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Speaker 1: Castle An. It's Giving Tuesday today and here at the

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Podcast, we're pausing our regular release schedule

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Speaker 1: to acknowledge some charities for the great work that they

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Speaker 1: do year round. Home Base is a very important organization

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Speaker 1: based in Boston in conjunction with Mass General and the

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Speaker 1: Boston Red Sox, and i'd like to welcome back retired

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Speaker 1: Brigadier General Jack Hammond on Taking a Walk now just

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Speaker 1: for context. Home Base provides mental and brain health care

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Speaker 1: and support for veterans and military families. And I'm so

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Speaker 1: honored that you took the time today, General to be

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Speaker 1: on this episode. Well, Buzz, it's great taking a virtual

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Speaker 1: walk with you today and appreciate you kind of giving

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Speaker 1: us a little bit of a shout out and keeping

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Speaker 1: us top of mind during this time of Thanksgiving. Can

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Speaker 1: you give us a current picture of the health state

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Speaker 1: of veterans and their families in twenty twenty two as

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Speaker 1: it closes out? As you can imagine, as we've come

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Speaker 1: through the whole pandemic, we've been presented with a lot

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Speaker 1: of challenges Americans in general and have faced a lot

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Speaker 1: of mental health challenges. And if you went into this

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Speaker 1: period of time with some complex injuries. It didn't get better.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's really the bottom line. And so for

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Speaker 1: a lot of folks that got a bit worse, and

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Speaker 1: in many ways, our suicide numbers jumped quite a bit.

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Speaker 1: Everything going on in the Ukraine, where there's a threat

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Speaker 1: of nuclear war, where there's a threat of further Russian incursion.

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Speaker 1: You know, this past week, we have more than one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand US troops that have been on that border

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Speaker 1: since last February, and every one of those as a family,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of white knuckling this time. So it is

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Speaker 1: a difficult time for our people. Boy, So home base

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Speaker 1: is so important that the work that you and your

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Speaker 1: team do year round, and on this Giving Tuesday, can

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Speaker 1: you give us an update general on what's going on

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Speaker 1: at home base with many of the initiatives as you

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Speaker 1: close out the year. Every two weeks we fly in

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Speaker 1: twenty four of the most injured veterans in the country,

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Speaker 1: frankly anywhere in the world. We've flown them in from

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Speaker 1: all fifty states in thirteen countries. And then every week

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Speaker 1: we fly three to five Special Operations Team members, Navy Seals,

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Speaker 1: Green Berets, Delta Force members for our brain health and

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Speaker 1: treatment program. And then finally, three times a year we

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Speaker 1: bring in the most injured family members who are surviving

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Speaker 1: family members of military suicide, veterans suicide, some of the

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Speaker 1: most injured folks we care for, and we leverage the

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Speaker 1: incredible resources of Harvard Medical School, Mass General bring him

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Speaker 1: Spaulding Rehab to deliver the best care possible anywhere in

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Speaker 1: the world, all at no cost. By the way, So General,

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Speaker 1: on this Giving Tuesday, how can listeners help Homebase who

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Speaker 1: are listening to this on Giving Tuesday? There's two things

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Speaker 1: that could always do. First of all, go to homebase

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Speaker 1: dot org. Pretty simple, home base dot org. And then

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Speaker 1: you can you can find out a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about us. But what I would always say is if

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Speaker 1: you know a veteran who's not doing well, especially this

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Speaker 1: time of year, please encourage them to get connected to care.

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Speaker 1: We have a range of programs from wellness based to

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Speaker 1: complex political care, and everybody needs just a little bit

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Speaker 1: of different types of care. And if you feel so inclined,

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Speaker 1: we always need help because we provide this care at

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Speaker 1: no cost. So Giving Tuesday, if you'd consider us as

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Speaker 1: part of your giving, we deeply appreciate it. The money

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Speaker 1: saves lives every day. We have Janis Hoffman who's the

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Speaker 1: president and CEO of Wide Horizons for Children. Hello, Jannis, Hi, buzz.

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Speaker 1: Great to join you today. Tell the folks about Whide

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Speaker 1: Horizons for Children. Sure, we start our bases in Massachusetts,

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Speaker 1: It's where we started, but as you said, our reach

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Speaker 1: and impact is global. Well. We were incorporated in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventy four and our first I suppose initiative was the

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Speaker 1: air lift of orphans from Saigon and finding those children

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Speaker 1: homes in Massachusetts. That was our founding and our start,

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Speaker 1: and since then we've really focused on the plight of orphans,

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Speaker 1: children who have become orphans and need a family or

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Speaker 1: a safe haven, and children who are at risk because

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Speaker 1: of intergenerational poverty and other factors of becoming orphans. We've

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Speaker 1: worked in over fifty countries in about the last fifty

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Speaker 1: years with a focus on alleviating pain and suffering for

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Speaker 1: those children and giving them a brighter future. I can

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Speaker 1: go on and on for sure, and you can too.

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Speaker 1: You know, Ethiopia, Africa, Guatemala, Latin America, Eastern Europe. I

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Speaker 1: have to think also now with what's going on in

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Speaker 1: the Ukraine. I would imagine you have some work involved there.

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking is that true. Yes, we don't have a

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Speaker 1: direct program Ukraine at this time. We did in the past.

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Speaker 1: But what we're finding is that as families come over

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Speaker 1: the border into Moldova, which is a country not many

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Speaker 1: people can find on a map, we do run a

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Speaker 1: program there and those children sometimes find their way into

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Speaker 1: the orphanages that we fund in Moldova, and we have

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Speaker 1: seen that happen. Yeah, we are part of the solution

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Speaker 1: for those children. Giving Tuesday is very important. Can you

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Speaker 1: talk about what Given Tuesday does for organizations like Wide

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Speaker 1: Horizons for Children. You know, we're to our most important

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Speaker 1: giving season at this time, and Giving Tuesday is the

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Speaker 1: single most important online giving event for us. And I'm

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Speaker 1: grateful that we've had a donor come forward and provide

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Speaker 1: a match. So every dollar that we receive from a

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Speaker 1: donor this year will double the impact for children. So

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Speaker 1: how can folks help Jennie Wide Horizons? Please go to

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Speaker 1: our website It's Wide Horizons for Children dot org. Learn

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Speaker 1: about us, see are the transformative power of our programs,

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Speaker 1: and please give. I want to welcome the President and

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Speaker 1: CEO of Easter Seals Massachusetts, Paul madeiros Thanks for being on, Paul,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much for having me buzz I appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Please tell our listeners about the mission of Easter Seals. Sure.

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Speaker 1: Our mission is to provide services to ensure that children

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Speaker 1: and adults with disabilities have equal opportunities to live, learn, work,

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Speaker 1: and play. And you've been at Easter Seals for a

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Speaker 1: couple of years in your career, right, Yeah, Actually I

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Speaker 1: just last month I celebrated my twentieth anniversary. I started

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Speaker 1: as an occupational therapist twenty years ago and just really

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Speaker 1: believe in the mission and love the work we do

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Speaker 1: here and have never really had a reason to look elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: How can people help and specifically there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: folks listening to this podcast that are certainly from the

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Speaker 1: Boston and massive choose its area, but we also do

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Speaker 1: have a reach well across the country, but also you know,

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Speaker 1: globally as well. So speak to how folks listening to

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Speaker 1: this can help Easter Seals for sure. Well, you know

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Speaker 1: where a nonprofit, donations always are welcome no matter where

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Speaker 1: you live, and we are focused in Massachusetts, but I

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Speaker 1: think our mission is global, and we also have a

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Speaker 1: network of Easter Seals across the country, but if you'd

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Speaker 1: like to donate, you know, you can come to our

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Speaker 1: website Easter salsma dot org and we do, I think

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Speaker 1: a pretty good job of keeping things up to date

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Speaker 1: and telling you what's going on so you can choose,

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Speaker 1: you know, where you'd like your dollars to go. As well.

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Speaker 1: We have a veterans program that works with returning service

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Speaker 1: members and their families. We have a variety of employment programs,

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Speaker 1: so really whatever you're passionate about, you know, you could

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Speaker 1: come to the website, check it out and possibly make

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Speaker 1: a donation. We also need volunteers, you know, all of

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Speaker 1: our programs really rely on volunteers, and whether you're in

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Speaker 1: Massachusetts and you'd like to do some hands on work,

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Speaker 1: or maybe you'd like to just you know, make a

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Speaker 1: donation and help us either get these programs off the

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Speaker 1: ground or sustain some of our really successful, long running programs.

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Speaker 1: We can always use your help. Paul, thank you for

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Speaker 1: the work that you and your team do, and thanks

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Speaker 1: for being on taking a walk on this Giving Tuesday. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: thanks again for having me, and thanks for thanks for

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Speaker 1: personally being a supporter of Easter Seals as well, taking

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Speaker 1: a walk with busnight