Speaker 1: Bushkin.
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, it's j R. Martinez on Medal of Honor.
Speaker 2: We talk a lot about what our service men and
Speaker 2: women do overseas, but we spend less time talking about
Speaker 2: what happens when they come home. Some troops come home wounded.
Speaker 2: They need a series of surgeries, cancer treatments, long term
Speaker 2: medical care, and they can spend weeks to months to
Speaker 2: years in hospitals and cities far from their homes. And
Speaker 2: during that period they need a place to stay, but
Speaker 2: that can cost a fortune, making it almost impossible for
Speaker 2: them to receive the care that they need. That's where
Speaker 2: Jennifer Duluca comes in. For fifteen years, Jen has been
Speaker 2: running Fisherhouse Boston, a branch of the Fisher House Foundation.
Speaker 2: She pioneered a program that works with local hotels to
Speaker 2: get veterans and their families the housing they need and
Speaker 2: it doesn't cost a vet a dime. In twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: Jen was awarded the Citizen Honors Service Act Award. It's
Speaker 2: one of the highest honors as civilian can receive, selected
Speaker 2: by WHO recipients of the Medal of Honor. I sat
Speaker 2: down with Jen to talk about her incredible work with
Speaker 2: our nation's veterans and their families. And while I learned
Speaker 2: she's been a fan of some of my work. More importantly,
Speaker 2: she learned I'm a huge fan of hers.
Speaker 1: Jin Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you. How are you, Jr?
Speaker 1: I'm well, how are you doing?
Speaker 3: Good? Good? I can't believe I'm talking to Jesse's son
Speaker 3: from General Hospital. All our sun in line from all
Speaker 3: those years ago.
Speaker 1: Oh that's hilarious.
Speaker 3: That's been my big joke with all my girlfriends. I'm like,
Speaker 3: you have no idea who I'm talking dude.
Speaker 1: That is hilarious. I've never had anyone say it like that.
Speaker 1: I love that. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Now listen. Then we're going to be straight up here. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're all about being vulnerable with each other and we're friends.
Speaker 2: Now right, you're a little nervous. Why are you a
Speaker 2: little nervous?
Speaker 3: I just hate talking about myself, and you know I'm shy.
Speaker 3: I'm shy.
Speaker 2: Well, the good thing is we are wanting to get
Speaker 2: to know you, but also the incredible work that you
Speaker 2: do at the Fisher House and for the listeners, can
Speaker 2: you describe what the Fisher House is and what it does?
Speaker 3: Sure, the Fisher House is a home away from home
Speaker 3: for military families when a loved one is ill or injured.
Speaker 3: There are one hundred Fisher Houses across the country right now.
Speaker 3: Fisher House Boston provides free lodging to military families that
Speaker 3: are coming to Boston to receive medical care.
Speaker 2: What's a typical case of someone you've helped, meaning from
Speaker 2: the moment that they reach out to you to the
Speaker 2: moment that they finish their treatment.
Speaker 3: So a typical day is a family will be seen
Speaker 3: at one of the major hospitals. One of the first
Speaker 3: questions the social workers or medical team will ask is
Speaker 3: are you military or have you served? The second they
Speaker 3: say yes, they give them our information and we step in.
Speaker 3: We have a nurse on staff that will then connect
Speaker 3: with the social work team. We will find out what
Speaker 3: their illness is, how long they're going to be here.
Speaker 3: Then we place them at the hotel or one of
Speaker 3: our apartments, which is right next to the medical facility
Speaker 3: that they're utilizing. They check in like a regular hotel,
Speaker 3: they never see a bill, and we stay in touch
Speaker 3: with them the entire time of the duration of their stay.
Speaker 1: That's beautiful. I love that.
Speaker 2: Not sure if you know this, I was injured in
Speaker 2: early of two thousand and three, shortly after the conflict
Speaker 2: in Iraq began, and my mother had to relocate of course,
Speaker 2: and was at the hospital by my side for the
Speaker 2: three months that I was initially in the hospital. And
Speaker 2: I've actually stayed at a Fisher House. My mother stayed
Speaker 2: at a Fisher House in San Antonio when I was
Speaker 2: recovering there. So I have a special place in my
Speaker 2: heart for the Fisher House Foundation. Like why is this
Speaker 2: so important for a veteran that's in treatment to have
Speaker 2: family close by? Like what have you found as far
Speaker 2: as like the clinical outcome?
Speaker 1: What impact does it have?
Speaker 3: Jr. It's unbelievable. I mean it's life changing. It can
Speaker 3: change the course of the outcome of someone's illness. Having
Speaker 3: a family member next to their loved one. It helps
Speaker 3: the hospital, it helps the healing process, and it helps
Speaker 3: the morale of the patient. No matter what age you are,
Speaker 3: they were there for us. We need to be there
Speaker 3: for them. And I will tell you when I speak
Speaker 3: about what we do, so many people say, I never
Speaker 3: thought about what happens when the military gets sick, when
Speaker 3: they're out. I never thought about them being in the hospital.
Speaker 3: What the cost could be to get the correct care
Speaker 3: if they had to travel from Washington State to Boston
Speaker 3: for the specialized treatment. Then you come here and you
Speaker 3: face hotels at seven hundred dollars a night and either
Speaker 3: they're saying we're going to go on hospice or the
Speaker 3: sleeping in their cars because they can't afford it. So
Speaker 3: it's very, very important for the community to step in
Speaker 3: and get together and take care of these military members
Speaker 3: that were there for us because their families need them.
Speaker 1: Now, what made you get into this work?
Speaker 3: So Jr. I have always done things taking care of people.
Speaker 3: I was brought up that way. I'm the youngest of five.
Speaker 3: It's just what we were taught you're supposed to do.
Speaker 3: So I was working at a behavioral house taking care
Speaker 3: of children. I left that and decided to do something
Speaker 3: polar opposite, So I opened a landscape company. Up came
Speaker 3: the bids to do the yard design for the Fisher
Speaker 3: House being built in West Roxbury. So we put the
Speaker 3: design in. We won the bid and I designed the
Speaker 3: backyard for the Fisher House in West Roxbury. But why
Speaker 3: it was being built by the crews. I would sit
Speaker 3: on the patio and talk to all the families, and
Speaker 3: my father was a marine. When I was little, if
Speaker 3: we saw someone in uniform, my father would walk me
Speaker 3: over to them and say, shake his hand and thank him.
Speaker 3: I was taught from a very young age that somebody
Speaker 3: in uniform has raised their hand and said they would
Speaker 3: die for you, show them the respect that they deserve.
Speaker 3: It was just a natural transition to go from what
Speaker 3: I feel intrinsically to putting it to motion and helping
Speaker 3: military families. I never thought I would be where I
Speaker 3: am today, saving our military thirteen million dollars in the
Speaker 3: twelve years we've run it chain needed cause. So it's
Speaker 3: a privilege to be able to work with our military
Speaker 3: families and carry that name.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now, I love that, and it's it's so true.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I often challenge people. You know, we're so conditioned to
Speaker 2: say thank you for your service, and even though on
Speaker 2: the surface that's very beautiful to be able to acknowledge
Speaker 2: what someone has done, you don't really necessarily truly know
Speaker 2: what you're acknowledging, right, And so what I encourage people
Speaker 2: to do instead is to replace thank you for your
Speaker 2: service with tell me about your service. That to me
Speaker 2: speaks to what you did while the crews were back
Speaker 2: there working on you know, the backyard and the layout,
Speaker 2: and you're sitting on that front porch talking to these
Speaker 2: service members and their families. What did you learn that
Speaker 2: made you realize, as a civilian, I want to be
Speaker 2: connected to this.
Speaker 3: It was honestly a privilege from the moment I walked
Speaker 3: through though those doors to meet these families, to hear
Speaker 3: what they had been through, and to know that we
Speaker 3: could make a difference, whether it's small or big, to
Speaker 3: change the course of their life going forward.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people tend to overthink it, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we tend to get caught up in the narrative that, well,
Speaker 2: what do I offer? What do I bring to the table?
Speaker 2: What do you say to those people when they're wondering
Speaker 2: I'd love to get involved. I buy into it the
Speaker 2: fact that it's a responsibility, But what do I do?
Speaker 3: You have to show up. You have to appreciate the
Speaker 3: life you live and not look for the negative. I
Speaker 3: am the incredible optimist. I know you have to believe
Speaker 3: everything's going to be okay and life is going to
Speaker 3: be good. And so many people, like you said, get
Speaker 3: caught up in what's going on and correct things to answer,
Speaker 3: and you just have to show up for each other.
Speaker 3: And that's the truth. So you said, thank you for
Speaker 3: your service. I have to share a great story. I
Speaker 3: had the privilege of meeting General Maddis and I was
Speaker 3: so nervous before meeting him, and I said, thank you
Speaker 3: for your service, sir, and he said, you're worth it. Oh,
Speaker 3: And it stopped me and he said, now, Jen, you
Speaker 3: see lots of people through your line of work. When
Speaker 3: you thank someone, if they say you're welcome, I want
Speaker 3: you to tell them this story. And I tell every
Speaker 3: military member I meet to say to somebody that says
Speaker 3: that you're worth it.
Speaker 2: When you said that, I literally, and I'm not exaggerating here,
Speaker 2: I literally felt like I had to like take a
Speaker 2: deep breath like it. I mean, it makes you think,
Speaker 2: it makes you feel something different. It definitely carries a
Speaker 2: different way to that I'm gonna have to use that
Speaker 2: you do. That's the perfect response right there. Thank you
Speaker 2: for sharing that story. It's funny how you said you
Speaker 2: were shy. Yeah, you ain't shy, Jen, I feel like
Speaker 2: we could talk for hours and hosting this podcast. That's
Speaker 2: one of the things I've identified is that we're telling
Speaker 2: these stories of these incredible individuals that did something that
Speaker 2: most of us can't even fathom, and it's easy to
Speaker 2: put them on a pedestal, and again, they deserve to
Speaker 2: be up there, right, Those individuals in a moment, they
Speaker 2: didn't know what the outcome would be. They just kept
Speaker 2: showing up, right. They didn't have to have all the answers.
Speaker 2: They just went with what they had. They just brought
Speaker 2: themselves and they just kept showing up. That's a beautiful
Speaker 2: reminder to everybody that's listening, whether you've served or not,
Speaker 2: no matter what you're navigating in life, keep showing up. Well, Jen, listen,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you a straight up question now, when
Speaker 2: these families are showing up, are you trying to convert
Speaker 2: them to be like Celtics fans and Ruin fans? And
Speaker 2: I mean, are you trying a Red Sox fan? Are
Speaker 2: you trying to convert them to be Boston fans?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: What do you do? I know you guys always trying
Speaker 2: to work on angle up there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so everyone knows the Patriots and the Bruins are
Speaker 3: the best, so they just immediate and Celtics, you know,
Speaker 3: so they just automatically want to be part of our
Speaker 3: family with that.
Speaker 1: But I think that's one of the things.
Speaker 2: Like when I was in San Antonio recovering, like, you know,
Speaker 2: they would give me a hard time, right, I'd come
Speaker 2: out of a surgery and I'd wake up and then
Speaker 2: you know, the staff would prank me and they would
Speaker 2: literally decorate my room with spurs gear and I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, like, what are you guys doing? Like why
Speaker 1: are you guys doing this to me?
Speaker 2: And it was just one of those fun, little banter
Speaker 2: things that just sort of kind of allowed you to
Speaker 2: have a little bit of an escape, if you will.
Speaker 3: So I will share our apartments. The three apartments were
Speaker 3: decorated and all the furniture donated by the New England Patriots.
Speaker 3: They have been an unbelievable partner. So I do get
Speaker 3: quite a bit when I put a family in one
Speaker 3: of our apartments. They joke with, Okay, we'll be a
Speaker 3: Patriots fan for this amount of time because all the
Speaker 3: pictures on the walls are the Patriots, So we do
Speaker 3: force them to be Patriots fans.
Speaker 1: But that's not a bad thing. That's not a bad thing.
Speaker 2: Get up there and enjoy that culture, you know, Our
Speaker 2: show focuses on stories of courage, and we're often talking
Speaker 2: about that courage that takes place on the battlefield.
Speaker 1: What kind of courage do you see in the people
Speaker 1: that you work with?
Speaker 3: Just incredible from diagnosis that they are given and how
Speaker 3: they have to stay strong for both their family and themselves.
Speaker 3: J Are there things that would send you and I
Speaker 3: into tears in our bed for hours and they're standing up,
Speaker 3: showing up for their loved ones and everyone around them.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you. General John Kelly is a good friend,
Speaker 3: and we dedicated the garden in West Roxbury to General
Speaker 3: Kelly's son who was killed in action. And one day
Speaker 3: I was walking with John and I started crying about
Speaker 3: one of our families, just simple tears coming down. And
Speaker 3: John put his hand on my arm and he gave
Speaker 3: me the best of and he said, Jen, you can
Speaker 3: never cry with the family. You're here to support them.
Speaker 3: If you're crying, they're going to turn around and take
Speaker 3: care of you. Now, Jr. If you know me, I
Speaker 3: cry at the drop of a hat. So it is
Speaker 3: very hard for me to stay in a place with
Speaker 3: these families because when you hear that, you know we've
Speaker 3: been married fifty years and we're going to celebrate our
Speaker 3: anniversary in the hospital why he fights leukemia. Talking to
Speaker 3: the veteran that calls and says, hey, I'm making this
Speaker 3: call for my wife. I know you can't help me.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to go on hospice. I need to
Speaker 3: leave her financially sound, and if we come to Boston,
Speaker 3: I won't be able to. And then I get to
Speaker 3: pop in and say, sir, you're coming to Boston. I've
Speaker 3: got you covered. We're going to get you here, and
Speaker 3: we're going to take care of your stay. And just
Speaker 3: knowing the difference we're making, there's nothing you can feel
Speaker 3: but pride. And that is a true story. And he
Speaker 3: is still living today. It's just across the board a
Speaker 3: lesson every day because they are strong when they're seeing me.
Speaker 3: They're in that space that they are allowed to come
Speaker 3: down and cry and share the worst of what's going
Speaker 3: on or the best of what's going on. So I
Speaker 3: look at these families in awe at what they are shouldering,
Speaker 3: what they are handling for their loved one. And I
Speaker 3: will say, the military don't want to ask for anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we don't ask for help. We don't.
Speaker 2: And you hear of these Medal of Honor recipients who
Speaker 2: come home and they struggle, right, They struggle. They struggle
Speaker 2: asking for help, They struggle with vulnerable you know, they
Speaker 2: struggle with how to build that community outside of that
Speaker 2: military environment. And when you have people like yourself that
Speaker 2: are doing what they're doing, it just helps a service
Speaker 2: member slowly start to believe that they can ask for help.
Speaker 3: The younger generation, I will say, is more apt to
Speaker 3: reach out, whereas the Korean and Vietnam vets, they're the
Speaker 3: ones that when I say, sir, I've got you, the
Speaker 3: phone goes quiet, and I know they're crying, so I
Speaker 3: have to give them a few minutes. Yeah, and then
Speaker 3: they come back and they say, ma'am, no one's ever
Speaker 3: done anything like this for me. I had a veteran say,
Speaker 3: we helped his wife who has leukemia and she was
Speaker 3: here for over two hundred days in the hospital receiving care.
Speaker 3: And he was a United States Marine and he said,
Speaker 3: in all the years and all the service, this is
Speaker 3: the greatest gift he has ever gotten back and the
Speaker 3: first time he ever felt respected. Wow, And that's huge.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I often refer to the nearly three years that I
Speaker 2: spent in the hospital recovering. When I actually sat down
Speaker 2: to write my book and I got into the section
Speaker 2: about my recovery, and I called my best friend and
Speaker 2: I said, Man, is it weird that as I'm referring
Speaker 2: and thinking about the time in the hospital, like I
Speaker 2: actually feel like I miss it. And he said, no,
Speaker 2: it's not weird, Jr. He's like, that's a reflection of
Speaker 2: the people that took care of you, the people that
Speaker 2: were there. And it was one of those moments where
Speaker 2: I was like, Oh, that's so true. They weren't just
Speaker 2: the team that took care of me, whether the physician
Speaker 2: or the social worker or the volunteer. They were my friends.
Speaker 2: They were my extended family.
Speaker 3: I get that because we have families that the husband
Speaker 3: or wife cannot come the whole time. And that's when
Speaker 3: we pop in and say, you know, is there anything
Speaker 3: you need? Is there any you know there's another family
Speaker 3: staying down the hall. Would you like to connect with them?
Speaker 3: And you make a community of support, And that's what
Speaker 3: it's all about. Even after we've put families up for
Speaker 3: three hundred days, you know, sometimes they don't think to
Speaker 3: come back and think about what kept them here. But
Speaker 3: I will tell you. On Thanksgiving, my text message chain
Speaker 3: fills up with messages from people saying thank you.
Speaker 2: But then, what do you do for yourself? How do
Speaker 2: you keep showing up? Because it takes an emotional toll.
Speaker 2: I mean, you become connected, invested in all of these
Speaker 2: families that you are around. What do you and what
Speaker 2: does the team do for themselves in order to keep
Speaker 2: showing up the way that you guys do.
Speaker 3: That's a great question. So I asked myself that question.
Speaker 3: I've been doing this sixteen years now, so I had
Speaker 3: gone a long time without realizing the toll that it
Speaker 3: was putting on me. Because when you hear so many
Speaker 3: sad stories, you hold them, you hold them in your heart.
Speaker 3: So this is a mission of love, I would say.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to circle this back to courage and
Speaker 3: being courageous because when I decided to start this program,
Speaker 3: I didn't know at the time if the foundation would
Speaker 3: even allow me to do this, But I had facts
Speaker 3: that there were military families that were sleeping in their cars.
Speaker 3: What are we supposed to do turn our back on
Speaker 3: them and pretend we don't know the this is happening now.
Speaker 3: So it took a lot of courage to put this together,
Speaker 3: know that it was crazy because we'd have to raise
Speaker 3: the funds to do this, and then it all just
Speaker 3: worked out. My son is in it, and early on
Speaker 3: he was volunteld that he would do this. Now he
Speaker 3: loves it and he loves being part of it because
Speaker 3: he gets to meet the military members that we help.
Speaker 3: I mentioned earlier that we have a nurse that does
Speaker 3: all of the medical intakes. That is my daughter, who
Speaker 3: I stole from her bedside nursing job after five years
Speaker 3: and said I need you on my team because they
Speaker 3: grew up with this idea. They saw me have the
Speaker 3: light bulb go off and say I need to do something.
Speaker 3: So this is a true family love. My daughter met
Speaker 3: her husband through the Fisher House Boston. He's an army guy,
Speaker 3: and unlike other jobs where you check out at the
Speaker 3: end of the day and you go home, we've have
Speaker 3: days that we put in sixteen hours sitting taking care
Speaker 3: of families. We never look at it as a job.
Speaker 3: When we talk about self care. We're family, so we
Speaker 3: talk and there's never really a cutoff time. At ten
Speaker 3: o'clock at night, Abigail can call me and say we
Speaker 3: just got a call. A man's coming in for a transplant.
Speaker 3: There medflighting him tomorrow morning. We're talking all the time
Speaker 3: about the families that need help, why the rest of
Speaker 3: the country is sleeping.
Speaker 2: So you guys turn out to be each other's support
Speaker 2: system absolutely, where you guys convent with one another's, share
Speaker 2: with one another, be there to support one another.
Speaker 1: Year you understand each other. That is beautiful.
Speaker 2: I love I love how you know the connection there
Speaker 2: and the ripple effect from the work and the way
Speaker 2: that you've shown up. You know, I'm a father, I
Speaker 2: have two kids. You know, you always get the question
Speaker 2: of like, which kid do you love the most right
Speaker 2: and as a parent, you can't really answer that question.
Speaker 2: You're like, I love them all equally. It's just but
Speaker 2: I get the impression that you're kind of like the
Speaker 2: mother for all of these you know, patients that come
Speaker 2: through and go through.
Speaker 1: You know your process.
Speaker 2: But is there one specific family or veteran whose story
Speaker 2: has stayed with you over the years.
Speaker 3: So I will tell you, honestly, every story touches me
Speaker 3: in a different way. You have children that have something
Speaker 3: called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. They are in the hospital
Speaker 3: for a long, long time, you get to know those
Speaker 3: families very well. Well. You know, I sit there and
Speaker 3: I cry with them, and I hold their hand and
Speaker 3: I support them. They are the same as the stem
Speaker 3: cell families that are coming through. It really is just
Speaker 3: like my son and daughter. Each family has changed my
Speaker 3: life in some way, and they really have. They come
Speaker 3: to you when they have fear, uncertainty, They have no
Speaker 3: idea how they're going to do this. I believe all
Speaker 3: they should focus on is their loved one and let
Speaker 3: me take care of the rest. I couldn't say I
Speaker 3: have a favorite, because they all have truly touched me
Speaker 3: and left me with something.
Speaker 1: I believe you. I believe you.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 1: Jen.
Speaker 2: Three years ago, in twenty twenty three, you, my friend,
Speaker 2: received the Citizen's Honors Service Act Medal. What did it
Speaker 2: mean for you to be recognized by Medal of Honor
Speaker 2: recipients for your service.
Speaker 3: Other than my children? The absolute greatest honor I have
Speaker 3: ever received. You know, I've been involved with the Medal
Speaker 3: of Honor for a long time. The Medal of Honor
Speaker 3: hosts a convention every year, and I would be the
Speaker 3: first to raise my hand to sit on the committee
Speaker 3: to make it an incredible week for them when they
Speaker 3: come to Boston. I can't tell you I'm you know.
Speaker 3: I look at them and the heroic things they did
Speaker 3: and the courage and the discipline everything that makes up
Speaker 3: a Medal of Honor recipient, and I am humbled. I
Speaker 3: can't believe that they even put my name in the
Speaker 3: same sentence with them, And it just makes me work
Speaker 3: harder because they gave me something so valuable and that
Speaker 3: meant so much that I have to keep showing up
Speaker 3: for these families and keep doing and growing and seeing
Speaker 3: where there are gaps and care and be there for
Speaker 3: the men and women that need us.
Speaker 2: I love that that is so pure and yet one
Speaker 2: hundred percent of what we constantly hear on this show
Speaker 2: when we're talking about metal of out of recipients, right,
Speaker 2: it's just this element of like, Okay, I have this
Speaker 2: responsibility now, right. You know it's not always easy, but
Speaker 2: this metal is just mainly a reminder that I am
Speaker 2: still in service and the job is not done right.
Speaker 2: What would you say to someone that is listening, that
Speaker 2: is navigating their own adversity, whatever it may be, and
Speaker 2: how they overcome it and how they continue to find
Speaker 2: ways to show up.
Speaker 3: So first, I'd say, give yourself a break, because we
Speaker 3: put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Give yourself a
Speaker 3: little bit of a break, and then one step at
Speaker 3: a time. And know, something that you think is so
Speaker 3: big and overpowering and crushing, sometimes when you look at
Speaker 3: it the next day, you see another way to look
Speaker 3: at it, and you start to process things in a
Speaker 3: very different way. And that's what I would say is
Speaker 3: know there are thousands of different chances, opportunities. There's nothing
Speaker 3: that's so big that can't be overcome. And lean on people.
Speaker 3: Nobody does things alone. You need your team of people,
Speaker 3: whether it's family or battle buddies or you know, whoever
Speaker 3: it is, lean on them. That's what they're there for.
Speaker 1: How have you changed as a person?
Speaker 3: I've changed so much. I would say. Twenty years ago
Speaker 3: I never used the word blessed. I am blessed. It
Speaker 3: is a gift and a privilege to be able to
Speaker 3: make a change and a difference in someone's life, especially
Speaker 3: when it is the hardest time of their life. And
Speaker 3: I'm proud of my family to see my kids stepping
Speaker 3: up and being the next generation for this and knowing
Speaker 3: how important it is. To date, we have provided over
Speaker 3: thirty three thousand nights of lodging to over fifty five
Speaker 3: hundred military families, saving them thirty teen million dollars. And
Speaker 3: that is all on donated funds from our community and
Speaker 3: people that know what we're doing.
Speaker 2: Well, Jen, this is a great opportunity to give the
Speaker 2: listener a call to action. What do you need and
Speaker 2: how can people support you and your mission? And then
Speaker 2: how can people just support the Fisher House overall.
Speaker 3: So for us here in Boston, because we do run
Speaker 3: the program on donations, we are always in need of money.
Speaker 3: So we are at Fisherhouse Boston dot org. There are
Speaker 3: donation links there, all of our information is there and
Speaker 3: that is the greatest support we need to be able
Speaker 3: to keep doing what we do. And we have military
Speaker 3: and need they are being diagnosed to now with cancer,
Speaker 3: cardiac disease, high risk pregnancies, transplants, and they're all coming
Speaker 3: to Boston to get the best medical care they can
Speaker 3: and that they deserve. So help us help them and
Speaker 3: go to Fisherhouse Boston dot org.
Speaker 1: And no donation is too small, no never.
Speaker 3: You're making a difference in someone's life, and a real difference.
Speaker 2: When I'm listening to you and I would like to
Speaker 2: say that I'm speaking for the listener right now. I
Speaker 2: feel like I just sort of blanketed in like a big,
Speaker 2: warm hug from you. That's how it feels, And it
Speaker 2: feels like I would want when I'm in the Boston area,
Speaker 2: I want to link up and I want.
Speaker 1: To give you a big old hug and you better.
Speaker 2: I mean, you are an angel on this earth love
Speaker 2: and the way that you are impacting and showing up
Speaker 2: and pouring your heart into every single intake as incredible.
Speaker 2: And again for those listening, please go look up Fisherhouse
Speaker 2: Boston dot org. Thank you so much for your willingness
Speaker 2: to not only do this work but also come on
Speaker 2: to the Medal of Honor Stories of Courage podcast And
Speaker 2: it has been such a joy to have this conversation
Speaker 2: with you.
Speaker 3: Total pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: To learn more about Jen's work at Fisher House Boston
Speaker 2: or to make a donation to support them, visit Fisherhouse
Speaker 2: Boston dot org. That link is also in our show notes.
Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Ryan Sweikert. It was edited
Speaker 2: by Lydia Jane Kott. Sound designed by Jake Gorski. Our
Speaker 2: Executive producer is Constanze Gayadroro original music by Eric Phillips.
Speaker 1: I'm j R. Martinez. Thank you for listening.