The VetsConnection Podcast

Ep. 18 - Wounded Veteran Relief Fund, Transforming Veteran Lives Through Dental and Financial Support

• Scott McLean • Episode 18

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Ever wondered how critical dental care and financial assistance can transform the lives of veterans? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Mike Durkee, the dedicated executive director of the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund. Mike shares his inspiring journey from his service in the Army to spearheading an organization that provides urgent financial support to veterans, ensuring they can avoid evictions, maintain utilities, and access childcare. You'll also learn about the impactful Critical Dental Assistance Program that addresses the shocking statistic that 85% of veterans don't qualify for dental benefits, and how this initiative is making a significant difference in Florida, a state with a large veteran population.

Our discussion also dives into the various outreach initiatives that Mike and his passionate team undertake to support veterans. From replacing old, mercury-filled crowns—a crucial step for those suffering from PTSD—to preventing homelessness, their efforts are exemplary. We highlight their collaboration with VA medical centers and county service officers, as well as how they're extending their reach to underserved areas. The episode wraps up with some light-hearted moments featuring Mike’s eye-catching vehicle and our new nonprofit venture, "One Man, One Mic." Tune in for a heartwarming and informative episode filled with stories of dedication and community support.

Scott McLean:

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today is Mike Durkee. Mike is the executive director of the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, located in North Palm Beach, Florida. How you doing, Mike? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man, Welcome to the kitchen studio. I'm excited to be here. It's great, yeah. So the chef was supposed to show up today. We were going to have gourmet French toast this is a morning interview for the listeners. It's going to be million-dollar bacon. It was all set. And well, the guy again no-showed me. Yeah, highly disappointed.

Mike Durkee:

Right.

Scott McLean:

So you're good with water, I'm good with water. Okay, so, mike, tell us, what does the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund do for veterans?

Mike Durkee:

Sure. So after I got out of the military, I was in the Army for roughly 13 years. I flew helicopters and so forth, and when I got out after losing some friends overseas, I really wanted to give back to my fellow veterans and help them out. So I came across this organization called Wounded Veterans Relief Fund in North Palm Beach and I went to their office and I said how can I help you out? How can I either raise more money or raise awareness of what you're doing, helping veterans in our community? And they brought me on board as a volunteer and an ambassador. And so so I did that with them, my wife and I we put on a 5k race the first ever that the organization had a race like $25,000 for, which was amazing. And and then after that, the board of directors. They just saw what I was doing and so they said hey, become a board member, we'd love to have you on our board. And so that's what I did.

Mike Durkee:

I came on the board and then shortly after, the executive director just left right, had an accident and so forth and just couldn't do this anymore. So they reached out to me and said hey, mike, are you interested in possibly running the organization. So I talked to my wife about that and she said, of course you know, let's do it, cause I know this is within your heart, right To, to do good for veterans. And and now it's been over eight years serving veterans with the organization. But we were started by a group of Marines, local Marines that just and back in 2009,. And they just saw that so many veterans, so many military members coming out of the military after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, that they just had a hard time transitioning out, trying to get jobs, couldn't make the rent payments and so forth.

Mike Durkee:

And so we developed the Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which is now called the Urgent Financial Assistance Program, and basically what we're doing is bridging the financial gap for veterans so that they can stay in their homes, and so we avoid evictions, we pay for mortgages, mortgage payments that they're behind in, so we help out with that. We turn the utilities back on that's gas, water, gas, electric and we also do temporary childcare for veterans that need childcare while they're out there either learning a new career or trying to go out there and go out to the job interviews, and they just don't have anybody, they don't have the family support to take care of their children. So we pay for child care, temporary child care, for that. So yeah. And then just recently I'm so excited about this is that about three years ago, we started the Critical Dental Assistance Program and everybody's mind, boggled by the statistic, is that 85% of veterans do not receive and do not qualify for dental benefits. So it's amazing.

Scott McLean:

That's huge man. It is and that is one of the number one things that I've heard from other veterans is the dental. It's really non-existent.

Mike Durkee:

Again, I can give you a couple statistics here, right? So, florida has the third largest veteran population, right of about 1.5 million veterans, about 800,000 of them are actually disabled veterans registered with the VA. So, if you look at, 85% of veterans do not receive and qualify for dental benefits. You're looking at about 680,000 veterans just in Florida alone that do not qualify for this. And again, if you look at the poverty level within the veteran community, which could be around 11 to 12%, you're still looking at high 60,000, 70,000 veterans that absolutely cannot afford dental care.

Mike Durkee:

And we've come across veterans that have gone years and years and years without any type of dental care. And you know, sometimes you know again, I don't I don't know if you've seen this, but when you're in the military, before you go on deployments, you know, sometimes, if you have a tooth that is a bad tooth, they'll just yank the tooth out, right, they'll just yank it out. But what happens? Yes, they do, yeah, but what happens, though, is that, when you have that gap, all the other teeth will start to try to fill in that gap and they start to move, which creates another issue, right? So, in that gap, and they start to move, which creates another issue, right?

Mike Durkee:

So we've dealt with veterans that have gotten their teeth removed in the military and then they say, oh, the VA is going to take care of that. Well, and then they don't, right, so then they still have this issue. So we work with all of the VA social workers in the state of Florida and we also work with all the county service officers as well, and they refer veterans to our organization and when they have these issues we step in and we help them out. I mean, some of our veterans that need dental care, within two weeks or within a week they're already in a dental chair. A hundred percent free to veterans, free. Did you hear that? People Free and dental care is so expensive?

Scott McLean:

Yes, so expensive In defense of the VA, that's an overwhelming number just for one state for dental care, and dental care is a specific thing, and I don't know what the process is of how they would even start to incorporate something Like the medical facilities are one thing, right, you know, like VA hospital, but to get dentists on board board, that can't be easy either. Oh, you know. So you want to get a dentist that wants to work for the va or a guy that wants his own practice. That's, you know, killing it. Yeah, you know. So there's, there's, there's other aspects that go into that.

Mike Durkee:

But and I'm excited to tell you, tell you this as well is that? Um, we started with one dental office here in west palm beach. Yeah, we have over 150 dental partners in the state of Florida helping us out, and DeSantis just recently said that the whole month of November is Veteran Appreciation Month. Well, we're partnered with the Florida Dental Association and together we're going to actually create a whole month-long dental campaign free dental care to veterans in the month of November. So we're bringing all of our dental partners together and so we're just, you know, we're transforming lives. We're saving lives with the dental care and also with the homelessness thing as well, you know. So we're doing that.

Mike Durkee:

And when you go in and help a veteran, give them their smile back, give them a healthy mouth again, you're not only helping them out with their overall health, you're giving them mental health. Now they're also going outside, they're meeting with people, they're socializing again, right? So all of these wonderful things that occur, and then having the self-confidence to go to a job interview and get that amazing job that pays well for you and your family. So you don't have to constantly go to a job interview and get that amazing job that pays well for you and your family, so you don't have to constantly go to you know a resource, an organization like hey, can you help pay for this? Can you help me? No, now you have a great job and now you can pay for everything. You know what I mean, and that's what it's all about Sustainability.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, now you are a disabled vet yourself, correct, correct, yeah, yourself, correct, correct, yeah. So what are some of the challenges that you guys face? And I'm just telling people? I went to the website and those numbers just pop up as soon as you go to the website. I and we'll get to the, we'll give the website right now, because I want to do it a couple times, yeah, I mean you could just google us right wounded veterans relief fundorg.

Mike Durkee:

Don't confuse us with any other organization. It's wounded veterans, okay, yes?

Scott McLean:

because I think there could be a confusion there. It's wvrforg, right, correct? Yeah, check that out. After, of course, you listen to the podcast, the numbers are amazing. So again back to the challenges that you face as an organization in pulling off all the stuff that you guys do, right?

Mike Durkee:

right. So when I took over the organization right, it was around about $700,000 in donations to the organization and what we're doing right. I also want to point out that roughly 85% of donor monies go back to the veterans.

Scott McLean:

It's 86.7, I believe I saw on the website it was, but it fluctuates every single year. But 86.7 was last. I saw on the website it was. It was, but it fluctuates every single year.

Mike Durkee:

But 86.7 was last year, right, so no, that's. I love that. Thanks for pointing that out, yes, but uh, really the the difficulties is is really getting in front of the right people that will like, want to fund your organization. That that sees what you're doing for veterans and especially with the dental care. Nobody else is doing the dental care, nobody else at the level that we're doing it, and even though our dentists give some pro bono work you know what I mean they already discount their services roughly 55, 60%, which is awesome, you're right. Right, it's awesome. We still pay. We still pay the dentist, right, like Nobel, biocare gives us close to $100,000 worth of dental implants every single year. Now we don't use that full amount. Not everybody qualifies for a dental implant.

Scott McLean:

But what I'm?

Mike Durkee:

getting at is that it's not all pro bono work and you do have to pay. When you are in pain dental pain you need help right now, and if you go to the VA emergency, they're going to give you antibiotics. That's all they're going to give you. They're not going to take the tooth out and they're not going to replace that tooth, right. So you need to go see a dentist now and that's why we pay.

Mike Durkee:

There is another organization that does dental work, but they have like a not again, not at the scale that we're doing it, but they have 14 to 16 to 18 month waiting list. And again, when you're in dental pain and you need help right now, you need help right now. So it's roughly about $4,000 per veteran. $4,000, $4,500 is what our average cost is per veteran and some work is okay. This year alone, over $500,000 in direct support money, support to dental care for veterans over $500,000. That equates to roughly $1.2 million in undiscounted treatments to veterans. So that's where donor dollars are going, right. I mean, your impact is $1.2 million, right? We already paid $500,000 of that. So it's just amazing.

Scott McLean:

I always make this public service announcement. Give them money right, give them money. Go on their website. Give them money there. There is a button on the website give them money. Donate. Now the public service announcement is over.

Mike Durkee:

So give me a success story like some, a story that stands out to you on how your organization or you help the veteran, or veterans in general I don't know where to begin because there's a lot of success stories here, like there's a success story just with the organization itself and our impact and recognizing and filling the gap, the dental gap, for veterans. I think that's a huge success story, transforming their lives. I mean, again, we have veterans that won't reach out to us, but the spouses will reach out to us and say, hey, I want my husband back. And then when they, when they then come to us and we get them qualified and we send them to our dentist and we redo their whole mouth and then they come back, come out of that with the smile that they haven't had in for years. You got the wife calling us up, crying on the phone, saying you got, you brought my husband back to me.

Mike Durkee:

We're dealing right now with a veteran that has crowns that I guess has mercury in it as well and it looks like it's leaching into his body and he's got suffering from PTS and all these other things, and it's like we're going to get rid of those old crowns and give you the newer standard, which doesn't contain that material, and give you the newer standard, which doesn't contain that material.

Mike Durkee:

So those are some success stories, but also success story of the team itself. Right, most of us are veterans, but also a couple of our team members are patriots, absolute patriots that want to give back and are either spouses of a veteran or even a daughter of a Marine Corps veteran, right, so they just go above and beyond. They're so passionate in helping out our veterans that it's just wonderful to see them in action and what we're all capable of doing. Again, preventing homelessness so that a family is not living out of the car is a success story. And then changing over 400 some lives with dental care is a huge success story. I mean, again, gave them their life back, transformed them, saved them. I think that's great.

Scott McLean:

So the outreach to the veterans or their family members or caregivers find you, guys, you do outreach to say, hey, here we are, we're here, and how do you?

Mike Durkee:

do that. Most of our veterans come directly from the VA, the social workers or the county service officers within the state of Florida, but we do. We have a Facebook page right so you can go on our Facebook page like us, see all the different events that we got going on, because we have events that we bring a lot of veterans out so that they can meet new veterans and just have that camaraderie right To talk about either their time in service or some of the challenges they faced and how they got through them after leaving the military. And so we do a lot of events right, and we do Facebook, we do Instagram. We go to stand downs as well, we have our booth set up and we give out dental bags with toothbrushes and toothpaste and dental floss and all that and try to educate them as well, you know, on good hygiene, oral hygiene and so. So that's what we do.

Scott McLean:

Now you're up in North Palm beach, how far do you guys reach out? Is it, do you get to Miami? Do you get people from Jacksonville or is it regional? Based on just your location and how it works.

Mike Durkee:

Right. So when I first started, it was just really South Florida, our area, that we would support, and it was always an issue going out to events and say, hey, where would you support veterans? And I said, well, it's South Florida, orlando, down to the keys, so to speak. Right, so it's like Tampa, orlando, melbourne, down to the keys. Well, you know, after I took over as the executive director, I told the board, I said, let's, we have to do the whole state of Florida. You know, it just makes more sense. Just say, hey, we cover the whole state, from Pensacola, jacksonville, all the way down to the Keys. So so that's our area and again, we're making a huge impact.

Scott McLean:

And how did you do that? I mean, we're talking one of the biggest states in the country, right? Yeah? How were you able to cover the entire state, Right? That must've been quite an undertaking. I mean yes and no, okay, yeah, good.

Mike Durkee:

And when I lean more towards no, is because we work with all the VA medical centers and their outline clinics. So, working with their heads of social work, they let all of their social workers know, at all these different spots, all these different places throughout the state of Florida. Same with the counties there's, you know, every county has a veteran service officer, so you know. So we got all that covered and really it's just educating the VA and educating the county service officers on our programs and how to, how to qualify a veteran when they walk in and they're they're, you know, facing hard times or they need dental support, right? So the biggest thing again is funding in in those areas, because you know Palm Beach County, miami, you know, you got, you got Naples, florida, you got, you know, different parts of Florida where there's, there's more support. But if you look at North Florida, there's not a whole lot of support up in North Florida and so I'd love to have more events up in North Florida, I'd love to have more volunteers and more ambassadors up in North Florida.

Mike Durkee:

So to those that are listening on this podcast and they're up in that North Florida area Gainesville, north Lake City, tallahassee, jacksonville, pensacola, eglin area please reach out to us. On our website they can go and it says volunteer, so they can click on that. Or they can say, hey, I want more information about your organization and, by the way, I'd love to volunteer or I'd like to become an ambassador. So again, just go into our website. You get a lot of information you could submit that. You get out to Bel glades at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a tough community to get out to, it is. It is underserved.

Scott McLean:

Underserved. Absolutely, you know, absolutely. Okay, chubby as well. Yes, you know, yes, so you do.

Mike Durkee:

Collaborations, partnerships with other organizations, yeah, we love to collaborate with other organizations. You know we absolutely do and it's unfortunate that some other organizations don't like doing that. Listen, it's all about the mission and helping out veterans. Okay, and I think we're stronger together and we're going to be able to accomplish a lot more in the veteran community, do more good for veterans, if we all work together. So you know, we work with like Paws for Liberty. We also work with like furry friends up in Jupiter, lauren Berkson and the friends of Fisher House at the West Palm Beach, va. We work with them very closely. We got Unified Dream, which is Jay Campu, so Mission United, we work with them. We also work with Mission United Broward as well. So if they have a veteran that they want to collaborate with me, they'll call us up or our organization and we work together to help out a veteran.

Mike Durkee:

But the reason why it's good to collaborate is because one organization can't do it all. So again, when veterans come to us and they need help, well, we can help out with the financial support. We can help out with the critical dental care. We can't help out with dogs. We can't help out with the herd foundation, with the equine care. We can't help out with dogs we can't help out with, like the herd foundation, you know, with with the equine therapy we can't do that, you know. You know there's other things that we can't do taking veterans out fishing, or even though we do have a Bonita blast fishing tournament coming up here, so we'll talk about that later We'll get to that.

Mike Durkee:

But, but there's other organizations that do more and provide, like, financial education. You know we don't really do that, but we work with another organization that does, so we like to provide wraparound services for our veterans.

Scott McLean:

Well, through me, herd Foundation would love to. Anything we could do for you guys Awesome, thank you. I can speak on that. Thank you, because we love collaborating. Yeah, it's collaboration over competition. It's just the way it has to be. If somebody wants to donate to the Wounded Veterans Relief Fund website, hit the donate button. And we just talked about fundraisers. So Give us some of the fundraisers that you guys have coming up that you usually do throughout the year.

Mike Durkee:

We actually have a lot of different fundraisers throughout the year. So we have the Running for Heroes 5K, which is in Jupiter, Florida, at the Riverbend Park. We have the Bonita Blast Fishing Tournament that's coming up on July 27th when is that? And that's up in Stewart Florida, Port Salerno, and we have roughly about 100 plus boats that go out. And it's really amazing because the community really comes together that have boats and then they say, listen, we could take two veterans or we can take four veterans on our boat and some of these boats are like 70, 76, 82 foot Vikings. I mean, these are like major sports fishing boats, right? So we take out about a hundred disabled veterans and combat veterans out fishing during this tournament, a hundred percent free to the veterans.

Mike Durkee:

Now I can't always guarantee a spot because veterans come up to us really quickly when they hear about the Bonita Blast that's coming up again within a couple of months and we open it up to the veterans to sign up for it. But first come, first serve on that one. But over 100 veterans get to go out and fish. So it's just wonderful. We had Brian Mast out there. He went out fishing, brought his two boys on one of the boats and we had the sheriff come out, we had Florida representatives come out and speak at the dinner, at the awards dinner. So it's a lot of fun. And then we also have the Dive for Freedom shark dive coming up and that's a cage open cage. I mean there's no cages, okay, so open a cage?

Scott McLean:

Well, no cage.

Mike Durkee:

But yeah, it's just snorkel gear with fins and jumping in the water and you have, you know, maybe three, four different species of sharks swimming around you, maybe 12 at a time, you know, circling you.

Scott McLean:

With experienced people down there, with them, right?

Mike Durkee:

Oh yeah, I'm listening and thinking what the shark addicts right, the shark addicts.

Scott McLean:

They're called the shark addicts.

Mike Durkee:

And I mean just watching Cameron just go in the water he's the one who runs the shark addicts and the shark he'll see a shark with a hook in his mouth, right, and then he'll just flip them over, put them in that trance and then take the hook right out of its mouth, right, and let it go. And so it's very therapeutic for sharks as well as as well as veterans. But we usually have about 20 veterans that go out and some big boats that take our veterans out swimming and but you know, it's no joke, but it's, but it's a lot of fun, you know, and and it's something that veterans are, I mean, anybody would be uncomfortable going in there, right In the, in the water, but they're doing it together and they've just accomplished a mission together, just like the military right.

Mike Durkee:

And it's very therapeutic for them, but it also brings them closer together. And then, of course, we have the Devil Dog 5K, which is run by Wade Waddick here in Boca Raton and it's called South County Park is where we're at. We've got about 1,000 people. 1, it's called South County park is where we're at. We got about a thousand people, a thousand runners that come out to that Um, and Wade doesn't does a tremendous job with his, with his crew and Wade's. Wade's a Marine Corps veteran and he just absolutely loves what we do for how we help veterans, so he dedicates a lot of time putting that on. And then, of course, november 2nd is our big gala and that's our big fundraiser, though you know, the biggest fundraiser of the year and that's going to be at the Kravitz center on November 2nd Beautiful, it's a lot.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, yeah, so I can say thank you for taking time out of your day to do this, cause it sounds to me like you're a busy guy.

Mike Durkee:

Oh, yeah, yeah, it's nonstop and you know, I'm fortunate to have a wife and and uh and daughter that that understand what I do, and and my daughter comes up to me and she's, like dad, you know, just so proud of what you do. And she's 12 years old, you know. So that's, that's awesome. Makes you almost want to cry.

Scott McLean:

Well, I'm the same. My wife supports me 100 what I'm doing with herd foundation and all the outreach I'm doing and doing this podcast and starting my own non-profit. That is a big, big plus. To have that support saying go do it, don't worry, we're good, we got your back. And it allows us to go out and help our people. And that's what I always say the veterans are my people, they're our people, correct, and we do it with all the love and all the appreciation and care. Although we served listen, listen there's people that served before us, laid that foundation and this kid's serving after us. Yep, you know.

Mike Durkee:

So let's uh, let's get the website again, okay um, so your, your listeners again can go to wounded veterans relief fund, or wvrforg, and learn more information about our two programs and how they can help us out. Right, they can be part of the family you know, to help us help more veterans in the state of Florida.

Scott McLean:

Is there anything else you want to touch on?

Mike Durkee:

You know, in order to qualify for VA dental benefits you have to be at least 100% disabled right or have sustained an oral injury, and that's why it's so tough for so many veterans to get dental care. I mean, there's some other ways to get it, but it's really temporary, like if you're in the HUD-VASH program, which is for veterans that are making below a percentage in poverty right. They're below the poverty level and they don't have enough funds to rent a place, so the VA will kick in a portion of that rent in order to subsidize, basically, that veteran's rent so that they can have a place to stay. Again, you have to be 100% or have sustained an oral injury in order to receive dental care. It's tough and it's an act of Congress and the Senate to approve to increase the dental benefits or lower the threshold for the requirements for dental care, but so far it's been really tough and it hasn't been approved. So they've tried to bring it to the forefront, but unfortunately it's not just for dental right.

Mike Durkee:

These bills contain other things too that other representatives don't want to vote on, right. So I just wish sometimes, you know, these bills would just be clean. Just one point only right, but unfortunately not Too much pork, as they say. Right right, too much pork yeah.

Scott McLean:

Well, mike, thanks for being on the podcast. I really appreciate your time. Again, I know you're a busy man. They have the best vehicle foundation vehicle that I've seen. He Mike pulled up in front of my house and it is. You can't miss it. It's a giant flag. It's got the wounded veterans relief fund on it it. I'm actually going to get my picture taken with it. So mike's going to get his picture taken with the hulk. I'm going to get my picture taken with their vehicle I love it.

Mike Durkee:

It's very cool it's very cool.

Scott McLean:

well, we built another bridge today. Uh, again, I want to thank mike for coming on. If you like this podcast, share it. If you're listening on youtube, then hit the subscribe button and hit the alert bell and it will let you know when it comes on. So if you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email me at vetsconnectionpodcast at gmailcom. If you want to check out my website, it's wwwvetsconnectpodcastcom. And well, I'm basically turning this this. This podcast will be getting absorbed under my new nonprofit called the one man, one mic. So that's how I'm going to end this. Well, I'm only one man with one mic, and you'll hear me next Monday, oh, and I'm with Mike. So it literally is one man, one mic with actually these are two mics. Right, I'll just end this right now.

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