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Speaker 1: Welcome back to WRKOS annual radio thon to benefit disabled

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Speaker 1: American veterans, the DAV and in particular the Department of Massachusetts. Okay,

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Speaker 1: the number again to call if you want to make

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Speaker 1: a donation. People are waiting, phones are waiting. Please be

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Speaker 1: generous nine seven eight six three two one nine eight

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Speaker 1: five nine seven eight forgive me nine seven eight six

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Speaker 1: three two nineteen eighty five. And of course you can

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Speaker 1: always donate online DAV five K dot, Boston. We're joined

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Speaker 1: by General Ron Johnson. He's to my left. We've got

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Speaker 1: Mike Vlilla at the farther end, and now coming in

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Speaker 1: as well is Jason Karen distinct honor and privilege. He

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Speaker 1: is the head chef and the owner of the Post

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen Steakhouse in Reading and Lexington. And I'm telling

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Speaker 1: you the food there is wah incredible. This hour of

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Speaker 1: the Radiothon is brought to you by the Post nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventeen Steakhouse in Reading in Lexington. And before we go

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Speaker 1: to Jason, we've got another friend of the Generals, Tom

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Speaker 1: Haggarty is on the line. He has called now it's

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Speaker 1: been a couple of years now, a very generous supporter

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Speaker 1: of our veterans period, but especially of the DAV. Tom,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for calling in and welcome, good morning,

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Tom, how are you and how's your wonderful wife?

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Speaker 2: You know what, she's terrific. She sent her regards to everybody,

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Speaker 2: and we're sad to see a year past, but delighted

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Speaker 2: to be talking about this subject again.

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Speaker 1: Tom, You've always been super generous. I've got to ask

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Speaker 1: why the DAV Why are veterans? Why does it mean

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Speaker 1: so much to you and your family?

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, Ron's about as persuasive as they get.

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Speaker 2: So you know, any anything that Ron's attached to, you

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Speaker 2: know that it's a worthy cause. And he said it best.

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Speaker 2: You know, whatever we do here today fails in comparison

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Speaker 2: to the incredible, the incredible issues that this this group

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Speaker 2: of veterans has faced and what they do for us.

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Speaker 2: So you know, this isn't the drop in the bucket conversation.

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Speaker 1: Tom. We've got the General on right now. Is there

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Speaker 1: anything you'd like to say to General Ron Johnson?

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Speaker 2: Thanks for your friendship, Ron, and thanks for your your

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Speaker 2: unending commitment to the men that you served with and

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Speaker 2: the ones that you know came back, not whole or

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Speaker 2: didn't come back at all. It's it's it's inspirational. I'll

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Speaker 2: tell you that. Thank you, Tom.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate it, brother.

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Speaker 1: Tom. I don't want to have to. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to squeeze your arm here. But how much do you

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Speaker 1: think we can count on you for this year? Tom?

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Speaker 2: Well, I can't. I can't let Paul go away without

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Speaker 2: a tie. So count me in for what mister Salem did.

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Speaker 1: Twenty five thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: That's the answer.

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Speaker 4: Oh, look at it, Palm palm, Tom.

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Speaker 5: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: I love you, brother, love you.

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Speaker 2: Uh Well, as I said, it's just I'm honored to

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Speaker 2: be a part of this. And you know, Ron said,

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Speaker 2: the the folks that are involved in this, the amount

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Speaker 2: of time that they give, you know, it's it's pretty

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Speaker 2: easy to write a check. It's a lot harder to give,

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Speaker 2: you know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours every year,

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Speaker 2: you know, in a difficult situation. So I got the

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Speaker 2: easier part of the deal here, and we're pretty happy

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Speaker 2: to help.

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Speaker 1: No, it's pretty hard to write a check. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: be honest with that. So I hate to disagree with

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Speaker 1: you there, but here you got to make the money,

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Speaker 1: and you've got to be generous enough to spend the money. Tom,

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Speaker 1: You're an incredibly generous man, a wonderfully patriotic man. These

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Speaker 1: are two unbelievable donations. First from Paul Salem and now

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Speaker 1: from you, Tom Haggerty. Tom, from the bottom of my heart,

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Speaker 1: thank you. Please give my best to your wife, to

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Speaker 1: your family, to everybody. And I know I speak for

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Speaker 1: everybody at the dav when.

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Speaker 2: I say that, well, thank you again. Delighted to be

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Speaker 2: a part of it. It's a hallowed day, and you

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Speaker 2: know support is what we all need to do.

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Speaker 1: God bless you and have a wonderful weekend and a

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Speaker 1: very happy Veterans Day. Okay. As I mentioned earlier, joining

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Speaker 1: us now in studio the man himself. He is the

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Speaker 1: head chef, the master creator. He's also the owner of

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Speaker 1: the Post nineteen seventeen steakhouse in Reading and Lexington. Jason, Karen, Jason,

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Speaker 1: how are you?

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Speaker 4: Good morning? I'm great and what a morning I walked in. Wow,

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Speaker 4: nicely done, General and thank you for your service. Well,

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Speaker 4: you know why we don't lose battles with this guy?

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Speaker 4: We don't, right, we come to play. I should have

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Speaker 4: woke up earlier.

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Speaker 1: Jason, you've been also a very very staunch strong supporter

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Speaker 1: of the veterans. Disabled veterans, you've done very well for yourself.

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Speaker 1: As the Jews say, maseled Off, congratulations than you. Why

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Speaker 1: why the vets and why the DAV.

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Speaker 4: The DAV provides such great support for disabled vets and honestly,

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Speaker 4: somebody has to watch after these guys they went over.

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Speaker 4: They give us our freedom. We're here because of it,

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Speaker 4: and if I could give back, that's how I want

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Speaker 4: to give back as much as I can whenever I can.

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Speaker 4: You know, it's hard these days, but we do the

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Speaker 4: best we can. And you know every Tuesday we do

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Speaker 4: a give back Tuesday DAV has been I think three

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Speaker 4: or four months out of the years, is when we

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Speaker 4: give back to them. We sponsor the hour here, whatever

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Speaker 4: we could do, we put our best foot forward for.

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Speaker 1: If you don't, and if I'm getting too personal, please

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Speaker 1: tell me why. Why the interest in veterans? Why the

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Speaker 1: interest in the DAV.

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Speaker 4: So I have both my father and stepfather and I

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Speaker 4: have a very close hopefully he's listened John Fratis and reading.

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Speaker 1: He loves you, by the way.

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Speaker 4: You know, we're very close with a lot of veterans

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Speaker 4: and the dav again disabled. They are probably on the

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Speaker 4: forefront of what gives back to the veterans, especially disabled veterans,

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Speaker 4: and if they need support, you know, the money is

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Speaker 4: going to go in the right place. It's not you know,

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Speaker 4: there's no funny money. It's direct, it's it's really here,

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Speaker 4: it is and they and they give it right away.

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Speaker 4: So it's I'm glad to see you back again two

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Speaker 4: years in a row. I you know, it's becoming a

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Speaker 4: nice tradition for Veterans Day, so I really like and

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Speaker 4: I enjoy this time of year.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Jason. Really you're very generous, you got a

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Speaker 1: big heart, and you're a wonderful patriot. Thank you once again,

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Speaker 1: Jason Karen from Post nineteen seventeen Steakhouse in Reading and Lexington.

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Speaker 1: They are sponsoring this entire hour. Six one seven two, six,

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Speaker 1: six sixty eight sixty eight is the number. Okay, General

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Speaker 1: Ron Johnson had to leave. He's got to go to

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Speaker 1: another event, but we want to thank him from the

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Speaker 1: bottom of our heart for his incredible work and support today. Okay,

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Speaker 1: if you're just joining us, welcome back to the WRKOS

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Speaker 1: Annual Radiothon to benefit Disabled American Veterans, the Department of

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Speaker 1: Massachusetts the DAV. If you want to donate nine seven

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Speaker 1: eight six three two nineteen eighty five nine seven eight

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Speaker 1: six three two one nine eight five, you can also

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Speaker 1: go online and donate their DAV five K the number

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Speaker 1: five the letter k DA V Boston And again this

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Speaker 1: hour is sponsored by Post nineteen seventeen Steakhouse in Reading

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Speaker 1: and Lexington. And joining us on the phone now is

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Speaker 1: Andrea Gail Bennett, Department Commander, US Army, retired Brigadier General,

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Speaker 1: proud Iraq war veteran. Andrea, thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: coming on the Kooner Report. How are you?

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Speaker 5: I'm great, Jeff, thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: It really is.

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Speaker 5: It's a great opportunity to be here to talk to

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Speaker 5: your listeners and to support the DAV and the radio.

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Speaker 1: Ton General Bennett, I've got to ask you, and again

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Speaker 1: I don't want to get too personal, and if I am,

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Speaker 1: please tell me. I promise I won't be offended. Could

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Speaker 1: you tell me just a little bit about your military service, obviously,

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Speaker 1: and how did you find the DA, What did it

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Speaker 1: mean for you when you began to transition back to

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Speaker 1: domestic life and really out of the military. Why was

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Speaker 1: the DAV so helpful for you?

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Speaker 5: Okay, So a little bit about my military service. I

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Speaker 5: joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard back in nineteen eighty

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Speaker 5: three and I served for thirty five years. I deployed

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Speaker 5: to Paraguay, Kenya and as you mentioned, Iraq, and I

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Speaker 5: loved being part of the Guard's We were called citizen

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Speaker 5: soldiers because we are part time military and also in

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Speaker 5: the civilian world. Like I said, I live in both

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Speaker 5: of those worlds, and so my transition was a little

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Speaker 5: different than active duty people. There isn't always a clear

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Speaker 5: line where the when the uniform comes off and a

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Speaker 5: new life begins, and so when I retired in twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 5: I actually did miss that sense of purpose and connection

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Speaker 5: that I had on the military side. And I was

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Speaker 5: introduced to the DAV in twenty nineteen by actually the

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Speaker 5: current National Commander, Coleman Mee. And just step back a

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Speaker 5: little bit. My role in the Guard was as a

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Speaker 5: medical provider, so just providing service to service men and

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Speaker 5: women while I was in the Guard, and DAV allowed

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Speaker 5: me to continue serving military people, and that gave me

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Speaker 5: a new mission because, like I said, I was retired

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Speaker 5: and you know what am I going to do with

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Speaker 5: my days? And so that gave me a new mission.

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Speaker 5: They showed me that service doesn't really stop when you retire,

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Speaker 5: and it just shifts. It just shifts to a different

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Speaker 5: kind of service.

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Speaker 1: So, yeah, I'm just curious. I know you do a

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Speaker 1: lot of legislation of advocacy for the DAV and your

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Speaker 1: current role, and what are some of the issues that

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Speaker 1: you think are very important for veterans going forward.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, we do. We do have a strong voice for

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Speaker 5: veterans both at the local, state and national level, and

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Speaker 5: we really look at things like healthcare access, mental health support, housing,

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Speaker 5: just trying to make sure benefits keep up with the

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Speaker 5: cost of living. And every year at our Midwinter Conference,

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Speaker 5: we go to Washington, d c. And we meet with

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Speaker 5: our legislators to discuss what you know, have been decided

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Speaker 5: are the priorities of that year, and the National Commander

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Speaker 5: actually testifies before Congress and we push for policies that

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Speaker 5: make real positive change in the lives of veterans.

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Speaker 1: General Bennett, before I let you go to the veterans

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Speaker 1: that are listening, why should they choose to get help

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Speaker 1: from the da V. What makes the da V better

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Speaker 1: say than other veterans service organizations in your view.

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Speaker 5: In my view, d a V is all about veterans

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Speaker 5: helping veterans and and even more, uh, DAV is about

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Speaker 5: disabled veterans helping disabled veterans. So you know, it's literally

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Speaker 5: in our name. Everyone in the organization understands what it

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Speaker 5: is to serve, what it is to come home, what

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Speaker 5: it is to try to navigate life with with challenges.

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Speaker 5: And you don't have to explain your challenges. So there's

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Speaker 5: a there's a fair amount of grace that's that's given out.

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Speaker 5: People already understand what you're going through and and and

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Speaker 5: that's because they've lived it to and and so and

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Speaker 5: DAV also offers practical help. You know, we we help

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Speaker 5: file claims, we help provide transportation to medical appointments, We

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Speaker 5: we offer connections and purpose. And so for for me,

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Speaker 5: it really was you know, continuing that mission. Uh. And

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Speaker 5: so I would say to any any active duty person, guard, retired, whatever,

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Speaker 5: you know, join the DAV. Don't go it alone. Reach out.

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Speaker 5: There will be support and and and that's a way

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Speaker 5: to keep serving because service is in our DNA and

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Speaker 5: and we need to channel channel that.

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Speaker 1: Some way, oh, very well said. We have been talking

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Speaker 1: with General Andrea Gail Bennett. Again. General, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for everything, for your service, for your patriotism, uh

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Speaker 1: for again serving the da V and our veterans. And

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Speaker 1: I want to wish you not just a beautiful weekend,

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Speaker 1: but a very happy Veterans Day on Tuesday. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much again. General, Thanks, thank you, God bless you,

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Speaker 1: and please take care. Okay, let's go right back to

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Speaker 1: Mike Valilla. He is the adjutant at the at the

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Speaker 1: at the DAV for the the DAV Department of Massachusetts,

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Speaker 1: also on a rock war veteran himself, by the way,

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Speaker 1: and I want to thank the audience from the bottom

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Speaker 1: of my heart. We have now raised over eighty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: Over eighty thousand dollars, Come on Cooner Country, I know

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Speaker 1: we can get to one hundred thousand. Call now if

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Speaker 1: you want to donate nine seven eight six three two

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five nine seven eight six three two one

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Speaker 1: nine eight five. Mike, you made an excellent point to

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Speaker 1: me off air, and I think it really needs to

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Speaker 1: be stressed on the air that when you give to

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Speaker 1: the DAV Department of Massachusetts it's local. Correct, it's not

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Speaker 1: going to some national organization. You're gonna help veterans here

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Speaker 1: Greater Boston, Massachusetts, in your local area, your local community.

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Speaker 1: Please expound.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, you're you're, you're you hit the nail on the head.

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Speaker 6: You're helping veterans in your direct community within the Commonwealth

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Speaker 6: of Massachusetts. And that's why we are da V Department

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Speaker 6: in Massachusetts. So there's there's a huge, you know, barrier

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Speaker 6: that we want to help clear up for folks. DAV

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Speaker 6: is a wonderful organization. They absolutely are at all levels.

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Speaker 6: If you go online, uh and just type in DAV

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Speaker 6: and you make a donation, uh, you know, to to

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Speaker 6: da V, you're donating to our national organization, which that

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Speaker 6: money is you know, in their hands how they see

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Speaker 6: to use it wherever throughout the country. If you donate

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Speaker 6: to da V m A dot or you go online

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Speaker 6: to DAV five k dot Boston or call in this morning,

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Speaker 6: as we've been giving those prompts out to folks of

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Speaker 6: how to reach us directly. That money stays here within

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Speaker 6: Massachusetts and over ninety five cents of every dollar goes

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Speaker 6: directly back to veterans services. Our department runs in a

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Speaker 6: deficit every year. It's a nonprofit, you know, that's how

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Speaker 6: it stacks. And every single dollar, every penny counts. It

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Speaker 6: helps make the work that we do possible. And running

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Speaker 6: our transportation network providing free rides for veterans to and

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Speaker 6: from their medical appointments, to running our housing programs, keeping

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Speaker 6: our pantry loaded and available for veterans and their families

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Speaker 6: and needs, to our claims and benefits our service officers.

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Speaker 6: Every single program we run relies solely on the donations

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Speaker 6: that we have. We don't receive any money from our

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Speaker 6: national organization run operations here in the state. We do

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Speaker 6: not receive any federal dollars whatsoever. We are a one

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Speaker 6: hundred percent run solely on the donations.

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Speaker 1: Amazing, Oh, it's amazing. Okay, please give generously. So not

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Speaker 1: only you're helping veterans, but you're helping local veterans. Here,

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Speaker 1: welcome back to our annual radiothon to benefit the disabled

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Speaker 1: American Veterans the dav Department of Massachusetts. This hour is

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Speaker 1: sponsored by Post nineteen seventeen Steakhouse in Reading and Lexington.

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Speaker 1: And before I go to Kayla Valilla, Mike Villilla's better

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Speaker 1: half is wonderful wife, great news Coooner Country. We have

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Speaker 1: now raised ninety thousand dollars. Ninety thousand dollars. I can't

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Speaker 1: believe it. I am so proud of you. Thank you,

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Speaker 1: thank you, thank you. Obviously, this radio thon is going

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Speaker 1: to continue for the rest of the day here on WRKO.

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Speaker 1: The number to call nine seven eight six three two

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five. If you want to donate nine seven

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Speaker 1: eight six three two nineteen eighty five, you can also

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Speaker 1: donate give online Dav five k dot Boston. Dav the

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Speaker 1: number five the letter K Dav five k dot Boston.

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Speaker 1: Before we go to Kayla Valilla, Paul Wahlberg incredibly generous,

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Speaker 1: is now even being more generous. So, as you know,

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Speaker 1: we are auctioning an incredible dinner at Paul's world famous restaurant.

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Speaker 1: Eight people, six course. It's a feast, six course meal

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Speaker 1: includes wine, you pick the main course. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: it's going to be an experience, the meal of a lifetime.

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Speaker 1: Paul will be serving the meal along with his assistants,

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Speaker 1: and my Ashton wants to be a chef, is going

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Speaker 1: to be there with Paul. So you're getting everything. Well,

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Speaker 1: listen now to this. If we can get the auction

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Speaker 1: bid up to ten thousand dollars, and we are very

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Speaker 1: close to ten thousand, Paul will do a second dinner.

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Speaker 1: I swear to you he's not gonna do one, he's

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Speaker 1: gonna do two. Come on, Cooner Country, Let's get that

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Speaker 1: auction up to ten thousand dollars. We can do it

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Speaker 1: and get over one hundred thousand dollars before we even

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Speaker 1: go to the financial exchange coming up next nine seven, eight, six,

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Speaker 1: three to two, nineteen eighty five. Let's now go to

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Speaker 1: Kayla Valila. She is the military spouse obviously married to

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Speaker 1: Mike Falilla who's sitting right next to me, director of

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Speaker 1: the DAV Veteran Advancement Program. Kayla, how are you.

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Speaker 3: I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on here today

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Speaker 3: and for hosting us every year.

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Speaker 1: Oh my pleasure, truly, my pleasure is the least I

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Speaker 1: can do. I've got to ask you, Kayla, what is

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Speaker 1: your current role within the DAV and in particular, how

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Speaker 1: do you help veterans and disabled veterans.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So, my current role within the DV is the

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Speaker 3: director for basically our housing programs. You know, we offer

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Speaker 3: permanent and transitional affordable housing opportunities for veterans and their dependents.

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Speaker 3: We do have two bedroom condo style apartments, so we

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Speaker 3: are able to house families as well, but in conjunction

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Speaker 3: with wrap around supportive services, and you know, we look

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Speaker 3: at everything as you know, their veterans wellness and recovery

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Speaker 3: can look much different than that of another with a

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Speaker 3: variety of needs. So here we really you know, respect

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Speaker 3: the veterans unique journey and we walk along that with them,

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Speaker 3: you know. So we have a holistic therapeutic environment. We

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Speaker 3: support veterans after their military service and navigating you know,

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Speaker 3: civilian life, working through their service and non service related

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Speaker 3: past traumas, developing financial stability and more. But we have

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Speaker 3: a really great team here, uh with you know, psychologists,

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Speaker 3: clinical social workers, case managers, and peer supports a huge

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Speaker 3: piece of it as well. But we all work together

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Speaker 3: to make that happen. I know There's been a lot

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Speaker 3: of stories earlier that also kind of covered some of

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Speaker 3: that as well, and the services that we have provided

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Speaker 3: to some of our former residential clients, you know, kind

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Speaker 3: of a testimonial I suppose in a way of you know,

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Speaker 3: the services that we are providing and the work we're

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Speaker 3: doing here, so all good things.

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Speaker 1: Well, Kayla, look, you guys do the Lord's work. We're

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Speaker 1: up against it super quick. Why the DAV for family

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Speaker 1: members of veterans? I know you do so much for veterans,

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Speaker 1: but very quickly, why the family members?

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Speaker 3: Uh? You know, family is a big piece of it.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's not just a veteran. I know a

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Speaker 3: lot of people say, you know, when a veteran served,

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Speaker 3: you know, the family does to so and so forth.

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Speaker 3: But you know, we work really hard to keep families together. Also.

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Speaker 3: You know, we we've had veterans that come in through

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Speaker 3: our housing programs or just even you know that we're

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Speaker 3: we're providing services for that aren't part of our residential

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Speaker 3: housing program, and you know we're able to help them

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Speaker 3: and reunite them safely, you know, and with support from

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Speaker 3: you know, our volunteers, membership body, and then also through

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Speaker 3: you know, our specific housing program, through different supports that

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Speaker 3: we provide here as well. We always say too, you know,

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Speaker 3: if you want to make an impact, you got to

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Speaker 3: start local, you know, And we're fortunate where we have

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Speaker 3: so many members and volunteers across the whole state. You know,

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Speaker 3: we really rely on those volunteers, our sponsors, our community

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Speaker 3: partners to be able to make all of this happen.

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Speaker 3: But you know, as I mentioned it, where you've heard

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Speaker 3: from stories this morning of some of the things that

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Speaker 3: we've done. You know, it's it's those veterans that you

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Speaker 3: know have been through this, we've helped them, and then

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Speaker 3: you're seeing them also becoming part of our organization and

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Speaker 3: giving back and helping veterans in their own local communities.

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Speaker 3: Not just the veterans, but they're you know, family members

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Speaker 3: as well. You know, our children are a huge part

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Speaker 3: in you know, volunteering and supporting veterans in their community.

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Speaker 3: But the more people understand veterans' challenges and the barriers

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Speaker 3: that you know, they're experiencing when they're trying to receive help,

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Speaker 3: the stronger collective response I think, really becomes and we

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Speaker 3: appreciate all.

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Speaker 1: Uh Ka, Kayla, you're absolutely correct. I want to thank

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Speaker 1: you again for your service, for your patriotism, for everything

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Speaker 1: that you've done. Uh we're really up against it, so

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Speaker 1: I want to get Mike Valilla. You do the Lord's work.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Mike Valilla. Bob Lynch of the

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Speaker 1: dav thank you so very much again. Please Cooner country.

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Speaker 1: If you can give generously, nine seven eight six three

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Speaker 1: two one nine eight five is the numbered. If you

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Speaker 1: want to make a donation, nine seven eight six three

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Speaker 1: two nineteen eighty five dav five k dot Boston. If

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Speaker 1: you want to donate online, Ashton, why don't you take

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Speaker 1: us out? Tell everybody a big bye bye from me

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Speaker 1: and from you. Go ahead, son, goodbye, Kuda Country, Goodbye America,

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Speaker 1: bye bye