Empowering our disabled veterans

Jim Blake, Regional Manager for Eastern Propane, joins the show to share his experience in the military, how he got involved with the DAV, and how Eastern Propane gives back to those that served.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As promised, we are now joined by Jim Blake. He
is the regional manager for Eastern pro Pane. Jim, great
to have you on with us today. Thanks so much
for joining us.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you, Jack, it's a pleasure to be here. Jim.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership
with the DAV of Massachusetts.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'd love to. We became partner with DAV in Massachusetts
about three years ago. Previous to that, we've been supporting
veterans organizations within the state and we were trying to improve, frankly,
where the money goes and make sure it was getting
directly to veterans and stuff. And after about a year

(00:42):
of looking around and talking to people, we were able
to connect with the DAV mass and put together a
program with them. Because it's really great. Ninety percent of
everything that gets donated to them goes directly to the
people that need the services, whether it be transportation, housing,
mental health, occupational training is a big thing they're doing now,

(01:07):
their food pantry, and of course the typical claims and benefits,
and they encompassed everything and again ninety percent of everything
that they collect in mass goes directly to the veterans
and that's the kind of company or kind of organization
we wanted to be partnered with.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
And I know that Eastern Propane has a long history
of this connection to veterans. Can you tell us a
little bit just about how that partnership with the dav
and other veterans causes has grown over time?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, we do have a long connection. Our family business
started in nineteen thirty two and we actually started writing Danvers,
Massachusetts at a hardware store. And of course back during
the war we had folks that worked with a company
that had to go in even World War Two, and
during those times, if you had a business, they kept

(02:02):
your home. So the family always wanted to do something
to support the people, and we had Frankly, one of
our leaders of the company was a pow in World
War Two when he escaped and came back. So we've
always felt a strong connection to our ability to serve
people because so many people served to give us that right.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
One of the things that Eastern Propane does is you
use your vehicles to support the dav of Massachusetts. Can
you tell us a little bit about that and how
that has worked for you.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely, what we've done is, you know, we deliver fuel
and comfort to people. And so what we started with
we started with one truck to see how the program
would work, and a portion of every gallon of fuel
that's delivered through that truck goes directly to DAV And

(02:59):
then we added a second truck and this year we've
added a third truck that they are all and these
three trucks off operate in different markets in Massachusetts, and
they operate all year long, twelve months a year, because
you know, sometimes the business has seasonal needs, but we
keep these trucks on the road all year. It spreads

(03:22):
the word about DAV and a portion of every gallon
that goes through those trucks goes directly back to the DAV.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, Jim, you've also got in addition to that, you
have something called your Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway.
I believe it's a program that Eastern Propane created in
order to help veterans. Can you tell us a little
bit about that program and how someone can get nominated
for that program?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Absolutely. The Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway is a
program that we do every sea every winter seaon season
where people are allowed to go on to Eastern dot
Com hometown euro season of fuel giveaway and nominate a veteran,

(04:12):
and you can also nominate nominate a police, firey MT
or active service member. And generally they are people that
have fallen on hard times or a family that's having
difficulty because somebody's overseas serving or something, or I could
say one of our last recipients unfortunately had picked up

(04:35):
a disease while they were over in Afghanistan. And so
you go in, you nominate that person through our website,
and then a committee reviews all of the nominations and
that person will receive free heating for the season.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Jim, that sounds great. We really appreciate you joining us today,
appreciate the work that you and Eastern Propane do on
behalf of the DAV and thanks again for the time
and for your effort in this cause.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Thank you. It's a great partnership. We're happy to be there.
We're looking forward to the DAV five K that's coming
up tomorrow. We've got fifty one of our team members
that have volunteered and are participating out there tomorrow. So
it's more than it's about service, and DAV gives that service.

(05:34):
We want to provide them the support to do it,