February 26, 2025 • 54 mins
In this episode, we sit down with Brittany, the manager of the DuPage County Veteran Assistance Commission (VAC), to discuss the vital work her team does to support local veterans. Brittany shares insights into the VAC’s mission, the key services they provide, and the biggest challenges facing veterans today. We explore how the commission helps veterans access benefits like healthcare, disability claims, and housing assistance, as well as the impact of their advocacy efforts. She also shares success stories, dispels common misconceptions about veteran support programs, and offers advice for veterans who may be hesitant to seek help. Finally, Brittany reflects on her personal journey in veteran services and the most rewarding aspects of her work. Tune in to learn more about how the VAC is making a difference in the lives of those who served.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Good afternoon. Everybody's trip Wire time. Stacy and I want
to welcome you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's February twenty six, Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We are going to knock this out of the park.
We've got a great guest real quick before we bring
Britney in. Stacy, how are you. How's the last week? Then?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
For you, it's been good.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We had another themed event. Uh, you probably saw it
all over Facebook where we was a Mardi Ga fundraiser
for NAPLE Responds for Veterans and.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It was incredible.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So Terrell with dark Horse Catering hosted it and he
is one of the most amazing chefs around here that
that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting his
his food. He did some unique takes on all of
the Cajun the Cajun foods that you know you would
have in Louisiana, especially during Mighty gra was so cool
(01:30):
and we got to wear are our Mardi Gras masks?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, I know I saw the pictures that you posted
all over Facebook, and I knew that you were in
some of them, but everybody had masks and I didn't
know who was who.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So but we'll get to that next time.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You didn't recognize my hair or anything.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean, it's a joke with the masks. It's good.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Come on, all you've been you've been super super ecstatic
about bringing bring me on a show, So you nail
that introduction and let's get this going because this is
going to be high energy and I'll probably not get
another word at edgewise for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's it'd be fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
So Brittany and I met initially just through professional channels,
I believe. Actually the first time I met her was
when we did the Resilience Tactics workshop that we've talked
about on here before, and that was a support the
supporters of the military and first responder communities, and it
was about how to really reach out to people that
(02:30):
were emptying their cup trying to help others, and we
wanted to do breakout sessions and offer resources. And I
met her there and she's with the DuPage County Veteran
Assistants Commission, and she.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Isn't just the manager of that organization.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
As I got to know her more and more, I
realized that she's just really a wealth of knowledge. And
her father retired, I believe, retired fire chief. I believe
in Naperville, we can we can get her to correct that.
But herself, she's not a veteran, but she is. So
just her mission and in life is just to help
(03:14):
help veterans and make sure they've bought what they need.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I just thought she'd be a great fit, a
great fit.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
All right, Well, let's bring her on. Let's get this going.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Hi, guys, are you Brittany?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Was your dad a retired fire chief in Naperville?
Speaker 7 (03:31):
Is that correct? He was a retired lieutenant. He was
a strike team leader for has Matt though for DuPage
County after nine to eleven, so he was one of
those task force with.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The And I was telling Stephen that I think the
first time we met was at the Resilience Tactics Workshop,
but it was probably in passing at the VFW prior
to that. But I think that that's when we started
to talk and then talk more and now we don't
stop talking.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Yes, I love that, I really did.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think I think I'll just bet myself for the
rest of the conversation because I'm not going to get
a word wise.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
No. So here's the funny part about Stacy and how
I first met her, because She was very intimidating at first.
I always thought when I thought of Stacy, I'm like,
I have to keep doing work. I just she'll notice me, right,
I just have to like I'm not a veteran, you
know what I mean, I'm not whatever. And one day
I was just helping out and she's like, hey, thank
(04:31):
you for coming. And right then and there, I'm like, oh,
I made it. I was like the post commander actually
like knew who my name was, what I was doing
there and everything. And I will never forget saying that
to like Dennis and fill in them. I go, I
forget this, she knows my name. And then everythin instead
(04:52):
of like talking ever since, with VFW stuff, women's events,
motivational stuff. The list goes on with staate, you know,
and it's just.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Now it's one idea, one idea, one plan, one fun
thing after another.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I'm super excited.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
I know.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I'm so Brittany. I understand.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I understand completely what you're saying, because when I met
Stacy was prior to her being on any of the
board of the VFW, let alone being the commander.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And that energy is.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Unique, so very unique, and you count yourself, I would say,
blessed and also fortunate that you get to spend time
because she's a wealth of knowledge and has so much energy.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's it's it really is. It is awesome. I understand
completely where you're coming from. So, but Stacy brought you
on the show.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So as I normally do, I'm going to just kind
of sit here and look pretty with my beard and
let Stacy run this and we'll figure this out because
I'm going to have some things to say. If you ladies,
let me talk and we'll figure that out going on.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Okay, okay, cool, So, Brittany, the whole idea was that
we kind of reach out to our viewers and which
are primarily veterans or friends family of veterans, and just
(06:19):
figure out what it is that they may want to
ask you and kind of get an idea of what
information that you have to share that would benefit them.
And what I normally end up doing is as we
go through the show, I will put up links or
if there's some kind of information maybe that you something
that you might say, hey, this is valuable, go to
(06:41):
this website. I will throw those links into the comments
because that way people can listen and if they've got
something we say pops up in they're like, oh my gosh,
I want to be able to go reference that or
find what they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Then I'll make note of that.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
So if there's something that you're saying and you want
me to get that website, let me know. So before
we get into like a couple of questions that the
viewers sent us, why don't you just give us a
little bit of an overview about what the due Page
VAC is and what it's.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yes, and you tell us a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
About and yes, exactly, Well, yeah, I mean I was
gonna say that.
Speaker 7 (07:32):
I'm gonna go with the first time I have. Let's
talk about the Veterans Assistance Commission first and then go
with me. So, the Veterans Assistants Commission is like an
emergency limited emergency financial and referral assistance program tall our
due Page County veterans and their families during unforeseen difficult
events beyond their control, so like a hospital stay, car
(07:56):
breaks down something that they couldn't see. And then we
also help with filing VA claims for both the veteran
and their family, which it gives a big chunk of
what the VAC can do on a broader side myself.
I'm the office manager here. I wear many hats, as
some of the other commissions say. I've worked in different
(08:17):
veteran communities for nonprofits, sent out care packages, dealt with
veteran assistance programs with the Medal of Honor recipient for
many years, dabbled in the homeless program. Did housing counts
or homeless counts I should say, in Cook County in
Lower Whacker on those nights the coldest night I believe
(08:37):
it was January thirty first, So we couldn't do it
the one year because I just had surgery here in
due Page. But my boss goes out with Lisa Snipes
from DuPage County and we do the counts there. I've
done a lot with first responders, as you know, with
my father. My brother is also captain of the fire
department up in Minneapolis Minister. So we want to make
(09:01):
sure here in du Page County that they know that
we are a first responder and a veteran commission. So
just because you aren't a veteran doesn't mean we don't
have resources for our first responders. It's very huge for
me with the mental health side of things here in
our County just because of the background and knowledge of
the different private hospitals and what veterans can't really have
(09:25):
access to in like a group setting with civilians talking
war stories and not So we want to make sure
we get those first responders, especially those Highway patrol guys
are the ones like my dad who were at Station
four that had the highway accidents and traumas that they
had to go to getting those services to those veterans
as well and first responders. So I do a lot
(09:48):
here with outreach, whether it be in our county, dabbling
with different counties. We partner up with Will Counties Veterans
Assistants Commission. They come out here. We did Patriot Fest
with Aprilil Responds at Rotary Hill. They have that concert. Uh,
I've brought it. We've brought in Kendall County to your resource.
We're working with Cook County right now. Cook County means
(10:11):
a lot of help and assistance, so do Peach counties
coming in get bringing some partnerships, great community partnerships in
our community. Because of some of issues going on, we
want to make sure we get all the resources there.
So Steve's been having me go out into the community
boots on the ground with all of the knowledge.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Steve's your boss, right.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Yes, Steven Fishler is my superintendent. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Well, I wanted to clarify that before the before the
viewers think that you've you've chipped into something that you haven't.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm really glad that you did clarify. I am not
ready for that responsibility yet.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Well, no, because you're really heavily involved in class at
the moment, so there would not be time for you.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
To be doubling.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Brittany, I told you she was going to bust my child. Brittany,
I don't.
Speaker 7 (10:58):
Know how you would keep up with both of our schedules, see, Brittany.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
The joke about this is that every every time I
try to get him, you know, on the phone, or
try to get him to do something or whatever, he's
he texts me. And initially it was just like, you know,
I'm in class, I'm in class. And then after like
the fifth time, I'm like, are you really? Are you
really in class?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And what the fuck is this?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Every time I'm trying to get a hold of you,
it is just like, you know, I'm in class. Like
I don't really, I don't want to talk to you,
I'm in class.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
And so now it's like Joe not talking to her
or you know, so I'm gonna get merch made. I'm
gonna get trip Wire t shirts made, and it's gonna say,
can't I'm in class, can't in class?
Speaker 7 (11:40):
I need one of those shirts you've been on the
back of it for me.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yep, yep, they're in print right now. Okay. So, well,
so now that we know what.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
The VAC does into page and that and and and
you do work with will County. That was interesting because
I got an email from them today about getting some
delegates to uh.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Exactly what their responsibility is going to be, but it
gives us a voice. And you guys have I think
Phil and Leo from our VFW or on your Villain
Detic board Phil and Dennis is it's a board and
then they have a voice. So you know, I like
that because the vac's you know, are actively listening to
(12:25):
what's like the boots on the ground, the people that
are in the vfw's and American legions I'm assuming.
Speaker 7 (12:32):
Yeah, so yeah, that's a really good thing. I first
was interviewed by all my delegates, boots on the ground
at a resource fair, So my interview wasn't a normal interview,
And so I heard all the delegates and what they
wanted and what their mission was, and it was being
out there calling the fire departments, calling the police departments,
(12:54):
getting in there, getting presentations done, getting the word out.
So if they did get a call, who would the
ambos give their referrals to instead of them having to
transport them to the ED if they don't need it,
if they can cut out that middleman. I went to
the vfw's that was a huge one right there, saying hey,
(13:16):
come to the one heavily populated Chicagoland VFW post in
Naperville and see what's going on there, and then amplify
and hearing from delegates and what their stuff is, and
then going into your post alone and hearing from veterans
first hand knowledge about stuff making a difference. I think
(13:39):
the one impact was a child services because at the VA,
they don't refer children because they don't see children, so
they don't have real like they don't give really good
resources to the veteran to help their child out. So
when I was at one of these rally points and
hearing that I wanted to see what I can do
with chant VA or trycare and see how we can
(14:02):
get our community partners or medical professionals in on the
VA so that way we can get them in our community.
And because I call myself a sick kid and I've
been sick my whole life, I have a great connections
with the medical communities. So been working with some of
these great specialists so that they can help our veterans,
(14:24):
which they're veterans themselves and they want to help our
veterans somehow. So we're working with a spinal guy first,
getting them as a CMP examiner since we have some
of the best medical professionals in the Chicagoland area with
all these amazing hospitals, so just getting the resources and
the right information to the surgeons and stuff like that
(14:47):
is really going to help streamline our veterans and getting
them some of the best care.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
So was this issue with the children, and I mean,
you're right, like the VA hospital, I mean, but veterans
have children.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So that's a very interesting point.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Was that one of the things that drove you to
create this whole the rally point so ups if you
will pop ups of reference and resources.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
Well it kind of goes back to a staff Sergeant
ley On Magnum. He's my mentor. He was the executive
director for the L.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And J.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Langch Medal of Honor Veterans Assistance Program and I worked
for free ninety nine with him, and I say that
for free for many years with him, and he set
this model up in Houston. There was something called One Houston,
I don't remember the name. And he always had this
idea of putting all these resources in one facility, in
(15:42):
one location, so a veteran can go to it because
they don't want to go downtown to Chicago. They don't
want to go into something that's not safe. Naperville is
really safe. It's a big community. People can travel there.
It has different Route fifty nine, it has I eighty eight,
it has three fifty five acts access, so it's very
good access for people. And that's one of the things
(16:05):
that drew me to that was with Leon saying let's
get these down there. And since he went back to
Jay Roxies and helping those people out, I'm like, you
know what, let's keep doing this. I don't know why
after COVID. When COVID happened, everything shut down. People stopped
doing outreach and a lot of people didn't. And I
(16:26):
remember him saying, keep going, keep going, that the doers
and the people who are going to be noticed, they're
going to keep going and those are the ones that
are going to matter. And through COVID, we were in
the red zone. We were out there giving coats out,
we were taking resources, we were calling people, we were
in the homeless shelters and doing stuff. So I took
(16:47):
his idea and I just ran with it. And then
I saw we have nine different townships in do Page
County and trying to see where we can find the
right fit and just amplify it. So, you guys, with
Naperville being over close to thirteen hundred active American Legion
members nine hundred and sixty three active VFW members, that's
(17:09):
a big post. So having ideas from those veterans, hearing
from all different stories of life, right, whether it be
substance use issues, whether it be mental health issues, whether
it be physical health issues, chronic pain being one of them,
cancer resources, children's resources, because a lot of kids, like
(17:29):
mental health stems from their children. Right. If their children
are off balance, they're off balance. And one of the
things that I work with, and I know I'm going
off topic, is nutrition. Food. I volunteer with food pantries.
And I have a three year old and my son,
if he doesn't get a right nutrients and he's just
eating sugar all day, he's not going to be the
(17:52):
greatest kid. Right. And so with healthy with a healthy
nutrition system and healthy foods produce coming out into the
neighborhood getting like the services because some single dads and
single moms don't know how to cook. Right, you're in
the military, you go to a chowel haul, they tell
you what to eat, they tell you what you're getting,
they give you MRIs and stuff. Then you get out
(18:14):
of the service and you're like, well, now what do
I do? Go to drive throughs and McDonald's and all
that stuff, and it's like, let's build some life skills,
Let's find some things, let's get some cooking programs going
and finding outlets for those resources. So that's what we
started doing. Leona, Well, I started doing with the rally
(18:34):
points and I just kind of learned it from him
and then just started picking out a lot of the
stuff that veterans were coming to me about. And then
if I had the resource, I'd bring them to that
event or that post and say, hey, try it out,
let's see if it works.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
So you kind of touched on this.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
A little bit, but I want to go back to
this question here, what like the biggest challenges You know,
you've already tapped into this, but the biggest challenges that
are facing veterans in our in our in our county,
but really in our state. Like what do you see
predominantly when people come to you and need help, and
what are the top things.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
Right now? So I'm introducing rally point Addison this year
or this year this month. We just started it in February.
It will be the second Tuesday of the month. And
the reason why I'm doing Addison now it is the
township that has the most diversity. And when I say that,
(19:38):
it's because it's heavily as the heavy population of ethnicity
and the culture there is so diverse with it's insane.
But the low income population is also one of the
key factors in Addison. And so going out there and
seeing what's going on, it's a veteran not identifying as
(19:59):
a veteran, I will have to say that there are
a huge need in Addison but the veterans aren't identifying
as a veteran. And so I'm going to go out
there with some mental health services. They're going to go
on the ground and see why these veterans don't want
to come out and say, Hey, I'm proud to be
a veteran. Right things can some people say did I serve? Right?
(20:22):
Some of the new politically correct terms instead of saying
are you a veteran? Is like did you serve? Because
some of the people who didn't think that they did
not go overseas, they don't consider themselves a veteran. And
I can't speak for that myself. I just have had
veterans come up to me and say that themselves that
they don't feel that they're a veteran because they didn't
(20:44):
go overseas and fight like their friends did. And I
feel very.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Their veterans in our eyes definite.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
Do you think that they wrote that blank check to
the government and Uncle Sam? And that's one of the
things that is really huge on it. Whether it be
a religion issue. So I'm asking some of my friends
whether it be in the Asian population, the European population.
I'm trying to see the different cultures and what we
can do and what the reasoning is behind that. So
(21:19):
that's one of the things that the supervisor asked me
to do and put a task on me to do
for that township.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Do you think that it has something to do with
the level of PTSD that this generation has and that
makes people feel that they haven't gone through what some
of those their friends might have gone through.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
They don't have.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
They're not feeling that same type of trauma. That they're
not worthy I guess might be the word that they're
not worthy to consider themselves in the same you know,
as a veteran. Do you think it is mental mental
health related?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I think what she's trying to get at, Brittany is
is that they've lost the connection with the veteran community
because they don't feel that they meet the criteria of
those that actually did go during the Globe War on
Terrorism and serve over there or serving servant, serve in
Syria or Africa or whatever. A lot of these young
(22:14):
kids nowadays are doing four years and they haven't seen
any combat, and that doesn't mean a damn thing to
us that are combat veterans. They served, they still stepped
on those they stepped up they raised their hand, and
it's I think it's extremely important that they realized that
they stood, like you said, they stood something bigger than themselves.
(22:36):
They've earned the title of veteran. They they're not a
combat veteran, but they're a veteran. We're all veterans.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Yes, yeah, I mean, if you ever need to go
with you, if you ever need me to come with
you and help tell them how important they are, and
how grateful we are for what they've done, and and
how you know how important they really are to the
whole mission.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know, what is that? Is that a motion sensor
jump in?
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Yeah, my emotion sensors just went out on me in
the cafeteria. Wave her a whold lot. Let me go
get that.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That sounds like that seems like something that would happen
to me with my with my technical Okay, so I'm
writing all these things down that I want to be
able to get these links.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, I get it. That's awesome. Oh gotta love technology.
When when you so.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
This, she went down the hall, the.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
I literally had to run in my cafeteria just try
to turn on a light.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
So sorry, okay, so okay, so let's let's let's go
back to that real quick. So some of the biggest
challenges obviously you were talking about the yeah, them not.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Recognizing that they were you coming out to the VFW.
So I haven't really gotten into it with Alex. So
Dennis Urbiletti is the supervisor. We're talking about going to
the vfw's I'm bringing in NADRA. They have a Veteran
service program. It's a recreational for do Page County beca's.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Part of the Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies. Yeah and off
from Alan Force.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Okay, yes, yes, so that department alone because we're trying
because it's a civilian, non for profit, but they do
have a veteran site to component to it. So I'm
hoping that because it's a civilian side, I can grab
some veterans through that location and get them into some
recreational activities and see what we can do. I know
(24:41):
they're remodeling to make a rec center on the second
floor there, but trying to find ideas of where these
veterans might be in their community besides the American Legion,
the VFW POST. That's what I'm working with on my test.
I know I'm going to be asking Stacey to come
out with me once or twice.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
But yes, well, one of the reasons that I'm having
you go to the spaghetti dinner on Friday. So the
spaghetti dinner on Friday at the VFW, which is hosted
by the American Legion, is to raise money and honor
both of the student Veterans clubs at Naperville North High
School in Naperville Central. And then there's five of us
that are going Stephen. Then we're going from the spaghetti
(25:22):
dinner to the movie that is the Brother in Arms movie.
So one of the reasons that I invited you, Brittany,
not just because I also really enjoy your company, but
it's Team Red, White and Blue. So I got involved
with Team Red, White and Blue through Jack Irwin, who's
(25:44):
a friend of mine who's the commander at the Saint
Charles VFW, and he's heavily involved with them, and I
mentioned them on our last last week's podcast, and they're
hosting the movie that we're going to go see. And
I want you to meet all of these people because
this is another way for veterans to be involved with activities,
(26:08):
physical challenges, you know, like rock marches. They're all signing
up for our be the one Rock March on March
twenty second, and there is a huge group going to
the movie at this location.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And I think that this is a great way. Like
what you said, we.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Were talking about veterans and how they can get involved
and when they don't feel comfortable or they don't understand
how to get involved with the American Legion of the VFW,
this is a very easy way for them to start
just doing something on a level that's comfortable with them,
you know, for them.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So have you heard of that? You did? You met?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
I believe you met him at the Resilience Tactics Workshop. Yeah, right,
you met Jack there. So yeah, So that movie is
supposed to be Have you heard.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Of that, Steven, the movie that we're going to see, Yes.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
I have.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
So to your point, that's another way that I think,
and I'll probably put that link in our.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
In our comments again because I want people to know.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
That that's out there, because I have the app on
my phone and it's really something I'm really starting to enjoy.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Okay, So.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Can you One of the things about you, you don't
you're very You're very knowledgeable because you take the time
to listen and talk and hear veterans stories, which makes
you a valuable resource because not only do you listen,
but you're you're able to take that information and then,
(27:43):
because of what you do for a living, figure out
what resources help. But you mentioned earlier about your own
medical issues. Okay, so a lot of the things that
I see that veterans need are healthcare.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
There the veterans benefits, mental health, pain management.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
So can you do you feel comfortable talking a little
bit about some of those things that you're going through
that has allowed you to get a lot of knowledge
in the medical front that you can use to help
veterans in the same situation.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
Yeah. So I have a spinal injury and a nervous
nerve system issue, and so I've been dealing with that
for about ten years now and with that it has
gotten me to different specialists through their spinal different spinal
insurgence neurology. Right, one of the biggest things when we're
(28:36):
talking about veterans is spinal injuries and a couple things
that veterans don't know is the nervous system. Right. Neurology
has different systems, whether it be the brain, the spine,
or the nerves themselves. And when they're going into the
doctor's office saying, Hey, I was in a blast radius zone.
(28:57):
Blase blase. They don't know where they need to go.
They just think, oh TBI and that's it gone. But
they don't realize that each department is different. And been
working with a lot of my friends because of it,
because they see me not popping pills with opioids while
they're taking pills that I don't want to be saying
(29:20):
on there and I tell them they don't have to.
But there's different there's different holistic approaches and stuff like that,
and I really didn't want to take fourteen pills a
day like some of my friends who are having the
same spinal and nerve issues, And so I went into
Neuroinstitute in Wooddale, who does CTEs, spinal injuries, a lot
(29:43):
of veteran stuff. Whether do the vaccines. So some of
our veterans, especially some in our that are on our commission,
have been affected by different vaccines that the military has
given them and they unfortunately had to be medically discharged.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Well.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
Neuroinstitute has stuff that deals with eye ticking movement, occipital
nerve injection stuff, all different type of things that can
help these different vaccine side effects, and so seeing that
with the veterans and them asking well, what are you
guys using Ray hook Finn with H waves. It's like
(30:22):
a tens unit but a little a step up. It
gives like a euphoric.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
I had it on my shoulder. Yeah, yeah, the H wave.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
Yeah awesome. That's one of the things that I am
really keen on with chronic pain is to get rid
of the opioid pandemic and try to do different outlooks,
uh like the healthy mind, healthy body stuff. So H
wave is huge. Shout out to Ray. He lurks with
the spinal people, he works with your pt orthotics people.
(30:56):
He even talks to the veteran I've I think I
have five of his veterans as my friends actually, and
I didn't realize that they're his patients until they came
up to me and go, hey, you know him, And
I said, yeah, I'm actually talking to him about the
H wave, and he goes, oh, I'm his client. I
go to Jesse Brown and he comes and fits me, Oh,
(31:16):
I go to Hines. I just saw him, and he'll stop.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Talking about what's your name, what's the name, what's the
name of the person Ray Hook Finn Ray.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Okay, Ray, that's what I got.
Speaker 7 (31:25):
Yeah, he was there at your business.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Yeah yeah, I met him when I was on that
panel at the Union League of Chicago, that legislative panel
with State Representative Stephani Kiffawitz. At the Four Veteran Entrepreneurs,
I met.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
Franky Kierres, the Veterans of Second Commission of Cook County's
president was there.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yep, yep, Well he hosted it. So yeah, that was cool. Okay,
small world.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yes, right on, Brittany. I'm gonna on a side note.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I'm going to bring in some information to you between
now and when I come back to visit, uh after
I'm done with my.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
School class here in Ohio. UH. You know, in the
end of April, there have.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Been massive studies, uh several of them going around specifically
utilizing us from the EOD community, UH to do studies
on blast wave effects on the human nervous system the
human body, UH to eventually get it up to legislation
and so that it be can we can it can
become a rating through the VA system.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So I have information on that.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I'd love to sit down and chat with you and
I'll bring that to the table next time I come
into town.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
I would love that because actually my one of my
great friends, he is part of the twenty two. Now,
he was with EO D and he was in the
blast radius and he lost all his teeth and he
was at heinz Va was last time I saw him,
and I helped him with his service dog at the time.
So I would definitely love to talk with EOD guys
(32:59):
more about their blast radius and the liquid and the
brain and the spinal injuries by the C one through
C four and stuff, because it really does affect you
guys mentally, when all it can be is a simple
chiropractic tweak and your mental health can get back on
a correct path.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, so give him my name, Stephen O'Donnell. I am
in the community the push up guy because I I
post the twenty two a day every day. I'm back
at it. I've been doing it for today was one
hundred and seven days. The last time I did it,
I did it for eight hundred and forty one days straight.
So give him my name and I'd love to talk
(33:38):
to him absolutely at your leader, at your leisure.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Sorry, all right, let's see.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Okay, So a veteran that is trying.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
To access benefits. Let's say veteran comes to you and
they've struggled with getting their benefits and then they don't
know what to do. Let's say they're not a member
of the VFW, they're not a member of the American Legion.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
They don't know me.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Somebody refers a civilian person that you know knows of
you and your wealth of knowledge. This veteran you know,
calls to you and says, says, what advice can you
give me to.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Look into getting my benefits? What do you? What do
you do?
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So two different scenarios. If they're looking for service connection
disability and they already have a diagnosis already, I refer
them to their VSO's close bso you can go with Alberto.
He's with my Veterans Assistants Commission. There will be a
VSO at every rally point. You do not have to
be a due Page County resident to go to those
(34:48):
rally points. Financially, yes, I can only help you financially
if a due Page resident. But if you're looking for
VSO assistants referral assistance, you do not have to be
a resident to get those services. We have IDVA, which
is Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. We have a couple
vsos that are around the area or they travel inside
(35:11):
the do Page County area. We also have Russ Meredith
from Veterans Sorry, the VFW Regional Office downtown. He comes
out to the Naperville location. He comes first Tuesday, Tuesday. Yeah,
first Tuesday to your location, and then the second and
fourth Friday at the Vet Center in Aurora, which is
(35:35):
right off of Ogden. That's still naper Well, still do
Page County address, but it's Aurora. And then the first
Monday in Displaying Senior Center and that's Russ Meredith. So
we have them for our vsos if there's an issue,
if we want a female VSO. Cynthia McKee is with
(35:56):
Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. I've worked with her for
many years. I trust her very well. I've seen her
in action. She it's kind of funny. I think I've
known her since twenty sixteen, so I've definitely referred people
to her. Now what's amazing is if the veteran is
(36:18):
anywhere in the state of Illinois, IDVA can use them
as well. Throughout the whole state. So if I had
somebody in Rock Island, Illinois that didn't want to use
one of their vsos out there, they can obviously call
the regional office or IDVA and ask for a VSO,
and they can also assist wherever they're at, so they
(36:38):
don't have to utilize in their own county. For those aspects,
the American Legion Regional Office is now implementing that their
vsos will be coming out here. I just have to
send out what dates they are, but they will be
utilizing will be utilizing American Legion vsos as well, So
(37:00):
trying to get two vsos in Naperville so then that
way there will be more of an influx. With all
the popularity of this show, this trip Wire podcast and
getting more marketing out there, we expect them more of
an influx. So I want to bring more vsos to
our county to accommodate the influx, whether it be from
(37:23):
our commission or another community partner at vsos, we just
want to make sure that it's accredited. And what I
say is accredited is I don't want a claim shark
with you guys, and I'm telling you this now. If
you pay of claim if they're asking for a donation
to file your claim, do not go to them. If
(37:43):
they're I just got a veteran, I'm not kidding you.
Stacy sent me it saying that I need to pay
twelve and forty dollars for a mental health evaluation for
them to file my claim and go what no, I said,
I will get you a mental health person for free
to get that evaluation. You do not pay for it.
(38:04):
Found out he sent me the website. It's a claim shark.
Went to the legal stuff. He's reporting it to the
state's attorney, the oag's office, and the Military Rights Office.
Because you should not be filing. You should not be
paying someone to file your claim. You should not be asking.
They should not be asking for a donation to file
your claim. I do not take anything from you, guys.
(38:27):
Alberto doesn't, Marcus doesn't, Russ doesn't. We don't do that.
So if it sounds suspicious, please call my office, Call Stacy,
call your commanders. We want to make sure we know
about these things in the community so that way they
can come and inform us, so that way we can
get our attorneys and other people in legal actions on them.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
So I have a a very interesting point to bring
to that, and I'm glad that the culture is changing. Brittany,
I'm really ecstatic that the culture is changing and that
people like yourself and people like Stacey are in positions
where you can share that information with the veterans to
one percent provide the calmness and the clarity in the
(39:13):
sense of, hey, you don't you shouldn't have to pay
for this. Because there was a timeframe in the last
twenty years during the Global War on Terrorism when some
of us got out that we the VA was not
our friend, and the only way we could get things
done because the culture hadn't caught up yet and the
vsos weren't helping us, and the DAV wasn't helping us,
(39:34):
that that was the only way we could get things
done back then was to actually go out and talk
to some of these people that would you know, hey,
we're going to take five percent of your claim or
your initial pay once you get your claim situated with
the VA, or whatever the case may be. There is
a culture the veterans that did that in the early
(39:55):
two thousand and two thousands and maybe into a little
bit into the twenty tens, and I I'm just so
glad to hear that you guys are so adamant and
that you're throwing it out there for everybody to understand
that this is their right and that they deserve it
through you guys, you know, your assistance, that you deserve
it for free, you know, and to get it to
(40:16):
help they need.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
So yes, And I am so mad because I remember
before I got out of the veteran community and worked
on the civilian side here in du Page County, there
was a veteran who got one hundred percent service connection.
I was like, dude, file you have service connection. I
was not a VSO at the time, and I'm like,
(40:39):
this sounds like you have a claim. And they took
it to somebody who was a claim shark, and they
asked for ten percent of whatever they got awarded, and
sure enough, they got one hundred percent disability, which is
over obviously, you know, three thousand dollars, so every month
for they would have three hundred dollars less of their
(41:00):
service connection. I couldn't do anything about that, and it
was so I was so mad. That's when Attorney General's Office,
that's when Lake County VAC started getting involved with these
claim sharks making laws to stop it, because you can't
change that. Now a veteran is now lost three hundred
(41:22):
dollars each month from the government because of them signing
up because they wanted their service, you know what I mean.
And when I got out of it, it became really
really bad in twenty seventeen and stuff like that with
claim sharks, I found out. And now they've passed the
law this past year. And so these claim sharks are
(41:45):
getting smarter and doing stuff online, and so they're not
physically in the state of Illinois. They're in the outside states.
So we're having now state's attorneys in different different states
make these laws. So New York followed suit after Illinois did.
So now we need to get all the state attorney
(42:05):
generals on board to get these claim sharks out of
our country.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Well, yeah, to stop the praying on veterans period. Yes, absolutely, Yes.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
What's you got next? Station?
Speaker 4 (42:16):
So, well, I think I feel like you talked a
little bit about some success stories where you've helped some people,
But is there a standout time where a veteran came
to you and you were able to really navigate through
some obstacles and help.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Could you share that story with us please.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
Yeah. So I have two of them. Recently, we have
a paralyzed veteran. He was had a non motorized wheelchair
and he couldn't get around anywhere. The single obviously not
having any family members around, our vac stepped up. We
found electric wheelchair that was about two grand, and we
(42:58):
helped pay for it for that veteran. Another one, which
is a huge success story in my opinion, was a
widow of a Vietnam veteran. He actually passed away from
agent orange an agent orange disease. I can't remember the
exact disease. I was looking at her his death certificate
(43:20):
because I was helping her with something else at the time,
and I saw it and I said, you should really apply.
Have you ever been did you ever remarry? After he
passed away? She goes, heavans know that that was the
love of my life and I'm gonna die single. And
I said, well, if you haven't gotten married, you get
property exempt tax like this is service related, and so
(43:43):
I helped her get helped with her property tax exemption
and she does not have to pay over twelve thousand
dollars in property taxes for the rest of her life
and she just started crying. She goes, what do I do?
And I said, go on vacation, and she goes, no,
I'm gonna pay my whole house out. I get goosebumps
talking about that, because she was just coming in I
(44:05):
think for like a water bill or something. And I
just turned around and we helped her with property taxes
because her husband passed away a couple years ago, and
if it wasn't for looking at the certificate, people would
have just passed it by. So finding little things and
hearing what the veteran or the spouse is saying. Although
(44:25):
people say, Bernie, I don't listen sometimes because you know,
my mind is adhd. I'm doing a lot of things.
I do listen at times I swear I'm listening, But yeah,
if I could listen a lot more because some of
the stories these veterans say and what they've gone through,
what they've been through, the impact, I just want to
give back and see how I can bless them more,
(44:48):
you know what I mean, help them move forward, or
give them a hand to help another person. And that's
what I've been doing in the community. I see a
lot of my good buddies in suburban Cook County doing
and doing some good work out there for me.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Awesome with Let's talk about how people can volunteer because
there's people that are watching here that would love to. Oh,
I want to help Brittany out. I want to you know,
maybe I can, Maybe I can help. I don't know,
I don't have help knowledge. But what what?
Speaker 3 (45:19):
What?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
What are some ways I get? I get that question
a lot too.
Speaker 7 (45:22):
You know, there are so many ways to help out
and do Page Counties community. We like I said, we
have NADRO with recreational activities. They can always use people
for all their activities planning, whether it be fishing and
stuff like that. Working with Elmhurst American Legion Ty Clarks,
she foreign officer. If he's listening, Uh, he wants to
(45:43):
bring fishing in this like fly fishing stuff that I
don't know how to do on a boat. I guess
he was telling me about how great our water is.
So I'm trying to get park district stuff going with that.
We have the VA food pantrys and at the Hines
VA you can help with. Jennifer Phillips is a spouse
at your post's. She's my passenger. Princess and so her
(46:06):
and I drive her to hines with me and so
she helps out and gives perishable foods out. We have
support over stigma. We have them doing different events with
five k's. We have the be the one with your
Guys's two point two mile coming up in March. We're
(46:27):
doing that. They could use a lot of help there
because I'm vetterant. There's a home show coming up March fourth.
I could use as many volunteers as I can. It
is one of four non for profit organizations. It's the
only veteran charity organization five oh one C three that
McCormick Place is allowing to be a donation. And what
(46:51):
that means is there's a bunch of homes show stuff,
whether it be faucets, plumbing, furniture, corning, where cooking, where
tough containers those Stanley cups right, And what we do
is we bubble wrap the crap out of it and
we put it on a palette and they put it
on a truck. What that does is it helps Canines
(47:14):
for Veterans sell those things at the bowling Brook Pomenade
for low costs and all the money and profits that
they do goes to medical expenses for their service animals.
It helps buy the service animals training, it helps with
the medical expenses for that service animals. So that way
the veteran who is having those or the veteran that
(47:35):
experiencing those type of issues that needs a service animal,
they don't have to worry about feeding, medical costs, and
the training for it. So a lot of us are
coming out with our sleeve, are rolling up our sleeves
March fourth, that Tuesday. Only double check that yes, March fourth.
So if you want to help out, I know I'm
getting a Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County trying to
(47:57):
help with some vfw's in Naperville to help out. But
that's another way to get out there. Canine for Veterans
is also near and dear to my heart, especially with
the suicide awareness and I'm sure some people have been
touched by that and are affected by it with their
friends and family members. So if you want to help out,
that's a great organization. They have things that they're doing.
(48:18):
We have Alan Force. If you have children, they just
are opening up a new one. Donna Allen out there,
she is right by the Lewis Joliet mall they're opening up.
We've done ax throwing with them, I've done a swim
amusement park with them. There's courts for camaraderie with them.
I could I could keep going if you'd like, surprise
(48:41):
with the VFW. We yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (48:44):
So all we'll do is, yeah, well, we'll start putting
some of these links for some of these things that
you're saying in the comments for reference, so people, you know,
if they when people people like after we you know
this is aired. After this is aired, I've people can
go back and watch it and they can also find
it on the motivate you Live YouTube channel, and I'll
(49:07):
put the links on there as well, so people can
reference a lot of that stuff. So we've got about
five more minutes. But there's a couple of things that
I wanted to just touch.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
About just.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Well.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
I wanted to ask you what inspired you to work
with Veteran Services. I think you probably touched that, but
was there because I know that you were like you
were bartending and managing and you were doing something completely different.
And I know that you've been you've been very connected
with the first responder community, But what was it?
Speaker 3 (49:38):
And then I think you were.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Volunteering for the Medal of Honor, you were working with
the Medal of Honor gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
And then was it something through.
Speaker 4 (49:48):
That that lit that spark in you to be so
passionate about helping and working in veteran services.
Speaker 7 (49:57):
So I got I got a shout out to my
daddy lt. I always call him that when him and
I are going at it. But my dad, he was
on duty on nine to eleven when the towers hit,
and I was in seventh grade and I couldn't communicate
with my dad the whole day. I was blowing up
his phone. Didn't know what the World Trade Center stuff
was about, none of that, And so our family was
(50:19):
impacted by that, and I didn't get to hear from
my dad. So I think like ten o'clock at night
that night, and so my brother and I had some
different paths, and seeing people falling out of the towers
really touched me. And then I went into Western Illinois,
home of the Leathernecks, and I met my son's godfather,
(50:40):
Brandon Goodrich. He's in my paperwork. He is one of
my best friends, and his friends have been affected. We
have an e one Tyler Hoog. I can't wait for
you guys to meet him. He was airborne and all
that was ambushed blown up in his humby has a
chicken bone leg inspired me so much. We have a
(51:01):
Special Forces out there who is killed in action in Geneseo, Illinois.
So my freshman year of college really was impactful, besides
me partying up with some Marines coming back from Felujah
and stuff that I didn't realize about until years later,
and hearing them and having my friends come back from
(51:22):
the seven six era and hanging out with them that
seven time really impacted me from my friends, and I'm
gracious for them to let me share their stories because
some of them, I mean, some people don't want their
short stories shown or talked about, and they give me
(51:44):
this platform and I just want to make them proud.
And my two friends that took their lives, I just
am happy I'm in the spot that I'm at that
I can at least make a difference or say, hey,
I'm I know some way that I can pull you
guys out. That there is light at the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (52:05):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (52:06):
So I guess you know we're gonna be wrapping it
up here pretty soon, Stephen.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
If you think right.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I want to I just I really want to thank
Brittany for coming on here because you are one of
the most phenomenal women that I've had the opportunity to
meet since I've been connected with the VFW. And as
you can see, Stephen, she is a wealth of knowledge.
And this is this could easily be, you know, a
three parter like Daniel Daniel.
Speaker 3 (52:28):
I know, Stephen.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
I want to go on record for our audience that
I have never doubted you anything that you've said.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
She's a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
He's a powerhouse, and so are you in the BFW.
I agree with everything that you just said. And so.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
The last thing I wanted to ask.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
You, Brittany, is is if you could give one one
message to veterans into Page County or veterans in general,
one message about that you would want them to think
about something that you would want to say to them
to remember.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
What would that be?
Speaker 7 (53:07):
No questions a dumb question?
Speaker 1 (53:10):
I like that, Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 7 (53:13):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
I all need to hear.
Speaker 7 (53:15):
I ask you a ton of questions every day. I
always love learning new things. I no question is a
dumb question, and you can always email me. You guys know,
I'm up at all hours, from four am emailing people
to eleven o'clock at night emailing people. Feel free to
(53:36):
ask a question. I don't mind answering it.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
It's been an honor to have you on the show today,
and we'll have to come back so that we can
catch up on some of these programs that you talk
about going out in the future and where we see
them or where you find them, you know, six to
eight months down the road. Brittany always I always honored
to have you on the show. Thank you very much
for your attendance. Thanks on behalf of Stacy, myself and
(54:02):
Brittany our guests. This has been in a fantastic evening
with Tripwire. Remember that the path of freedom is paved
with courage and honor.
Speaker 3 (54:10):
Is the wire that we never trip
Good afternoon. Everybody's trip Wire time. Stacy and I want
to welcome you.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
It's February twenty six, Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
We are going to knock this out of the park.
We've got a great guest real quick before we bring
Britney in. Stacy, how are you. How's the last week? Then?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
For you, it's been good.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
We had another themed event. Uh, you probably saw it
all over Facebook where we was a Mardi Ga fundraiser
for NAPLE Responds for Veterans and.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It was incredible.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So Terrell with dark Horse Catering hosted it and he
is one of the most amazing chefs around here that
that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting his
his food. He did some unique takes on all of
the Cajun the Cajun foods that you know you would
have in Louisiana, especially during Mighty gra was so cool
(01:30):
and we got to wear are our Mardi Gras masks?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, I know I saw the pictures that you posted
all over Facebook, and I knew that you were in
some of them, but everybody had masks and I didn't
know who was who.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So but we'll get to that next time.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You didn't recognize my hair or anything.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean, it's a joke with the masks. It's good.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Come on, all you've been you've been super super ecstatic
about bringing bring me on a show, So you nail
that introduction and let's get this going because this is
going to be high energy and I'll probably not get
another word at edgewise for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's it'd be fantastic.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
So Brittany and I met initially just through professional channels,
I believe. Actually the first time I met her was
when we did the Resilience Tactics workshop that we've talked
about on here before, and that was a support the
supporters of the military and first responder communities, and it
was about how to really reach out to people that
(02:30):
were emptying their cup trying to help others, and we
wanted to do breakout sessions and offer resources. And I
met her there and she's with the DuPage County Veteran
Assistants Commission, and she.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Isn't just the manager of that organization.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
As I got to know her more and more, I
realized that she's just really a wealth of knowledge. And
her father retired, I believe, retired fire chief. I believe
in Naperville, we can we can get her to correct that.
But herself, she's not a veteran, but she is. So
just her mission and in life is just to help
(03:14):
help veterans and make sure they've bought what they need.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I just thought she'd be a great fit, a
great fit.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
All right, Well, let's bring her on. Let's get this going.
Speaker 6 (03:24):
Hi, guys, are you Brittany?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Was your dad a retired fire chief in Naperville?
Speaker 7 (03:31):
Is that correct? He was a retired lieutenant. He was
a strike team leader for has Matt though for DuPage
County after nine to eleven, so he was one of
those task force with.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The And I was telling Stephen that I think the
first time we met was at the Resilience Tactics Workshop,
but it was probably in passing at the VFW prior
to that. But I think that that's when we started
to talk and then talk more and now we don't
stop talking.
Speaker 7 (04:00):
Yes, I love that, I really did.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think I think I'll just bet myself for the
rest of the conversation because I'm not going to get
a word wise.
Speaker 7 (04:09):
No. So here's the funny part about Stacy and how
I first met her, because She was very intimidating at first.
I always thought when I thought of Stacy, I'm like,
I have to keep doing work. I just she'll notice me, right,
I just have to like I'm not a veteran, you
know what I mean, I'm not whatever. And one day
I was just helping out and she's like, hey, thank
(04:31):
you for coming. And right then and there, I'm like, oh,
I made it. I was like the post commander actually
like knew who my name was, what I was doing
there and everything. And I will never forget saying that
to like Dennis and fill in them. I go, I
forget this, she knows my name. And then everythin instead
(04:52):
of like talking ever since, with VFW stuff, women's events,
motivational stuff. The list goes on with staate, you know,
and it's just.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Now it's one idea, one idea, one plan, one fun
thing after another.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I'm super excited.
Speaker 7 (05:07):
I know.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I'm so Brittany. I understand.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I understand completely what you're saying, because when I met
Stacy was prior to her being on any of the
board of the VFW, let alone being the commander.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And that energy is.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Unique, so very unique, and you count yourself, I would say,
blessed and also fortunate that you get to spend time
because she's a wealth of knowledge and has so much energy.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
It's it's it really is. It is awesome. I understand
completely where you're coming from. So, but Stacy brought you
on the show.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So as I normally do, I'm going to just kind
of sit here and look pretty with my beard and
let Stacy run this and we'll figure this out because
I'm going to have some things to say. If you ladies,
let me talk and we'll figure that out going on.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Okay, okay, cool, So, Brittany, the whole idea was that
we kind of reach out to our viewers and which
are primarily veterans or friends family of veterans, and just
(06:19):
figure out what it is that they may want to
ask you and kind of get an idea of what
information that you have to share that would benefit them.
And what I normally end up doing is as we
go through the show, I will put up links or
if there's some kind of information maybe that you something
that you might say, hey, this is valuable, go to
(06:41):
this website. I will throw those links into the comments
because that way people can listen and if they've got
something we say pops up in they're like, oh my gosh,
I want to be able to go reference that or
find what they're talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Then I'll make note of that.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
So if there's something that you're saying and you want
me to get that website, let me know. So before
we get into like a couple of questions that the
viewers sent us, why don't you just give us a
little bit of an overview about what the due Page
VAC is and what it's.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yes, and you tell us a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
About and yes, exactly, Well, yeah, I mean I was
gonna say that.
Speaker 7 (07:32):
I'm gonna go with the first time I have. Let's
talk about the Veterans Assistance Commission first and then go
with me. So, the Veterans Assistants Commission is like an
emergency limited emergency financial and referral assistance program tall our
due Page County veterans and their families during unforeseen difficult
events beyond their control, so like a hospital stay, car
(07:56):
breaks down something that they couldn't see. And then we
also help with filing VA claims for both the veteran
and their family, which it gives a big chunk of
what the VAC can do on a broader side myself.
I'm the office manager here. I wear many hats, as
some of the other commissions say. I've worked in different
(08:17):
veteran communities for nonprofits, sent out care packages, dealt with
veteran assistance programs with the Medal of Honor recipient for
many years, dabbled in the homeless program. Did housing counts
or homeless counts I should say, in Cook County in
Lower Whacker on those nights the coldest night I believe
(08:37):
it was January thirty first, So we couldn't do it
the one year because I just had surgery here in
due Page. But my boss goes out with Lisa Snipes
from DuPage County and we do the counts there. I've
done a lot with first responders, as you know, with
my father. My brother is also captain of the fire
department up in Minneapolis Minister. So we want to make
(09:01):
sure here in du Page County that they know that
we are a first responder and a veteran commission. So
just because you aren't a veteran doesn't mean we don't
have resources for our first responders. It's very huge for
me with the mental health side of things here in
our County just because of the background and knowledge of
the different private hospitals and what veterans can't really have
(09:25):
access to in like a group setting with civilians talking
war stories and not So we want to make sure
we get those first responders, especially those Highway patrol guys
are the ones like my dad who were at Station
four that had the highway accidents and traumas that they
had to go to getting those services to those veterans
as well and first responders. So I do a lot
(09:48):
here with outreach, whether it be in our county, dabbling
with different counties. We partner up with Will Counties Veterans
Assistants Commission. They come out here. We did Patriot Fest
with Aprilil Responds at Rotary Hill. They have that concert. Uh,
I've brought it. We've brought in Kendall County to your resource.
We're working with Cook County right now. Cook County means
(10:11):
a lot of help and assistance, so do Peach counties
coming in get bringing some partnerships, great community partnerships in
our community. Because of some of issues going on, we
want to make sure we get all the resources there.
So Steve's been having me go out into the community
boots on the ground with all of the knowledge.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Steve's your boss, right.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Yes, Steven Fishler is my superintendent. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Well, I wanted to clarify that before the before the
viewers think that you've you've chipped into something that you haven't.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I'm really glad that you did clarify. I am not
ready for that responsibility yet.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Well, no, because you're really heavily involved in class at
the moment, so there would not be time for you.
Speaker 7 (10:52):
To be doubling.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Brittany, I told you she was going to bust my child. Brittany,
I don't.
Speaker 7 (10:58):
Know how you would keep up with both of our schedules, see, Brittany.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
The joke about this is that every every time I
try to get him, you know, on the phone, or
try to get him to do something or whatever, he's
he texts me. And initially it was just like, you know,
I'm in class, I'm in class. And then after like
the fifth time, I'm like, are you really? Are you
really in class?
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And what the fuck is this?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Every time I'm trying to get a hold of you,
it is just like, you know, I'm in class. Like
I don't really, I don't want to talk to you,
I'm in class.
Speaker 6 (11:26):
And so now it's like Joe not talking to her
or you know, so I'm gonna get merch made. I'm
gonna get trip Wire t shirts made, and it's gonna say,
can't I'm in class, can't in class?
Speaker 7 (11:40):
I need one of those shirts you've been on the
back of it for me.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yep, yep, they're in print right now. Okay. So, well,
so now that we know what.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
The VAC does into page and that and and and
you do work with will County. That was interesting because
I got an email from them today about getting some
delegates to uh.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Exactly what their responsibility is going to be, but it
gives us a voice. And you guys have I think
Phil and Leo from our VFW or on your Villain
Detic board Phil and Dennis is it's a board and
then they have a voice. So you know, I like
that because the vac's you know, are actively listening to
(12:25):
what's like the boots on the ground, the people that
are in the vfw's and American legions I'm assuming.
Speaker 7 (12:32):
Yeah, so yeah, that's a really good thing. I first
was interviewed by all my delegates, boots on the ground
at a resource fair, So my interview wasn't a normal interview,
And so I heard all the delegates and what they
wanted and what their mission was, and it was being
out there calling the fire departments, calling the police departments,
(12:54):
getting in there, getting presentations done, getting the word out.
So if they did get a call, who would the
ambos give their referrals to instead of them having to
transport them to the ED if they don't need it,
if they can cut out that middleman. I went to
the vfw's that was a huge one right there, saying hey,
(13:16):
come to the one heavily populated Chicagoland VFW post in
Naperville and see what's going on there, and then amplify
and hearing from delegates and what their stuff is, and
then going into your post alone and hearing from veterans
first hand knowledge about stuff making a difference. I think
(13:39):
the one impact was a child services because at the VA,
they don't refer children because they don't see children, so
they don't have real like they don't give really good
resources to the veteran to help their child out. So
when I was at one of these rally points and
hearing that I wanted to see what I can do
with chant VA or trycare and see how we can
(14:02):
get our community partners or medical professionals in on the
VA so that way we can get them in our community.
And because I call myself a sick kid and I've
been sick my whole life, I have a great connections
with the medical communities. So been working with some of
these great specialists so that they can help our veterans,
(14:24):
which they're veterans themselves and they want to help our
veterans somehow. So we're working with a spinal guy first,
getting them as a CMP examiner since we have some
of the best medical professionals in the Chicagoland area with
all these amazing hospitals, so just getting the resources and
the right information to the surgeons and stuff like that
(14:47):
is really going to help streamline our veterans and getting
them some of the best care.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
So was this issue with the children, and I mean,
you're right, like the VA hospital, I mean, but veterans
have children.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So that's a very interesting point.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Was that one of the things that drove you to
create this whole the rally point so ups if you
will pop ups of reference and resources.
Speaker 7 (15:12):
Well it kind of goes back to a staff Sergeant
ley On Magnum. He's my mentor. He was the executive
director for the L.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
And J.
Speaker 7 (15:21):
Langch Medal of Honor Veterans Assistance Program and I worked
for free ninety nine with him, and I say that
for free for many years with him, and he set
this model up in Houston. There was something called One Houston,
I don't remember the name. And he always had this
idea of putting all these resources in one facility, in
(15:42):
one location, so a veteran can go to it because
they don't want to go downtown to Chicago. They don't
want to go into something that's not safe. Naperville is
really safe. It's a big community. People can travel there.
It has different Route fifty nine, it has I eighty eight,
it has three fifty five acts access, so it's very
good access for people. And that's one of the things
(16:05):
that drew me to that was with Leon saying let's
get these down there. And since he went back to
Jay Roxies and helping those people out, I'm like, you
know what, let's keep doing this. I don't know why
after COVID. When COVID happened, everything shut down. People stopped
doing outreach and a lot of people didn't. And I
(16:26):
remember him saying, keep going, keep going, that the doers
and the people who are going to be noticed, they're
going to keep going and those are the ones that
are going to matter. And through COVID, we were in
the red zone. We were out there giving coats out,
we were taking resources, we were calling people, we were
in the homeless shelters and doing stuff. So I took
(16:47):
his idea and I just ran with it. And then
I saw we have nine different townships in do Page
County and trying to see where we can find the
right fit and just amplify it. So, you guys, with
Naperville being over close to thirteen hundred active American Legion
members nine hundred and sixty three active VFW members, that's
(17:09):
a big post. So having ideas from those veterans, hearing
from all different stories of life, right, whether it be
substance use issues, whether it be mental health issues, whether
it be physical health issues, chronic pain being one of them,
cancer resources, children's resources, because a lot of kids, like
(17:29):
mental health stems from their children. Right. If their children
are off balance, they're off balance. And one of the
things that I work with, and I know I'm going
off topic, is nutrition. Food. I volunteer with food pantries.
And I have a three year old and my son,
if he doesn't get a right nutrients and he's just
eating sugar all day, he's not going to be the
(17:52):
greatest kid. Right. And so with healthy with a healthy
nutrition system and healthy foods produce coming out into the
neighborhood getting like the services because some single dads and
single moms don't know how to cook. Right, you're in
the military, you go to a chowel haul, they tell
you what to eat, they tell you what you're getting,
they give you MRIs and stuff. Then you get out
(18:14):
of the service and you're like, well, now what do
I do? Go to drive throughs and McDonald's and all
that stuff, and it's like, let's build some life skills,
Let's find some things, let's get some cooking programs going
and finding outlets for those resources. So that's what we
started doing. Leona, Well, I started doing with the rally
(18:34):
points and I just kind of learned it from him
and then just started picking out a lot of the
stuff that veterans were coming to me about. And then
if I had the resource, I'd bring them to that
event or that post and say, hey, try it out,
let's see if it works.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
So you kind of touched on this.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
A little bit, but I want to go back to
this question here, what like the biggest challenges You know,
you've already tapped into this, but the biggest challenges that
are facing veterans in our in our in our county,
but really in our state. Like what do you see
predominantly when people come to you and need help, and
what are the top things.
Speaker 7 (19:18):
Right now? So I'm introducing rally point Addison this year
or this year this month. We just started it in February.
It will be the second Tuesday of the month. And
the reason why I'm doing Addison now it is the
township that has the most diversity. And when I say that,
(19:38):
it's because it's heavily as the heavy population of ethnicity
and the culture there is so diverse with it's insane.
But the low income population is also one of the
key factors in Addison. And so going out there and
seeing what's going on, it's a veteran not identifying as
(19:59):
a veteran, I will have to say that there are
a huge need in Addison but the veterans aren't identifying
as a veteran. And so I'm going to go out
there with some mental health services. They're going to go
on the ground and see why these veterans don't want
to come out and say, Hey, I'm proud to be
a veteran. Right things can some people say did I serve? Right?
(20:22):
Some of the new politically correct terms instead of saying
are you a veteran? Is like did you serve? Because
some of the people who didn't think that they did
not go overseas, they don't consider themselves a veteran. And
I can't speak for that myself. I just have had
veterans come up to me and say that themselves that
they don't feel that they're a veteran because they didn't
(20:44):
go overseas and fight like their friends did. And I
feel very.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Their veterans in our eyes definite.
Speaker 7 (20:55):
Do you think that they wrote that blank check to
the government and Uncle Sam? And that's one of the
things that is really huge on it. Whether it be
a religion issue. So I'm asking some of my friends
whether it be in the Asian population, the European population.
I'm trying to see the different cultures and what we
can do and what the reasoning is behind that. So
(21:19):
that's one of the things that the supervisor asked me
to do and put a task on me to do
for that township.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Do you think that it has something to do with
the level of PTSD that this generation has and that
makes people feel that they haven't gone through what some
of those their friends might have gone through.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
They don't have.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
They're not feeling that same type of trauma. That they're
not worthy I guess might be the word that they're
not worthy to consider themselves in the same you know,
as a veteran. Do you think it is mental mental
health related?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
I think what she's trying to get at, Brittany is
is that they've lost the connection with the veteran community
because they don't feel that they meet the criteria of
those that actually did go during the Globe War on
Terrorism and serve over there or serving servant, serve in
Syria or Africa or whatever. A lot of these young
(22:14):
kids nowadays are doing four years and they haven't seen
any combat, and that doesn't mean a damn thing to
us that are combat veterans. They served, they still stepped
on those they stepped up they raised their hand, and
it's I think it's extremely important that they realized that
they stood, like you said, they stood something bigger than themselves.
(22:36):
They've earned the title of veteran. They they're not a
combat veteran, but they're a veteran. We're all veterans.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Yes, yeah, I mean, if you ever need to go
with you, if you ever need me to come with
you and help tell them how important they are, and
how grateful we are for what they've done, and and
how you know how important they really are to the
whole mission.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know, what is that? Is that a motion sensor
jump in?
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Yeah, my emotion sensors just went out on me in
the cafeteria. Wave her a whold lot. Let me go
get that.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
That sounds like that seems like something that would happen
to me with my with my technical Okay, so I'm
writing all these things down that I want to be
able to get these links.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, I get it. That's awesome. Oh gotta love technology.
When when you so.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
This, she went down the hall, the.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
I literally had to run in my cafeteria just try
to turn on a light.
Speaker 4 (23:47):
So sorry, okay, so okay, so let's let's let's go
back to that real quick. So some of the biggest
challenges obviously you were talking about the yeah, them not.
Speaker 7 (23:58):
Recognizing that they were you coming out to the VFW.
So I haven't really gotten into it with Alex. So
Dennis Urbiletti is the supervisor. We're talking about going to
the vfw's I'm bringing in NADRA. They have a Veteran
service program. It's a recreational for do Page County beca's.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Part of the Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies. Yeah and off
from Alan Force.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Okay, yes, yes, so that department alone because we're trying
because it's a civilian, non for profit, but they do
have a veteran site to component to it. So I'm
hoping that because it's a civilian side, I can grab
some veterans through that location and get them into some
recreational activities and see what we can do. I know
(24:41):
they're remodeling to make a rec center on the second
floor there, but trying to find ideas of where these
veterans might be in their community besides the American Legion,
the VFW POST. That's what I'm working with on my test.
I know I'm going to be asking Stacey to come
out with me once or twice.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
But yes, well, one of the reasons that I'm having
you go to the spaghetti dinner on Friday. So the
spaghetti dinner on Friday at the VFW, which is hosted
by the American Legion, is to raise money and honor
both of the student Veterans clubs at Naperville North High
School in Naperville Central. And then there's five of us
that are going Stephen. Then we're going from the spaghetti
(25:22):
dinner to the movie that is the Brother in Arms movie.
So one of the reasons that I invited you, Brittany,
not just because I also really enjoy your company, but
it's Team Red, White and Blue. So I got involved
with Team Red, White and Blue through Jack Irwin, who's
(25:44):
a friend of mine who's the commander at the Saint
Charles VFW, and he's heavily involved with them, and I
mentioned them on our last last week's podcast, and they're
hosting the movie that we're going to go see. And
I want you to meet all of these people because
this is another way for veterans to be involved with activities,
(26:08):
physical challenges, you know, like rock marches. They're all signing
up for our be the one Rock March on March
twenty second, and there is a huge group going to
the movie at this location.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
And I think that this is a great way. Like
what you said, we.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Were talking about veterans and how they can get involved
and when they don't feel comfortable or they don't understand
how to get involved with the American Legion of the VFW,
this is a very easy way for them to start
just doing something on a level that's comfortable with them,
you know, for them.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
So have you heard of that? You did? You met?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
I believe you met him at the Resilience Tactics Workshop. Yeah, right,
you met Jack there. So yeah, So that movie is
supposed to be Have you heard.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Of that, Steven, the movie that we're going to see, Yes.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
I have.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
So to your point, that's another way that I think,
and I'll probably put that link in our.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
In our comments again because I want people to know.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
That that's out there, because I have the app on
my phone and it's really something I'm really starting to enjoy.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Okay, So.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
Can you One of the things about you, you don't
you're very You're very knowledgeable because you take the time
to listen and talk and hear veterans stories, which makes
you a valuable resource because not only do you listen,
but you're you're able to take that information and then,
(27:43):
because of what you do for a living, figure out
what resources help. But you mentioned earlier about your own
medical issues. Okay, so a lot of the things that
I see that veterans need are healthcare.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
There the veterans benefits, mental health, pain management.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
So can you do you feel comfortable talking a little
bit about some of those things that you're going through
that has allowed you to get a lot of knowledge
in the medical front that you can use to help
veterans in the same situation.
Speaker 7 (28:16):
Yeah. So I have a spinal injury and a nervous
nerve system issue, and so I've been dealing with that
for about ten years now and with that it has
gotten me to different specialists through their spinal different spinal
insurgence neurology. Right, one of the biggest things when we're
(28:36):
talking about veterans is spinal injuries and a couple things
that veterans don't know is the nervous system. Right. Neurology
has different systems, whether it be the brain, the spine,
or the nerves themselves. And when they're going into the
doctor's office saying, Hey, I was in a blast radius zone.
(28:57):
Blase blase. They don't know where they need to go.
They just think, oh TBI and that's it gone. But
they don't realize that each department is different. And been
working with a lot of my friends because of it,
because they see me not popping pills with opioids while
they're taking pills that I don't want to be saying
(29:20):
on there and I tell them they don't have to.
But there's different there's different holistic approaches and stuff like that,
and I really didn't want to take fourteen pills a
day like some of my friends who are having the
same spinal and nerve issues, And so I went into
Neuroinstitute in Wooddale, who does CTEs, spinal injuries, a lot
(29:43):
of veteran stuff. Whether do the vaccines. So some of
our veterans, especially some in our that are on our commission,
have been affected by different vaccines that the military has
given them and they unfortunately had to be medically discharged.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Well.
Speaker 7 (30:00):
Neuroinstitute has stuff that deals with eye ticking movement, occipital
nerve injection stuff, all different type of things that can
help these different vaccine side effects, and so seeing that
with the veterans and them asking well, what are you
guys using Ray hook Finn with H waves. It's like
(30:22):
a tens unit but a little a step up. It
gives like a euphoric.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
I had it on my shoulder. Yeah, yeah, the H wave.
Speaker 7 (30:32):
Yeah awesome. That's one of the things that I am
really keen on with chronic pain is to get rid
of the opioid pandemic and try to do different outlooks,
uh like the healthy mind, healthy body stuff. So H
wave is huge. Shout out to Ray. He lurks with
the spinal people, he works with your pt orthotics people.
(30:56):
He even talks to the veteran I've I think I
have five of his veterans as my friends actually, and
I didn't realize that they're his patients until they came
up to me and go, hey, you know him, And
I said, yeah, I'm actually talking to him about the
H wave, and he goes, oh, I'm his client. I
go to Jesse Brown and he comes and fits me, Oh,
(31:16):
I go to Hines. I just saw him, and he'll stop.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Talking about what's your name, what's the name, what's the
name of the person Ray Hook Finn Ray.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Okay, Ray, that's what I got.
Speaker 7 (31:25):
Yeah, he was there at your business.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Yeah yeah, I met him when I was on that
panel at the Union League of Chicago, that legislative panel
with State Representative Stephani Kiffawitz. At the Four Veteran Entrepreneurs,
I met.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
Franky Kierres, the Veterans of Second Commission of Cook County's
president was there.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Yep, yep, Well he hosted it. So yeah, that was cool. Okay,
small world.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yes, right on, Brittany. I'm gonna on a side note.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I'm going to bring in some information to you between
now and when I come back to visit, uh after
I'm done with my.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
School class here in Ohio. UH. You know, in the
end of April, there have.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Been massive studies, uh several of them going around specifically
utilizing us from the EOD community, UH to do studies
on blast wave effects on the human nervous system the
human body, UH to eventually get it up to legislation
and so that it be can we can it can
become a rating through the VA system.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So I have information on that.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I'd love to sit down and chat with you and
I'll bring that to the table next time I come
into town.
Speaker 7 (32:36):
I would love that because actually my one of my
great friends, he is part of the twenty two. Now,
he was with EO D and he was in the
blast radius and he lost all his teeth and he
was at heinz Va was last time I saw him,
and I helped him with his service dog at the time.
So I would definitely love to talk with EOD guys
(32:59):
more about their blast radius and the liquid and the
brain and the spinal injuries by the C one through
C four and stuff, because it really does affect you
guys mentally, when all it can be is a simple
chiropractic tweak and your mental health can get back on
a correct path.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, so give him my name, Stephen O'Donnell. I am
in the community the push up guy because I I
post the twenty two a day every day. I'm back
at it. I've been doing it for today was one
hundred and seven days. The last time I did it,
I did it for eight hundred and forty one days straight.
So give him my name and I'd love to talk
(33:38):
to him absolutely at your leader, at your leisure.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
Sorry, all right, let's see.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Okay, So a veteran that is trying.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
To access benefits. Let's say veteran comes to you and
they've struggled with getting their benefits and then they don't
know what to do. Let's say they're not a member
of the VFW, they're not a member of the American Legion.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
They don't know me.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Somebody refers a civilian person that you know knows of
you and your wealth of knowledge. This veteran you know,
calls to you and says, says, what advice can you
give me to.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Look into getting my benefits? What do you? What do
you do?
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So two different scenarios. If they're looking for service connection
disability and they already have a diagnosis already, I refer
them to their VSO's close bso you can go with Alberto.
He's with my Veterans Assistants Commission. There will be a
VSO at every rally point. You do not have to
be a due Page County resident to go to those
(34:48):
rally points. Financially, yes, I can only help you financially
if a due Page resident. But if you're looking for
VSO assistants referral assistance, you do not have to be
a resident to get those services. We have IDVA, which
is Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. We have a couple
vsos that are around the area or they travel inside
(35:11):
the do Page County area. We also have Russ Meredith
from Veterans Sorry, the VFW Regional Office downtown. He comes
out to the Naperville location. He comes first Tuesday, Tuesday. Yeah,
first Tuesday to your location, and then the second and
fourth Friday at the Vet Center in Aurora, which is
(35:35):
right off of Ogden. That's still naper Well, still do
Page County address, but it's Aurora. And then the first
Monday in Displaying Senior Center and that's Russ Meredith. So
we have them for our vsos if there's an issue,
if we want a female VSO. Cynthia McKee is with
(35:56):
Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. I've worked with her for
many years. I trust her very well. I've seen her
in action. She it's kind of funny. I think I've
known her since twenty sixteen, so I've definitely referred people
to her. Now what's amazing is if the veteran is
(36:18):
anywhere in the state of Illinois, IDVA can use them
as well. Throughout the whole state. So if I had
somebody in Rock Island, Illinois that didn't want to use
one of their vsos out there, they can obviously call
the regional office or IDVA and ask for a VSO,
and they can also assist wherever they're at, so they
(36:38):
don't have to utilize in their own county. For those aspects,
the American Legion Regional Office is now implementing that their
vsos will be coming out here. I just have to
send out what dates they are, but they will be
utilizing will be utilizing American Legion vsos as well, So
(37:00):
trying to get two vsos in Naperville so then that
way there will be more of an influx. With all
the popularity of this show, this trip Wire podcast and
getting more marketing out there, we expect them more of
an influx. So I want to bring more vsos to
our county to accommodate the influx, whether it be from
(37:23):
our commission or another community partner at vsos, we just
want to make sure that it's accredited. And what I
say is accredited is I don't want a claim shark
with you guys, and I'm telling you this now. If
you pay of claim if they're asking for a donation
to file your claim, do not go to them. If
(37:43):
they're I just got a veteran, I'm not kidding you.
Stacy sent me it saying that I need to pay
twelve and forty dollars for a mental health evaluation for
them to file my claim and go what no, I said,
I will get you a mental health person for free
to get that evaluation. You do not pay for it.
(38:04):
Found out he sent me the website. It's a claim shark.
Went to the legal stuff. He's reporting it to the
state's attorney, the oag's office, and the Military Rights Office.
Because you should not be filing. You should not be
paying someone to file your claim. You should not be asking.
They should not be asking for a donation to file
your claim. I do not take anything from you, guys.
(38:27):
Alberto doesn't, Marcus doesn't, Russ doesn't. We don't do that.
So if it sounds suspicious, please call my office, Call Stacy,
call your commanders. We want to make sure we know
about these things in the community so that way they
can come and inform us, so that way we can
get our attorneys and other people in legal actions on them.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
So I have a a very interesting point to bring
to that, and I'm glad that the culture is changing. Brittany,
I'm really ecstatic that the culture is changing and that
people like yourself and people like Stacey are in positions
where you can share that information with the veterans to
one percent provide the calmness and the clarity in the
(39:13):
sense of, hey, you don't you shouldn't have to pay
for this. Because there was a timeframe in the last
twenty years during the Global War on Terrorism when some
of us got out that we the VA was not
our friend, and the only way we could get things
done because the culture hadn't caught up yet and the
vsos weren't helping us, and the DAV wasn't helping us,
(39:34):
that that was the only way we could get things
done back then was to actually go out and talk
to some of these people that would you know, hey,
we're going to take five percent of your claim or
your initial pay once you get your claim situated with
the VA, or whatever the case may be. There is
a culture the veterans that did that in the early
(39:55):
two thousand and two thousands and maybe into a little
bit into the twenty tens, and I I'm just so
glad to hear that you guys are so adamant and
that you're throwing it out there for everybody to understand
that this is their right and that they deserve it
through you guys, you know, your assistance, that you deserve
it for free, you know, and to get it to
(40:16):
help they need.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
So yes, And I am so mad because I remember
before I got out of the veteran community and worked
on the civilian side here in du Page County, there
was a veteran who got one hundred percent service connection.
I was like, dude, file you have service connection. I
was not a VSO at the time, and I'm like,
(40:39):
this sounds like you have a claim. And they took
it to somebody who was a claim shark, and they
asked for ten percent of whatever they got awarded, and
sure enough, they got one hundred percent disability, which is
over obviously, you know, three thousand dollars, so every month
for they would have three hundred dollars less of their
(41:00):
service connection. I couldn't do anything about that, and it
was so I was so mad. That's when Attorney General's Office,
that's when Lake County VAC started getting involved with these
claim sharks making laws to stop it, because you can't
change that. Now a veteran is now lost three hundred
(41:22):
dollars each month from the government because of them signing
up because they wanted their service, you know what I mean.
And when I got out of it, it became really
really bad in twenty seventeen and stuff like that with
claim sharks, I found out. And now they've passed the
law this past year. And so these claim sharks are
(41:45):
getting smarter and doing stuff online, and so they're not
physically in the state of Illinois. They're in the outside states.
So we're having now state's attorneys in different different states
make these laws. So New York followed suit after Illinois did.
So now we need to get all the state attorney
(42:05):
generals on board to get these claim sharks out of
our country.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Well, yeah, to stop the praying on veterans period. Yes, absolutely, Yes.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
What's you got next? Station?
Speaker 4 (42:16):
So, well, I think I feel like you talked a
little bit about some success stories where you've helped some people,
But is there a standout time where a veteran came
to you and you were able to really navigate through
some obstacles and help.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
Could you share that story with us please.
Speaker 7 (42:33):
Yeah. So I have two of them. Recently, we have
a paralyzed veteran. He was had a non motorized wheelchair
and he couldn't get around anywhere. The single obviously not
having any family members around, our vac stepped up. We
found electric wheelchair that was about two grand, and we
(42:58):
helped pay for it for that veteran. Another one, which
is a huge success story in my opinion, was a
widow of a Vietnam veteran. He actually passed away from
agent orange an agent orange disease. I can't remember the
exact disease. I was looking at her his death certificate
(43:20):
because I was helping her with something else at the time,
and I saw it and I said, you should really apply.
Have you ever been did you ever remarry? After he
passed away? She goes, heavans know that that was the
love of my life and I'm gonna die single. And
I said, well, if you haven't gotten married, you get
property exempt tax like this is service related, and so
(43:43):
I helped her get helped with her property tax exemption
and she does not have to pay over twelve thousand
dollars in property taxes for the rest of her life
and she just started crying. She goes, what do I do?
And I said, go on vacation, and she goes, no,
I'm gonna pay my whole house out. I get goosebumps
talking about that, because she was just coming in I
(44:05):
think for like a water bill or something. And I
just turned around and we helped her with property taxes
because her husband passed away a couple years ago, and
if it wasn't for looking at the certificate, people would
have just passed it by. So finding little things and
hearing what the veteran or the spouse is saying. Although
(44:25):
people say, Bernie, I don't listen sometimes because you know,
my mind is adhd. I'm doing a lot of things.
I do listen at times I swear I'm listening, But yeah,
if I could listen a lot more because some of
the stories these veterans say and what they've gone through,
what they've been through, the impact, I just want to
give back and see how I can bless them more,
(44:48):
you know what I mean, help them move forward, or
give them a hand to help another person. And that's
what I've been doing in the community. I see a
lot of my good buddies in suburban Cook County doing
and doing some good work out there for me.
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Awesome with Let's talk about how people can volunteer because
there's people that are watching here that would love to. Oh,
I want to help Brittany out. I want to you know,
maybe I can, Maybe I can help. I don't know,
I don't have help knowledge. But what what?
Speaker 3 (45:19):
What?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
What are some ways I get? I get that question
a lot too.
Speaker 7 (45:22):
You know, there are so many ways to help out
and do Page Counties community. We like I said, we
have NADRO with recreational activities. They can always use people
for all their activities planning, whether it be fishing and
stuff like that. Working with Elmhurst American Legion Ty Clarks,
she foreign officer. If he's listening, Uh, he wants to
(45:43):
bring fishing in this like fly fishing stuff that I
don't know how to do on a boat. I guess
he was telling me about how great our water is.
So I'm trying to get park district stuff going with that.
We have the VA food pantrys and at the Hines
VA you can help with. Jennifer Phillips is a spouse
at your post's. She's my passenger. Princess and so her
(46:06):
and I drive her to hines with me and so
she helps out and gives perishable foods out. We have
support over stigma. We have them doing different events with
five k's. We have the be the one with your
Guys's two point two mile coming up in March. We're
(46:27):
doing that. They could use a lot of help there
because I'm vetterant. There's a home show coming up March fourth.
I could use as many volunteers as I can. It
is one of four non for profit organizations. It's the
only veteran charity organization five oh one C three that
McCormick Place is allowing to be a donation. And what
(46:51):
that means is there's a bunch of homes show stuff,
whether it be faucets, plumbing, furniture, corning, where cooking, where
tough containers those Stanley cups right, And what we do
is we bubble wrap the crap out of it and
we put it on a palette and they put it
on a truck. What that does is it helps Canines
(47:14):
for Veterans sell those things at the bowling Brook Pomenade
for low costs and all the money and profits that
they do goes to medical expenses for their service animals.
It helps buy the service animals training, it helps with
the medical expenses for that service animals. So that way
the veteran who is having those or the veteran that
(47:35):
experiencing those type of issues that needs a service animal,
they don't have to worry about feeding, medical costs, and
the training for it. So a lot of us are
coming out with our sleeve, are rolling up our sleeves
March fourth, that Tuesday. Only double check that yes, March fourth.
So if you want to help out, I know I'm
getting a Veterans Assistance Commission of Cook County trying to
(47:57):
help with some vfw's in Naperville to help out. But
that's another way to get out there. Canine for Veterans
is also near and dear to my heart, especially with
the suicide awareness and I'm sure some people have been
touched by that and are affected by it with their
friends and family members. So if you want to help out,
that's a great organization. They have things that they're doing.
(48:18):
We have Alan Force. If you have children, they just
are opening up a new one. Donna Allen out there,
she is right by the Lewis Joliet mall they're opening up.
We've done ax throwing with them, I've done a swim
amusement park with them. There's courts for camaraderie with them.
I could I could keep going if you'd like, surprise
(48:41):
with the VFW. We yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 4 (48:44):
So all we'll do is, yeah, well, we'll start putting
some of these links for some of these things that
you're saying in the comments for reference, so people, you know,
if they when people people like after we you know
this is aired. After this is aired, I've people can
go back and watch it and they can also find
it on the motivate you Live YouTube channel, and I'll
(49:07):
put the links on there as well, so people can
reference a lot of that stuff. So we've got about
five more minutes. But there's a couple of things that
I wanted to just touch.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
About just.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
Well.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
I wanted to ask you what inspired you to work
with Veteran Services. I think you probably touched that, but
was there because I know that you were like you
were bartending and managing and you were doing something completely different.
And I know that you've been you've been very connected
with the first responder community, But what was it?
Speaker 3 (49:38):
And then I think you were.
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Volunteering for the Medal of Honor, you were working with
the Medal of Honor gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
And then was it something through.
Speaker 4 (49:48):
That that lit that spark in you to be so
passionate about helping and working in veteran services.
Speaker 7 (49:57):
So I got I got a shout out to my
daddy lt. I always call him that when him and
I are going at it. But my dad, he was
on duty on nine to eleven when the towers hit,
and I was in seventh grade and I couldn't communicate
with my dad the whole day. I was blowing up
his phone. Didn't know what the World Trade Center stuff
was about, none of that, And so our family was
(50:19):
impacted by that, and I didn't get to hear from
my dad. So I think like ten o'clock at night
that night, and so my brother and I had some
different paths, and seeing people falling out of the towers
really touched me. And then I went into Western Illinois,
home of the Leathernecks, and I met my son's godfather,
(50:40):
Brandon Goodrich. He's in my paperwork. He is one of
my best friends, and his friends have been affected. We
have an e one Tyler Hoog. I can't wait for
you guys to meet him. He was airborne and all
that was ambushed blown up in his humby has a
chicken bone leg inspired me so much. We have a
(51:01):
Special Forces out there who is killed in action in Geneseo, Illinois.
So my freshman year of college really was impactful, besides
me partying up with some Marines coming back from Felujah
and stuff that I didn't realize about until years later,
and hearing them and having my friends come back from
(51:22):
the seven six era and hanging out with them that
seven time really impacted me from my friends, and I'm
gracious for them to let me share their stories because
some of them, I mean, some people don't want their
short stories shown or talked about, and they give me
(51:44):
this platform and I just want to make them proud.
And my two friends that took their lives, I just
am happy I'm in the spot that I'm at that
I can at least make a difference or say, hey,
I'm I know some way that I can pull you
guys out. That there is light at the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (52:05):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (52:06):
So I guess you know we're gonna be wrapping it
up here pretty soon, Stephen.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
If you think right.
Speaker 4 (52:10):
I want to I just I really want to thank
Brittany for coming on here because you are one of
the most phenomenal women that I've had the opportunity to
meet since I've been connected with the VFW. And as
you can see, Stephen, she is a wealth of knowledge.
And this is this could easily be, you know, a
three parter like Daniel Daniel.
Speaker 3 (52:28):
I know, Stephen.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
I want to go on record for our audience that
I have never doubted you anything that you've said.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
She's a wealth of knowledge.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
He's a powerhouse, and so are you in the BFW.
I agree with everything that you just said. And so.
Speaker 3 (52:45):
The last thing I wanted to ask.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
You, Brittany, is is if you could give one one
message to veterans into Page County or veterans in general,
one message about that you would want them to think
about something that you would want to say to them
to remember.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
What would that be?
Speaker 7 (53:07):
No questions a dumb question?
Speaker 1 (53:10):
I like that, Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 7 (53:13):
I like that.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
I all need to hear.
Speaker 7 (53:15):
I ask you a ton of questions every day. I
always love learning new things. I no question is a
dumb question, and you can always email me. You guys know,
I'm up at all hours, from four am emailing people
to eleven o'clock at night emailing people. Feel free to
(53:36):
ask a question. I don't mind answering it.
Speaker 2 (53:40):
It's been an honor to have you on the show today,
and we'll have to come back so that we can
catch up on some of these programs that you talk
about going out in the future and where we see
them or where you find them, you know, six to
eight months down the road. Brittany always I always honored
to have you on the show. Thank you very much
for your attendance. Thanks on behalf of Stacy, myself and
(54:02):
Brittany our guests. This has been in a fantastic evening
with Tripwire. Remember that the path of freedom is paved
with courage and honor.
Speaker 3 (54:10):
Is the wire that we never trip
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