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Empowering our disabled veterans · The Financial Exchange Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: As promised, we are now joined by Jim Blake. He
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is the regional manager for Eastern pro Pane. Jim, great
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to have you on with us today. Thanks so much
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: for joining us.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Jack, it's a pleasure to be here. Jim.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership
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  Speaker 1: with the DAV of Massachusetts.
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  Speaker 2: I'd love to. We became partner with DAV in Massachusetts
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  Speaker 2: about three years ago. Previous to that, we've been supporting
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: veterans organizations within the state and we were trying to improve, frankly,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: where the money goes and make sure it was getting
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  Speaker 2: directly to veterans and stuff. And after about a year
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  Speaker 2: of looking around and talking to people, we were able
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  Speaker 2: to connect with the DAV mass and put together a
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  Speaker 2: program with them. Because it's really great. Ninety percent of
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  Speaker 2: everything that gets donated to them goes directly to the
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  Speaker 2: people that need the services, whether it be transportation, housing,
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  Speaker 2: mental health, occupational training is a big thing they're doing now,
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  Speaker 2: their food pantry, and of course the typical claims and benefits,
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  Speaker 2: and they encompassed everything and again ninety percent of everything
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  Speaker 2: that they collect in mass goes directly to the veterans
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  Speaker 2: and that's the kind of company or kind of organization
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to be partnered with.
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  Speaker 1: And I know that Eastern Propane has a long history
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  Speaker 1: of this connection to veterans. Can you tell us a
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  Speaker 1: little bit just about how that partnership with the dav
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  Speaker 1: and other veterans causes has grown over time?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Well, we do have a long connection. Our family business
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  Speaker 2: started in nineteen thirty two and we actually started writing Danvers,
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  Speaker 2: Massachusetts at a hardware store. And of course back during
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  Speaker 2: the war we had folks that worked with a company
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  Speaker 2: that had to go in even World War Two, and
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  Speaker 2: during those times, if you had a business, they kept
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  Speaker 2: your home. So the family always wanted to do something
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  Speaker 2: to support the people, and we had Frankly, one of
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  Speaker 2: our leaders of the company was a pow in World
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: War Two when he escaped and came back. So we've
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  Speaker 2: always felt a strong connection to our ability to serve
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  Speaker 2: people because so many people served to give us that right.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that Eastern Propane does is you
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  Speaker 1: use your vehicles to support the dav of Massachusetts. Can
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  Speaker 1: you tell us a little bit about that and how
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  Speaker 1: that has worked for you.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, what we've done is, you know, we deliver fuel
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  Speaker 2: and comfort to people. And so what we started with
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  Speaker 2: we started with one truck to see how the program
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  Speaker 2: would work, and a portion of every gallon of fuel
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  Speaker 2: that's delivered through that truck goes directly to DAV And
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  Speaker 2: then we added a second truck and this year we've
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  Speaker 2: added a third truck that they are all and these
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  Speaker 2: three trucks off operate in different markets in Massachusetts, and
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  Speaker 2: they operate all year long, twelve months a year, because
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  Speaker 2: you know, sometimes the business has seasonal needs, but we
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  Speaker 2: keep these trucks on the road all year. It spreads
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  Speaker 2: the word about DAV and a portion of every gallon
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  Speaker 2: that goes through those trucks goes directly back to the DAV.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Jim, you've also got in addition to that, you
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  Speaker 1: have something called your Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway.
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  Speaker 1: I believe it's a program that Eastern Propane created in
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  Speaker 1: order to help veterans. Can you tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit about that program and how someone can get nominated
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  Speaker 1: for that program?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. The Hometown Hero Season of Fuel Giveaway is a
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  Speaker 2: program that we do every sea every winter seaon season
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: where people are allowed to go on to Eastern dot
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  Speaker 2: Com hometown euro season of fuel giveaway and nominate a veteran,
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  Speaker 2: and you can also nominate nominate a police, firey MT
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  Speaker 2: or active service member. And generally they are people that
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  Speaker 2: have fallen on hard times or a family that's having
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  Speaker 2: difficulty because somebody's overseas serving or something, or I could
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  Speaker 2: say one of our last recipients unfortunately had picked up
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  Speaker 2: a disease while they were over in Afghanistan. And so
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  Speaker 2: you go in, you nominate that person through our website,
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  Speaker 2: and then a committee reviews all of the nominations and
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  Speaker 2: that person will receive free heating for the season.
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  Speaker 1: Jim, that sounds great. We really appreciate you joining us today,
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  Speaker 1: appreciate the work that you and Eastern Propane do on
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  Speaker 1: behalf of the DAV and thanks again for the time
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  Speaker 1: and for your effort in this cause.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. It's a great partnership. We're happy to be there.
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  Speaker 2: We're looking forward to the DAV five K that's coming
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  Speaker 2: up tomorrow. We've got fifty one of our team members
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  Speaker 2: that have volunteered and are participating out there tomorrow. So
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  Speaker 2: it's more than it's about service, and DAV gives that service.
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  Speaker 2: We want to provide them the support to do it,