It's time to honor our disabled veterans

Mark Voner and Dan Stack stop by to explain how the DAV has changed their lives of those who have served this country, why Mark feels so deeply connected to the DAV, and how Mark made it his mission to save the DAV what it needed it most.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm joined by both Dan Stacks, CEO of the DAV
of Massachusetts, as well as Mark Varner, the president's CEO
of Developed Veterans Development Corporation. Gentlemen, thanks for coming on again.
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you, appreciate YOUO.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
So I wanted to start off. I know Mark you
you've talked a bit about your firms partnership with the DAV.
But for those that haven't heard, talk to us a
bit about that partnership and just how long and how
you got involved with the disabled American veterans.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Okay, well, I met Dan through my brother Tim, who
was working for Dan as a National Service officer. I
don't know how many years now, nineteen ninety seve. I
got involved after that as a sponsor for one of
the golf tournaments and from there we just grew and
grew and grew.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
And for those listening, I mean, it's writ in the name,
but talk to us about what Veterans Development Corporation actually
does and beyond the partnership with the DAV, just your
involvement with veterans today.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Absolutely. We do a lot of construction work for the
VA Healthcare System throughout New England, yep, Florida in Washington,
d C. So we're doing a lot of renovation work
for the hospitals.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
So one of the things that really stuck with me
that the dav does and of Massachusetts and what makes
it truly unique is some of the housing initiatives that
you guys have taken on over the course of the
last several years. I know that you are the only
Disabled American Veterans Department in the country to provide housing
solutions for veterans. And from what I understand, you guys

(01:37):
have a new project going on and so you know,
whoever it can take this one, but talk to us
about that new project, that new initiative that you guys
are doing, and I'm excited to learn about it, and
you can just pull that right towards you there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, what we wanted to be able to do is
take one of the buildings that we have, or we
wanted to be able to take one of the buildings
that we had at basically up in Gardner, Massachuset uses
and we have a need for basically studio apartments for
single veterans on the campus up there. We have twenty
two bedroom condominiums that we give out to families, but

(02:12):
we have the great need for basically single veterans to
be housed, but permanent housing, so we were looking for
studio apartments that could be built naturally. The first guy
I called and turned to was Mark Bonner, said, Mark,
how do we go about this? He's helped put together
an entire team from architectural to everything that we need

(02:35):
engineers in order to try to get this project off
the ground. And we are working with Mark and the
state in order to try to come up with all
the funding that we need for this. But it's going
to be state of the art. It's going to be
every one of these studio apartments. The veteran will have
their own kitchen, their own bathroom, their own basically their

(02:55):
living space so that they too can utilize all of
our services. We'll try to work with them so that
they can become not only independent living there, but if
they wanted to be independent living elsewhere after they've worked
with us.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Dana Maar, I mean talk to us again. For folks
that are listening now and they're getting their first ever
introduction to the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts, what
are the biggest needs of our veterans in the state
that you guys are trying to serve. I know there's
a lot of different initiatives you have, from transportation to
other types of assistance, and clearly the housing thing is

(03:30):
a growing demand piece, especially in today's housing market. But
talk to us about just the work that the DAV
does on a day to day basis, because there's a
lot of folks that I'm sure aren't familiar.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
The biggest program that we have that we help veterans
out with is literally navigating the VA system, whether it
be the healthcare system or whether it be the VA
benefit system. That is the major job that we do
on a daily basis, and those that's where we serve
the most veterans in the state of Massachusetts. We have

(04:05):
service officers all across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They help
initiate the claims. Then we have our staff of paralegally
trained representatives at the JFK Federal Billing they're known as
National Service Officers, which give the best advice possible and
actually take a claim before the VA to make sure

(04:26):
that veteran gets the compensation that he's deserving. With we
have all kinds of veterans volunteers that work within the
VA medical system that helped not only take claims, but
they also help transportation. They also help with basically our
local Veterans Assistant program, helping veterans that may need their

(04:47):
just their yard rate for crime, whatever it is. But
you know, Mark talks about his brother Timmy, which I
hired in ninety seven. Timmy, unfortunately was a paratroop and
his shoe didn't open, and God bless him. He's suffering
this day with some very severe disabilities. And that's how
Mark and I got to know each other. But one

(05:11):
of the things I want to say about basically the
vaughn Or family is not only did he serve this
country right from their father Victor to Timothy to Mark,
but every day they give back to the VA, whether
it's veterans, whether it's being trying to rebuild the VA
medical healthcare system in the most efficient way possible, to

(05:32):
what Mark does personally out of his own pocket to
help the dav and what his company does. I'll be
honest with you, there was a time that we didn't
have anything. I call Mark. He covered our expenses for
one year in order that I could keep this organization
going and today because of what he has done, we're
in a much better spot that we can continue on

(05:53):
to help veterans.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
Mark, I'm going to turn to you on this one
because I could speak to it, but I think you
could do it more justice. Tomorrow is the actual five
K in Boston. You've attended many of them. I've attended
a few of them. I find it to be inspirational
and just a really fun event. Can you tell everybody
that's listening a little bit about the event tomorrow and
what folks can expect, even if they're not running, if

(06:15):
they want to show up and check out the event.
It's always a highlight of the year for absolutely.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
It is one of the most amazing days that I
can say. I'm part of my career as a construction contractor,
but as a person in a veteran this is an
amazing day where all these people come together for one
day and we all meet and we collaborate together. Everybody
is happy, everybody wants to be there. It's just one

(06:41):
of those days that I think, if you haven't been there,
try to make it this year, because you'll walk away
a different person.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
I couldn't agree more it's tomorrow. Castle Island in Boston.
Race has been sold out for months now, as it
always does. It's a hugely popular event. Over a thousand people,
fifteen hundred people running, food events, all sorts of really
great stuff and just inspirational stuff too, and so it's

(07:10):
a fantastic event every year. Mark Varner, CEO of Veterans
Development Corporation, as well as Dan Stack, the CEO of
the Disabled American Veterans Department of Massachusetts, joining us on
the program today. Appreciate you coming in, both of you.
Always great to see you and excited about the event tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Thank you. Thank you very much, Mike, and we truly
appreciate what the Financial Exchange does in regards to keeping
the word out there about what the DAV can do
for veterans. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Thanks gentlemen, appreciate it and see you tomorrow.