 My name is Sam Kelly and I live in Scarborough, Maine and I've been involved with an organization called Vet2Vet here in Maine. It's one of the best things I ever did in my life, believe me, and I'm a veteran from the late 60s, US Army spending a year in Vietnam. And getting involved with this organization, Vet2Vet is literally one of the best things I ever did in my life as far as giving back to my fellow veterans and just giving back to my community. And anyways, in here in Maine, we have about 100,000 veterans and it's just a great organization here for the state of Maine. And anyways, tonight I wanted to introduce the people that are very involved in this group. Two people in particular is Sue Gold, who is the creator of the Vet2Vet operation and Lynn White, who is a fellow veteran, been on the, been involved with the Vet2Vet group for years and on the board of directors. And I just wanted to thank you both for coming in tonight. Thank you for having us. The first question I have is, tell us a little bit about Vet2Vet, if you could, Sue. Sure. And how you got involved. Okay, well, Vet2Vet goes back a ways, Vet2Vet, Maine. We got our start in 2014 as a program for Southern Maine Agency on Aging. They created a VISTA position for volunteers and service to America to help research and develop a program that would benefit older veterans in York and Cumberland counties. And I was a VISTA volunteer and I applied for the position and got it. And so I did some research on what would be helpful to older veterans in Southern Maine. And in my research, I had a number of veterans tell me that they would never ask for help from anyone except another veteran. Really? Wow. And I had some experience with peer-to-peer support groups and I felt very strongly from that evidence as well that a peer program for veterans would be very beneficial. And I also learned in my research that more than 50% of veterans in Southern Maine are 65 or older and many are living alone or with an aging spouse and many are living with adult children who work. So they're virtually alone most of the day. So I was thinking we really need to have some way to help these veterans first who are living alone who are, some of them are socially isolated from the community and from other people. And the other thing I found was that only about a third of veterans in Maine made use of the benefits that the VA offers them. The benefits that they earned. And so I thought, you know, we really also need to find a way to connect these veterans with services that can improve their life. And so I decided that a friendly visitor program might be a good way to do that. And it, but I felt strongly, as I said, that a peer program would be the best way to connect with veterans. So we made it a peer to peer friendly visitor program. So we started recruiting veterans who wanted to help other veterans. And we matched them after we trained them and we screened them, of course. And then we matched them to other veterans who could use a friend. We didn't have any, at that stage we were pretty much exclusively serving older veterans because it was through the agency on aging. And it became very popular. Our volunteers thought that, well, they told me they were getting more out of it than the veterans that they serve. But they still tell me that. But I don't think that's true. I think the veterans they serve also get as much out of it. But on both ends, they were really enjoying that time that they spent together. And we asked each volunteer, we call them peer companions and we asked them to spend at least two times a month to visit with their veteran that they were matched with. And they were also serving as eyes and ears if they felt that there was a problem or something, some service that could benefit the veteran they were visiting. For example, if they didn't have the right kind of food or enough food, meals on wheels, they would match them up with meals on wheels. We've had all kinds of things that we've been able, services and programs that we've been able to bring to veterans through this program. So anyway, this became very popular. And at some point, we had a quasi board for the program at SMA. And the board and I felt that we really wanted to expand. We wanted to be able to bring it to younger veterans too who might, especially combat vets who are coming home and might need a mentor to reintegrate with civilian life. And we also wanted to expand beyond York and Cumberland counties. And so we looked into forming our own nonprofit and that's what we did in 2018 in June. And we also got 501C3 tax exempt status from the federal government in March of 2019. So we became vet to vet main. And we started out with about, I think, 40 volunteers at that point. We now are up to over 100 volunteers. And about 80 of those volunteers are peer companions or have been trained as peer companions. Wow. So that's the story. Good. We'll have more questions for you. Let me ask a couple of questions. Tell me a little bit about your background. You know, where you came from, when you were in the service, how long you were in the service and how you got involved with vet to vet. Oh, thanks, Sam. Well, first off, Sam and I served in the military at the same time. We went to basic training at Fort Dixon, New Jersey in 1967, late 1967. So that's when I entered the service. I was, it was prior to going to college. So I went into the service and spent, I spent three years in the army. I did my basic training at Fort Dixon, New Jersey and then went to Fort Lennwood, Missouri for training as an engineer and then off to Vietnam. I did a tour in Vietnam and then I did a tour in Germany. And after that, I went to college, got a degree in engineering and for the next 40 years ran different businesses, industrial businesses. So I retired in early 2015 and we moved to Maine, built a house, moved to Maine. And I was sitting in my easy chair reading the newspaper one Sunday morning, I think it was. And there was an article about vet to vet. And I thought, that's interesting. And so I called and met Susan. And the next thing I knew, I was a volunteer, went to the training, of course, and became a vet to vet volunteer. And just to digress a bit, two of my very close childhood friends who still are in upstate New York, both have been suffering for a time from Agent Orange. And they are having a difficult time. I spend time on the phone with them. And as I learned more about vet to vet, I thought, geez, what a wonderful thing if it were available to them. Of course, it wasn't. But I thought, well, I can certainly help some veterans here in Maine who probably may have similar difficulties. So at any rate, so I joined vet to vet Maine. I've had the great opportunity to befriend and work with three different veterans. First veteran I worked with, Paul was an army veteran. He was a paratrooper during the Korean War. He had a great relationship with Paul and got to meet a lot of his family. And that's the other thing about vet to vet Maine. Not only do you end up befriending and working with a veteran, but more often than not, you end up meeting a lot of their family. And Paul's family and the others that I worked with, they kind of accept you as almost like a member of the family. So I worked with Paul. He ended up, he was living with his relatives. He ended up in the Scarborough Veterans Home. And unfortunately, during the COVID time, he passed away. Susan then matched me up with Robert. It was very interesting. Robert was a merchant mariter during World War II. He was off the coast of Normandy during the invasion. And Robert and I really hit it off. Of course, there was a difference in age. He was approaching 100 years old. But he was from upstate New York as well. So we had a lot of stories and we really hit it off. We had a great time with him and his family. Got to spend a lot of time with his wife, Mary, as well as Robert. And he'd tell a lot of stories about not only being off the coast of Normandy and they use their ship at some times where a lot of the wounded would be brought aboard and they would help treat the wounded. He was on a lot of different convoys, very dangerous convoys, told a lot of other stories. And it was interesting because we'd talk about his travels. And then I'd meet him the next time. He'd say, Lynn, I remembered the name of the ship I was on. So he'd tell me the name of the ship. And then next time I'd do some research. I found, in a couple of cases, I found a picture of the ship and a little bit about where it traveled. And I come back and I share that with him. It was just really, really great. Really enjoyed Robert a lot. And he ended up passing away just too much short of his 100th birthday. He was doing pretty well, but unfortunately, he just took turns for the worst. But almost 100 years old. It was a good memory. Oh, yeah, that was Robert. He was Sharper's Attack, up until the Adios Sharper's Attack. And then Susan a little time went by. And Susan matched me up with Peter. And Peter was an Army veteran. He was same thing, early 50s, Korean War era. He was an artillery officer. And Peter lived alone. He'd lost his wife a few years prior to my meeting, Peter. And it was great. We had a great time. We had a great garden in the back. He lived in the Port Elizabeth. And I'd go there, and we'd get together and go out and do some weeding. And it was really great. We had a great time for quite a long time. And then, unfortunately, Peter had some difficulties. He took a couple of falls. He wouldn't give up going out and moaned his lawn. And he had like a steep lawn aside. I remember driving into the driveway one day, and he's got a lawn that slopes down. And he's down the lawn. He's kind of pushing the lawn more up. And I'm thinking, oh my goodness, he's going to fall. He never did then. But he did fall in his garage and banged his head and was in the hospital for a bit. But at any rate, he ended up passing on his sleep very peacefully. So I had a great experience. And as Susan mentioned, I certainly have taken as much from the program as I think the veterans that I've been friends with have gotten out of it as well. But it's been a great program. I've had a great time being a part of the program since, well, I was in the second class, I guess. Second class. I don't even know a class I was in. So it was a great program. And now, as Susan said, when we were at Sma, we wanted to expand. And we thought, hey, having a veteran-managed, veteran-run organization would be the best way for us to be able to expand within the state of Maine and hopefully be a model so that the vet-to-vet type program can reach out to other parts of the country. Because there are so many veterans, like the friends I have in New York, that would really benefit from having a friend. Oh, I agree. I agree. One thing I'd like to add, too, is that Lynn has been a fabulous support as president of the organization since it started. And also, he was part of the original quasi-board at Sma, too. Oh, really? So he's been the leadership helm since pretty much day one. Well, along with Susan and some others. Yeah, that's true. And he still serves as president. Well, like I say, I've been involved for maybe four or five years. I can't remember exactly how many he has been involved. But I'm on my third veteran and the first veteran, he was living on his own. And he really shouldn't have been. He shouldn't have been living in his own house. He needed services like somebody to help him cook, clean, shop, et cetera. And anyways, I remember calling Sue and saying, geez, my vet could use some help type of thing. And Sue, through her magic, was able to get somebody to come and help him in his house like five days a week. I don't know if we probably don't do that anymore because of that was when you affiliated maybe more with Sma, a Southern Maine agency on aging. We still work very closely with our collaborators and one of whom is Sma, Southern Maine agency on aging. But there are a number of others too who help and the VA help us get services for veterans. Unfortunately, because of COVID, it's been difficult to get home care. But we still are working through collaborators, collaborations to do that. What a service that was for this guy. I mean, because he was about 85 or 90 at that time type of thing. And he desperately needed somebody to help him with cooking and shopping and things like this. And the vet provided that. And then he passed away two years ago. And then my next veteran was a guy who was in a nursing home here in Portland. And I visited him for about three or four months. And he was a Vietnam veteran also. But a little older than me. And we visited him. He was a wonderful man. Just so enjoyed being around him. He was just a good-natured person. But he passed away after about four months or so type of thing. And now I'm on my next veteran. And he's a second world war veteran and living with his wife in Portland. And we don't use the last names here. But so I visited him once a week. And he's a known person in Portland. And a lot of people know who he is. We have a wonderful time. We really do. And again, through the vet to vet just recently, he has always had problems with his hearing aids. They would fall out of his ears, down his shirt, and like, try to get down his shirt. I couldn't do that anymore. And finally, we were able to get some headphones for him. But I was able to call to the VA and tell them the problem. He's a veteran, obviously. And within like two weeks or a week, we had earphones in the mail for him. And I attribute a lot of that to being able to use the vet to vet organization as a resource and to knock down barriers. And he's a wonderful person. I mean, like I say, 95 years old, I was with him yesterday. And he started singing these songs from back in 1935 or something, you know? And I go, how do you remember this? And then I'm joking. Do you remember the $100 you were going to give me? I didn't. That's the second stop. Well, I think that's a great example, though, how wonderful the volunteers are in finding ways to help their veterans. Because we got a very glowing report from this gentleman's VA case worker who said that Sam was instrumental in getting help for him and for socializing him, helping him get out into the community again and talking with other people. Because he had been isolated in two ways, isolated at home, but also by not being able to hear anything, he was isolated that way, too. And now he can follow the conversation. Yeah, he can. It's amazing, just those earphones. What a difference it seemed to have made. I know it's easier for me, when like, because I'd go over there and for 45 minutes would yell at each other. And that non-exaggeration would be, you know, five feet apart and we're screaming. I'm going to go, oh, God, oh, he is so much, you know. And I attribute this to Vette to Vette, you know? I mean, the great success, you know, I'm a great supporter of Vette to Vette and it's a wonderful group. And, you know, Sue, Lynn, you know, as far as it's a great board of directors, it's a great group of guys, people, I shouldn't say, because it's not all guys, because there's ladies involved also. And it's about how many veterans do we have in the Vette to Vette program who are the volunteers visiting now, approximately? Well, right now, I think we have about 70 matched up, 70 payers, but we have about 10 more, well, we just graduated 10 more volunteers, a new crop of volunteers. And we have about at least that many veterans who are waiting to get matched up. So we're always, and there's always some turnover because of the age, the advanced age of the veterans who are helping. So, but often when a veteran dies, that veteran's peer companion might want to take a couple months off, just to grieve, I think. The relationships become very close. And so that happens sometimes, and they'll take a little time off and then they'll start up. And other peer companions want to get right back in because they miss that relationship, I think. But I tell people, these relationships often develop into lifelong relationships. And we've had a number of cases where our volunteer has sat at the bedside of their veteran as he dies. And I remember one in particular that it touches my heart because this man, he was referred to us by a case worker. And she said, he has no one. He doesn't even have an emergency contact. The only people he had in his life were workers. He had a wonderful person who came and helped clean the house and prepare meals. And she was very fond of him. But of course, she was an employee than his case worker. So the person, I matched him up with this wonderful volunteer who became so close to him. And at one point, he had a lot of health challenges, his name was Franklin, and he had to be on oxygen. He was in a wheelchair. And he told his volunteer that he had never been able to see his wife's grave. She had died the year before and he had never been able to see her. She was at the Veteran Cemetery in Sanford. And so the volunteer talked with the nurse, the visiting nurse and said, okay, I need to know how to change his oxygen because the tank wouldn't last that long on the trip. So she showed him how to do that. He loaded it up, put the wheelchair in his vehicle and they headed out for Sanford. And he wheeled Franklin to his wife's grave and left him there for, said, okay, when you're ready, I'm gonna leave you here for a while to communicate with your wife. And when you're ready, just raise your hand and I'll come and get you. And that meant so much to Franklin. That's kind of a gift that you can't buy. You can't buy that kind of caring. And that's why it's so, I think that's why it's so rewarding for the volunteers too, because they know that they've given so much, such a gift that cannot be replicated. It's something that they have to give from their heart. Oh my God, yeah. And there's so many stories like that. Before the COVID, we would get together, I say we all the volunteers typically would get together once every couple of months, case review and go around the table and we'd all share stories and what was going on with the veterans we were working with. So you got to hear a lot of really great, great stories. I mean, some were just hilarious, some were very sad and they just range the gamut from just all over the place but it was just so interesting. And a lot of times you could take something out of those reviews and it would help with the relationship you had with your veteran. Somebody maybe was having some difficulty, maybe with the setting that the veteran was in with their family or whatever the case might be. And you learn something from it that would help. And again, it would be sometimes very entertaining, very sad, very happy, it was just great. Now we do them via Zoom because of the pandemic and hopefully in the not too distant future we'll be able to resume our in-person meetings. So that's another great part of the program you get to meet, not only do you get to meet other, the veterans that you're gonna be a friend and work with but you get to meet a lot of other veterans like me, UCM and other veterans on the board and many of the other volunteers and you get to share with them as well. So it's a great network that you can, of veterans that you can meet and work with and learn from and enjoy the company of. It's a great program. What kind of training do the people have to go through here or how does that work anyway? We have about, it's about a nine hour training at this point and they learn how to communicate. They get some real good tips about how to communicate well, how to listen effectively, how to set boundaries. They learn what kinds of problems that they might encounter, how to deal with PTSD, dementia, various things that might affect their veteran. They learn, they have, we also have a panel of volunteers who have been out in the field, peer companions who've been out in the field and they talk about their experiences, let the volunteers know what's in store, how they react, relate to their veterans. We have another panel of resource experts, so someone from the VA, someone from the main bureau of veteran services. We have someone from Southern Main Agency on Aging. Still involved. Yeah, and we have some other, sometimes we fill in with other people as well who talk about what services are out there and available for veterans so that they'll know what they might be able to offer their veteran. And then we have a number of other, we certainly talk about our policies as an organization and what we expect of our volunteers and we go over the paperwork and all that stuff that they have to do. And then sometimes, and we also go over, we give them some strategies to use if they encounter some of any difficulties. And I always tell people, this is an opportunity to have a wonderful relationship. But sometimes the first time we don't, I'm pretty good at matching, I'm a matchmaker by heart. But it doesn't always work. So I really reiterate and tell them, if it doesn't work, you know if it's gonna work and not usually, you can tell. And if it's not gonna work for you, then that's fine. Just let us know and we'll find somebody else for you and we'll find someone else for the veteran. And I've done that, one fabulous example was early on, we had a veteran who was very compromised. He couldn't, he was very, he wasn't very mobile. He stayed in his room most of the day. His adult stepdaughter lived, he lived with her, but she worked during the day. So he was pretty much alone. And with his dog, I think he had a dog. But he was not very mobile and he couldn't see very well. So the first volunteer I sent in told us, he just didn't think he could reach him. He was not able to get him to talk. He couldn't relate to him at all. So we've matched that peer companion to another veteran and they hit it off so well that when the veteran died, the family gave our peer companion the flag that was. Really? Yes. Now back to the veteran, we matched him up with another volunteer who was fabulous. He just was so interested in people's history and he got him talking about his past and about his work and it ended up with, they spent two or three times a week talking about this guy's history and recording his autobiography. And the guy was so involved with us. He looked forward to it and every time the volunteer left, he said, no, when are you coming again? Is that right? So they both worked wonderfully well. So we really want people to let us know if it's not working because if it's not, we'll wake at work with somebody else and that's fine. Now, do you have women involved also? Oh, certainly. We have some fabulous women who've been involved. On the board and elsewhere, one great example was Charlene who was a teacher and a veteran and Vi who was a nurse practitioner in World War II. And they had a fabulous time and Charlene, they would go out to breakfast every Friday and people knew Vi, so they were shot by the table. All the, you know, it'd be a constant stream of people walking by saying hi Vi, how are you? Was Vi the volunteer? No, Vi was 90 at the time. I think she was 95, maybe 96. She'd been involved in all kinds of things. And then as time went on, she was living in an assisted living place and her daughter had tried to get a VA pension, which she felt she was entitled to but it had been held up for the last two years and she was running out of money and her daughter was getting pretty desperate because she was afraid she was gonna have to move out of her assisted living and she didn't know what she was gonna do. So they told Charlene and the daughter told Charlene and Charlene said, no problem, we'll get it done. Really? So she called us and we called representative Pingree's office three weeks later, I got a call from the daughter, said, well, we got the pension and it's two years retroactive. Wow. So Vi was able to, she had no problems with money after that and she did, she died about, I think she was 98 when she died. Is that right? But they had a fabulous relationship to just really very caring for each other. Yeah, so there are, how many women have been involved anyways over there? I would say probably about a quarter of her. Maybe not quite that many. So 20 or 30 was... Maybe between 15 and 20%, I guess. Oh, wow, okay, good. Well, that was sort of representative of what the military is, I wouldn't be surprised. Actually, it's a little bit less than that in Maine anyway. Then you have one particular person, Gretchen. Oh yeah, we have some fabulous volunteers and then we have Gretchen Evans who's a pretty much an international star as a member of the team. She started Team Unbroken, which is in Bear Gillis's, what is it, the... The race, the... World's toughest race. World's toughest race. Oh really? Yeah, she's fabulous and she's been volunteering with us as a PR person and fundraiser and she's just very supportive of our operations. She's inspirational and she's amazing. She held the highest rank, enlisted rank in the service for a man or a woman. She was a, I think, not a master, I forget what's Command Master Sergeant Major, I can't remember exactly the title, but she was injured, wounded in... Afghanistan, was it Afghanistan or was it Afghanistan? With a bomb and she lost her hearing, so she's remarkable in terms of her story and what she's gone through and very inspirational. And very willing to share her story which is remarkable in itself, I think. All of the challenges that she faced, she lost her hearing permanently and she has had injuries and just all the challenges that she faced and how she overcame that to be a world-class athlete. I mean, it's amazing. And on top of it, I think she does motivational speaking for companies, right? She does, but to benefit veterans organizations and we're one of them, which we're very fortunate. That's great. I wanted to mention that, because some people out there have a company looking for somebody to provide great motivation. There's a person that is, it's a magnificent story. It really is a type of thing. And then we have Cheryl Weaver who's on our board and she's a veteran and she's been, she was with us from the very beginning too. She was on the quasi-board at SMA and continues to be on our board and works, that really helps with grant writing which is essential in our business to keep us going. And we have two fabulous part-time staff members. We have a part-time program manager, program director, Judy O'Malley, and we have a new volunteer coordinator, Melissa LaBurtier, and they're both fabulous. Just one example, I came, I was away for two days and I came back and they've worked this miracle. One of our, they were looking for, one of our volunteers was looking for a decoy that goes on the license plate for World War II veterans. And the man they were trying to get it for, it was really important for him to get it for his family so that, because his son was, I think his son was in Vietnam and his grandson was in the service as well. So they had three different decals. They wanted to have, and the World War II veteran had never gotten his and they wanted to get it so that they could have all three for the family for keepsake. Well, the veteran died before they could get the decals. So they wanted to get it posthumously. And the DM, the Department of Marine of, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles was not really cooperated. It was unparalleled. Until? Well, they said, you know, the rules say you have to, the person has to be alive to get the decal. And so one of our new volunteers was in the legislature, state legislature, and she worked, Melissa knew her. In fact, Melissa had already recruited her at Tibet and it's in the mail. We don't always work miracles, but I'll tell you, there are a lot of miracles going on in this program. There is a lot of magic that happens in this group of people that, you know, veterans out there are the recipient of, you know, type of thing. So I mean, just like the, the hearing things that I got from my veteran, you know, I mean, I was able to get it quickly, but partly because of my involvement with VET2VET, really. I mean, I went to the Veterans Administration down on the new place on the Commercial Street, went in there and talked to this lady, and within two days, my veteran has it. And then she sent a nice note on top of everything else. I showed to my wife, I said, hey, you know. I said, I want $70, you know. That's good. Not all bad. Well, I think it also, I mean, the services are there. And a lot of times, veterans just don't know that the services are there. Or they need help, they need help to get it. They need to know what to do. They don't know what to do to get it. They don't want to ask, but then when they get with another veteran, then they're more willing to be, you know, they'll ask another veteran where they won't ask someone else. They'll take the help from another veteran. Maybe they wouldn't take the help from someone else. Because, you know, some of us older people get stubborn. Yeah, I feel awkward. Really? I don't feel those, yeah. So that's a big benefit, it's just that network that we can depend on. It kind of greases the skids, it legitimizes the request, if you will. It just really helps to move things along for our veterans. And that's the way it should be. Yeah, absolutely. Now, the training takes how long? Well, it's nine hours. Nine hours? We are working on an interactive virtual training that will take less time. It'll take about five hours, let's see. No, it'll be, it'll take about two and a half hours online on your own. And then we also have some other components. Well, you'll be, the person will be interviewed by program director. And then we also will require them to come to a case review, probably virtually. And that's when all the volunteers get together and talk about their experiences, as Lynn had mentioned. So that they'll get to know other veterans in the program. The virtual training will have its pluses and minuses. I mean, they won't be able to be in person with a bunch of other veterans at that time as they have before, but the benefit, and I think it's a big benefit, is that they will be able to, once they enroll, they'll be able to be trained right away and become a peer companion within a matter of a month or two, because, and then we can match them right up. In the patent, as it is now, we have two or three trainings a year. And we, when we get 10 or 12 people who wanna be a volunteer, we wait for that and then we have to set up the training. So a person could wait up to six months before they're able to go to training. And so that's why we're working on this interactive piece. How are you raising, how would some of the, obviously, need money to keep this organization going? How do you go about raising money? Well, there's a number of sources. And some of our, of course, staff is a big component of our expenses. We also have to pay 59.50 for each volunteer for their background check and their driver's license check, because some of them will be driving their volunteer, I mean, their veteran as well. And then we have other expenses too, of course, office expenses and software, whatever. Grants are a big portion of our income. And that requires a lot of time to research them and write them and submit them and then once we get a grant to do annual or quarterly reports or monthly, even monthly reports, it depends on the grant, how much work we have to do after we get it. But there's usually a considerable amount of work after that too. Sure. And people don't want to give money unless they think it's being spent wisely and they can't blame them for that. So grants are a big portion, but we also have, we're working with local businesses to get more support from businesses who couldn't pledge a yearly amount. And that would really help us because then we don't have to guess whether or not we can have a staff member on hand. We don't want to hire someone if we don't think we can keep them on for a number beyond a year. Tell me quickly, did you happen to get a check the other day from somebody? We did. And how much did you get? And I was just gonna say, we have some wonderful, wonderful individual supporters. Among them are our volunteers, our board members, and one of our wonderful longtime volunteers, Jeff Reynolds, sent us a check for $5,000. And I called him in tears and said thanks to him. And he said he really felt it was important to support this. He felt that we were really doing wonderful work. And he is too. He's a peer companion. So he knows what is going on and what kind of work is being done. He's done a lot of it himself. But he feels that this is a way that he can help and he really is committed to this program. So yes, we have wonderful, we could not exist without our volunteers. They're the ones who do the majority of the work. They do the real work in the field. You know, we do an awful lot for very little in terms of our budget. We reach so many veterans. And with additional funds so we could hire some full-time help to help us to do the screening and the matching and many other things, we could reach so many more volunteers. Like you said in the very beginning, there's 100,000, there's a tremendous number of veterans in the state of Maine, many located, concentrated in the southern part of Maine. Although we're reaching out to some other parts of the state, particularly being able to be virtual now, that's, you know, the pandemic has its mainly minuses. There's a few pluses in that we've learned to use Zoom, et cetera, so some of the veterans that we maybe would have been unable to reach in the past were able to reach now. But it's so important that we get the additional funding so we can reach more veterans. And you know, we're one of many veterans organizations that are out there looking for funds. And we have a lot of great veteran organizations throughout the state of Maine, throughout the country. And again, we're one of many, we're very unique, we believe, in terms of being all volunteer, being a peer-to-peer program where veterans are befriending, being helping other veterans. So we're very unique in that respect. And we're trying to get the word out that, you know, we can do an awful lot with very little. So, you know, fundraising is important. It's something that many of us, certainly myself and others, we've not done that. I was in business for years. We never had bake sales and we had to do fundraising. You know, we were a profit organization. So it's new to many of us, but you know, we're kind of, we're muddling through it. We're getting a little better at it. Susan indicated we've gotten a number of grants that have helped us tremendously, but there's a lot more to do. And, you know, I mean, certainly this program is one small avenue. Maybe we can reach some additional veterans or businesses that might hear our story and decide, hey, this is a worthwhile organization. I think I may be interested. So we hope that, you know, and certainly I'm sure before this program ends, we'll have out there our website and our phone number and please call us and we'd be happy to tell you more about us. Gretchen, you know, I mean, you know, she does a lot of motivational speaking around the country, right, I believe. And maybe some corporate people might see this and say, geez, I could use somebody like her. I mean, here's a lady that was a realitary hero, she really is, you know. And who almost got killed in Afghanistan, correct. And you know, some type of bomb that landed next to her I guess it was, type of thing. Now she's deaf and, you know, she's gone through an awful lot and but she does motivational speaking. She does, she travels around the world for running and I came up with the name of the... World's toughest race. The real toughest race. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of motivational. And I think of a guy in Scarborough, a guy named Eddie Wooden, you know, who, you know, known for many years, very generous man and, you know, he's told us, you know, you raise X amount, I'll match it. You know, you raise, I think it was 4,000 or 5,000. Yeah, he's been, he was very helpful. Yeah, so there's plenty of, you know, corporate sponsors and other sponsors. This is such a wonderful organization. It really is. I mean, like I said, I've been involved many years. There's so many businesses and there's quite a number of businesses in Maine who do a lot of work for the defense. Yeah, true. Businesses, many businesses have a lot of veterans that work for them. They may, and it's so important to hopefully be able to reach out to these businesses and say, you know, you have veterans that, you know, that work for you, work in your organization. They probably have fathers who perhaps could use the help of a veteran friend. So, you know, why don't you consider giving even, you know, a small amount to vet to vet Maine. I have to give a... On behalf of the veterans that work for you, do it on their behalf. Right. I have to give a shout out to Derek Vogue and Vogue Packaging because early on, they're early supporters of, we were able to start right up as soon as we incorporated because Derek Vogue provided us with an office in his, at Vogue Packaging in Bitterford. He provided us with free wifi, with a phone, with a desk, with a coffee machine. He's been a fantastic support and we're very grateful to him. If you haven't visited the hero's wall. Right, he has a hero's wall, which is wonderful. Yes, right. That honors veterans. So he's been a very great supporter from day one. How did he happen to become a supporter anyways? Was it, you know, his motivation behind that? He's been a strong supporter of veterans for a long time. He's been a veteran, yeah. And I actually, I interviewed him early on. I, in my other life, I was a reporter. Oh, really? I didn't know that. And a writer. And I interviewed his father. Because I worked for Business Digest at the time. Oh, sure. And we did stories on businesses and so I interviewed his father. Leo G? Was it? Oh, yeah. I knew very well. So I had, you know, we had some connection so when I called him, I, someone I'm trying to remember who also, oh, I know who it was. Tom Heals went to his church and so he sort of set it up for us to meet. And, but from day one, I mean, he treated me to breakfast. He even paid for my breakfast. Really? And said, oh, sure. I can give you an office space. Wow. It didn't take him a second. So it was, we were very grateful to him. Wow. And that changed, of course, since COVID is that sound? Yeah, since COVID, we did shut down our office and we're all working at home, but at some point we'd like to resume having an office someplace. Maybe in Portland. I don't know, we haven't decided that, but. Sure. And then we've had, you know, Cumberland County has supported us with a grant. United Way in York County has supported us. Just recently we got, we were selected by 100 plus women who care in Southern Maine. Thanks to Susan. They gave us a really wonderful grant. So, and the John T. Gorman Foundation gave us a great grant. So we've been very fortunate in the people who have supported us. And, but as Lynn says, you know, we really would like to expand and offer our services to more people. And with that, to do that, we do need more staff. So that's why we are out there beating the bushes. Yeah, that's right. We're going to take a little break right now and we're going to show you a video about Vette-to-Vette. It gives you a little bit more information to hopefully entice you to want to get involved and to, to volunteer or to, if you know somebody that needs some services for Vette-to-Vette, get in touch with us. I'm Phil Capalium. I live in Falmouth, Maine. I was in the U.S. Naval Reserve and I was in the Amphibious Force during D-Day. I am Florence Alquist, Link. It was getting close to the war time. I wanted to go to work and I went to work in the shipyard. My name is Dick Sproul. I live in Yarmouth, Maine. I was in the service from 1968 to 1970. My name is Vernon Francis Houston. I was working as a supervisor, a ship supervisor. I am Mary Dottie McGurk. And I went into the Air Force in 1954. My name is Eric Meehan. I served in the United States Army from November of 1961 to November of 1963. I saw an article on the paper, I think in December of last year about this Vette-to-Vette-to-Vette-to-Vette program and I thought perhaps I could be a contributor to that. I'm a Vietnam vet, and after all that time going by over 40 years, I've finally decided that I want to get involved. One of the things that you get to be my age is a lot of your friends are not with you anymore. It's nice to talk to someone so we can have quite a few things in common. I think that visiting another veteran who's housebound gives them something to look forward to, and you make good friends. Dick here has supplied a lot of information that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, and I'm really grateful. I'm glad I enlisted in the program. This program has turned out to be as rewarding for me as I think it has been for the veteran that I visit. I think we became good friends. How far? That's right. That's wonderful. If there was any doubt in your mind, go ahead and do it. Lynn, you were going to say something you wanted to add into the conversation? There's so much need out there. We don't know how many... As we said here as we talked, there are veterans out there that could use a friend. They could use some help. And how do we reach them? We reach them by being able to expand the organization, have more volunteers, more networking. And you end up touching more people, and that's how we find many of the volunteers, and we find veterans as well that need the friend. For the friendship, for the camaraderie, but also for the help in terms of helping them navigate through the Veterans Administration system or help them get other services as soon as indicated, and you've indicated that you've done with your veterans. It's just so important that, again, we're able to reach out and network and grow the organization, because, again, we do so much with so little. Oh, God, yes. In business, our budget is just minuscule with the number of people we have and the work we do. It's just incredible. And so for a little bit more, we can do so much. We want to reach out hopefully to some other businesses and individuals who hear our story and say, it's worthwhile. I want to help this organization. I want to help our fellow, and there's got to be veterans out there in these businesses that hopefully will hear our story and say, you know, I didn't know about Vet-to-Vet main. That's a great organization. I want to help them out. Maybe I want to volunteer, or maybe my dad or maybe my brother can use the help or might want to volunteer. You know, met a lot of veterans, of course, and always encouraged them to get involved. And almost without exception, they go, I never heard of it. But, yeah, I'd like to get involved with things like this, almost all of them, but I want to give back, you know, type of thing. And I can't, I mean, you know, for veterans giving back, I mean, this has to be one of the best organizations you could possibly have. And I mean that very sincerely, you know, because, you know, just from personal experience, what I've been able to do for my three veterans, you know, is something I'm extremely proud of, really. And like I say, I've always been involved in non-profits from JC's to Chamber of Commerce to Project Grace, et cetera. But this is one of the best things I've ever done. And I mean that very, very sincerely. What I was able to do for my two prior veterans and for my present veteran is one of the best things. And I made a few mistakes along the way, so I need it. I think you're right. I think people do want to help. And I know that we've had great support from the Rotaries in South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Sarko, and Bitterford have all been great. And to the extent that they'll call me up at the end of their year and say, we have some extra money, you want it? Of course we say yes. We can use it. Yes, we can always use it for work. Well, we need it. But I think they see the value of it. It's just getting the word out and letting people know that this is a viable way to say thank you to veterans, which we all need to do because we have asked them to make a great sacrifice. And I really believe that it's up to the rest of us to make sure that veterans get the help they need when they come back. So that's what we're all about. I think if people hear our story, that can seal the deal. We can close the deal if we can get someone to hear our story. But it's difficult. People are busy. So again, this is a great opportunity. We really appreciate the opportunity to talk about that to that main. And again, hopefully this will help us to reach out to a few more individuals that can learn about our program. We can get more help. So we've got a few minutes left here. Everybody's been five minutes or so. So how do they find you again? It's the easiest way to... Probably our website, www.Vet2, the number two, VET, Maine, spelled out, M-A-I-N-E dot org. You can also find us on Google to say VET to VET, Maine. Make sure you put the vein on there. And they'll come up on your search, on your screen. You can also call us. There's a number there. There's several numbers that you can call, but we'll put them on the screen. So that would be for volunteer or for... Volunteer to... Or if you have a veteran in the family that needs... To donate. You can donate through the website. There's a lot of great information. There are some videos where some of the veterans share their stories. There's just a lot of information on the website. Yeah, and if you want to volunteer, you can enroll online. You can ask for help online. Okay. Well, I want to thank you both very much for your services for coming in and going through this whole thing. And like I say, it's one of the best things I've ever done. I think it's a great organization. And I'm thrilled to be part of it. And I think we're ready to wrap it up and thank you very much.