We decided years ago, Joe and I to um what one we thought, we gotta we gotta take the success of this radio show and do something positive with it, because every day it's just endless negativity, uh, just just making the world at worst place to live. So we could do something positive with all the with all the yucks and uh and uh and and ask for some money for a good charity. But we we didn't want to do it on a regular so we just side.
You know, once a year, we're gonna really really tell people, Look, this is a charity. We've really checked out, we really believe in, they really realize your money. Well, I'm just gonna ask you once. We don't come to you all the time. Let's see what we can do. And that cause is Warrior Foundation Freedom Station, which is an absolutely breathtakingly effective and efficient organization that helps are active duty military people uh in transition into retirement, those who are
medically retired, and others with a variety of programs. Uh. The way Jack and I have always looked at this is that the idea that you've got the military over there and then the people of the United States over here is unhealthy and it's wrong. We the people have to be supporting our military. We have to be serving our country by helping them, whether it's giving our time or making a donation this week, I just think it's
a patriotic duty. The way I see that, you're gonna hear some from some of our veterans this week who did multiple tours in Iraq or Afghanistan and then we're struggling to transition back to regular life and needed some help. And this is how you help them. I mean, God, danmgn it, like Jojah said, I mean, who who do we owe more than this? And um all week longer been raising money for Warrior Foundation Freedom Station. It's real easy. You go to Armstrong and getty dot com. We've made
the bannery is super easy to find. You couldn't miss it. It just takes a couple of minutes to to to donate money. Sandy lem Cooler is the CEO and founder of Warrior Foundation Freedom Station and it has been its guiding life for many, many years and is a good friend. Sandy, welcome, how are you? Good morning? I'm I'm wonderful and I just want to say thank you again so much for
everything that you've done for our warriors. And it's not just you know you you said this in your in your intro, it's actually the active duty right now that have a little bit different types of injuries and illnesses, thank goodness, but they're still the ones that we're helping to transition. And so anyone who makes a donation, first of all, I want you to know that seventy eight point six percent of every dollar goes right to our warriors.
I still won't take a salary. That's my patriotic duty, right, So I just want people to know that being a Navy wife and a Navy mom, I don't just pinch a penny. I make it scream bloody murder. So I will ensure that any money so that come in go directly to our warriors and really do make a difference in their lives. So, Sandy, can you run down the roster of programs that Warrior Foundation Freedom Station supports and runs, from the you know, the home for the holidays to
the rehab just just the checklist if you would. Sure. Um, we generally meet our warriors up in the military hospitals, active duty, not the v A, and we help them with all kinds of wonderful quality of life items up in the barracks areas including Palo Alto and Hawaii and you know, the Southwestern region basically anywhere if there is
a warrior really in need that meets our criteria. So this year, we're hoping, with your help, to be able to fly every one of our ill and injured warriors home to wake up in their own bed, their own state, with their own family Christmas morning. We hope to give them some Christmas gifts, UM, great big, beautiful navy blankets and marine blankets, and we give them hospital pillows. For the last two years, with the COVID situation, we have been actually providing food up in the barracks areas just
to give them a break from the galley. UM. We also have UM. We have warriors that we help when they first get home. UM. And even if they're not getting home right now, we have ellen injured UM a lot more cancer than I care to admit to. UM. We don't know if that's the burn pit situation showing, but we are flying parents in. We have had injuries while they are in training, because what does our military do. They're either fighting at war or their training to fight
at war. So we had a helo hard landing. We've got a warrior that's paralyzed. We've got other warriors that were injured that have had to have their legs amputated. We provide boots with zippers, we provide wheelchairs when needed it UM again, that's after they transition out. The government is taking care of our military. UM. We provide transitional housing.
So we have little cottages that are set up and we get the warriors as they're getting out, not before they're out, and we move them into a cottage that's decked out right down to the place mats on the tables. They're close to the military hospitals up by Palo up at Hawaii, UM up in San Diego, UM that type of a thing. And that way they can get up, put on their uniforms, go up, do their medical, do their military and then come back home at night. And and this gives them a chance to to take a
breath and decide what do they want to do. Do they want to go to college, Do they want to go learn a trade, work for workshop for warriors? What is it that they want to do? Do they want to get involved in a lot of our athletic outdoor programs do they want to be involved in UM working with the foundation and networking through our foundation. So basically, we help those ill and injured that are just coming home.
We helped the warriors with PTS and t b I. We helped the warriors that live up in the barracks still in our waiting to get their d D two fourteen and their findings and move on in life. And we helped the warriors with transitional housing. But basically, if there is a need and we find out about it through the military, we are able to help the military
provide what the government can't or won't. And honestly, Joe, we know we can do it a lot quicker with a lot less bureaucratic times, right, I think a lot of people that some of our guys. Yeah, we have indeed, and the success stories are absolutely wonderful and heartening, and you know, we like to focus on the positive, but there are a lot of real sad, heartbreaking stories about folks who whether it's a physical or neurological injury or
just losing the sense of self and teamwork in the military. UM. You know, they go into loneliness and despair and whether it's suicide or drug addiction, living on the streets, that sort of thing. This is what we're trying to prevent. And instead of loneliness and despair, you know, the brotherhood and sisterhood, freedom station, excitement about the future, counseling, that sort of thing. It's just it's changing lives every single day. That's and we're excited about it. And I'm going to
share with you guys. UM We had Freedom Station one and it worked out so well. We organized and purchased Freedom Station two, and in August of this year we just acquired a third property. And this property is going to be as strong and wonderful and have the greatest barbecue areas for brotherhood kind of barbecues, and that's where a lot of that that help happens. One warrior helps another warrior a lot of times, and it's just like kind of being back up in there with their unit.
They have a big barbecue at night, they all sit around and talk. That's the beauty of it. And we bring in UM. Our new president is Andrew Gasper, absolutely phenomenal. Has worked seventeen years in the field of UM Allen injured Warriors. He is amazing, mentoring, he knows his stuff. He was a marine. Um. He knows what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. And
he is a motivator extraordinaire. So he organizes group meetings for all of our warriors and if they choose to come, they can learn about finance, they can learn about job interviews. We still take our warriors when they find out it's a tough day that they're going to be getting out of the military because of a medical reason or or
an illness. Um. Losing that uniform is losing their sense of purpose, and so we take them over to the men's warehouse, and this is where everybody's donation comes in. We get them decked out in a new suit. We get them decked out for interviews. Sometimes a guy said to me the other day, ma'am, I'm going to wear this to my wedding. I said, well, let's get you another one. So you never know how you're going to impact people, and it is fun to watch as you
look back. You know, a lot of our warriors have been very successful. Mike Spivey has gone to the Olympics twice paralympick ing for our you know, for the United States. He said to me one day, ma'am, I'm going to find a way to put that flag back on my sleeve. He did. He is a United States surfer I'm sorry, surf boarder and he um uh. He's just an amazing man.
He's like number thirteen in the world. And this is an amputee that we've helped and you know he can golf, right, you guys know so Sandy, I'm Cooler, CEO and founder of Warrior Foundation Freedom Station. Sandy. We're going to talk to some of the guys and gals throughout the week to share their stories with the people. But we're going to do our best. Thanks for spending some time this morning. Thank you so much and appreciate everything that you guys
are doing for us. And we look forward to having you come down whenever you get a chance to come down to our area. Um, we'll meet up there in the l A area wherever you want to meet. While the guy said anywhere they're they're like, we aren't. We'll make it happen, all right, We'll make it happen. Thanks Sandy, bar and