(Music fades) 

Alicia:  Hello and welcome to What’s Good, Goodwill? I’m your host, Alicia.

Michelle: And I’m Michelle.

Alicia: Currently, there are 18.2 million veterans in the United States, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Michelle: According to the 2018 annual Homeless Assessment Report, 37,870 veterans are homeless each evening. 90% of those who are homeless are men, with an increasing number of women with children who are also homeless.

Alicia: Joining us today from our Supportive Services for Veterans Families team is Don, Don and Tom.

Michelle: Don, thank you so much for joining us today.

Don G: You’re welcome. Glad to be here. Very excited about our program. It’s been a personal blessing, but it’s also just been a blessing to our community as we see an increase in homelessness, and to be able to you know, be a part of solving part of that, particularly for veterans, is really an honor.

Alicia: So, Don, go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do here at Goodwill.

Don G: Well, I am an outreach specialist, so I actually go to the different camps in the shelters and, you know, campsites, encampments down by the river. And so that’s my role.

Sort of a native of Spokane. I’ve been here for quite a while. And for the last number of decades, I’ve had an opportunity to be involved with different veteran projects and causes in our area.

This one just fit, fit for me in terms of taking to problems, homelessness or uselessness and working with veterans who have earned these benefits that we work to get them housed. And so I’ve just been fortunate to be involved with veterans causes for, you know, like I said, a couple of decades.

Alicia:  Very nice.

Michelle: Don, what is supportive services for veteran families?

Don G: Support services for veterans families. It’s both getting people housed and preventing them from becoming homeless. So we kind of have a dual role that we play. But the bottom line is we want to keep the people with houses housed and we want to help the people that are houseless get housed. And it’s a VA grant program that’s been around, I believe, since the early nineties, but it’s just growing and Goodwill has repeatedly been renewed to do this grant because we’ve done such good work.

Michelle: What does the VA stand for?

Don G: Veterans Administration. It’s a federal agency. They are responsible for implementing grants throughout the country for various veterans programs. It’s really a situation right now where being a veteran, I think people are more conscious of it because of the recent conflicts that we’ve had. We work with vets through as far back as Vietnam pretty much now. We don’t see a lot of World War Two.

We do see some Korean vets, basically Vietnam forward. At one point and I don’t know, like in the mid-nineties, per capita, the largest number of Vietnam vets resided in our upper counties, which we cover, Ferry County, Stephens County in Idaho and Bonner, Boundary County. We’ve got some coverage and now we’ve added later our county recently within the last year, but we do down by Moscow and WSU and over in Kellogg. And it’s just really wide reaching. And what you see a lot of times with Vietnam vets and the reason I brought that up is because they used to like they weren’t welcomed back a lot when they first came back. And so they would go basically in the woods and they would have encampments And what you’re finding is as those vets age, they’re more willing to come forward and seek our services.

And many of them have untreated PTSD. And so you have to sort of be aware of that and bring them into not only our system, but we have a health care navigator that helps get them hooked up with the VA or health care of some type. And so that’s just a recently added service that we’re doing really a great job of getting them the health care that they need.

You know, you can house somebody, but they’re unhealthy or they need services around them. That’s the other cool part about this is you get to meet so many community partners and bring them around your vets. And that’s where the case managers, like the other Don, come in and they flush out those things. And it’s a total package. And that’s just fantastic because that is another step towards more long term success.

You can put a house around somebody, but you also need to put the resources around keeping there and keep steady and all the things that they need.

Alicia: I was just going to say, it sounds like SSVF is more than just housing veterans. Like you said, it’s a whole package right.

Don G: But it’s it is based on a model for a lot of these things for employment or health care or whatever resource they might need. Our motto and our model that we use is rapid rehousing. We get your house first, bring those other resources around you meant to keep you going. And as I often tell vets, when I’m out doing outreach and we screen them into the program, make sure they’re eligible and find out that they’re eligible to bring the resources around them, I always tell them, it’s your plan.

We’re not doing this. We’re not we’re not coming in and going to dictate to you how you live your life. Okay, it’s up to you. But if you want something, if you have a specific need, the more you communicate that with a case manager, the better plan you’re going to have and it’s going to be more successful.

Alicia: So do you have a lot of veterans that have the mindset that that is what you do, that that’s what SSVF does that it’s just, oh, it’s a program to tell me how to live my life.

Don G: You do get some pushback and there is an independence that comes with homelessness. You know, nobody’s telling me what to do.

Michelle: Yeah, you’re off the grid. Nobody is telling you what to do.

Don G: Yeah. Yeah. Basically, you can be off the grid. We’re not going to we’re not going to run your life. We’re going to give you opportunities for you to run your life better and we don’t make judgments about people. We’re just here to help. We’re just here to help you access the opportunities that you need to improve your life.

Michelle: Can you walk me through outreach? How does it start? I mean, what does your day look like and how do you find veterans?

Don G: After this, I’ll be going in and doing a thing called targeted in outreach. And what that is, is I get a list of people through the city of Spokane that have identified themselves as veterans. So I go specifically to where they were last seen and see if they’re still there. And if they are, then I will try to screen it, you know, like.

Michelle: The list might say they might have been in so and so park.

Don G: Yeah. So they started a House of Charity. Then I’ll go buy the House of Charity. We’ll go over and say, Oh yeah, Bob’s over here. And so I go and Bob’s interested in the program again. It’s their plans. The goal of the VA is to eliminate veteran homelessness so I mean, you’re constantly looking. In fact, when I came in to work today, I’ll stop on the way.

I see I see a van and a camper and or a camper and it looks like they’re homeless. I stopped by asking if they’re veterans, if they’re not veterans. We have several programs here at The Goodwill, and I will give them the appropriate one, too, because I’m out here a lot of times we’re very vet centric. Obviously, we have a number of programs that can help non vets do.

So I always try to I load up my wallet with or load up my bag with all of that information too, because the idea is you want to be out here helping people. A normal day. It’s really two-pronged. Am I looking specifically for veterans? And they’re looking for housing in some of our counties and our smaller counties it may be just putting up hangars so that people know that our programs out there.

So we also promote the program when we’re out there and take the opportunity to go to encampments and find where people are camping.

 So eligibility is based on a few things. First of all, your veterans service, if it’s other than honorable, we can go from honorable, honorable, under honorable conditions, and other. Now it’s the character of discharge. Dishonorably discharged vets are not eligible.

Then the other thing is income, their income guidelines, which is the average median income for the area. So they have to meet that part of it. And then they of course, they have to want housing that’s on the literally homeless side. So if I’m going to a camp those are the things. On the other one, we add an additional thing that we need, which is it eminent?

Michelle: So this is the side for I already have housing.

Don G: Yeah, right. Exactly. I have housing for whatever reason. And we saw a little bit of this during COVID and people get behind on rent or something happens, you know, they want it right but you have to in order. The fourth qualification in that situation where you’re doing a housing prevention, it has to be imminent. You have to have an eviction notice five day to pay or vacate.

That doesn’t work. It has to be an eviction. And that’s where a sheriff comes out and they move your stuff. There is a legal process involved yeah. But when they get to the point where they get an eviction notice that says in the next five days, the sheriff is going to remove you from your place.

Alicia: Right, It all sounds terrible.

Michelle: Yeah

Don G: Well, yeah as you can imagine. So we need that eviction notice for homeless prevention.

Alicia: So would you say that it’s a common mindset for veterans to think that homelessness has, like Michelle mentioned, one face, and if they don’t fit within that? Exactly. Then they assume that they can’t get help.

Don G: I think so but we’ve got some marketing materials that I think are pretty clear that give the situation pretty well so that if they run across that, one of the things that we do as outreach is we try to educate community partners right. So that they’re not sending us people and then they go, well, they just sent me over here and now you’re sending me over here.

So we try to communicate that with our partners. So that they’re not sending in those people that wouldn’t qualify.

Michelle: Yeah.

Don G: A lot of what we do is education, you know, nice to be able to go into shelters and go to camps and do all those things. But it’s also very important that you let community partners know.

And a lot of times we’ve had such good interaction with certain partners, they’ll go, Whoa, I didn’t know that. That’s exactly how you know, that’s exactly what this person needs. I wanted to finish a point that I made is people do judge their own service. They eliminate themselves.

Michelle: I was going to ask about that.

Don G: Yeah, yeah

Michelle: Because I’ve heard some veterans say that because I wasn’t in combat that I’m not a veteran.

Don G: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, that is not the case. But I have had examples where a gentleman said “you know, it didn’t end very well”, but he had four years of good service. But on the second hit, you know, he had an infraction and he was put out of service. Well, that four years counts.

Alicia: Yeah

Don G:  Right. That’s four good years. So even if you got out on a dishonorable on the second one, you still have a good period of service.

Really fortunate to be a part of a wonderful outreach team that knows their stuff. What? And we don’t know. We know where to find the answers.

Alicia: Yeah.

Don G: Make sure that that no one eliminates themselves.

Michelle: What happens if someone’s lost their paperwork? Say they’re homeless they have no ID cards. They have no documents whatsoever.

Don G: First of all, we have a system that we if they give us some basic information, Social Security number, birthdate, their name, we can look them up and find out if they’re in there. Now, sometimes they’re not in there, but they don’t have any paperwork. So then we have a form that we can send off to the National Personnel Records Center.

They will scour there, but they fill that out. They can send they could send medical records if you want to them. And there’s different levels. You can get the DD214 which is proof of service. So there’s a number of different documents. In lieu of that. We can get an affidavit from them saying, yeah I served from 1979 to 1984 or whatever.

We do have to wait for that documentation to come back before we can distribute any funds. And that’s just.

Alicia: It’s good to hear that it’s not just you guys doing it, there’s like a whole team working together.

Don G: What we do, we get them in the door, get them settled and get them appointments, right. And then the case manager takes it from there.

Alicia: All right. So now joining us from SSVF, case manager Don. Don, go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Don M: I’d be glad to. So I have been in the Supportive Services for Veteran Family Program for about five years now, and my position is case manager.

So that means when homeless or family that’s at risk of homelessness comes in, I would do the intake, you know, to help determine their eligibility and then provide services. The main thing our program does, the core of the program is finding housing and covering virtually all of the initial housing costs of deposits and application fees and so on.

But we do much more than that. We have a lot of depth in terms of our wraparound services. We are very closely allied with the VA Health Care for Homeless Veterans they actually are in the building next door. So there are a special category of housing vouchers for veterans, substance abuse services, medical services, etc. that we connect the homeless families to it.

It focuses not just on the the housing part, but the elements that are going to contribute to long-term stability. And so as a case manager, I am at the hub of all of that.

Michelle: So as a case manager, you work pretty one on one with a veteran.

Don M: Absolutely. Yes. Yes. We get to know them very well and we build a really strong relationships.

Alicia: How did you hear about Goodwill in terms of services offered and about Goodwill’s programs?

Don M: You know, even, you know, when you’re just the person who goes to the thrift store, you have some sense that it’s there is a larger mission and, you know, you’ll you’ll hear a little bit about that. So I’ve always known that Goodwill had employment programs and things like that. As I started to volunteer more and, you know, come into contact with more people in the community, I realize that Goodwill had the veterans program and that you know, they were taking the lead and ending veteran homelessness.

So that’s really how I learned about it through the community. Another thing with Goodwill and the VA, the VA funds, you know, the core functions of the program and we do a lot of things, not just the housing. We’re able to do car repairs. We’re able to do some support for utilities and things like that. But there are things that the VA just won’t allow us to pay for because of the restrictions in their program.

And it’s nice to be part of the Goodwill structure where you have access to some of those funds. So we’re able to access them. We call them scholarship funds, which is basically money from the round-up when you, you know, add those extra pennies to your purchase. And so we’re able to take the VA services and sort of supercharge them and add additional services that Goodwill can offer that maybe another organization wouldn’t be able to do.

Alicia: So if you hear a cashier ask if you’d like to round up to support our programs, that’s what that means.

Sounds like the SSVF team doesn’t work alone. Can you tell us what organizations or community partners that your team works with?

Don M: Sure. There’s the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, which helps with all sorts of services for veterans who are seeking employment. There are numerous veterans organizations. There’s one organization that we call a fair amount is Combat Vet Riders, and they basically have small cash funds available for things like if we can’t cover a car repair, impound fees, other things that are really a lot of times the pieces that are going to be able to put people’s situation together.

So there are a lot of independent organizations like that. There is Newby-ginnings, which is over and Post Falls. We work with them a lot. They provide basically it’s a thrift store and furniture store and everything is free to veteran.

Michelle: What is the process from going from an outreach specialist to a case manager?

Don M: Outreach will find the people or actually a lot of them will come into the door and, you know, have heard of us through other services, through SNAP or, you know, Jewels or whoever they’ll have heard of our services. So Outreach will do the initial screening and that will determine the basic facts of eligibility and outreach provides a lot of support in terms of getting people transportation so they can come to our offices and things like that.

And then we sit down, they’ll set up an appointment with the case manager, and the case manager will sit down and we’ll do a whole interview that takes several hours and will learn about their situation, about the services. We’ll, clean up any eligibility questions. Sometimes there’s paperwork about income or something like that. And so that usually happens within a day or two.

So outreach will locate the veteran and then they’ll have the full intake with the case manager. And we work with housing specialists, so it’s always a team of two. The housing specialists really are focused solely on the housing piece. So they’re out in the community, they’re networking with landlords, they’re finding opportunities all the time. And so we put them in touch with the housing specialist.

So they have their complete team assembled, usually within a week. So the case manager has gotten the detailed information they need for the sort of wraparound services and support. And then the housing specialists will have met with them and they’ll be starting on that process of submitting applications and finding the best locations for them, learning about their barriers if they have prior evictions or convictions or things like that that we need to deal with. So the whole process to to assemble the team is about four to five days.

Michelle: Would you say that the support that a veteran can expect from SSVF is personalized?

Don M: Everything is is extremely personalized, everything is private. Everything is done with the utmost respect for people’s privacy and the sensitivities that you have when people are dealing with these issues. And and that’s part of, you know, my job is to make sure that they aren’t overloaded with things. You know, there is a big plate of things for they need to find a job.

Maybe they’re going to look at, you know, Social Security or blind, disabled. And they’re also looking at mental health things. You don’t want to throw that all at them at once. And so part of the job of the case manager is to find out where they are and to kind of walk the walk with them.

Michelle: So when someone enrolls in the program, do they set their own pace?

Don M: Well, we like to get the housing piece done fast. You know, we want to hit the ground round running and look for apartments and get them out. And so that’s something that that we definitely put front and center.

Michelle: So you guys put the rapid, rapid rehousing.

Alicia: Do you have any success stories that stick out to you that you’d like to share?

Don M: When I first started, I was working in Idaho and so the first veteran I worked with, I remember I did the intake at the Post Falls Library in a little conference room and he was a guy he was, you know, in a fairly good situation. A couple of years ago, he was a homeowner. He had a couple kids and a wife and things really took a turn for the worse when his son died. He was in high school. He died unexpectedly and that put a lot of stress on the family. The marriage broke up. He ended up not getting the house. So he was living with his adult daughter for a little bit, but he was developing some problems with drinking. So that didn’t work out. He was a truck driver and that didn’t work out either with with his drinking.

And so really in the, you know, scope of the 18 months he went from, you know, fairly stable situation to living in his car. And I remember I was doing his intake and in Post Falls and I was having trouble with the computer system because he was my first veteran. And I told him, well, you know, you’re the first person I’ve really done this with. And I had this to this look of fear in his eyes, like, oh, they gave this to the rookie.

[Group laughter]

Michelle: Not the new guy, oh no!

Don M: That became kind of a joke between us. You know, whenever I would suggest something, he’d be like, Well, have you done this before Don?

[Don laughter]

Michelle:  Are you sure Don?

Don M: But we got him housing and he found work. He got a handle on his drinking. And what I always remember about his situation is when the last times I met with him, he had become friends with his ex-wife and he had reconciled with his daughter. And the the daughter was at his apartment with her young son and his ex-wife had just had surgery. So she was recuperating at his apartment. And this was one of the last times I met with him to do his exit. And I was just really gratified and overwhelmed that there were all these people here in this this apartment that we found for them.

And they were all starting a new beginning after this tragedy of the death in the family and all the havoc that it had caused. So it was it was pretty amazing, you know, that they were in that apartment that that we had been able to get for him. And that it was just such a beautiful new beginning for for all of them.

Alicia: Wow. What a powerful story. Thank you for sharing that.

Michelle: I think a key point to that story is how close everyone can be to becoming homeless. Life can be pretty unpredictable and it really can happen to anyone.

Don, what is the main thing you want our listeners to remember about SSVF?

Don M: What I’d like people to take away is that, you know, we have the resources, we have the financial resources and the connections to really help people come out of homelessness. I think we’re a unique program in in sort of the diversity of our team. And really the focus that we have on kind of a holistic approach to getting people, you know, going on their lives again.

Michelle: Goodwill is honored to be able to work with some of the outstanding community partners in eastern Washington and north Idaho. Our SSVF team members worked side by side with Volunteers of America.

Alicia: We sat down with Volunteers of America program manager Kaitlyn to talk about their partnership with SSVF and Goodwill. Here’s what she had to say.

Michelle: Let’s take a listen.

Cailin: I’m the SSVF housing program manager. Currently, I’ve been with SSVF for seven years. I was with Goodwill for four and a half before switching over and doing the housing portion to last, like going on almost three years now. VOA stands for Volunteers of America. We believe that homelessness should not be a life sentence. So we have a really big focus and stake in housing in our community.

They not only have a contract with Goodwill for SSVF, but they also run many shelters Hope House for women, the young adult shelter for 18 to 24 year olds, and then Crosswalk, you know, for youth up to 18 they do some foster youth programs, they do youth housing, they house women out of Hope House they do permanent supportive housing so those tall buildings, they run the Merrilee. So we are we just we believe that everyone deserves housing.

We also run a transitional program for veterans partnered with the VA. So veterans that are looking for housing or kind of in-between housing can stay over at the transitional house while they transition into permanent housing. We take everyone that comes in to SSVF and they get assigned a case manager and a housing specialist right away.

My team historically, even through like COVID, we’re housing about 20 to 22 a month. They do a really solid job and they have really good connections with landlords and other housing providers. They also place them into permanent supportive housing. We’ve learned over the years that putting someone in apartments is not for everyone and sometimes they need more support. So permanent supportive housing route, getting them housing vouchers so that a portion of the rent is paid if they’re very low income, we’ve gotten more creative with our housing placements over the years.

I appreciate our flexibility. We’re one of the only programs that not only can screen in person but over the phone, which is I think, a huge deal between VOA and SSVF and Goodwill. You know, we meet people where they’re at. I just really over the years have enjoyed watching the connection with VOA and Goodwill grow. Like we’re so parallel to each other in terms of like what we’re striving for and working towards with not only being like an employer of choice, but also serving the communities.

Alicia: Our next guest that’s joining us is SSVF Case Manager Tom, thank you so much for joining us today. So go ahead and tell us a bit about yourself.

Tom: I’m a case manager, a SSVF case manager for Goodwill, and I’m an anthropologist, a fine artist and a father, that’s what I’m passionate about.

Michelle: Hey, Tom, what is SSVF?

Tom: Supportive services for veteran families. So basically we have a whole team where there’s outreach first to contact veterans, and we’ll get their information, find out their eligibility and bring them in to do an intake where I will be sitting one on one with the veteran and making sure that they’re eligible for our program regarding their income and their veteran’s status. And if they’re eligible, then we try to get them housing first. That’s our philosophy.

Michelle: When you say their veteran status, what does that mean?

Tom: We can only help veterans who have served in the military for longer than one day. That’s the protocol. And they can’t have a dishonorable discharge.

Michelle: What does that mean, a dishonorable discharge?

Tom: A dishonorable discharge would be if someone was in the military and they were let out of the military for behavior that the military doesn’t like. If they have a dishonorable discharge, then we can get them connected to a veteran service officer, VSO. And if it’s possible for them to take the case and upgrade their..

Michelle: If a veteran feels like they maybe didn’t get a fair deal, can they appeal that?

Tom: Yeah, they can petition to upgrade their discharge status.

Alicia: Tom, can you tell us how SSVF helps people?

Tom: I’m really proud of this job. I’m really proud of the way that we help them because we are housing first. That’s our philosophy, meaning that there’s no prerequisite for them to pass a drug U-A or to be in mental help therapy. We just want them to get into housing as quickly as possible so they can just take a breath.

You know, they’ve been on the streets and their allostatic load has been just increasing beyond, you know, what any person should be living with. They deal with stress and health issues that go beyond what this country can can help them with. And so we connect them to the resources, medical, income, housing, and we can also connect them to legal resources.

And we can help them with appointments. We can take them to appointments, we can give them bus passes, we can give them a fill-up of fuel and their gas. We have all sorts of specialists. We have a healthcare navigator, and they work exclusively with medical benefits. That’s a really big deal. These are human beings that we’re working with.

These are human beings. And these human beings deserve all the peace and security and happiness and love that we all deserve. Yeah, like that’s that’s the bottom line is they’re humans. We have the resources in this country and we end up saving taxpayers through our program. It’s fiscally and morally superior to any programs that we have going on, because when homeless access emergency services, it’s quite a bill that taxpayers are stuck paying. What we do with the housing first model. We save taxpayers a lot of money by investing in their long-term health and housing. And I can show your sources if you wanted.

Michelle: At the bottom of our Goodbites section, we will have the links to all those sources for our listeners to check out.

So Tom, it’s not just one and done, it’s not just housing and then you boot them out the door.

Tom: Not at all. As a case manager, I check in with them very frequently. Some of them once a week, some of them once a month. The ones that are working really close to financial freedom, I won’t talk to them as often, but there are some that I speak multiple times a week and I’m proud. I’m really proud to work with these people and I’m proud to work with these veterans.

There was a veteran that I met up with and he said that we saved his life. He said we literally saved his life. And that’s the type of stuff that I hear from these veterans all the time. And these are people who worked really, really hard defending their country, doing projects in the military. And then through one reason or another, a lot of health-related reasons get really, really down on their luck and and they and they deserve help and everyone deserves some help.

Michelle: Tom, how did you get into this field of work?

Tom: Well, it’s been a demographic I’ve been passionate about since I was a kid. I used to live in Pakistan and Egypt and China, and I remember seeing a lot of poverty in the villages. My dad would work on these electrical projects, getting them online and in these developing countries. And I would spend time in the villages and getting to know the kids because I was younger, I was a kid, and I’d get to know the moms and dads and the farmers and in the United States, we have a lot of poverty.

And so ever since I was a little kid, it’s poverty and homelessness has been something I’ve been really, really focused and passionate about and always cared and have not been able to take my eye away. And now that I’m doing something actively ameliorating that trauma, I feel I feel excellent. I feel really good.

Michelle: Everybody has a story, and I feel like case managers are so important because you’re the one-on-one face that connects them to resources that acclimate them back into society. You build trust and show them that you’re an actual person, and I’m here to help you as a person.

Tom: My heart’s beating really fast right now because I get really worked up and I get really sad thinking about how these people are dehumanized. We could all be in their shoes. Trust me, we could. We could all have events happen to make us in the exact same situation as them. And and we might not even fare as well as them.

Michelle: How many veterans are you working with at one time?

Tom: It’s growing. Since I’m fairly new, I have 11 veterans. I got my 12th one on Friday and five of which are shallow subsidy, which is a program where we help pay rent for two years, growing towards financial independence. And then I have seven. And the traditional SSVF.

Michelle: Traditional SSVF?

Tom: Traditional SPF is what I was mentioning regarding the weekly check-ins or bi-weekly check-ins trying to find them housing, trying to connect them to resources, shallow subsidy is that program with veterans that we’ve gotten pretty stable they’ve signed a new lease and they’re they’re going to be off the program within in two years, but they’re still getting some help from us just so that they can reach that independence.

I want people to know that this program saves lives. That’s just that’s just the bottom line. This program saves lives. And every single coworker that I’m around and interact with is in the same game. And they have the same mission where we want to see people who deserve security and health and happiness and love find it. I would just want to let someone know that our program saves taxpayers money, lots of money. And we put people in homes. This is morally and fiscally superior to anything else that we’re doing.

Alicia: To wrap up all that goodness. Here’s what we learned from Don, Don, and Tom today.

Don G: I’m Don. I’m an outreach specialist for the Supported Services for Veterans Families short, SSVF. I just want to give you our number. It’s 509-828-2449. Give us a shot I think we can really help change your life. That’s what we’re about.

Don M: My name is Don. I am a case manager with the SSVF program. We can be reached through the outreach department. Our address, we’re off of the of the main Goodwill administrative building. We’re just down the street at 505 East Third, and we take drop-ins.

Tom: Hi, I’m Tom. I’m with Supportive Services for Veterans Family at Goodwill. And a little message to anyone out there who could be eligible or if you think you might be eligible, if you’re a veteran and you’re hurting right now, I want you to come visit me. And it would be my honor to work with you and your families.

And if you’re having a hard time reaching out and asking for help, totally understand. Been there, too, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And also, you deserve it. And I want you to call me. My phone number is 509-321-3359. And it’s my pleasure to work with any of you and all of you. And if you know someone who could benefit from this, get us in touch.

Alicia: And a message to all veterans from Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest. Thank you for your service.

(music fades) 

Michelle Hey, if you’re hearing this message, you’ve listened to our new episode all the way to the end. And for that, thank you.

Alicia And don’t forget to keep up with what’s good by following us on Social Media, on Facebook, @INWGoodwill, Instagram @Goodwill_INW, Twitter @GoodwillINW and TikTok @GoodwillINW.

(Music fades out) 

Tom: What did the Zen Buddhist say to the hotdog vendor? Make me one with everything.

(Sad trombone sound) 

(sound fades)