Latest / Community D.C. / Community DC Robin Kelleher Hope For The Warriors

Transcript

Community DC Robin Kelleher Hope For The Warriors · Community D.C.

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to the program Robin Kellehert. She is the co founder
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: and CEO for Hope for the Warriors. This is a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: national nonprofit that provides comprehensive support for post nine to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: eleven service members, veterans and their families, focusing on holistic
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: well being through programs for financial assistance, mental and physical health,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: career development, scholarships, and community building to help them transition
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and thrive after military service. Here's my conversation with Robin.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. Good morning, Robin,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and welcome back to the program. And I was hoping
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you could share with our audiences new to Hope for
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the Warriors the origin story. Twenty year anniversary. Congratulations, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: bet you can't believe it's been a couple of decades,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: but it's just impressive on what you and your team
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: have done over the last couple of decades. Can you
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: tell us how everything kind of started up?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It is hard to believe it's been twenty years, and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: especially when I think back at what life was like
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: in two thousand and six, especially for military families who
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: were just launching into a war at the time with
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: no end and you know, the uncertainty and the fear
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: and the kind of excitement as well. I mean, you're
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: certainly thinking about the goal and the mission of military
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: families is to serve our country in the worst in
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the best of ways, and so you know, our men
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and women had that opportunity, so you have to love
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: that for them, But at the same time, wonder how
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: does that affect everybody in our community. And it was
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: very quite isolating as well. I remember going home at
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: times and my friends and neighbors just not understanding, you know,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: kind of the challenges that we were facing as military families.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So I found myself going home less often. But the
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: organization got started because we were all just really just
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: trying to hang on. I'm not going to lie. It
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: was about serve, not about thriving, and you know that
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: takes that takes a village, and so to be able
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to bring together people who were all sort of in
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the same position, but certainly also about taking care of
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: each other during that crazy time was really how the
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: organization got started. Really families just taking care of families.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: We recognize that the resources that we needed to really
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: sort of navigate those times weren't always available in military
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: communities that you know, again, the times were just a
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: lot more trying than we.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Thought they would be.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: The effects on kids and your neighbors was a lot
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: more than we really anticipated. So the organization gave us hope,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: which is where the name came from. It allowed us
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: to really start thinking about what are the actual needs,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: especially as we started to see the severe injury and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: loss of life. And as a nation, you know, we
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: were very well prepared to go to war. We just
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: weren't well prepared to come home from war. And so
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: it takes again, it takes a village. You can't expect
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: and wait around for other people to do the things
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: that you need for your family. So we stepped up.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And that was literally twenty years ago. And it's hard
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: to imagine because we certainly didn't have a plan on
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: how long we were going to have an organization. Actually,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: when we started, we didn't even have a plan to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: start an organization.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: That just sort of.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: It just sort of rolled out from the work that
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: we were doing.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: And I'll be.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Honest, as the pivotal moment for me because I was
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: hesitant in getting started. I had just had my second
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: child and my husband was deployed. Really not a great
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: time from a business perspective to start, you know, a business.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: We filed our paperwork in North Carolina to be a
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: nonprofit organization and when it was returned it.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Was dated nine to eleven, two thousand and six.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Wow, and it really kind of gave me the goosebumps
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: that I just felt again twenty years later that this
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: was the right thing to do.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Robin, you mentioned that you have firsthand knowledge, you
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: come from a military family and military lineage. When you
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: finally decided because you know, I talked to so many
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: people that either you know, they have an issue, they're
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: going through something, and it's one thing to just kind
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of get through that. That's life and life is hard.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: But then you decided to start a nonprofit business that
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: addressed all the issues that you were seeing with yourself
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and other families. With firsthand knowledge. When you decided to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: start the business, what were you hoping to achieve at
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: least in the first couple of years that you saw
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that there was a real missing gap for all families
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: out there that were coming home and not getting what they.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Needed because it hit us so hard and so personally
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: it really you can't help but get out there and
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: do something. And also you just don't know. It's just
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: going to be my family. Is my husband going to
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: come back the same, Is he going to come back wounded?
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: Is he going to come back angry? Is he going
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: to come back broken? I don't know.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: So you've got to put yourself in a position of
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: being ready prepared out in front of it and at
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the same time kind of pulling everybody along with you
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: because we were in it together and one team, one fight.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: So that was really where we started. We had again
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: no idea what we were doing at the time, and
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: we started off being able to provide resources that we
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: saw not being provided. So, for instance, one of the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: first things that we saw with military families in particular
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: whose service members were severely wounded, was the spouse was
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: going to need to be the financial provider moving forward.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Many of them did not have a proper.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Education, did not have the tools, were not prepared for
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: that role in their lives. And so we started with
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: a scholarship program, and it was trade schools, it was
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, college and universities, it was master's programs at
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: any level of education that we were able to provide,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: and that was a big gap at that time. So
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: it was an important place for us to be as we,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: you know, support the military family. We moved into different
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: programming as the needs presented itself, always kind of with
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: a lens of what is everybody else doing, so that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: we weren't being redundant until it came time where the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: need was so great that we were doing some of
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the same things that others were doing, but that was
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: because it was necessary. Yeah, So that's really how it started.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: And our organization grew very quickly because all of volunteers
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: were military spouses and everywhere they moved is where we
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: needed to be.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: So it was a very.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Organic business plan and our footprint became exactly where we
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: should be.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Well.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And then the other thing, I don't want to make
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: any assumptions, but when you started to cultivate what you
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: were doing with other families, I imagine a community was
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: being evolving inside a community, and people were seeing some
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: hope to your name that there were some people, well,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: there's some people that are not helping us, But then
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: here's Robin and her crew they're helping us. We're helping
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: each other now and now we're raising the bar. And
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I think that's the real exciting thing about probably what
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you were experiencing, as hard as it was, that the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: community inside the community was starting to help each other
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and it was probably growing exponentially, probably even more than
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you thought it was going to.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely. And the thing the beauty of the military
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: community is that there's an inherent trust with spouses and
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: families that perhaps you wouldn't find in the general public,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and not people that you don't even know, but because
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: you've had the same experiences, you trust them. And so
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: because we were all military spouses, there was that fundamental
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: trust for other families in need or that want it
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: to be a part of our mission.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I'm sure you've learned
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: like I have, as far as humanity is concerned, especially
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: in the kind of landscape that we live in twenty
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: twenty six, is that people want simple acknowledgment, but they
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: also want to be able to relate. And that's what
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: you're talking about. Families where a bailible because you know,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: when you're on an island, whether you have a disease
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: or something bad has happened in your life and you
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: lose a love one or a military family that's going
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: through stresses, and maybe regular families don't. Even though we
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: all have our stresses in life. Being able to relate
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: and saying, oh my gosh, I'm not the only person
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: that's going through this is exhilarating because you just realize
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not alone. And I imagine you were experiencing a
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: lot with these families.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, And I think that's the important piece because
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: whether whether we have injury or loss or just multiple deployments,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: the shared experiences were so real and so raw that
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: you could relate to each other even if it wasn't
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: exactly the same experience.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and lean on each other too. This is a
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: great segue because I want to talk about the services
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: because you do offer so many and we're going to
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: talk about donations and volunteering and all the many things
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: that you do. And I imagine that when you start
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: to say it out loud, you're going to surprise yourself.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I've done all this with my team in twenty years.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Here's where we are today in services. But can you
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: go over some of the key ones that you think
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: are most important or use the most.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, so, very early on, we recognized that the
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: well being of a military family was a critical priority
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: they needed to continue serving that was transitioned to the
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: civilian world. There was continued service for a lifetime, and
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: you can't do that if you're not a well family.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And so mental health and well being became sort of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: the center of everything that we built. And we took
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: the unique challenges and the unique pieces of military life
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: and we put them together around a model of well being.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: So financial well being, educational, physical, moral, and community connectedness
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: were all very much important to military families and transition
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: and employment, but those all have a mental health component
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: to them. And so we really launched into an area
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: with licensed clinical professionals that could help that. Either many
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: of them were military spouses themselves because we were able
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: to build out a great internship program for them, but
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: had that military cultural competency to work with our clients
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: and help identify what needs they did have, and then
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: to help us as an organization builds around those that
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: were coming to hope for help. That would include not
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: just a financial direct financial support, but perhaps you know,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: community connected us in some ways, whether it's event attendance,
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: or really focusing on your physical wellness at the same time,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: we're starting to elevate your financial stability.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: You know, you and I are both parents, and I've
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: got a twenty three year old that lives in Brooklyn
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: now as a filmmaker, and because she's Generation Z, it
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: introduced my wife and I to mental wellness and a
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: very high level. And we're seventies kids, my wife and I.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: So that wasn't addressed. It wasn't talked about, and I
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: have a feeling there are a lot of similarities to
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: somebody that goes into the military that's men or women
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: because of the structure and the toughness of being in
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the military. But something that you've addressed and talked about,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and I like you to expound on this, and you
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and I have talked about this before, but I think
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: it's good for our audience to hear because there are
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: so many military people that come back, men and women
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: that have something very traumatic happen, and yet it's not addressed,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: and you have to talk about it and the PTSD
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and a lot of things that you go through. And
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you and hope for warriors address it.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: But I'd love to hear about whether you get pushedback
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: or whether it's embraced by people. And I know everybody's different,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: but you know, generally, when you introduced it to where
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: we are today, what has been the feeling about you
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: addressing and helping people with mental health issues.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: It's a great question because the change since two thousand
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: and six to today is monumental, and of course people
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: don't always recognize that because it's been twenty years. But
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: if you think about I remember opportunity we had at
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: a particular facility up in New York where we recommended
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: that they actually just change the name of the space
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: that people were going to be coming into our service members,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: so that we could start fighting this stigma from the
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: very und mental levels. You know, psych words and things
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: like that don't really acknowledge the fact that traumatic experiences
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: aren't happen in life, and in order to process them
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: and move on, you have to go through different processes
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: and it's it's acceptable and it must be acceptable, and
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: your mental well being is a priority for everybody, but
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: in particular for the military families who for such a
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: long period of time were facing traumas at so many
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: different levels, whether it was exposure, whether it was you know,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: physical injuries, whether it was just isolation and fear for
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: such a long period of time that in order to
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: really get through that and be healthy, you have to
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: recognize that your mental health is a priority. And I
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: think our countries come a very long way.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, I couldn't more and I think everybody's
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: more open, especially the landscape that we live in today,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: about that. And because you and I we talked about
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: being parents and having children and living that every day.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I think that's helped the older generation and we talk
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: about it, but to address issues that have been dormant
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: for forty fifty years with us that never talked about
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: those kind of things, and I think that's all healthy.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: I think we can agree upon that. I didn't want
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to talk about donations and volunteering because I know this
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: is a really big deal.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: We should.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Everybody wants to be transparent about this. How are you
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: funded currently right now?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: So we are funded by the generosity of the American
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: public Corporations, foundations and individual giving are our lifeblood and
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: we are grateful for all of our donations. Every penny
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: matters to us as an organization. We take for our
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: fiduciary responsibility very seriously and because of that, you can
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: see ninety one cents on the dollar goes into are
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: programming because we have become an incredibly efficient organization and
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: value the intent of our donors.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Well, how about volunteering, because I know that's a big
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: step too. How do people be a part of it?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: And what do you need people for?
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Another great question. We love our volunteers.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: They offset all so much of the work that we
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: do and certainly helped us save money and make sure
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: that donations go into the proper places.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Volunteering.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: In the past three to six months, we've been very
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: focused on food and severity, and so we've been doing major,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: major food distributions around the country at different military installations
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: and have truly valued our volunteers at those particular events.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: But we have our volunteer activities range from writing letters
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: to physically getting out and doing the work with us
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: alongside us. The variety is incredible, and I have a
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: great military spouse who runs our volunteer program. She's also
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: great at curating volunteer programs for different companies that want
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: to involve their staff. We love our volunteers it's the
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: numbers are astronomical at this point on how many we've
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: had over the past year. We also recognize our volunteers
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: with Volunteers of the Month and tell their stories of
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: why they wanted to volunteer and what they got from it.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I do want to circle back to other ways to donate,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: because you do legacy gifts and there are gifts of
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: stocks and securities donor advice funds, which I think is
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: really cool. I raise so I like that you have
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: all these different tiers and buckets and you're giving people
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: just so many different opportunities, which I think is great
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: because sometimes when you can only give one way, that
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: hampers everybody, you and the person trying to give. And
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: I think this is well thought out. But you have
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: really a lot of ways to give, don't you.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: We do, and just as as we've mene Shirt over
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the years, that allows us to have different ways of donating.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: The Donor Advice months have become a huge opportunity for
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: people who you know are looking strategically at their financial
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: at their estates and at their financial positions.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: I had to laugh.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: My mom the other day said, I didn't know I
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: could donate staff stock to hope for the Warriors. I'm
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: much rather donate my stock than the cash pull.
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it was.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: You know, there's lots of good strategies and people have
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: financial advisors that can help with those those types of
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: gifts as well, which you know, I got to love
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: the monthly donors who still send a check.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: For five dollars a month. Sure they are precious to us.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, And there is a nice big donate button
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: on the website. We'll talk about that website, the uur L.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: We'll give it a couple of times before we finish
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: up with Robin. I did want to talk about one
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: of the services that always catches my eye, and I
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: imagine it's a pretty special thing, even though all your
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: services are special, so I don't want to just highlight this,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: but it did catch my attention of the Warriors wish
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and you've granted in the almost twenty years of two
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty three, two point five million dollars has
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: been invested in the wishes. Tell me about the origin
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: of the idea doing it, because I think it's pretty special,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and about maybe if you could share a wish that
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: was pretty special that you said, Boy, we really changed
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: life here and made a difference that day. Can you
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: share something with us?
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: Absolutely so.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I will remember the day clearly that we launched the
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: idea of this program. We met a soldier who, during
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: his time in service, gave his arm for his country.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: He had two boys and they were wrestlers and one
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: of the things that the dad and the boys loved
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to do together was to wrestle. And because of his injuries,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: they felt like they had really lost something, and we thought, well,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: wouldn't it be really cool if we could hire like
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: a personal trainer or someone that could teach them how
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: to wrestle again given their new circumstances. And that's where
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the idea came from, Well, isn't that kind of like
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: granting a wish for a family, And so hence the
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Warrior Wish program was launched, and that was in two
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: thousand and six. As well, as you mentioned, we've we
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: have granted countless wishes over the years. Each one of
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: them has an amazing story. I don't think that we've
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: ever received a ask for a wish that was personally.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Focused. It was always about a.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Family or some sort of community activity that some that
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: you know, someone wanted to have. So the wishes were
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: we put in a pool for another service member who's
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: one would double amputee with a spinal cord injury. Again,
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: wanted to be able to to play with his kids
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: and his family and he could do that in a pool.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: So that was a fantastic wish to be able to grant.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: We did a wedding where, you know, a husband and
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: wife were supposed to get married and because of injuries,
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: they had to postpone a wedding almost indefinitely. They just
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: couldn't you know, didn't know when and if they'd ever
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: be able to get it on the calendar. So we
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: were able to do a beautiful wedding in Hawaii with
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: the whole family.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Oh wow.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this was not an official wish but really follows
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: under our wish program. But we have ten service members
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: that are now participating in the para skeleton and pair
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: of bob sled Olympics in Lilly Hammer and Saint Maritz
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: right now, Sam Maritz and then they go to Park City, Utah,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and to Lake Placid and hopeful the Warriors has sponsored
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: their opportunity to participate in that very high level of
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: physical competitions. So you can see just from one range
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: to another. It's quite amazing when you can grant a wish.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: There's nothing better outstanding.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: You know, Robin and I are in teams now and
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: she's smiling at beaming because you know, it is pretty
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: special to change lives with something that maybe you and
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I would take for granted or we've done before. But
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: you know, people that have been through helmet back and
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: get to do something that regular folk get to do
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: on a periodical basis is pretty special. That you can
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: change life. So I'm glad you shared those with us.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I know this is a big question, but you've done
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: so much in the last couple of decades and I'm
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: sure I kind of gathered from you that's kind of
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: blown you away, how amazing hope for the warriors has
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: grown over the last couple of decades. As you look
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: towards the future, and I know you always do about
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: how we can get better and how we can get
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: you know, leaner and give more back and help more
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: families out there. Is there something that you're not doing
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: right now that you'd like to do or do you
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: have a plan in the next two to five years
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: of some special things that you want to bring together
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: that could be pretty exciting, but it's going to take
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: an effort to put.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Together, absolutely, And I'm so excited that you asked the
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: question because as we continue to build on well being there,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: it's critical to use to connect all the pieces to that.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: So we are launching into the connection the mind body
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: connection between nutrition and mental health and recognizing that the
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: mind and the gut and are absolutely interconnected.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: And the way that we feed.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Ourselves nourish ourselves has everything to do with the way
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: that we feel and act and the way we make
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: decisions and the way that we connect with with our communities,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and so for us, that is a critical piece in
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: addition to the physical wellness. So I read a story
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: the other day that if you just get out and
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: walk for ten minutes a day, then.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: You really starts to heal your brain, your soul.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: People tend to think that if you don't have an hour,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you don't you know, it's not worth it. But that
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: physical wellness piece is about your mental health as well.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: So you'll see us really launching into the nutrition and
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: physical wellness space as a way to elevate how we.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: Address mental health.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: You know, that's pretty exciting you know, I know, you
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: know this. I have a sports background, and I watch
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: a fascinating documentary because when I was covering sports teams,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the travel is brutal, and especially when you're in airplanes
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and you know you've got back to back games in
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: cities and you're traveling one hundreds, if not thousands of miles.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: And this documentary address how sports teams beside the nutrition,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: which you know is really big for athletes, and also
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: it's a year round prospect of taking care of your
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: body and your mind. But also they talked a lot
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: about sleep, which fascinated me because usually sports teams, for
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the people, don't know that some real inside baseball stuff
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: now that say you're traveling with a hockey team and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: you're on a five game road trip. Sometimes when a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: game is finished, you get on an airplane and then
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: show up to the hotel about two in the morning,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: try and get about three hours of sleep, and then
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: you practice and then you play that night. It's insane, right.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I know this is the sports and you know, YadA YadA,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: it's not real life, but you know that's what they
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: do for a living. But these players are talking about
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: how they're changing, how they travel so they can get
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: better sleep, so they can be prepared with their nutrition,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and they're working out and taking care of their bodies
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: and their minds too, And it sounds like you're going
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: down that road like sports teams are of thinking about
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: mind and body and all the different things that we
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: have to do to take care of ourselves.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, and sleep is critical. And the more studies that
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: come out, you.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Know, the less people think that sleep is about being lazy.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: This is about really taking care of yourself and increasing
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: your overall performance, both physically and mentally.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about twenty twenty six, any events, any galas
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: you know, we're probably going to visit with you probably
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: halfway through the year and before the holidays get here,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: but we've got a full year ahead of us. What
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: kind of grandiose or plans do you have or is
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: it business as usual? What's in store for twenty twenty
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: six or hope for the Warriors?
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: So we are thrilled to be hosting the Got Heart,
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Give Hope Celebration at National Harbor on February twelfth. We
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: have a whole host of VIPs coming in to include
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: our guest of Honor, actor Gary Sinise, Johnny Bench.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: Doug Flynn.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: You're just going to see some amazing people there for
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: you as a baseball lover. Johnny Bench has been one
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: of our greatest ambassador assets for about fifteen years now,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: and so we're excited to have him come in and
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: some of our others that just have been celebrities that
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: were celebrities who without being paid and I love to
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: say that because they don't get paid, but do are
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: coming in to highlight the work of Hope and be
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: a part of the Hope family because they believe it's
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: the right thing to do. Well.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I love that you have Gary Sonise and for the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: people that don't know who that is or if you're
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: looking him up, he played Lieutenant Dan in the movie
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Lost his Legs and was a very bitter individual. I
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: don't know if he decided to give to charity after
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: he did that movie with Forrest Gump, but he was
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: spectaculing in that role. But I've noticed he's everywhere, and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you're hooked up with him because
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: he really is a giving person. He seems very sweet
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and great with his time, but it must be such
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: a nice special relationship that he does things with you.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: You know, we've got to know Gary back in about
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine and
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: have been connected with him ever since. And the work
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: that they do through the Gary Sonese Foundation that aligns
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: so well with the work that we do it Hope
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: for the Warriors. He's been a friend, comrade, a great
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: leader in our space, and so yes, we to have
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: him there as a guest of honor for the twenty
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: year anniversary is very apropos out Stanny.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Well, Robin, we only have about two minutes left and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I'd like to maybe just get some final thoughts from you.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: We're going to tell people again how they can donate, volunteer.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: I'd like you to give the website. If you're on
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: social media, people can follow you that way. I know
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: they love to do that too, whether it's Facebook or
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: IG or Twitter or anything else that is out there.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: So you've got a couple of minutes. The floor is yours,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: I would suggest going to social media. We're on every platform.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: On our website, it's www. Dot Hope for the Warriors
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: dot org. My team has become exceptional at storytelling, so
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: there's fantastic stories there. There's ways to donate, the ways
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: to volunteer, and especially if you're in need of services.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: There's that big button right there at the top of
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: the page as well. We value our donors and we
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: certainly want to make sure that we make it easy
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: for our service members to find the things that they
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: need for the warriors or some of our other strategic alliances.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: And if people that are listening want to be a
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: part of the February of n what's the best way
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: to get more information about all that so they can
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: make sure they can attend.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: It is all on the front page of that website.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: We are still looking for corporate sponsors. We're still we
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: still have seats available for our guests. It's going to
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: be a fabulous evening and we would really invite anyone
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: who would like to attend to please take a look
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: at the website. You can always hunt me down on
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: any social media platform as well. Rob and kelleher and
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: I can I answer the phone upstanding.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Robin, thank you so much for your valuable time and
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: congratulations on two decades, twenty years. It really is a
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: feat and I know what oppresses upon you the hard
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: work that where you started twenty years ago. And to
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: where you are now with your team. It's extraordinary. It's
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: just amazing all the families and the people that you're helping.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: And I'm glad that you could spend just thirty minutes
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: with us today talking about the latest. Congratulations again on
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the anniversary and thank you so much for joining us
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: on Community DC again and we'll talk to you very soon.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Dennis. We'd love to have you come to
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: the event in February.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens, or exclusive professional
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: networks or stereotypes. Don't let anything keep you from discovering
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: the half of the workforce who are stars, workers skilled
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: through alternative rops rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars beyond it.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: Find out how you can make stars part of your
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: talent strategy at Tear Thepaperseiling dot org, brought to you
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: by Opportunity at Work in the AD Council