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Speaker 1: Hello, everybody.

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Speaker 2: My name is Nigel Jason Hammer right over there with

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Speaker 2: a very special in studio guests.

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Speaker 1: One of our friends is the CEO of HVAF Indiana

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Speaker 1: helping veterans and families. Emmy Hildebrand is here him. Emily, Emmy,

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Speaker 1: how are you?

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Speaker 3: I'm good? How are you?

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Speaker 1: Last time I saw you, I was competing in the

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Speaker 1: Hogies and Hops eating contests at their restaurant where the

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Speaker 1: proceeds were benefiting your organization.

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Speaker 2: And you you won.

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Speaker 1: I won that thing.

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Speaker 3: Sight to see for sure, that's.

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Speaker 1: A very polite way of seeing.

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Speaker 2: Throw up while I watched you gorge yourself with these

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Speaker 2: Philly cheese steaks from Hogies and Hopps.

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Speaker 1: Emmy and I were talking during the commercial break because

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Speaker 1: that eating contest was local media people, and you had

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Speaker 1: really good looking TV folks right like and Mo Yan

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Speaker 1: of Wish TV, Ryan Morris of the Weather Guy. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: really in shape, good looking people. And then I walked

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Speaker 1: through the front doors and you could hear a record scratch.

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Speaker 2: They knew, they knew who was winning that contest.

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Speaker 3: They were just intimidated, that's all.

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Speaker 1: They looked at me and said, oh, you must be

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Speaker 1: the favorite, which is fancy. Talk for the fat guys here, right,

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Speaker 1: come on. But we raised a lot of money, didn't we.

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Speaker 4: It was a record year, Christina and Hokus so generous,

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Speaker 4: But yes, this was the most ever and the celebrity

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Speaker 4: contest was just a fun addition to the real competition

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Speaker 4: where they ate twice as much in half the time.

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Speaker 1: Now, the reason we invited you up here today, Emmy

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Speaker 1: was I can't believe it's been a year since those

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Speaker 1: devastating fires that took place that displaced a lot of

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Speaker 1: your veterans.

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Speaker 4: It has been just about a year. On Sunday, it

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Speaker 4: will mark a full twelve months since we experienced a

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Speaker 4: fire at our Manchester Apartments, which is our large transitional

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Speaker 4: housing facility where forty eight veterans were staying during the fire.

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Speaker 1: Now, before we move into what this past year has

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Speaker 1: been like, reset what HVAF is and what you guys do.

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Speaker 4: HVAF of Indiana Helping Veterans and Families is the largest

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Speaker 4: organization in Indiana dedicated to serving veterans facing homelessness. So

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Speaker 4: every year we serve between thirteen and fourteen hundred veterans

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Speaker 4: who need housing assistants, employment services, and basic needs support

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Speaker 4: through our food and clothing pantries. We're really excited. This

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Speaker 4: year we announced a twenty six percent reduction in veteran

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Speaker 4: homelessness here in Indianapolis.

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Speaker 1: And that's good. That's what.

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Speaker 2: Do you attribute that to?

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Speaker 3: Hard work and hustle.

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Speaker 4: We have an amazing team at HVAF and we are

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Speaker 4: really relentlessly focused on ending veteran homelessness here in our city.

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Speaker 4: Over the last ten years, there's been a seventy percent reduction,

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Speaker 4: so that's amazing. We're effectively using our resources to move

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Speaker 4: veterans from streets to permanent housing as quickly as possible.

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Speaker 1: And not only are you housing these folks, but your

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Speaker 1: goal is to get these veterans jobs to the point

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Speaker 1: where they can live on their own.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, and the majority of the veterans that are enrolled

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Speaker 4: in HBAF programs leave without further support. So they are

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Speaker 4: maintaining their own housing, they have jobs, they're enrolled in

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Speaker 4: appropriate health care, and they're stable after they have received

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Speaker 4: services from us. What is transitional housing, it's temporary housing.

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Speaker 4: So the Department of Veterans Affairs funds a program that

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Speaker 4: they call the Grant and per Diem program. So veterans

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Speaker 4: are they have to be literally homeless to be eligible

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Speaker 4: for services, and they can stay in one of our

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Speaker 4: facilities for up to two years, but the average day

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Speaker 4: is about six to nine months, and the whole goal

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Speaker 4: is to quickly address any barriers to permanent housing and

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Speaker 4: get them moved out.

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Speaker 2: I'm assuming health care and mental health is a part

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Speaker 2: of this sort of rehabilitation.

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Speaker 3: It's a huge part of it.

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Speaker 4: About eighty percent of the veterans we serve report a

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Speaker 4: mental health or substance use diagnosis. So we have an

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Speaker 4: on staff therapist and a mental health team that works

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Speaker 4: really hard to make sure that veterans are stable and

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Speaker 4: they're able to be successful once they leave our transitional housing.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 1: Immy Hildebrand is our guest, the CEO of HVATH Indiana.

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Speaker 1: So let's go back about a year. Sunday will be

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Speaker 1: a year this fire that went through the housing area.

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Speaker 1: What did that do to you guys?

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Speaker 4: Well, the immediate thing, obviously, we had forty eight veterans

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Speaker 4: living there and the building was nearly completely destroyed. If

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Speaker 4: you look at Manchester Apartments, it's two long corridors with

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Speaker 4: a courtyard in the middle, and I think, thank goodness,

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Speaker 4: we have a courtyard because that spared the entire building

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Speaker 4: from burning, but one of the corridors was nearly destroyed.

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Speaker 4: The other one was soaked by the thousands of gallons

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Speaker 4: of water that poured down to save it. So immediately

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Speaker 4: we had to rehouse forty eight veterans and be able

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Speaker 4: to provide supporter services because they were already struggling when

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Speaker 4: they came to us, and then they just experienced this

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Speaker 4: new trauma on top of everything they've been through. So

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Speaker 4: our staff is amazing. They really stepped it up, and

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Speaker 4: we were providing mental health care every day at temporary

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Speaker 4: hotels around the city to make sure that those forty

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Speaker 4: eight veterans were cared for. So in the last twelve months,

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Speaker 4: we've gone from standing in the middle of Pennsylvania Street

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Speaker 4: wondering how we would ever recover from this tragedy, to

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Speaker 4: really starting reconstruction as soon as possible. In July, we

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Speaker 4: reopened half of the building and it's already full. So

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Speaker 4: we've got twenty three veterans ending their homelessness there right now,

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Speaker 4: and we are working really hard on the rest of

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Speaker 4: the building, which should be complete by August of twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty six.

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Speaker 2: Two things do you know what caused the fire and

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Speaker 2: what is the age range of people that are utilizing

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Speaker 2: your surface.

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Speaker 4: So the fire was an electrical fire, and it started

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Speaker 4: in the attic of the building, so it was above

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Speaker 4: our sprinkler system, which is how it was able to

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Speaker 4: burn so quickly out of control. Once it got up

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Speaker 4: into the attic, it just spread the whole length of

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Speaker 4: the building and kind of burned out of control. In

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Speaker 4: terms of ages, we serve veterans from age you know,

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Speaker 4: twenty two is probably about our youngest all.

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Speaker 3: The way to eighty five.

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Speaker 4: Plus the majority of the veterans we serve are over

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Speaker 4: the age of fifty about sixty percent, but we're seeing

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Speaker 4: many more younger veterans, so like global we're on terror

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Speaker 4: veterans and also a huge increase in women veterans in

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Speaker 4: the last few years.

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Speaker 1: So fast forward one year later, how are things Like

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Speaker 1: is everything open now? Like, are you guys just a

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Speaker 1: well oiled machine? Like how long did it take for

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Speaker 1: you guys to get your legs underneath of you?

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Speaker 4: I think that's really the most incredible part is that

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Speaker 4: we dealt with this incredible tragedy in chaotic year, but

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Speaker 4: we also stayed really focused on our mission, which is

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Speaker 4: ending veteran homelessness. So we talked about the reduction already,

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Speaker 4: but all that happened simultaneously. Every day we do life

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Speaker 4: changing homelessness ending work, and we still did that every

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Speaker 4: day of this last twelve months, but we also have

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Speaker 4: been undergoing a massive construction.

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Speaker 3: So the building is half open.

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Speaker 4: It will be fully open in August of twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 4: and when we reopen. The night of the fire, we

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Speaker 4: had fifty one units. When we reopen, we'll have sixty five,

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Speaker 4: so done a little redesign and removing our food and

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Speaker 4: clothing pantries over there, and we'll have some on site

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Speaker 4: storage capacity which we don't currently have.

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Speaker 2: How is it getting funded? Is it purely insurance?

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Speaker 3: It is not.

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Speaker 1: Is it donations.

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Speaker 4: It's donations, So insurance they have one job, which is

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Speaker 4: to restore what you had, But we wanted to be

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Speaker 4: really thoughtful and make sure that what we built is

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Speaker 4: what we need and will need for veterans in the

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Speaker 4: decades to come. So thanks to the generous support of

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Speaker 4: our community, we're using those donations to add the fourteen

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Speaker 4: units and to renovate the pantry space.

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Speaker 1: That's awesome. Emmy Hill to brand with us CEO of HVAV. Wow,

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Speaker 1: you've been on with us a number of times. What's

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Speaker 1: been the response of the Hammer and Nigel Wibc audience

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Speaker 1: every time you come on?

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Speaker 4: Well, I have to tell you your people are people,

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Speaker 4: So probably right now I'm getting texts on my phone

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Speaker 4: from people who are listening that support HVAF and the

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Speaker 4: work that we do in our loyal listeners of yours

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Speaker 4: as well. So really appreciate you guys having me on

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Speaker 4: so much and you know, cheering us on as we

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Speaker 4: go through all of this.

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Speaker 1: So that being said, what can we do to help you.

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Speaker 4: Can continue to raise awareness. You know, veterans are more

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Speaker 4: likely to be homeless than non veterans, especially women veterans,

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Speaker 4: which is the fastest growing segment of the homeless population

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Speaker 4: in the United States.

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Speaker 1: Why.

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Speaker 4: I think they face a unique set of circumstances and

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Speaker 4: challenges that civilians don't. You know, they often are uprooted

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Speaker 4: from their lives when they join the military, and when

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Speaker 4: they come home, it's just it's not quite the same.

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Speaker 4: They're not the same and home is not the same,

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Speaker 4: and that can be a really hard adjustment. So it's

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Speaker 4: really important that as a community. We make sure that

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Speaker 4: those who are struggling on our street have the resources

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Speaker 4: that they need.

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Speaker 2: Let me ask you one more question, and I want

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Speaker 2: to be respectful of your time, but you deal with

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Speaker 2: homeless veterans. I'm wondering if this, if your model can

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Speaker 2: be extrapolated to homeless citizens in Indianeapolis that don't have

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Speaker 2: a military background. Does that Does that make sense?

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Speaker 3: It does? I think the principles are the same.

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Speaker 4: You know, we have three main housing programs that we

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Speaker 4: utilize to serve veterans. Are transitional housing, which is temporary.

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Speaker 4: We have a rental assistance program where we work with

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Speaker 4: veterans who are literally homeless or within two weeks of

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Speaker 4: eviction to stabilize them. It's a lighter touch. And then

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Speaker 4: we have something called permanent support of housing, which is

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Speaker 4: for veterans who may need lifelong support to keep their housing.

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Speaker 4: I think all of those models are being used in

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Speaker 4: the wider homeless service community, but maybe not resourced as well.

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Speaker 4: So I do think there are a lot of lessons

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Speaker 4: that can be applied.

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Speaker 1: Mark on the YouTube chat where can we donate? How

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Speaker 1: can we help?

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Speaker 4: I would direct people to our website HVAF dot org.

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Speaker 4: There is an opportunity to donate financially, which we would

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Speaker 4: greatly appreciate. There's all so an opportunity to donate your time.

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Speaker 4: Our food and clothing pantries are staffed fully by volunteers

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Speaker 4: every Tuesday and Thursday. And I love working in the

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Speaker 4: pantry because you know, life is hard and it's complex,

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Speaker 4: and hardly ever can you meet a need in a moment,

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Speaker 4: and you can do that in the pantry.

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Speaker 1: And one of the great things that I think local

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Speaker 1: like athletic teams can do is volunteer at a place

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Speaker 1: like HVAV. When I was coaching travel baseball for a

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Speaker 1: number of years and my son was playing, we would

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Speaker 1: always every Thanksgiving take them to a food bank or

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Speaker 1: take them to a local charity. And so many high

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Speaker 1: school kids have to get charity hours. In your organization

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Speaker 1: would be the perfect place for that.

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Speaker 4: We host high school students all the time and would

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Speaker 4: welcome anyone. We also have opportunity to do collection drives,

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Speaker 4: so we're coming up on the holiday season, so you know,

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Speaker 4: any food drives or can food items, nonperishable food items,

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Speaker 4: winter clothing, we need all of that. Our food and

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Speaker 4: clothing pantries are stocked with donations, and last year we

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Speaker 4: distributed one hundred and five thousand pounds of food and

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Speaker 4: clothed veterans in needs. So donations are always welcome.

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Speaker 1: HVAF dot org. That is the website for helping veterans

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Speaker 1: and families here in Indiana. Emmy Hildebrand, Emmy, it's been

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Speaker 1: a long year, but God bless you and thank you

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Speaker 1: for doing what you do.

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Speaker 4: Thank you, Jemy, Thank you guys again for all of

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Speaker 4: your support and for tearing us on.

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Speaker 3: It means a lot