June 17, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with Robin Kelleher, who is the co-founder who serves as the CEO of Hope For The Warriors®. Robin’s entrepreneurship, leadership, and passion has led this highly successful “for purpose” organization to national heights, raising over $75M and significantly impacting the military community. Robin is responsible for developing and implementing the strategic direction of the organization, driving results with a dedicated Board of Directors, and providing budgetary and mission-focused guidance to the growing staff of Hope For The Warriors
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Tennis Glasgow. This morning, we'd be the
good chance to talk to one of our friends from
Hope for the Warriors and talk about veterans with the
co founder and CEO for Hope for the Warriors, Robin Kellahair.
We'll talk about Hope for the Warriors, what they're all about,
including what programs for military and their families they offer,
how to take advantage of them, also donations, volunteering, upcoming events,
(00:26):
and much much more. Here's my conversation with Robin. I
hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning, Robin, Good morning Dennis. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm well and it's great to have you back. It's
been a while and a lot to talk about. When
it comes for a Hope for the Warriors, I'd like
to do this though, and I know that the organization
has been around for a long time, but there's going
to be some people who don't know what Hope for
the Warriors is and what you do how it started.
So can you do me just a small favor first
and tell me how this started and why you started it.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah? No, Dennis, thank you I'd love to do that.
I always love talking about HOPE. I think for those
of you out there that know a little bit about us,
a lot about us, or nothing about us, what's important
about Hope for the Warriors is we we were founded
by military spouses, so military spouses that as our families
were experiencing a pretty traumatic time in our country in
(01:16):
around two thousand and six with multiple deployments and war combat,
a lot of the unknown injuries and deaths, and we've
really built the organization around the community connectedness and a
need to take care of each other and make sure
that we all got through it and we're continuing to thrive.
(01:37):
Our families were strong and we were able to support
our service members who were obviously fighting a tough war.
The organization was, you know, there was really not a
lot of intention that we would be around for twenty years,
but that was twenty years ago. We have a phenomenal,
phenomenal staff that are dispersed throughout the country and their
(01:57):
work every day is at an individ dual level. We
work specifically with the veteran active duty, but the military
family is a key component of the work that we
do and at the center of everything is mental health
and all the things that contribute to mental health, whether
it's financial stability, employment stability, community connectedness. We're really looking
(02:21):
in and diving into the connection between nutrition and mental health.
So all these areas are areas that we can support
and then bring in our partners that do different things.
So it's an incredible network to highlight the importance of
the people who have had challenges along the way that
(02:41):
then step up to make sure that those that their
comrades and their sisters and brothers and don't have to
have the same challenges. Is a really important concept in
serving populations that may appear to be underserved. So a
lot of this work is being done by veterans and
military spouses and we're really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So before we get into the nitty gritty about programs,
events and funding and how to donate and volunteering and
all that, can you give our listener it's kind of
a thirty thousand foot view about what you do to
give them a good scope of how you service everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
The path to hope for the warriors is a journey,
and that journey may begin with a website. The journey
may begin with a referral from a VA, from a friend,
from a neighbor, someone else who is experienced hope. It
may be you know, you find hope on a billboarder
and ad a lot of times because we really appreciate
(03:37):
the community connection. A lot of our intakes people excuse me,
I'm sorry. I'm going to back up to Yeah, I
had a little bit of a tough day, so I apologize.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I'm sorry, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The finding hope is a journey, Dennis, and many times
it could be somebody reaching out and look for resources
on a website. We find that many of our clients
are coming to us through referrals, whether it's from other
nonprofit organizations, the VA, friends and family. Because we do
(04:14):
a lot of community based events, that's where we meet
a lot of our clients find out what we're like
and who we are and what we can do to help.
So there's no wrong door. There's people coming to us
in many different ways, and they go through an intake process.
So we have a very talented licensed clinical team that
(04:37):
conducts intakes, and that's a process of about an hour
and a half that each person would spend with one
of our team members and they talk about the things
that are struggling their struggles, Why did they come to
hope in the first place, Where are the challenges? And
then we start talking about how can we connect you
to particular areas of our organization and other resources to
(04:59):
help alleviate those problems. What we're seeing predominantly right now
is financial distress, which makes a lot of sense with
the economy the way it is, and the best thing
that we can do is help to eliminate that financial
distress in the moment and then really help to build
and stabilize the family unit with resources. You want to
(05:23):
determine what the financial distress is all about. Many times
it could be about underemployment or no employment. It could
be a gap in benefits. It could be that someone's
you know, having find our emotional struggles and they really
just can't even process what their life is there and
so they're unable to connect to the people and the
(05:47):
things that are are there for their support. So it's
like I said, it's very individualized. Everyone comes in with
different needs and different backgrounds and different experiences, and so
we try to spend as much time with each person
on the onset get to know them and understand their circumstances.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And Robin when it comes to those programs and services,
you mentioned one of kind of four buckets with subcategories
that you have. You mentioned the financial, but there's also
physical and emotional wellness. There's the social support and the
community connection, and then the training and the education. I
know that's a lot and we don't have we only
have thirty minutes because there's so much to talk about,
but can you address the other three very quickly for us?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah? Absolutely So. The organization actually started with a physical event,
so we were founded on with a run. It was
a one mile five ten k run and what we
found is that the participants mostly all military and military
families who live in a culture of physical fitness, of
(06:50):
setting goals of constantly like raising the bar. That that
was a great way to get people together, to convene
people a place where people feel safe and the culture
is so aligned, to really bring out and say we're
all here together in these circumstances and we're going to
get through this together. That continued as became our physical
(07:14):
piece to our puzzle and understanding what physical activities do
for serotonin and for your brain and your body and
all the importance of physical exercise or even just being
outside and gardening. You know, those things really are have
this direct connection to well being, and I think most
(07:37):
people know that you talk about exercise not just about
weight loss or muscle endurance. It really can be a
strong piece of well being and mental health. So that's
the physical part, and that's a really important piece for
all of us and kind of a central component when
(07:58):
you look at the other pieces as well. The emotional
support also stems off of physical support, but the emotional
support for us is also about being connected into your community.
We know that isolation is a driver for suicide and depression,
and so by encouraging and helping to establish those community connections,
(08:23):
our clients can begin to feel like they're a part
of something again, to perhaps even lead and serve in
their community. And that really fulfills and fills those those
buckets up. That that can really tear from that deep
hole of what we've seen so much of, and that's
(08:44):
that the severe depression, anxiety, and suicide. And then you
want to look at the I talked about the financial piece.
Training and education. Employment is critical, right, meaningful employment is
even more or so many of our service members come
out of the military, but they still want to serve
(09:05):
in some way. They need to have a mission and
feel like there's purpose. And so our team is we
have a specific team that works with the transition space
and alongside each of our clients, and that includes military
spouses to help them identify what is meaningful employment to
you and then how are we going to get you there?
How do you build that roadmap? And so that is
(09:30):
obviously a critical piece that then contributes to the financial
piece and the emotional piece, so they're all so interconnected.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know,
one of the things that I want to talk about,
because I think you got everybody's attention who either has
a military person in their family or know somebody that's
served in the military, about criteria about how to reach
out to you. So I think we should first do
that about how they just reach out to you, But
then do you look for a criteria how they can
(09:59):
call allify for some of these programs that you can
help them or their families.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Absolutely, Again, reaching out via the website is probably the
easiest way and most it's probably the easiest way to
reach out to us because you're going to get an
immediate response. We are in different communities quite often, and
so we've got a lot of people that are out
there reaching out and touching people, to include our Military
(10:26):
Relations team, which is our group of veterans that are
reaching out and connecting to other veterans in their community
all day long, every day. That's their job. That's to me,
the website is the best way to connect with us
because they are also all the information there that you
might need to direct and help your intake process go smoothly.
(10:50):
We just had a really cool event that connected us
to a lot of new clients and it was our
thirty by thirty, so we were promoting thirty minutes physical
activity a day for thirty days and at the same time,
leading up to Memorial Day, sharing stories of service and
sacrifice with those who participated, which was almost a thousand people.
(11:13):
And from that we were able to meet new clients
that really said, you know, I love what you guys
are doing. I feel comfortable and safe with you all,
and here's here my challenges. What can you do to help?
So being taking a look at what's on the website,
the volunteer opportunities or the activities that we're also promoting
(11:34):
in people's communities is a great way to connect with us.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Also very good. We're almost at the halfway point, and
I think it's a good segue to talk about how
you're funded, how people can donate and also volunteer with
the organization. Can you go over all those for us?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Absolutely? So. As a nonprofit organization, we are funded through
the general public. We do have a couple of state
grants that we have received through the Department of the
Health and Human Service, but about ninety five percent of
all of our funding comes from the generosity of the
general public, whether it's corporate sponsorships or grants. Foundations. Family
(12:13):
foundations are a significant part of our funding, and then
individual giving is a huge piece for us. So it's
all the different different pieces that contribute to the overall
budget picture. Our donations. We have the opportunity to be
a Circle of Hope member, which means you're donating a
(12:36):
certain amount of money each month. We have different levels
of investment per se that, and then you can participate
in different activities. Corporate sponsors are a big piece of
our funding. They have I think a real focus on
(12:56):
engaging their own staff and something that's meaningful, and so
by participating in events and programs with Hope for the warriors,
they can get their own team invested and feel as
though that there's sort of a force multiplier. Above and
beyond a check you know, there's that volunteer activity or
just getting to know service members and military families and
(13:18):
understanding their stories. So those are the big ones, and
you can see all of the information about that is
also on our website. We're also very heavily integrated into
LinkedIn and other social media platforms. We take our donations
very seriously. Ninety two cents of every dollar goes to
(13:41):
our programs and we have been rated as a four
star charity with Charity Navigator for fourteen years now. So
fiduciary responsibility is a priority at Hope. We believe that
the more more money that we can bring in and
the more money we invest in our programs, more people
we get to help very good.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Now, when it comes to events, galas or any big
things that are coming up for the rest of the year,
what can we get our listeners excited about that maybe
they can be a part of.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So the big one is our twenty year anniversary is
coming up and so we will be celebrating that. The
Gotthart Give Hope Celebration will be in early February of
twenty twenty six, and we welcome corporate partners, we welcome
individuals who want to come. We have asked Gary Sinise
to come in as our host this year. We have
(14:34):
some very special things planned for that particular event and
it will be held over at National Harbor at the MGM,
which is a fantastic event location as you know, and
also in the local area. We are doing a lot
of work with corporate partners and curating volunteer activities so
(14:55):
that maybe stuffing backpacks for military kids that can be
distributed this summer before they head off to school. We've
got groups that are putting together food packages to ship
to different areas for military families that are really distressed
with and having a difficult time with their finances. We
(15:18):
have a couple of different food distributions coming up as
well that serve active duty and veteran communities. All of
our activities are on our website. But I think what's
really important too is for those groups that want to
participate in an event or want to even start something
(15:38):
of their own. We have great ideas. We had just
recently had a clay shoot and that brought in a
number of our celebrity ambassadors, but also the service members
that attended just had this amazing connection to the celebrity
ambassadors and the participants and they got to get outside
(15:59):
for the day and shoot clays and just kind of
let go of some of the things that they're carrying
around with them. The following day was a fishing battle
and some brand new, you know, new service members came
in and they're out on the seas and fishing and
again connecting with people while letting go of some of
the things they're carrying around with them.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You know, when you mentioned those things, we all take
it for granted as civilians. But the therapy that some
of these men and women are getting after the PTSD
and all the other things that they're going through with
mental health and wellness is extraordinary and it's got great benefits,
as I think you're alluding to. I did want to
get some context for the few people that don't know
who Gary Sonise is. He's a great actor who's been
(16:42):
in many films and TV shows. He was Lieutenant Dan
and Forrest Gupp and I don't know if I've seen
an actor. I know there's been several over the years, Robin,
but Gary Sonice has stepped up for you and the
military when it comes to his time. It's absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, he's he's dedicated himself to that and you're right,
it's rare. Yeah, And you know, we're blessed to have
been working with Gary for almost eighteen years now. And
you know he just through his life and now through
the life of his son Mac, sharing the music, he
(17:20):
is just all about healing and recovery and compassion and
connection to people. So yeah, he's a good man.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
He sure is. Something you and I have talked about
over our visits over the last three or four years
is about mental health and wellness and where you started
twenty years ago. I think you and I can agree
there was still a very large stigma out in the
world when it came to that and not addressing it
at all and pretending that it didn't exist, and that
goes from our government to I think just humanity and
(17:50):
people in general. But because younger people, celebrities and influencers
have normalized it, including my daughter generation and she's twenty three,
it's much more acceptable to talk about, which I know
you and I are both excited about, and I think
that makes it a little bit easier. I think for
people to step forward and say, I do have some
(18:11):
issues here and I need some help. Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh? Absolutely? And you know, Dennis, it's probably our generation
that's the furthest behind, because my daughter's nineteen, my son's twenty,
almost twenty two, and they they have conversations with their
friends about their mental health all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It's easy for them. So I think, you know, we
just got to keep pushing. We have made such great
progress over the last eighteen twenty years. I feel like
the military has been a platform that we've been able
to as a as a country, as a nation to
talk about those things openly and recognize that, you know,
(18:52):
everybody else feel has the same things. And I think COVID,
I hate to say it was was eye opening for
people to see that mental health doesn't isn't just about
the military, it's it has it pulls everybody in and
this month is we're bringing awareness to post traumatic stress.
I think that post traumatic stress in and of itself
(19:14):
has its own stigma. But if if you could sit
back and really think this through intellectually. You experience a
traumatic experience, your your body needs to process it, both
physically and mentally, and that's what post traumatic stress is,
is that processing piece. So all the things that you
can do to help that along and enhance it, don't
(19:39):
ignore it, don't push it, you know, into the back,
you know, the closet, that processing is allowed to take place,
and then you can move on and then that trauma
becomes a part of your what we are now calling
post traumatic growth, So the person that you are and
how you experienced and and help and helps yourself through
(20:01):
your own process. Given all these resources that are available.
I think that's a really important message for everybody because
we all experienced trauma at some point in our life.
Whether it's you know what level or how you came
into your trauma can be very different for everyone, but
we all experience it and it can do incredible damage,
(20:24):
both physically and mentally if it is left, you know, unresolved,
if it's if it's ignored, and that's what we see
I think a lot of times with our clients is
you know, that stigma, so they don't want to ask
for help, so life becomes unbearable, life becomes unmanageable, becomes
out of control, and that's typically where our clients are
(20:47):
at when they come to hope. But that's our goal,
is to take them on that journey from that place
of distress that place of hope.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Well, Robin, I think there's you know, you come from
military family, so you know intimately about how military people are.
And I didn't serve, so I'd never put myself in
their shoes of somebody that's served and also seen action
and something horrifying. But what I can imagine is is
that when you work in the military, especially if you're
(21:19):
seeing action and seeing some horrors out there, that you
know it's a switch that you can't turn off when
you're doing that. And yet when somebody finishes their service
and they have all that baggage, then you know they're
still in that mode, right and it's hard to take
that step that you've talked about of asking for help
(21:40):
or something in their family for asking for help. But
I can see the dilemma there. And even though the
stigma that you and I have just addressed over the
last twenty years has gotten better about to being able
to talk about, I can see how a lot of
military people can't turn off that switch to just reach
out and say I need some help. So I guess
that's just your biggest dilemma right there to start with.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh, it absolutely is. And I think that's why our
military relations team is so effective because they have all
been in that place and so they can connect with
people who are also starting that journey and really walk
them through it or walk alongside them or just be
there to listen. And many times they're also coaching them
(22:23):
into care. So this is a really important relationship that
gets built. And the goal is let's relieve those stressors.
Let's let you know that you're not alone, which is
critical that there is hope at the end of the day.
It is going to take time, and you have to
(22:44):
be brave and open to those experiences. And a lot
of times that it's just that those very quiet conversations
with people that get them to a place of being
able to make that choice that I'm ready to take
care of myself right and be better for my family,
Because I think we talk a lot about the service
(23:05):
member themselves, but the family experiences post traumatic stress just
as much, and they experience the trauma of whatever the
environment becomes at home can be very traumatic. The loss
of a family relationship that used to be one thing
(23:25):
and is now very different is a traumatic loss. And
we don't talk much about the military family or military
kids and what they're experiencing. I think the more we
continue to, you know, bring that into the conversation, the better.
But trauma is experienced throughout the entire military family. And
then what's hard is that there aren't a lot of
(23:47):
the resources in military communities. You know, typically military installations
are not set in locations where the smartest and the
brightest are going to move and dig into that community.
So virtual, virtual therapy and virtual resources are really critical
(24:08):
in military communities. It's just important to keep that military
family in the conversation.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
As Yeah, I'm glad that you talked about that. We
have about five minutes left, and if you could for me,
because I think the world could use a great story.
I know you've got hundreds. Maybe something recently has really
touched you. I know it's been a journey for you
the last couple of decades. God bless you and your
team for all that you've been through and all the
work that you're doing. Can you share maybe a really
cool story. Whether it's something that said this is why
(24:37):
we get up every morning, we made a difference.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Here, Dennis. I just got off a phone call about
an hour and a half ago with a woman that
I had met in a committee that I was sitting on.
I was just always so impressed with her. She was
one of the first female submarineers, very impressive and young.
So she's would have thought that we would have had
(25:01):
females and submarines a long time ago, but no, she
I think twenty thirteen is what she was talking about.
But she had a really difficult time as that pioneer
in that role, and yet she was also sort of
it was sort of her responsibility to encourage other females
to join in that particular you know area in the navy,
(25:25):
and because of some of the experiences she had, she
didn't feel she should be encouraging other women to do
the same. Her experiences isolated her from her family, her friends.
She did not feel worthy as a mother, so it
was affecting her relationship with her children. And it was,
(25:52):
you know, that isolation that finally came to a head
for her and she realized that she needed hope and
she needed help and she had a wonderful experience where
she was able to take her sadness and recognize that
she wasn't crying in sadness anymore. She was crying because
(26:13):
she really had hope for the future and that she
could be better, and that she was experiencing post traumatic
growth versus post traumatic stress, and that that to me
is it was an eight year story for her. That
was a long time. But now she's getting ready to
(26:35):
write a book and she wants to tell her story
and share her experiences. We talked about all the other
books that veterans are writing, and she thought it was
very interesting that she hadn't seen as many from female veterans.
So again, a pioneer, but it took you know, being
brave and recognizing that hope is a very powerful platform
(26:59):
to launch from them. And she's in a much better
place and she's going to be, you know, a great
asset to other females who've experienced military sexual trauma and
other difficulties as female service members. But she's inspirational and
you'll hear from her on Hook for the Warriors. We
(27:20):
are going to get her out and doing some guests
speaking will be promoting her book with her, So just
stand by because she's got She's one of those powerful
stories you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, I am so glad that you shared that. I
can't wait that. I hope there have been other women
since that have followed in her footsteps, even though it
was arduous for her, and that's good news. So I
take it that's what. You don't have to say any
numbers because I don't have any. I'm not sure if
you do, but other women have followed, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely, so those pioneers were important well and
they'll continue to lead the way.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, that is absolutely huge. Thanks for sharing that. Again,
I appreciate it. Well, listen, we only have a couple
of minutes left, and I like you to read cap
everything for everybody about what's coming up, how people can
donate and volunteer, get on the website, and anything else
that you'd like to offer. Robin, the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Thank you, Dennis, thank you. The most important thing I
can share is that Hope for the Warriors is a
publicly funded, privately funded organization, and that means that we
really need people's help to continue to grow. Our numbers
are growing daily monthly, so going to www Dot Hope
Forthwarriors dot org. It'll show you all kinds of ways
(28:34):
to donate, whether it's money or your time. Your time
is so incredibly valuable. Our volunteers make us a force
multiplier with the work that they can do looking at
our calendar and participating in our events that are upcoming. Again,
we're dispersed throughout the country, so lots of things here locally.
(28:57):
We're also happy to come in and we're with your
team at a company or even a family to help
share experiences, but get you involved in a part of
what we're doing here at hopefully the worst. We just
had a wonderful group of volunteers help a wounded warrior
and his wife move. It was their last military move
(29:18):
and they just needed a lot of support, and we
put out the call and had twenty people in trucks
and got it all done in a day or two
and that family stress level just you know, completely reduced.
So it can be very little things like that or
a big thing like the Got Heart Give Hope celebration
in February of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Very good, well, Robin, it's great to talk to you again.
Thank you so much for catching up with us continued
success and with the twenty year anniversary coming up, absolutely extraordinary.
I mean it's just a testament to you, your team
and everybody that's involved. So thank you so much. We'll
stay in touch, but we really appreciate you featuring you
again on Community DC. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Great, Thank you, Dennis. Have a great weekend.
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Tennis Glasgow. This morning, we'd be the
good chance to talk to one of our friends from
Hope for the Warriors and talk about veterans with the
co founder and CEO for Hope for the Warriors, Robin Kellahair.
We'll talk about Hope for the Warriors, what they're all about,
including what programs for military and their families they offer,
how to take advantage of them, also donations, volunteering, upcoming events,
(00:26):
and much much more. Here's my conversation with Robin. I
hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning, Robin, Good morning Dennis. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I'm well and it's great to have you back. It's
been a while and a lot to talk about. When
it comes for a Hope for the Warriors, I'd like
to do this though, and I know that the organization
has been around for a long time, but there's going
to be some people who don't know what Hope for
the Warriors is and what you do how it started.
So can you do me just a small favor first
and tell me how this started and why you started it.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah? No, Dennis, thank you I'd love to do that.
I always love talking about HOPE. I think for those
of you out there that know a little bit about us,
a lot about us, or nothing about us, what's important
about Hope for the Warriors is we we were founded
by military spouses, so military spouses that as our families
were experiencing a pretty traumatic time in our country in
(01:16):
around two thousand and six with multiple deployments and war combat,
a lot of the unknown injuries and deaths, and we've
really built the organization around the community connectedness and a
need to take care of each other and make sure
that we all got through it and we're continuing to thrive.
(01:37):
Our families were strong and we were able to support
our service members who were obviously fighting a tough war.
The organization was, you know, there was really not a
lot of intention that we would be around for twenty years,
but that was twenty years ago. We have a phenomenal,
phenomenal staff that are dispersed throughout the country and their
(01:57):
work every day is at an individ dual level. We
work specifically with the veteran active duty, but the military
family is a key component of the work that we
do and at the center of everything is mental health
and all the things that contribute to mental health, whether
it's financial stability, employment stability, community connectedness. We're really looking
(02:21):
in and diving into the connection between nutrition and mental health.
So all these areas are areas that we can support
and then bring in our partners that do different things.
So it's an incredible network to highlight the importance of
the people who have had challenges along the way that
(02:41):
then step up to make sure that those that their
comrades and their sisters and brothers and don't have to
have the same challenges. Is a really important concept in
serving populations that may appear to be underserved. So a
lot of this work is being done by veterans and
military spouses and we're really proud of that.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So before we get into the nitty gritty about programs,
events and funding and how to donate and volunteering and
all that, can you give our listener it's kind of
a thirty thousand foot view about what you do to
give them a good scope of how you service everybody.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
The path to hope for the warriors is a journey,
and that journey may begin with a website. The journey
may begin with a referral from a VA, from a friend,
from a neighbor, someone else who is experienced hope. It
may be you know, you find hope on a billboarder
and ad a lot of times because we really appreciate
(03:37):
the community connection. A lot of our intakes people excuse me,
I'm sorry. I'm going to back up to Yeah, I
had a little bit of a tough day, so I apologize.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
I'm sorry, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
The finding hope is a journey, Dennis, and many times
it could be somebody reaching out and look for resources
on a website. We find that many of our clients
are coming to us through referrals, whether it's from other
nonprofit organizations, the VA, friends and family. Because we do
(04:14):
a lot of community based events, that's where we meet
a lot of our clients find out what we're like
and who we are and what we can do to help.
So there's no wrong door. There's people coming to us
in many different ways, and they go through an intake process.
So we have a very talented licensed clinical team that
(04:37):
conducts intakes, and that's a process of about an hour
and a half that each person would spend with one
of our team members and they talk about the things
that are struggling their struggles, Why did they come to
hope in the first place, Where are the challenges? And
then we start talking about how can we connect you
to particular areas of our organization and other resources to
(04:59):
help alleviate those problems. What we're seeing predominantly right now
is financial distress, which makes a lot of sense with
the economy the way it is, and the best thing
that we can do is help to eliminate that financial
distress in the moment and then really help to build
and stabilize the family unit with resources. You want to
(05:23):
determine what the financial distress is all about. Many times
it could be about underemployment or no employment. It could
be a gap in benefits. It could be that someone's
you know, having find our emotional struggles and they really
just can't even process what their life is there and
so they're unable to connect to the people and the
(05:47):
things that are are there for their support. So it's
like I said, it's very individualized. Everyone comes in with
different needs and different backgrounds and different experiences, and so
we try to spend as much time with each person
on the onset get to know them and understand their circumstances.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And Robin when it comes to those programs and services,
you mentioned one of kind of four buckets with subcategories
that you have. You mentioned the financial, but there's also
physical and emotional wellness. There's the social support and the
community connection, and then the training and the education. I
know that's a lot and we don't have we only
have thirty minutes because there's so much to talk about,
but can you address the other three very quickly for us?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah? Absolutely So. The organization actually started with a physical event,
so we were founded on with a run. It was
a one mile five ten k run and what we
found is that the participants mostly all military and military
families who live in a culture of physical fitness, of
(06:50):
setting goals of constantly like raising the bar. That that
was a great way to get people together, to convene
people a place where people feel safe and the culture
is so aligned, to really bring out and say we're
all here together in these circumstances and we're going to
get through this together. That continued as became our physical
(07:14):
piece to our puzzle and understanding what physical activities do
for serotonin and for your brain and your body and
all the importance of physical exercise or even just being
outside and gardening. You know, those things really are have
this direct connection to well being, and I think most
(07:37):
people know that you talk about exercise not just about
weight loss or muscle endurance. It really can be a
strong piece of well being and mental health. So that's
the physical part, and that's a really important piece for
all of us and kind of a central component when
(07:58):
you look at the other pieces as well. The emotional
support also stems off of physical support, but the emotional
support for us is also about being connected into your community.
We know that isolation is a driver for suicide and depression,
and so by encouraging and helping to establish those community connections,
(08:23):
our clients can begin to feel like they're a part
of something again, to perhaps even lead and serve in
their community. And that really fulfills and fills those those
buckets up. That that can really tear from that deep
hole of what we've seen so much of, and that's
(08:44):
that the severe depression, anxiety, and suicide. And then you
want to look at the I talked about the financial piece.
Training and education. Employment is critical, right, meaningful employment is
even more or so many of our service members come
out of the military, but they still want to serve
(09:05):
in some way. They need to have a mission and
feel like there's purpose. And so our team is we
have a specific team that works with the transition space
and alongside each of our clients, and that includes military
spouses to help them identify what is meaningful employment to
you and then how are we going to get you there?
How do you build that roadmap? And so that is
(09:30):
obviously a critical piece that then contributes to the financial
piece and the emotional piece, so they're all so interconnected.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And you know,
one of the things that I want to talk about,
because I think you got everybody's attention who either has
a military person in their family or know somebody that's
served in the military, about criteria about how to reach
out to you. So I think we should first do
that about how they just reach out to you, But
then do you look for a criteria how they can
(09:59):
call allify for some of these programs that you can
help them or their families.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Absolutely, Again, reaching out via the website is probably the
easiest way and most it's probably the easiest way to
reach out to us because you're going to get an
immediate response. We are in different communities quite often, and
so we've got a lot of people that are out
there reaching out and touching people, to include our Military
(10:26):
Relations team, which is our group of veterans that are
reaching out and connecting to other veterans in their community
all day long, every day. That's their job. That's to me,
the website is the best way to connect with us
because they are also all the information there that you
might need to direct and help your intake process go smoothly.
(10:50):
We just had a really cool event that connected us
to a lot of new clients and it was our
thirty by thirty, so we were promoting thirty minutes physical
activity a day for thirty days and at the same time,
leading up to Memorial Day, sharing stories of service and
sacrifice with those who participated, which was almost a thousand people.
(11:13):
And from that we were able to meet new clients
that really said, you know, I love what you guys
are doing. I feel comfortable and safe with you all,
and here's here my challenges. What can you do to help?
So being taking a look at what's on the website,
the volunteer opportunities or the activities that we're also promoting
(11:34):
in people's communities is a great way to connect with us.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Also very good. We're almost at the halfway point, and
I think it's a good segue to talk about how
you're funded, how people can donate and also volunteer with
the organization. Can you go over all those for us?
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Absolutely? So. As a nonprofit organization, we are funded through
the general public. We do have a couple of state
grants that we have received through the Department of the
Health and Human Service, but about ninety five percent of
all of our funding comes from the generosity of the
general public, whether it's corporate sponsorships or grants. Foundations. Family
(12:13):
foundations are a significant part of our funding, and then
individual giving is a huge piece for us. So it's
all the different different pieces that contribute to the overall
budget picture. Our donations. We have the opportunity to be
a Circle of Hope member, which means you're donating a
(12:36):
certain amount of money each month. We have different levels
of investment per se that, and then you can participate
in different activities. Corporate sponsors are a big piece of
our funding. They have I think a real focus on
(12:56):
engaging their own staff and something that's meaningful, and so
by participating in events and programs with Hope for the warriors,
they can get their own team invested and feel as
though that there's sort of a force multiplier. Above and
beyond a check you know, there's that volunteer activity or
just getting to know service members and military families and
(13:18):
understanding their stories. So those are the big ones, and
you can see all of the information about that is
also on our website. We're also very heavily integrated into
LinkedIn and other social media platforms. We take our donations
very seriously. Ninety two cents of every dollar goes to
(13:41):
our programs and we have been rated as a four
star charity with Charity Navigator for fourteen years now. So
fiduciary responsibility is a priority at Hope. We believe that
the more more money that we can bring in and
the more money we invest in our programs, more people
we get to help very good.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Now, when it comes to events, galas or any big
things that are coming up for the rest of the year,
what can we get our listeners excited about that maybe
they can be a part of.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So the big one is our twenty year anniversary is
coming up and so we will be celebrating that. The
Gotthart Give Hope Celebration will be in early February of
twenty twenty six, and we welcome corporate partners, we welcome
individuals who want to come. We have asked Gary Sinise
to come in as our host this year. We have
(14:34):
some very special things planned for that particular event and
it will be held over at National Harbor at the MGM,
which is a fantastic event location as you know, and
also in the local area. We are doing a lot
of work with corporate partners and curating volunteer activities so
(14:55):
that maybe stuffing backpacks for military kids that can be
distributed this summer before they head off to school. We've
got groups that are putting together food packages to ship
to different areas for military families that are really distressed
with and having a difficult time with their finances. We
(15:18):
have a couple of different food distributions coming up as
well that serve active duty and veteran communities. All of
our activities are on our website. But I think what's
really important too is for those groups that want to
participate in an event or want to even start something
(15:38):
of their own. We have great ideas. We had just
recently had a clay shoot and that brought in a
number of our celebrity ambassadors, but also the service members
that attended just had this amazing connection to the celebrity
ambassadors and the participants and they got to get outside
(15:59):
for the day and shoot clays and just kind of
let go of some of the things that they're carrying
around with them. The following day was a fishing battle
and some brand new, you know, new service members came
in and they're out on the seas and fishing and
again connecting with people while letting go of some of
the things they're carrying around with them.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You know, when you mentioned those things, we all take
it for granted as civilians. But the therapy that some
of these men and women are getting after the PTSD
and all the other things that they're going through with
mental health and wellness is extraordinary and it's got great benefits,
as I think you're alluding to. I did want to
get some context for the few people that don't know
who Gary Sonise is. He's a great actor who's been
(16:42):
in many films and TV shows. He was Lieutenant Dan
and Forrest Gupp and I don't know if I've seen
an actor. I know there's been several over the years, Robin,
but Gary Sonice has stepped up for you and the
military when it comes to his time. It's absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, he's he's dedicated himself to that and you're right,
it's rare. Yeah, And you know, we're blessed to have
been working with Gary for almost eighteen years now. And
you know he just through his life and now through
the life of his son Mac, sharing the music, he
(17:20):
is just all about healing and recovery and compassion and
connection to people. So yeah, he's a good man.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
He sure is. Something you and I have talked about
over our visits over the last three or four years
is about mental health and wellness and where you started
twenty years ago. I think you and I can agree
there was still a very large stigma out in the
world when it came to that and not addressing it
at all and pretending that it didn't exist, and that
goes from our government to I think just humanity and
(17:50):
people in general. But because younger people, celebrities and influencers
have normalized it, including my daughter generation and she's twenty three,
it's much more acceptable to talk about, which I know
you and I are both excited about, and I think
that makes it a little bit easier. I think for
people to step forward and say, I do have some
(18:11):
issues here and I need some help. Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh? Absolutely? And you know, Dennis, it's probably our generation
that's the furthest behind, because my daughter's nineteen, my son's twenty,
almost twenty two, and they they have conversations with their
friends about their mental health all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It's easy for them. So I think, you know, we
just got to keep pushing. We have made such great
progress over the last eighteen twenty years. I feel like
the military has been a platform that we've been able
to as a as a country, as a nation to
talk about those things openly and recognize that, you know,
(18:52):
everybody else feel has the same things. And I think COVID,
I hate to say it was was eye opening for
people to see that mental health doesn't isn't just about
the military, it's it has it pulls everybody in and
this month is we're bringing awareness to post traumatic stress.
I think that post traumatic stress in and of itself
(19:14):
has its own stigma. But if if you could sit
back and really think this through intellectually. You experience a
traumatic experience, your your body needs to process it, both
physically and mentally, and that's what post traumatic stress is,
is that processing piece. So all the things that you
can do to help that along and enhance it, don't
(19:39):
ignore it, don't push it, you know, into the back,
you know, the closet, that processing is allowed to take place,
and then you can move on and then that trauma
becomes a part of your what we are now calling
post traumatic growth, So the person that you are and
how you experienced and and help and helps yourself through
(20:01):
your own process. Given all these resources that are available.
I think that's a really important message for everybody because
we all experienced trauma at some point in our life.
Whether it's you know what level or how you came
into your trauma can be very different for everyone, but
we all experience it and it can do incredible damage,
(20:24):
both physically and mentally if it is left, you know, unresolved,
if it's if it's ignored, and that's what we see
I think a lot of times with our clients is
you know, that stigma, so they don't want to ask
for help, so life becomes unbearable, life becomes unmanageable, becomes
out of control, and that's typically where our clients are
(20:47):
at when they come to hope. But that's our goal,
is to take them on that journey from that place
of distress that place of hope.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Well, Robin, I think there's you know, you come from
military family, so you know intimately about how military people are.
And I didn't serve, so I'd never put myself in
their shoes of somebody that's served and also seen action
and something horrifying. But what I can imagine is is
that when you work in the military, especially if you're
(21:19):
seeing action and seeing some horrors out there, that you
know it's a switch that you can't turn off when
you're doing that. And yet when somebody finishes their service
and they have all that baggage, then you know they're
still in that mode, right and it's hard to take
that step that you've talked about of asking for help
(21:40):
or something in their family for asking for help. But
I can see the dilemma there. And even though the
stigma that you and I have just addressed over the
last twenty years has gotten better about to being able
to talk about, I can see how a lot of
military people can't turn off that switch to just reach
out and say I need some help. So I guess
that's just your biggest dilemma right there to start with.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh, it absolutely is. And I think that's why our
military relations team is so effective because they have all
been in that place and so they can connect with
people who are also starting that journey and really walk
them through it or walk alongside them or just be
there to listen. And many times they're also coaching them
(22:23):
into care. So this is a really important relationship that
gets built. And the goal is let's relieve those stressors.
Let's let you know that you're not alone, which is
critical that there is hope at the end of the day.
It is going to take time, and you have to
(22:44):
be brave and open to those experiences. And a lot
of times that it's just that those very quiet conversations
with people that get them to a place of being
able to make that choice that I'm ready to take
care of myself right and be better for my family,
Because I think we talk a lot about the service
(23:05):
member themselves, but the family experiences post traumatic stress just
as much, and they experience the trauma of whatever the
environment becomes at home can be very traumatic. The loss
of a family relationship that used to be one thing
(23:25):
and is now very different is a traumatic loss. And
we don't talk much about the military family or military
kids and what they're experiencing. I think the more we
continue to, you know, bring that into the conversation, the better.
But trauma is experienced throughout the entire military family. And
then what's hard is that there aren't a lot of
(23:47):
the resources in military communities. You know, typically military installations
are not set in locations where the smartest and the
brightest are going to move and dig into that community.
So virtual, virtual therapy and virtual resources are really critical
(24:08):
in military communities. It's just important to keep that military
family in the conversation.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
As Yeah, I'm glad that you talked about that. We
have about five minutes left, and if you could for me,
because I think the world could use a great story.
I know you've got hundreds. Maybe something recently has really
touched you. I know it's been a journey for you
the last couple of decades. God bless you and your
team for all that you've been through and all the
work that you're doing. Can you share maybe a really
cool story. Whether it's something that said this is why
(24:37):
we get up every morning, we made a difference.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Here, Dennis. I just got off a phone call about
an hour and a half ago with a woman that
I had met in a committee that I was sitting on.
I was just always so impressed with her. She was
one of the first female submarineers, very impressive and young.
So she's would have thought that we would have had
(25:01):
females and submarines a long time ago, but no, she
I think twenty thirteen is what she was talking about.
But she had a really difficult time as that pioneer
in that role, and yet she was also sort of
it was sort of her responsibility to encourage other females
to join in that particular you know area in the navy,
(25:25):
and because of some of the experiences she had, she
didn't feel she should be encouraging other women to do
the same. Her experiences isolated her from her family, her friends.
She did not feel worthy as a mother, so it
was affecting her relationship with her children. And it was,
(25:52):
you know, that isolation that finally came to a head
for her and she realized that she needed hope and
she needed help and she had a wonderful experience where
she was able to take her sadness and recognize that
she wasn't crying in sadness anymore. She was crying because
(26:13):
she really had hope for the future and that she
could be better, and that she was experiencing post traumatic
growth versus post traumatic stress, and that that to me
is it was an eight year story for her. That
was a long time. But now she's getting ready to
(26:35):
write a book and she wants to tell her story
and share her experiences. We talked about all the other
books that veterans are writing, and she thought it was
very interesting that she hadn't seen as many from female veterans.
So again, a pioneer, but it took you know, being
brave and recognizing that hope is a very powerful platform
(26:59):
to launch from them. And she's in a much better
place and she's going to be, you know, a great
asset to other females who've experienced military sexual trauma and
other difficulties as female service members. But she's inspirational and
you'll hear from her on Hook for the Warriors. We
(27:20):
are going to get her out and doing some guests
speaking will be promoting her book with her, So just
stand by because she's got She's one of those powerful
stories you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Well, I am so glad that you shared that. I
can't wait that. I hope there have been other women
since that have followed in her footsteps, even though it
was arduous for her, and that's good news. So I
take it that's what. You don't have to say any
numbers because I don't have any. I'm not sure if
you do, but other women have followed, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely, so those pioneers were important well and
they'll continue to lead the way.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, that is absolutely huge. Thanks for sharing that. Again,
I appreciate it. Well, listen, we only have a couple
of minutes left, and I like you to read cap
everything for everybody about what's coming up, how people can
donate and volunteer, get on the website, and anything else
that you'd like to offer. Robin, the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Thank you, Dennis, thank you. The most important thing I
can share is that Hope for the Warriors is a
publicly funded, privately funded organization, and that means that we
really need people's help to continue to grow. Our numbers
are growing daily monthly, so going to www Dot Hope
Forthwarriors dot org. It'll show you all kinds of ways
(28:34):
to donate, whether it's money or your time. Your time
is so incredibly valuable. Our volunteers make us a force
multiplier with the work that they can do looking at
our calendar and participating in our events that are upcoming. Again,
we're dispersed throughout the country, so lots of things here locally.
(28:57):
We're also happy to come in and we're with your
team at a company or even a family to help
share experiences, but get you involved in a part of
what we're doing here at hopefully the worst. We just
had a wonderful group of volunteers help a wounded warrior
and his wife move. It was their last military move
(29:18):
and they just needed a lot of support, and we
put out the call and had twenty people in trucks
and got it all done in a day or two
and that family stress level just you know, completely reduced.
So it can be very little things like that or
a big thing like the Got Heart Give Hope celebration
in February of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Very good, well, Robin, it's great to talk to you again.
Thank you so much for catching up with us continued
success and with the twenty year anniversary coming up, absolutely extraordinary.
I mean it's just a testament to you, your team
and everybody that's involved. So thank you so much. We'll
stay in touch, but we really appreciate you featuring you
again on Community DC. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Great, Thank you, Dennis. Have a great weekend.
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