Take a look.
There'sa great video on there.
Assuming your wife made thevideo that talks about what
(12:41):
they're all about.
I encourage everybody to take alook at that, but be sure to
donate.
They also have a CFC number, soif you're a contractor or
you're a government employee,look them up in the CFC
directory and consider makingthat donation as well.
So it's an ongoing thing.
(13:03):
You guys are located inWisconsin.
Where are you in Wisconsin?
Larry Jackson (13:08):
Just in the Madison area.
Okay, so central Wisconsin.
Larry Zilliox (13:13):
Yeah, yeah.
I have fond memories as a kidof Wisconsin.
I grew up in Illinois so wecouldn't drink.
We had to go to Wisconsin todrink.
Larry Jackson (13:25):
Yeah, but also, yeah, I think they changed the
drinking age right when I gotinto ice, when I started high
school.
They just changed it from 18 to21, or something.
Larry Zilliox (13:36):
Yeah, I know it was 18 when I was growing up,
but also we went fishing uparound Madison Lake, wabisa, and
it's a wonderful area.
Madison's a great town too.
Do you do any local fundraisingthere?
So if there are people in yourarea that they can go, do
anything that you host.
Larry Jackson (13:57):
Yeah, we have a few different things that we do
during the year.
Um, so we're actually based innew glaris, wisconsin, if you're
familiar with that at all.
Um, so there's a couple oflocal businesses that um support
us, and then we have a festivalin the fall.
So the so bailey's run greatwinery.
Um, they, they actually bottlea wine for us every year and
(14:20):
then donate.
Uh, I guess this is the fourthyear that they donated six
thousand dollars um based on thesales of the wine.
And then, uh, we have anotherhouse in town that they they
have a veterans day event for usevery year and then, and then
we're always out at Oktoberfestin at the end of September in
(14:42):
New Glarus.
So a lot of people, if you'rewilling to come out to uh to
spend the weekend in New Glarus.
So we have a lot of greatconversations that weekend.
Larry Zilliox (14:50):
Wow, that's awesome.
Okay, well, listeners, ifyou're in Wisconsin, if you're
in that area, you want to payspecial attention to any of the
events that they have, and I'massuming that's all on your
webpage, right?
Larry Jackson (15:03):
Yeah, and usually that'll be posted on our
Facebook page as well.
So I would say, also check outthe webpage, and we're most
active on Facebook and Instagram.
Larry Zilliox (15:13):
Great, all right.
Once again the webpage isbenjacksonfoundationorg.
Go, take a look, be sure todonate, help them reach their
November goal and we can get asmany young service members home
for the holidays as possible.
What you all do is reallyspecial and I think our veteran
(15:35):
listeners really appreciate itand understand that you do
really serve a unique purposethat I hadn't even considered,
but I'm glad I ran across yourwebpage and I really really
appreciate you taking the timeto join us and tell us all about
your son and this wonderfulorganization.
Larry Jackson (15:58):
Thank you, larry, for having me and for the
donation you made, and I'llthank all of your listeners who
took the time to hear aboutBen's story and all of your
listeners who are helping us bydonating, so I really appreciate
all of it.
Thank you so much.
Larry Zilliox (16:15):
So, listeners, we'll have another episode next
Monday morning at 0500.
If you have any questions orsuggestions, you can reach us at
podcast at willingwarriorsorg.
Until then, thanks forlistening.
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