Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 158: Steven Johnson, Executive Director, Purple Heart Homes

Transcript

Episode 158: Steven Johnson, Executive Director, Purple Heart Homes · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is Changemakers with Katie Gore, finding the right solutions
0:10
Speaker 1: for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: Today's Changemaker is Stephen Johnson, the Executive Director of Purple
0:17
Speaker 2: Heart Homes. As we recognize Veterans Day coming up, my
0:22
Speaker 2: guest today is someone who has done a life service
0:25
Speaker 2: for this country and for others now. Purple Heart Homes
0:30
Speaker 2: is an organization providing safe, accessible housing solutions for service-connected
0:36
Speaker 2: disabled veterans across the country. Stephen has served for more
0:40
Speaker 2: than 27 years in the U.S.
0:42
Speaker 3: Army.
0:43
Speaker 2: After retiring from military service, he moved into construction and
0:47
Speaker 2: eventually joined Purple Heart Homes. With that, Stephen, welcome to Changemakers.
0:53
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Katie. It's a pleasure to be here.
0:56
Speaker 2: It is an honor to have you, and I did
0:59
Speaker 2: some research on your organization And I want to get
1:02
Speaker 2: into all of that. But first, just walk us through
1:06
Speaker 2: your journey, how you, your long military career and just
1:12
Speaker 2: some early progressions that sort of led up to where
1:16
Speaker 2: you currently are.
1:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, going back to the beginning, I felt
1:22
Speaker 3: a need to serve. My father served, one of my
1:24
Speaker 3: older brothers served, great grandfathers, just a long history of serving.
1:30
Speaker 3: And so I decided when I was a senior in
1:33
Speaker 3: high school to join. And as soon as I graduated,
1:36
Speaker 3: I was gone 10 days after that off the basic training.
1:41
Speaker 3: Never dreamed I would stay as long as I did,
1:44
Speaker 3: but you know, I just kept, kept moving up through
1:48
Speaker 3: my career in different positions and enjoyed it and just
1:52
Speaker 3: felt that need to continue serving. And then I told
1:56
Speaker 3: my wife, I said, Hey, you've been a champ. This
1:58
Speaker 3: is what kind of what I'm thinking on retirement and,
2:01
Speaker 3: We got to, you know, learn how to live together
2:03
Speaker 3: again and all that good stuff just from being apart
2:06
Speaker 3: so much. And our youngest son catching him before his
2:10
Speaker 3: teenage years to spend that time with him. And then,
2:15
Speaker 3: as you stated, after I retired in 2018, I started
2:18
Speaker 3: a construction company, something I always wanted to do. And
2:22
Speaker 3: that was going well. And we started doing projects for
2:27
Speaker 3: Purple Heart Homes and, you know, As we go through,
2:31
Speaker 3: I had a long history with Dale and John who
2:33
Speaker 3: founded it. But after my company, I decided I was
2:38
Speaker 3: going to either sell out or shut down just because
2:42
Speaker 3: of where I was at in life. John, the CEO
2:46
Speaker 3: and co-founder, kept talking to me and said, hey, come
2:48
Speaker 3: on over. And so I just felt that need to
2:50
Speaker 3: come over to Purple Heart and continue serving in a
2:53
Speaker 3: different way.
2:55
Speaker 2: And Purple Heart Homes was founded by veterans, obviously. So
2:59
Speaker 2: a little bit about why they started it. Give us
3:03
Speaker 2: a glimpse of that. What did they see the need was?
3:08
Speaker 3: Yeah. So back in 2003, Dale Beatty and John Galena,
3:15
Speaker 3: they were mobilized as part of a bigger unit. And
3:17
Speaker 3: I was in that unit as well. And we were
3:21
Speaker 3: deployed overseas to Iraq. And unfortunately, on November 15th, 2004,
3:29
Speaker 3: Dale and John's vehicle hit an anti-tank mine. And so
3:33
Speaker 3: John suffered a traumatic brain injury, some back injuries, and
3:38
Speaker 3: Dale actually lost both of his legs below the knees. Well,
3:43
Speaker 3: through the recovery, Dale was in Walter Reed Army Hospital
3:48
Speaker 3: for many, many months, about 16 months. And what John
3:53
Speaker 3: realized after, you know, as Dale was preparing to come
3:56
Speaker 3: home was he did not have an accessible house to
4:00
Speaker 3: come home to. So John rallied the community and the community, uh,
4:07
Speaker 3: built Dale an accessible house to come home to. And
4:11
Speaker 3: so that was in 2006. And so John and Dale
4:16
Speaker 3: continue talking and the need to serve. And so, uh,
4:22
Speaker 3: They basically, there was a Vietnam veteran in their area
4:25
Speaker 3: that needed help with a accessibility ramp to get in
4:29
Speaker 3: and out of his home. So they got their pickup
4:32
Speaker 3: truck and the materials and went and done it. And
4:34
Speaker 3: then they told people about it. And so in August
4:38
Speaker 3: of 2008, Purple Heart Homes was founded by those guys
4:42
Speaker 3: based off of that experience and the need to help
4:46
Speaker 3: all veterans, no matter what era they served in with
4:50
Speaker 3: safe and accessible housing.
4:53
Speaker 2: It's part of the housing continuum that not a lot
4:56
Speaker 2: of people realize that ramps, wider doors, locations of, you know,
5:02
Speaker 2: just a sink, you know, when you're making a mobility
5:06
Speaker 2: change and that those logistics, you know, can add the
5:11
Speaker 2: accessible features that they need. But I find it like,
5:15
Speaker 2: you know, it's troublesome because at a point in their
5:17
Speaker 2: life and their career and what they've done, The last
5:21
Speaker 2: thing you want them to experience is more challenges regarding logistics.
5:28
Speaker 2: And so this is definitely changing a certain level of
5:33
Speaker 2: independence and adding some stability at a really crucial point
5:38
Speaker 2: in time. It's interesting that, you know, their own sacrifices,
5:44
Speaker 2: like this idea birth from their own sacrifices, isn't it?
5:49
Speaker 3: It truly is. And just, you know, even after they
5:54
Speaker 3: were injured and Dale, like I said, he lost both
5:57
Speaker 3: of his legs below the knees. He could have been
6:01
Speaker 3: upset about it or mad about it. And instead he
6:05
Speaker 3: used it to energize the community, which, you know, now
6:11
Speaker 3: has turned into a national level organization in order to
6:15
Speaker 3: give back and, And something you just said, Katie, you know,
6:19
Speaker 3: it is about the accessibility and the safety, but it
6:23
Speaker 3: also helps with the mental side for veterans. If you're
6:27
Speaker 3: stuck in your house and you can't get in and
6:30
Speaker 3: out or you don't have the freedom to get in
6:33
Speaker 3: and out of your bathroom without assistance, then that's a
6:37
Speaker 3: mental thing. And so it just helps in so many
6:41
Speaker 3: ways other than just the safety and accessibility of it.
6:47
Speaker 2: I read something here that Dale was quoted as saying here,
6:52
Speaker 2: we wouldn't leave someone behind on the battlefield. Why would
6:57
Speaker 2: we do it at home? And that is so profound,
7:03
Speaker 2: but it's part of this chapter of the book that
7:06
Speaker 2: not a lot of people have recognized. And how do
7:11
Speaker 2: you take that idea now and magnify it for people
7:15
Speaker 2: to have awareness of this.
7:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so you're exactly right. You know, as soldiers
7:22
Speaker 3: or sailors or airmen, no matter what, we would never
7:26
Speaker 3: leave one of our comrades behind. We're going to do
7:28
Speaker 3: what it takes to bring them home with us no
7:31
Speaker 3: matter what. And so that same mentality went in is
7:35
Speaker 3: when a service member comes home, if they're injured from
7:39
Speaker 3: that or later in life due to injuries, then why
7:43
Speaker 3: are we going to leave them there struggling when they
7:46
Speaker 3: sacrificed for our freedom for us to have the things
7:49
Speaker 3: we do? So that's one of our big, you know,
7:54
Speaker 3: our big pushes is to get that national awareness of
7:58
Speaker 3: what we're doing day in, day out. You know, as
8:02
Speaker 3: we go forward here, we'll talk about the different programs
8:05
Speaker 3: we have, if time allows, and the different things we do.
8:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks like you guys have done about 1,800
8:13
Speaker 2: projects supporting about, what, 4,000 veterans. That is a great scale.
8:20
Speaker 2: Tell us a little bit about some of those projects.
8:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, so absolutely. And we have three major programs. And
8:29
Speaker 3: our biggest one is our Veterans Aging in Place program.
8:33
Speaker 3: And basically what that does is allows the veteran to
8:37
Speaker 3: stay in their existing home, And we either put on
8:40
Speaker 3: a handicap ramp if they need the ramp. Uh, we
8:43
Speaker 3: may fix a front porch. We may widen the doorway
8:47
Speaker 3: for them to get in and out of their house. Uh,
8:49
Speaker 3: we may widen a bathroom door and then take a
8:53
Speaker 3: tub out and put a roll in accessible shower and
8:57
Speaker 3: the sink, as you talked about lower cabinets, put a
9:00
Speaker 3: wheel under sink, you know, all the different things, uh,
9:05
Speaker 3: in our veterans aging in places is basically to keep
9:08
Speaker 3: the veteran at home and allow them that safe and
9:11
Speaker 3: accessible or accessibility that they need to stay in their
9:15
Speaker 3: own house versus having to go into an assisted living facility.
9:21
Speaker 3: And then next we have our veteran home ownership program.
9:25
Speaker 3: So over the years, occasionally we've been gifted homes that
9:29
Speaker 3: maybe have been foreclosed or that type of thing from
9:33
Speaker 3: banks and different organizations. And we'll go in and renovate
9:37
Speaker 3: those homes. And then some of our veterans, they don't
9:40
Speaker 3: need a handout. They just need a hand up. And
9:44
Speaker 3: so we'll fix it, get it appraised. And then we'll
9:49
Speaker 3: give them that house around 60% of the value of
9:53
Speaker 3: what it costs. And we'll hold a soft mortgage on
9:57
Speaker 3: it for five years. And then we waive that mortgage.
9:59
Speaker 3: And then it's, there's free and clear, uh, after that
10:02
Speaker 3: five years. And then, uh, lastly, we have a, another
10:07
Speaker 3: program that, that still, I mean, it's been going for
10:10
Speaker 3: a few years to get licensed during that, but we
10:13
Speaker 3: now have our own modular home program. And so, uh,
10:18
Speaker 3: we build modular homes in our facility in Statesville, North Carolina,
10:22
Speaker 3: and we send them, we, we put them in several
10:25
Speaker 3: different States now all the way down in Mississippi, uh,
10:28
Speaker 3: out into Kentucky, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina. Uh, and
10:33
Speaker 3: we're trying to expand, uh, you know, across the U
10:36
Speaker 3: S but we were just, uh, fortunate enough. And I
10:40
Speaker 3: don't know, I hope you saw it. We had a
10:42
Speaker 3: lot of publicity. We just actually built one of our
10:45
Speaker 3: modular homes on the, National Mall in Washington, D.C. in
10:49
Speaker 3: six days. So that was a great event. And we
10:54
Speaker 3: took that home and the crane set it on the
10:57
Speaker 3: foundation last Monday in Glasgow, Virginia. So in a brief nutshell,
11:03
Speaker 3: that's our three major programs and where we're trying to
11:07
Speaker 3: help veterans. And these modules we're building, they're accessible. Once
11:12
Speaker 3: we put a ramp on the front and get them
11:13
Speaker 3: in there, there's no thresholds for wheelchairs or that type thing, so.
11:18
Speaker 2: Congratulations on the innovation moment there at the National Mall.
11:23
Speaker 2: I know that that's a great accolade for you guys
11:26
Speaker 2: and it shows what can be done. I have a
11:29
Speaker 2: question on the home ownership program. What are you seeing
11:34
Speaker 2: are the home ownership wins when you get a veteran
11:39
Speaker 2: to be able to purchase a home? It's kind of
11:42
Speaker 2: a different model You know, a lot of people talk
11:46
Speaker 2: about homeownership, but what does it do differently for a veteran?
11:52
Speaker 3: So again, you know, a veteran, they don't want a handout.
11:58
Speaker 3: They just, you know, it's more of a hand up.
12:01
Speaker 3: And so, because depending on how severely disabled and service-connected
12:07
Speaker 3: they are, they may not be able to work. So
12:09
Speaker 3: they may be relying solely on their disability compensation And
12:15
Speaker 3: so by us doing the 65% to, you know, 35%
12:21
Speaker 3: ratio that allows them to be able to afford their
12:24
Speaker 3: own home. So that, uh, you know, just the, the
12:29
Speaker 3: pride in owning their own home and, you know, having
12:33
Speaker 3: it theirs to call their own. And it just, it
12:36
Speaker 3: makes them so happy, uh, to do that. And then, uh,
12:40
Speaker 3: to have equity in it right from the get-go is
12:43
Speaker 3: just a good thing. And, you know, the way mortgage
12:46
Speaker 3: rates are right now with the interest rates and the
12:50
Speaker 3: cost of housing in general, it's just a fantastic program
12:55
Speaker 3: that we wish we could do a lot more of. But,
12:57
Speaker 3: you know, unfortunately it takes funding to do that. But
13:01
Speaker 3: it's a great program for them.
13:03
Speaker 2: How much do you think the need is? Like, you know,
13:06
Speaker 2: you've done, you've served 4,000 veterans. if money was not
13:10
Speaker 2: an issue, are there 20,000 that you need to serve?
13:14
Speaker 2: Are there 200,000? What's the sea of need for context here?
13:20
Speaker 3: So, Kay, I'll be honest with you. The need, we
13:27
Speaker 3: have the amount of applications that come in weekly, monthly, yearly,
13:33
Speaker 3: are just so far beyond what we can do. Even
13:37
Speaker 3: though Since we've been going, we've helped 4,000 veterans. The
13:43
Speaker 3: need is quadruple that easily. But some of them are
13:48
Speaker 3: what I would say we call easier projects, which may
13:51
Speaker 3: only be installing grab bars and that type thing. But
13:56
Speaker 3: when you have to do a whole bathroom remodel or
13:59
Speaker 3: that kind of thing, it gets a little more. But
14:02
Speaker 3: I can't put an exact number on it. But it's,
14:04
Speaker 3: you know, if you looked across the U.S., As a whole,
14:09
Speaker 3: there's definitely 100,000 veterans out there that could use help
14:12
Speaker 3: in some way or another through a project, absolutely.
14:17
Speaker 2: One of the things you guys also do, I noticed
14:20
Speaker 2: that you're serving multiple generations, going back, like you mentioned earlier,
14:27
Speaker 2: even to the Vietnam War to current. Are there some
14:30
Speaker 2: unique differences that as you span over multiple generations that
14:35
Speaker 2: you're seeing that's also part of the need?
14:40
Speaker 3: Absolutely. And so, you know, unfortunately, most of our World
14:45
Speaker 3: War II veterans are gone now. There's still a few around,
14:49
Speaker 3: but if we get the application to help those guys,
14:53
Speaker 3: we try to help them first just because of their
14:56
Speaker 3: age and to help them with that. But what we
14:59
Speaker 3: found and through John and Dale's commitment was that the
15:04
Speaker 3: welcome home that we got when we come home from
15:07
Speaker 3: Iraq was totally different than the, you know, it wasn't
15:11
Speaker 3: really a welcome home for our Vietnam veterans. It was
15:14
Speaker 3: a disgrace and, and, and very different. And so even though, uh,
15:21
Speaker 3: they were treated that way when we, you know, depending
15:24
Speaker 3: on how you came home from overseas, what, what airports
15:28
Speaker 3: you flew into, uh, I can tell you personally, I
15:31
Speaker 3: flew into Bangor, Maine at 3 a.m. in the morning
15:34
Speaker 3: and there was Vietnam veterans there to greet us as
15:37
Speaker 3: we got off the plane to welcome us back. And
15:41
Speaker 3: so that helped John and Dale to say, hey, we
15:44
Speaker 3: need to help those service members. They served before us.
15:48
Speaker 3: They paved the way. And so that's when they decided
15:53
Speaker 3: we're going to, you know, we're not saying it's post
15:56
Speaker 3: 9-11 or only Vietnam. It's any veteran veteran. that has
16:00
Speaker 3: a service connected disability.
16:04
Speaker 2: Tell us some about the volunteers that you have the
16:08
Speaker 2: manpower to make this happen, whether it be local partners
16:12
Speaker 2: or like you mentioned, bringing in other people who have served.
16:17
Speaker 2: How does, how does your volunteer network rally? How does
16:20
Speaker 2: it work? Yeah.
16:22
Speaker 3: So we, you know, we do projects all over the
16:25
Speaker 3: U S and we have a, different chapters, as we
16:30
Speaker 3: call them, in different states, different areas that help us
16:34
Speaker 3: with the projects. And they kind of run their own area,
16:37
Speaker 3: if you will. And so we have a system called
16:40
Speaker 3: Bugle that volunteers can go on and sign up to help.
16:45
Speaker 3: So our volunteer manager, whenever we decide we're gonna do
16:51
Speaker 3: a project for a veteran, she'll put it in Bugle
16:54
Speaker 3: on the system. And so there's a QR code you
16:56
Speaker 3: can scan you can sign up and say, Hey, I
16:59
Speaker 3: want to come and help one day, or I want
17:01
Speaker 3: to help half a day or, or that type of thing. And, uh,
17:05
Speaker 3: so it's just so great to partner with not just
17:10
Speaker 3: individual volunteers, but we do it with corporate, uh, you know, businesses.
17:15
Speaker 3: We do it with churches, sometimes other nonprofits, uh, you
17:20
Speaker 3: name it, it's just a whole gamut. And, We had
17:23
Speaker 3: a meeting earlier today and we were talking about the
17:26
Speaker 3: National Mall project where we built that house in six
17:29
Speaker 3: days up in DC. And so we're still tallying all
17:33
Speaker 3: the numbers, but we're thinking we had somewhere around 800
17:37
Speaker 3: hours of community volunteer service just in those six days
17:43
Speaker 3: to build that house. So it's a huge part and
17:46
Speaker 3: it also helps our veterans. So when we're doing a project,
17:50
Speaker 3: depending on their ability to come outside depending on the weather,
17:55
Speaker 3: that kind of thing. It's good for the veteran just
17:59
Speaker 3: to talk to folks because sometimes they don't get to
18:02
Speaker 3: talk to people. And a lot of our volunteers and
18:05
Speaker 3: our staff, of course, are veterans. And so they get
18:09
Speaker 3: to share some camaraderie and, you know, they may want
18:13
Speaker 3: to talk about a story of something that happened to
18:15
Speaker 3: them 50 years ago or 60 years ago. And it
18:19
Speaker 3: gives them that sense of pride. And we truly try
18:22
Speaker 3: to welcome them home and make the volunteers. It's so,
18:27
Speaker 3: so great when they come from that community and come
18:31
Speaker 3: together behind one of their veterans. And then they follow
18:34
Speaker 3: up with them and check on them after that. But
18:37
Speaker 3: a lot of times on veteran, we, we get calls
18:42
Speaker 3: that say, Hey, this veteran's not going to call you
18:44
Speaker 3: guys or, or put an application in, but, the need
18:49
Speaker 3: is there for this. And so sometimes we reach out
18:51
Speaker 3: to them through volunteers and that type of thing.
18:55
Speaker 2: I've read a statistic, um, that there could be about 32,000, 33,000
18:59
Speaker 2: veterans that are homeless in the U S. Um, both
19:06
Speaker 2: sheltered and unsheltered, you know, depending on how the statistics
19:10
Speaker 2: slice through, um, you know, and to me, that's just,
19:15
Speaker 2: that it's just a sad reflection of so many things like,
19:18
Speaker 2: you know, we shouldn't have anybody homeless and we definitely
19:22
Speaker 2: shouldn't have a veteran homeless. Um, you know, how do
19:26
Speaker 2: you think that, you know, an organization like yours, you know,
19:30
Speaker 2: you're out there doing all of the things to improve, um,
19:35
Speaker 2: you know, accessibility and increase independence. But there's also this
19:40
Speaker 2: part of homelessness. How do you see, you know, us
19:46
Speaker 2: trying to improve the plight of veterans.
19:50
Speaker 3: Who are homeless? So that's a good question. And I'll
19:55
Speaker 3: tell you that it's becoming more and more on the
19:59
Speaker 3: front line. Folks are seeing that and that number has increased.
20:02
Speaker 3: It's not decreasing right now, even though there is some
20:07
Speaker 3: different groups working on it. But There's some pilot programs
20:12
Speaker 3: that the government's working on right now to help with that.
20:16
Speaker 3: But this National Mall project, Katie, just to talk about
20:20
Speaker 3: it very briefly. So the veteran that is getting that
20:24
Speaker 3: home was homeless. He went into a shelter and this
20:29
Speaker 3: shelter is one that we partner with. We provided six
20:34
Speaker 3: of our modular homes that they allow homeless veterans to
20:39
Speaker 3: basically transition into and then after their period of time
20:43
Speaker 3: and they get back on their feet, then they can
20:47
Speaker 3: move out on their own, maybe get an apartment or
20:49
Speaker 3: what have you. But the veteran, Mr. Taylor, who's getting
20:53
Speaker 3: the home that we built on the National Mall, he
20:55
Speaker 3: was homeless, went into the shelter. Now he lives in
20:58
Speaker 3: one of those small modulars and now he's graduating, if
21:03
Speaker 3: you will, from that and he's going to get his
21:05
Speaker 3: own house on his own land to to fulfill the
21:10
Speaker 3: rest of his life in and so that's what we're
21:13
Speaker 3: trying to to do what we're trying to advocate for
21:16
Speaker 3: and why we really did start this modular program is
21:22
Speaker 3: because we saw that need to help those and and
21:27
Speaker 3: you know you can't build 1500 square foot houses for
21:31
Speaker 3: everybody but if If they have a bedroom, a kitchen,
21:34
Speaker 3: and an accessible bathroom and a small living room, everything
21:38
Speaker 3: they need, then that's a great start for them and
21:41
Speaker 3: gets them back going, give them that sense of pride
21:44
Speaker 3: to own their own home. So that's what we're working towards,
21:48
Speaker 3: the visibility we wanted to get from our modular program
21:52
Speaker 3: on the mall in addition to everything else we do.
21:56
Speaker 3: And so little by little, towns all over the U.S.
22:01
Speaker 3: are starting to realize that not just our veteran population
22:07
Speaker 3: but our generation now of younger do not care about
22:11
Speaker 3: a three or five thousand square foot home they want
22:14
Speaker 3: something simple and by allowing ADUs and backyards and changing
22:20
Speaker 3: zoning will allow for more of these modular homes to
22:24
Speaker 3: be placed to help with that homelessness and the cost
22:28
Speaker 3: is you know cheaper than building stick-built homes, even though
22:33
Speaker 3: they're very well built to the same standard.
22:37
Speaker 2: If a city came to you and said, okay, we've got,
22:41
Speaker 2: you know, 20 acres or, you know, we want to
22:45
Speaker 2: build 20 modular homes, let's say, infrastructure's there, we want
22:51
Speaker 2: to create a veteran village, we want to create, you know,
22:54
Speaker 2: we want to eliminate some of this homelessness, what What would,
22:59
Speaker 2: and they came to you and they said, how can
23:00
Speaker 2: you make this happen? What would it look like for
23:03
Speaker 2: you guys to be able to make that happen? What
23:06
Speaker 2: would the criteria be or what would you want to
23:09
Speaker 2: see in place?
23:12
Speaker 3: So if they come to us and they had the
23:15
Speaker 3: land and the resources, if they wanted the money to
23:19
Speaker 3: do all the site work and the development side and
23:24
Speaker 3: the housing, And I'd say, hey, where is this at?
23:27
Speaker 3: Let's let's get our third party inspection team. Let's get
23:32
Speaker 3: the plans down pat and let our team start building
23:36
Speaker 3: these houses. I mean, that's that's where we're at in
23:38
Speaker 3: this process. And just like we partnered with Fifth Street Ministries,
23:44
Speaker 3: where Mr. Taylor was coming from. They had the land,
23:49
Speaker 3: the ability to do all the site work and everything else.
23:52
Speaker 3: And we just had to build the houses. So we
23:54
Speaker 3: built those houses and got them set. And now it's
23:57
Speaker 3: a great program that has proven to help with the
24:00
Speaker 3: homelessness in that area. But we would love to see
24:06
Speaker 3: these all over and be able to provide that housing
24:10
Speaker 3: and help with that cause. Absolutely.
24:13
Speaker 2: It's hopeful to think about Cities just, you know, burning
24:19
Speaker 2: up your phone line to say, we've got to solve this.
24:22
Speaker 2: We've got to solve this crisis of accessibility, affordability, and
24:28
Speaker 2: even homelessness. And so to really make a dent in
24:34
Speaker 2: those 32,000 people's lives. So let's put the hope out
24:39
Speaker 2: there and hope that that type of energy and that
24:42
Speaker 2: type of synergy with the city can manifest itself. One
24:47
Speaker 2: other question I was thinking about was, you know, I'm
24:50
Speaker 2: a civilian, obviously, and I do have a brother, a dad,
24:57
Speaker 2: a grandfather who have served. But sometimes it's hard for
25:02
Speaker 2: us as civilians to know how to make impact. What
25:07
Speaker 2: would you tell us? Like, you know, what are the
25:10
Speaker 2: rules for us? Like, what should we be doing? You know,
25:14
Speaker 2: if people are listening to this podcast and are saying,
25:17
Speaker 2: you know, this is an area that I'd like to
25:19
Speaker 2: be involved in, or this is something that I want
25:22
Speaker 2: to help make a difference. What would you tell civilians
25:26
Speaker 2: to be able to try to surge and do something?
25:30
Speaker 3: So absolutely. And, you know, there's lots of organizations out there,
25:35
Speaker 3: ours particularly. You know, you can go on our website
25:39
Speaker 3: at PHHUSA.org and on there you can see how to volunteer.
25:44
Speaker 3: That's how to give. You know, giving is a big
25:47
Speaker 3: part of it because it costs money to do all
25:50
Speaker 3: these things, of course. But, you know, just as a
25:54
Speaker 3: normal civilian, if you are going to the grocery store
25:58
Speaker 3: or walking down the street and you approach a veteran
26:01
Speaker 3: that maybe has a veteran, just thank them for their
26:04
Speaker 3: service and And that's what it's about. No matter whether
26:08
Speaker 3: we have a war going on right now or folks
26:11
Speaker 3: are just coming back, just simply say thank you. And
26:15
Speaker 3: I try to do that myself all the time and
26:19
Speaker 3: thank the veterans myself. And that gives them that sense
26:24
Speaker 3: of pride that people do appreciate the sacrifice that they made.
26:30
Speaker 3: And also, if you hear of somebody in your community
26:33
Speaker 3: that's a veteran and you Again, a lot of veterans
26:37
Speaker 3: have a lot of pride and do not want to
26:39
Speaker 3: ask for help. But if you know the need is there,
26:42
Speaker 3: then reach out on their behalf potentially and, you know,
26:46
Speaker 3: to say, hey, we're not trying to give you a handout.
26:48
Speaker 3: We want to give you a hand up kind of
26:51
Speaker 3: thing and give you that accessibility and safety back. But
26:55
Speaker 3: that's a good way is to go on our website
26:58
Speaker 3: and do it that way.
26:59
Speaker 2: Excellent tip for us to try to navigate in this
27:03
Speaker 2: community space together. Well, as we close out, is there
27:07
Speaker 2: anything that we've missed that you want to highlight?
27:10
Speaker 3: No, again, I just, I appreciate the opportunity to come
27:14
Speaker 3: on and talk about Purple Heart Homes and what we
27:17
Speaker 3: do and the passion we have to help our nation's
27:20
Speaker 3: heroes that, that, you know, started many, many years ago
27:24
Speaker 3: for our freedom and what we have the ability to
27:27
Speaker 3: do today is because of that. And so we're thankful
27:31
Speaker 3: and we just ask the community to, uh, You know,
27:35
Speaker 3: go to our website at PHHUSA.org and support us in
27:39
Speaker 3: one of the ways you can on the website. And
27:41
Speaker 3: it'll tell you all about that.
27:44
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. We appreciate your organization and what
27:48
Speaker 2: you guys are doing. And we value this. And again,
27:51
Speaker 2: I've been talking with Stephen Johnson, the executive director of
27:54
Speaker 2: Purple Heart Homes. Thank you.
27:57
Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie. Have a good day.
27:59
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Changemakers with Katie Gore. To find
28:03
Speaker 1: out more about Katie, go to quadel.com. That's Q-U-A-D-E-L dot com.
28:10
Speaker 1: This has been a production of Forbes Books Radio.