 Hey, it's eight o'clock, so we're gonna go ahead and get started I'd like to go ahead and introduce the folks on stage and we'll have one more joining us this morning I have a Kirk Johnson He sits on the hospital and voluntary services committee with me Jim Shuey Wanda Janice and Katie Gepinger Katie Gepinger is the supervisor of voluntary services. She works with me every day I don't know how she puts up with me, but she does so I'll give her credit for that And then we're gonna have Bill Ballman joining us and everybody in here probably knows what Bill Ballman All right, so this morning. We'll talk about voluntary services and we're constrained to an hour and I know at the end of my seminars I normally kind of flock up here and ask a lot of questions There's another seminar that comes on right after me at 9 15 So we're gonna have to get out of here so they can get in and get set up. Okay, and I do have to leave this the site today For a little bit to go make a special presentation to a local person here in Atlanta So if I don't answer your questions right after this seminar, please get with me throughout the convention You know, I'm always out and about and I'd be glad to answer your questions All right our voluntary services staff consistent myself Katie Gepinger who I just introduced to you Brady Griffin many of you have talked to she was a correspondent But recently was promoted to be my assistant and so we're glad to have Brady Brady is a breath of fresh air in our department We have Odie Hall who a lot of you have also dealt with she's been in our department for quite some time Connie Kenny Who does our transportation network and then Nicole Inzweiler and Kristen Rittburger Hardy, they're two new ones to our team So they're learning from Brady and Odie and Connie so bear with it with them as a transition into their new roles voluntary services is I Like the joke around I call us a spinal cord of DAV because we do everything there. All right Membership supposedly the new lifeblood. Don't worry about all that. All right, but anyways We do a lot we have our hands at a little bit of everything everything that you do in your community Everything is due at the VA Medical Center. It all just results to the figure you see on stage I mean we devoted almost 45 million dollars to voluntary services I mean that's a that's a huge number and it's all thanks to each and every one of you in this room and everybody who couldn't make it here today and You as volunteers obviously know how important it is to recruit and attain new volunteers and all I asked of each of you is to try to bring one person on and Whether they can do it one day a month Two days a week whatever whatever their schedule fits So I really need your help to encourage somebody to come in and volunteer their time most people are scared because When we make a commitment we think we have to do it every day And if they have the time to do it every day, that's great But I know each and every one of you really loves volunteering. I see some very dedicated volunteers in here But I need your help. We need more volunteers. Okay, so go back go back to your homes and encourage someone to join up Some of our programs consist of what's on the board here, and I'm gonna talk about them all Local Veterans Assistance Program LVAP. I know each and every one of you hear me talking about it talking about it talking about it That's that little prize jewel that Every one of you is doing something you're not reporting it and we're working to try to make that easier for you so what you're doing in the communities is Great start tracking that stuff and carry a little binder and make a note on your smart phone You got a flip phone get rid of the flip phone get a smart phone. All right VAVS Opposite LVAP basically anything that you do at a VA medical center is VAVS everything you do outside of communities Can probably be covered under LVAP? VAVS consists of driving a vehicle Being an information desk clerk helping people around transporting people from A to B at the VA medical centers Or just being a greeter walking around doing you know stuffing bags for patients those type of things are VAVS Our transportation network. That's the backbone right there guys since 1987 we've done so much Again, we need your help to recruit people to drive vehicles And I know I'm gonna get a question today about the onboarding of volunteer drivers We're working on it. All right The Jesse Brown Youth Memorial Scholarship each and every one of you back in your communities has a youth volunteering at the medical center Guarantee it because most of these kids nowadays have to volunteer so many hours to graduate high school Encouraging to sign up at DAV. I mean we have a robust scholarship program. We give out seventy five thousand dollars a year That's a lot of money Our celebrity entertainment program y'all saw Larry yesterday. He's been doing it for more than 40 years When we're working on bringing on new people as well But Jerry Lane Larry Barnett still traveled all the VA medical centers across the country and visit with patients They do a wonderful job and I tell you what I've been with them both walking the room patients really light up and a lot of times They're the only people that are Larry and Jerry the only ones they see for the day And then of course DAV's best-kept secret the National Disabled Veterans Winner Sports Clank Very proud to co-host that event with the Department of Veterans Affairs and my counterpart Teresa Parks over there It's a wonderful event This year we had almost 340 participants at the event It's a worthwhile endeavor and if you don't know about it ask me about it because I can talk to you about it Till I'm blue in the face wonderful event All right L that Well since 2007 we've had more than 7,100 volunteers donate 2.7 million hours of their time It is a very worthwhile event that number ought to be So huge my abacus has to get replaced with a calculator so I can tally that stuff up You're each and every one of you again is doing something in your community said is LVAP. All right a little bit more about that some of the Categories that fall under that you're how many chapter service officers are in here All right. All right another quick stress quick quick Trick question. How many of you reporting those under LVAP? About half of you right? Those are all things that you can can track How many of you don't forget me not drives? All right, it's early y'all wake How many of you reporting them as LVAP? All right again same number Anytime you're out promoting the organization. I know we have a new drive for your community at Ford event How many of you have had one of those this year? Did you report it as LVAP? That's an opportunity. That's a missed opportunity. So those are all ways that you can Track and get eligible for LVAP and if you are Volunteering through LVAP you're eligible for One of these fancy things Jim shoey can hold up some more of volunteer incentives I mean you're you're you're eligible for all that same stuff, okay? We have the same levels. We want to recognize you for your volunteer opportunities Again more examples. There's five case coming up around the country. How many of you got a 5k coming to your neck of the woods? That's an opportunity for you to capture every volunteer and report that under LVAP and we do recognize you as a division leader We want to bring you up on stage in us. Who's in here from Virginia? We want to knock Virginia off of that right guys Where's California at come on California y'all got to get it together, right? All right, Oklahoma. We got Oklahoma in here Oklahoma they really turn it up a notch Nebraska And your guys y'all stepped it up a bit South Dakota All right Missouri I Recognize everybody. All right good Boston you got a 5k coming you ready to you ready to do it to it. All right guys No, I like it. There you go. He's aggressive. We'll see what they do next year All right, Vavs, you know, I talk a little bit about all this earlier It's anything you're doing in the VA medical center. You don't have to be a driver You can go in one day a week hand out magazines again stuff bags That's all it's all relative if you get your time in there I'm a registered volunteer at the Cincinnati VA medical center. I I go over and visit with patients as much as possible All right, George eight seal award This is something I really struggle with every year. Yes, sir Absolutely, absolutely. If you when you leave your house, you're gonna start volunteering by me and start tracking your house Okay. Well, then if you didn't put it under the LVAP program, you're setting out the volunteer for the day, right? boom work All right The George eight seal award. I mean we recognize The DAV in the DA VA top volunteer of the year. I struggle Every year to get people to be nominated for that and that award So if you could work with your program managers If you can work with your department leaders about people who are doing things recognize somebody for that award There's almost 200 facilities across the country. I got 28 applications for that this year 28 and for the auxiliary I got three That's the best bad, right? I mean I Need your help. So if you can take that back Help your program managers out. That'd be great. Yes, ma'am All right. Well, first of all, I don't need your last four on any of our forms. Okay? I know it's on there. I'm gonna change that we're gonna talk a little bit about a program that's coming out the DAB 360 project I Don't need anybody's last four on their social security of their social security number. Okay? It's I'm concerned about your safety as well as mine. I know identity theft is happening day in day out. Don't worry about that Skip over it. It's your last four Yeah, she's taught us you talk about the LVAP form. Yeah, well, I don't need that on the LVAP form Okay, that's it. That's a DAV form. That's not a VA form. Okay. Yes It's coming off It's not Talking to the microphone Jim All it is required is that it be populated it doesn't have to be correct So you can put in what I've done is put it zero zero zero zero when I pull it up I immediately know that that person is you know You know, I set up in my case in Nebraska. I went into Gmail and Set up a Gmail account LVAP Nebraska at Gmail calm There you go put that in there that satisfies the system It satisfies the LVAP system until we get to 360 so right those are those are workarounds Once we get to DAV 360 it will require a unique email address You will not be able to do that any longer. You will have to have a Different email address for each person because eventually with DAV 360 the volunteers will actually be able to log in They won't be able to report their own hours But they will be able to see what their hours are change their own addresses email addresses things like that So they will have to have your hours because the system I will make a note of that and I'll talk to our the folks who are actually implementing the system and see what we can do About that. I'm not sure it's it's a valid concern, but How many of you still actually get a newspaper at home how many of you I'm actually surprised how I can't believe newspapers are still in production if you want the truth to be matter, so but a truth be told I'll ever read the newspaper to but Eventually Everybody's going to transition into an email. How many of you're on Facebook? That's my point right there All right, you guys a bunch of people on Facebook. All right, so you have the technology I mean, it's it's there and the capability to do it So we're gonna have to evolve with the times I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean we get technology It's a way we can reach out and tell you things as a volunteer I want to make this more personal You have an anniversary date of birthday. I want to I want to shoot an email to you. So hey happy birthday You're 99 years old. Thanks for volunteering. I'm serious. I want to do those types of things Oh got a question For all that it's calendar year. So January January 1 to December 31 Okay All right back to the George H. Seal. Yes, Marianne. I understand. We'll take this We'll take that back and take a look at it. Yes, Chris Well, you would have already registered as a volunteer at VA that have all your information So when you turn that into your your HSC your program manager, that's a different animal. Okay? Correct we're we're getting away from that. We're trying to again. We're evolving with the times, right? I understand identity thing What's that? For the riders if that that's an internal process. You're using it VA. I'm not affiliated with that. Okay? But back to George H. Seal. I need your help If you're volunteering and don't be afraid to ask them to nominate you if you're doing something that I want to recognize you So I'd love to get more than 28 applications is what I'm getting at. I really need your help with that, okay? Transportation Network program again. I love talking about this You know last year we provided more than a 711,000 rides to veterans To and from their appointments. We've had some complications in the past where VA or DAV transportation at work in the VA transportation service VTN VTS Those programs were designed to complement each other They should work hand-in-hand if you have a veteran who is non transferable That means they cannot get in and out of the vehicle with minimal assistance They should be eligible for the VTS And we've had some problems in Florida that we worked out and I think things are getting much better down in Florida. Am I right? All right, so So if you're having problems in your community, please reach out and let me know and I think you can attest to this I Will make a phone call and we can get it resolved relatively quick. Am I right? All right Some more statistics there. I just talked about the number of veterans we provided a transportation to The Jesse Brown Youth Memorial Scholarship, I love this program. We're working hard to Promote it. I have a poster if you're interested in getting a poster to take out to your facility Shoot me an email. Give me a phone call. Talk to Brady. She doesn't do anything on the day anyway So she'd be glad to talk with you There's a really nice poster that we put out it's in it's in It really promotes our scholarship and it promotes volunteerism as a whole it's it doesn't focus on one thing But these these young young men and women at the hospital don't realize that we have this this money to give Um, I've asked for your help each and every year to get more applications and this year I'm proud to say we received over 50 applications We went from 25 the year before to over 50. So we doubled our efforts. I need you help again Again, there's almost 200 medical facilities across the country And not counting everything that they can do under the LVAP program that makes them eligible for the scholarship Uh encourage volunteerism Get these kids signed up as volunteers so they can get eligible for the scholarship Mary Ann Well, that's really where I want you as a va vs rep or depth to talk to these kids walk around promoting our scholarship program But also like Mary Ann said work with your chief tell your chief there that Or the program manager whoever's doing the orientation about the scholarship so they can talk about it At Cincinnati when a kid walks in and they want to volunteer That program manager says you need to sign up for DAV. They have a scholarship program. That's phenomenal. So That's happening at a lot of those facilities at Nebraska had uh in Lincoln. They had two siblings that won the scholarship Uh a year apart And the top recipient this year sister won it two years ago So that those are kids that are really given back. Yes, Lenny Absolutely absolutely Okay, we talked a little bit about the celebrity entertainment program and Jerry and Larry I'm not going to talk about that much more, but it's a wonderful program. Hopefully you've had the opportunity to a visit with them Or meet with them All right, the prize jewel of DAV the national disabled veterans winter sports clinic This event happens every year. We've been this last year was our 30th year three decades. We've done this event with the va It is a wonderful worthwhile endeavor. Do I have anybody in here who's participated in the winter sports clinic? It's changed your life, didn't it? Got you, huh? Did I see another one back there? Yep, that Jim Sersley Yeah Good to see you Jim It is a wonderful event that one of the winter sports clinic really changes people's lives Um on the first day they roll in they're real timid and reluctant to get involved in it pretty down and out I mean, that's what I see Uh about day three They're up at five o'clock in the morning to get breakfast and they're ready to get them on the mountain so it's a it's a wonderful event and I just like to say to everybody in here if you're if your chapter your department Supported it at DAV. Thank you so much. It's it's it's greatly appreciated and we continue to find new ways to promote this event Where we at? Yes, sir. Thanks Um, again, this event is put together with us in the va and we're very proud to to boast our relationship The va has six of these types of events The winter sports clinic is just one that DAV co-host and i'm not going to talk about any of the others because this one is the best All right Again, I talked a little bit about five k's earlier And you got a five k's coming to your community It's a great opportunity for you to track LVAP I There's multiple departments in here. I need your support. I need you to get involved with the LVAP program Start tracking those hours and reporting them