This is a great pleasure to talk to Ellen Caprara. Ellen works with Warrior Foundation Freedom Station to coordinate support services with the Navy Wounded Warrior Program, UH specifically or at least in part of travel services like the home for the Holidays flights, which we absolutely love. Ellen, welcome. How are you? I'm good? How about yourself? We're terrific things.
Can can you help us understand why it's so powerful and important, um to either get the warriors home for the holidays or have family, uh, you know come to their side when necessary. Yeah, absolutely so. This program we especially, you know, love and support and are so happy when this time of the year comes around. You know, these sailors and service members they're going through some of the toughest times of their lives with what they're doing, and a lot of them can't afford to go home or
you know, it's just the circumstances aren't right. And to be able to, you know, provide them with that opportunity to fly home for the holidays and to see their families and friends, it's so powerful and so meaningful, and it just you know, it means a lot to them to be able to have that experience and it's it's just again, we love this time of year because we can offer them this and it's just it's wonderful and we we we we love that the Wounded Warrior Foundation
Freedom Station provides this for us. And just our sailors are you know, we we get them asking around this time when you know, when the when the when the program starts. So it's it's just it's very impactful and meaningful. Yeah, we've heard the stories over the years when you finally get to go up to you know, a man or a woman and say, hey, you're gonna wake up in your own bed on Christmas. That's pretty awesome. And and you, I know you you generally calculate how much it costs
per person, what's like our average. I've always thought this is a good way for people who want to donate to kind of picture where their money is gonna go. How much do how much do I need to donate to make sure somebody can go home for the holidays? Do you? And look in between I mean the flight range, you know, because people fly as close to San you know, the quick flight to you know, from San Diego to San Francisco, but a lot of them have families on
the East coast. So you're looking probably about two dred and fifties five D probably per ticket for a round trip ticket. Um, I'm thinking around there. Some might be less, some key a little bit more, but I think that
that's a pretty good range. Well, and gosh, the returns are I mean invaluable, just you know, to to have the support of family and maybe old bodies around and or my god, when when some of these service members are going through multiple surgeries and rehabs in the rest of it, to have mom and dad come visit or whoever. I mean, that's gotta you can't put a price on that.
You can't put a price on that. And again, they're going through some of the toughest times right now, and to be able to have to see their family over the holidays there, have their family come over the holidays is you know, words don't describe how how important that is to them, especially in their whole healing process as are going through their medical and everything. So it just it is, it is fantastic to be able to provide
that opportunity to them. Well, Ellen, we're going to see how much money we can raise and how many tickets we can buy, and how many families we can put back together for the holidays are just when they're needed most. So thanks a million for what you do. Absolutely thank you for having me on Armstrong and Jetty