Speaker 1: From the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio and the George Washington
Speaker 1: Broadcast Center, Armstrong, Lady Armstrong and Jetty Show. And this
Speaker 1: is a big week for us, a big week for you,
Speaker 1: opportunity to do something good helping out Warrior Foundation Freedom Station.
Speaker 1: I'll let you a litttle pitch before you even know
Speaker 1: what we're talking about, and that this time of year.
Speaker 1: Speaking for myself, but I think I'm speaking for a
Speaker 1: lot of people. There's a tendency to throw around a
Speaker 1: little dough on yourself, whether you're eating out or buying
Speaker 1: this or that, or you're going somewhere or whatever, little
Speaker 1: self indulgence this time of year. How about you through
Speaker 1: a little money towards something good. YEP. Warrior Foundation Freedom
Speaker 1: Station a fantastic organization that serves our nation's heroes when
Speaker 1: they need it the most. The seriously injured, post traumatic
Speaker 1: stress and traumatic brain injury victims, those undergoing physical or
Speaker 1: occupational therapy, transitioning warriors have been medically retired in our
Speaker 1: in the community, trying to figure out at that just
Speaker 1: rough moment of their lives what they're going to do
Speaker 1: with the rest of their lives. And Warrior Foundation Freedom
Speaker 1: Station performs miracles and saves lives every day and is
Speaker 1: incredibly efficient with your money. Uh. To tell you a
Speaker 1: little more and to get things rolling officially, please welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Armstrong and Getty Show. Sandy lem Cooler,
Speaker 1: the CEO and founder of Warrior Foundation Freedom Station. Hello, Sandy,
Speaker 1: how are you hi? Mary? Christmas? You guys, we can
Speaker 1: say that right, sure, absolutely, you can say anything on
Speaker 1: our show you want. And and one of the reasons,
Speaker 1: Sandy says, Merry Christmas. Well, we'll let you explain. What
Speaker 1: does Warrior Foundation Freedom Station do every Christmas? That's so special? Well,
Speaker 1: I have to share with you. And this last year
Speaker 1: in particular, UM, a lot of our warriors are going
Speaker 1: up at the hospital. We're talking about active duty as
Speaker 1: well as medically retired warriors, so it's kind of two
Speaker 1: different segues um. But the warriors up at the Eric's
Speaker 1: Um in particular this year. I go up there every year,
Speaker 1: as I'm up there frequently, but they said, ma'am, we
Speaker 1: really want to go home, we really want to go
Speaker 1: home for Christmas. And these are young warriors. They can't
Speaker 1: afford a flight plus other things that they are paying
Speaker 1: for in life. And I get that the government covers
Speaker 1: a lot of it, but it is still something that
Speaker 1: I think our country can do better. Our country can
Speaker 1: get these young men and young women home to wake
Speaker 1: up in their own bed, with their in their own state,
Speaker 1: with their own family. I mean, who doesn't want that
Speaker 1: flare that tradition of sitting around the table with their family.
Speaker 1: And so they said to me a couple of things, ma'am,
Speaker 1: we really want to go home. Can we go home
Speaker 1: this year again? And I said, I will do my best.
Speaker 1: I will ask Armstrong and Getty, the Secret Santa's of
Speaker 1: the world, help us to help us get these warriors home.
Speaker 1: So we also, you know, we have a foundation that
Speaker 1: also helps our warriors not only during the holidays but
Speaker 1: all year long. And so I just wanted to share
Speaker 1: with you that they're already kind of thinking airplane home,
Speaker 1: big marine blanket, big Navy blanket, big Air Force blanket,
Speaker 1: big Army blanket over their shoulder, getting off the plane
Speaker 1: and having their family there to meet them. And so
Speaker 1: what does it cost an average I know, you keep
Speaker 1: track of this to send a warrior home. Just to
Speaker 1: give people an idea of what their donations are doing.
Speaker 1: I try to average it out. You know, flights are
Speaker 1: all over the place right now, costwise, but truly, about
Speaker 1: six hundred and three dollars is what we're averaging to
Speaker 1: send them home around trip, to send them one way.
Speaker 1: You know what I've got to I've gotta jump in.
Speaker 1: I gotta jump in right here, Sammy, this is how
Speaker 1: careful Warrior Foundation Freedom Station is with your money. You
Speaker 1: ask Sandy what's the average, and she says about six
Speaker 1: d and three dollars. I mean, that is how tight
Speaker 1: they pinched the pennies to make sure every cent of
Speaker 1: your donations goes to the actual heroes. And and you know,
Speaker 1: just another point, A lot of these guys are dealing
Speaker 1: with traumatic physical injuries or brain injuries. They're rehabbing, their
Speaker 1: undergoing surgeries, the rest of it. It's it is definitely
Speaker 1: the hardest time they will ever live in their lives.
Speaker 1: And the idea that we will send them home to
Speaker 1: be with mom and dad and sister and brother and
Speaker 1: see their old buddies and reconnect with who they are
Speaker 1: and and find that strength from their families. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've seen the effect that has, Sandy, I have, and
Speaker 1: I will share with you that you know, luckily, that
Speaker 1: times have changed. We have a little bit different injury
Speaker 1: and sometimes these warriors that are up at the hospital
Speaker 1: are not allowed to be able to go home. So
Speaker 1: we are going to bring in family members, bring them
Speaker 1: to San Diego so that they can be with their
Speaker 1: warrior for the holiday. So it doesn't necessarily have to
Speaker 1: be Christmas. It can be Thanksgiving, it can be New
Speaker 1: Year's But when the doctors allow them to have visitors
Speaker 1: and see their family members, we're going to bring them in.
Speaker 1: And we have a location called Legacy House that we
Speaker 1: put them in if the Fisher House is full, So
Speaker 1: it's not only we send them home, but we bring
Speaker 1: mom or dad here if need be. That's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 1: By the way, if this is starting to strike a
Speaker 1: chord with you, got Armstrong and Getty dot com. We
Speaker 1: got a big banner there. It's simple to donate, just
Speaker 1: takes you a couple of minutes. Indeed, and you know
Speaker 1: the point I was trying to make a second ago
Speaker 1: is just that, uh, and Sandy has told us about this.
Speaker 1: After that visit home or the folks coming to see
Speaker 1: that that wounded a warrior, um the guys who are
Speaker 1: getting tired and discouraged with their physical therapy and the rehab,
Speaker 1: and they're learning to deal with their prosthetic limbs or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's just a jolt of energy and can really be
Speaker 1: a powerful force for healing. So give as generously as
Speaker 1: you can. Aren't strong and getty dot com. It's extremely
Speaker 1: obvious where to click and the rest of it, and
Speaker 1: and give as generously as you can. They feel unstoppable
Speaker 1: again when they come back. They're just unstoppable. And that's
Speaker 1: what we want our military to know, is that we
Speaker 1: support them and our country loves them, and we want
Speaker 1: them not to see any disability but only see possibility.
Speaker 1: And that's truly what I worked hard for, right Sandy
Speaker 1: lem Cooler, the founder and CEO of Warrior Foundation Freedom Station. Sandy,
Speaker 1: we appreciate it, and we'll talk to you a little
Speaker 1: later in the week. Perfect. Thank you so much. You guys,
Speaker 1: truly you do make their Christmas and you do help
Speaker 1: us make the magic of Christmas. Up in the halls
Speaker 1: of the barracks. We will be decorating up there early
Speaker 1: so that they can kind of get in the spirit. Awesome, excellent, excellent, alright, terrific. Well,
Speaker 1: the folks get the credit, go to Armstrong and get
Speaker 1: dot com and and just you know, real quickly, I
Speaker 1: think there are probably you folks are so aware of
Speaker 1: what's going on in the world and the news and
Speaker 1: the rest of it that you're thinking, well, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: Where I mean, there are the terrible injuries and deaths
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan, but that's over more or less, and Iraq
Speaker 1: is mostly over. So is there a need? You know,
Speaker 1: we've talked about this. We are in something like eighty countries,
Speaker 1: it might be more eight now. Some of them are nice,
Speaker 1: stable military bases where you know, there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of fighting going on. There's lots of training, which can
Speaker 1: be dangerous and that sort of thing. But we have
Speaker 1: special forces, we have Navy seals, we have marines all
Speaker 1: over the world engaging al qaied to al shabab Uh.
Speaker 1: It's stuff we're never gonna hear about. And the need continues.
Speaker 1: So again, good arm Strong and Gutta dot com. And
Speaker 1: also in terms of the location where you foundation Freedom
Speaker 1: Station in the San Diego area, but wherever you're listening
Speaker 1: in the country, you could have you know, somebody graduated
Speaker 1: from your local high school joined the military, went to
Speaker 1: Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the places Joe mentioned
Speaker 1: and needs the benefit of Warrior Foundation Freedom Station and
Speaker 1: they end up in San Diego. So I mean it's
Speaker 1: a it's a nationwide thing. Well right, yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: one of the super giant military hospitals. Um. And it's
Speaker 1: uh and yeah, I don't know. If you're familiar with
Speaker 1: the military, you go where they tell you to go.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna try to raise a half a million
Speaker 1: dollars just off the Armstrong and Getty show by itself,
Speaker 1: which is a big ask. I mean, that's a lot
Speaker 1: of money. Um. I'm at the website and we are
Speaker 1: currently at now we just kicked this off like an
Speaker 1: hour ago. We're currently at eighteen thousand dollars on our
Speaker 1: way to five hundred. But you know, obviously we need
Speaker 1: to average about a hundred grand a day to get there. Uh.
Speaker 1: We like the tradition. Hopefully that can get going of
Speaker 1: people with wacky names when they donate, because you can
Speaker 1: put whatever you want to show up. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can be anonymous if you want to donate anonymously, but
Speaker 1: if you want to have a wacky name in there,
Speaker 1: that's that's pretty common. Um. You know, Cornpop eight hundred
Speaker 1: dollars whatever. Sure, Sure, the Hunt Hunter Biden's School of Art,
Speaker 1: and we might be right. And what we've seen in
Speaker 1: the past is a lot of people end up donating
Speaker 1: money just to get their wacky name mentioned. So people donate,
Speaker 1: you know, might donate dollars really just they could get
Speaker 1: But that's fine. It all adds up so act. So
Speaker 1: we get enough few people that think you're funny with
Speaker 1: your wacky names, everybody donate, and five bucks at a time,
Speaker 1: we end up with a heck of a lot of money.
Speaker 1: But I'm looking at some of the donations already. Here's
Speaker 1: a supporter who donated two thousand dollars, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: It's freaking awesome. But plenty of twenty five dollars and
Speaker 1: all that sort of stuff. Charlotte Bailey bucks, thank you
Speaker 1: very much. Thanks Charlotte. But we'll be talking about this
Speaker 1: all week long. Something tells me a certain young Brandon
Speaker 1: it's going to be very generous this year. Oh boy,
Speaker 1: let's go, Brandon. Brandon might donate half the money that
Speaker 1: we end up with. Tho