The VetsConnection Podcast

Ep. 34 - Mission United's Impact In South Florida and Its Future: Jonathan Oakley Talks About Bridging Gaps for Veterans

• Scott McLean • Episode 34

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Unlock the secrets to effective collaboration and agency cooperation in supporting veterans, as we welcome back Jonathan Oakley, the Senior Director of Mission United of Palm Beach County, on the Vets Connection podcast. Jonathan shares the remarkable progress Mission United has made over the past eight months, including the swift success of the inaugural Mission United summit. Held in partnership with Dade and Broward Counties, this event accelerated the resolution of pressing veterans' issues, from housing and financial stability to legal assistance and health and education, thanks to efficient teamwork and strategic planning.

Our conversation takes a deep dive into the complexities of navigating veterans' services across Florida, highlighting the involvement of nearly 50 agencies. With Jonathan, we explore the need for a unified strategy to present findings to government leaders, ensuring resources are aligned and efforts are maximized. Learn how Mission United acts as an essential bridge, connecting these agencies and helping them overcome the challenges of reaching veterans who might not know about available resources. Access to grants, increased exposure, and timely newsletters are some of the ways Mission United broadens the support network for veterans.

As we cast our eyes to future initiatives planned for 2025, discover the pivotal role of community engagement and the relentless spirit required to sustain fundraising and collaboration efforts. Be inspired by the dedicated individuals like Richard, who contribute to organizing meaningful events such as the 4th of July 5K and Veterans Day celebrations. Plus, you'll hear about the significance of persistence in navigating the veteran nonprofit landscape and fostering valuable connections through podcasts and partnerships. Stay tuned until the end for a vital public service announcement on resources like 988 and 211, crucial for veterans and their communities.

Scott McLean:

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today is Jonathan Oakley, senior Director of Mission United of Palm Beach County, and this is Jonathan's second trip. He's the first repeat offender on the Vets Connection podcast. How you doing, jonathan?

Jonathan Oakley:

I'm doing great. I'm not sure if that's an honor or a privilege or both.

Scott McLean:

Yeah yeah, welcome to the one man, one mike studio sponsored by willow and palm construction at delray beach, florida. Willow and palm south florida's premier builder. From driveways to roofs to buildings if you need it, they'll build it. You can find them at willowandpalmcom there. You, you go. Got that out of the way. Nice. Now they're great. They are absolutely great.

Jonathan Oakley:

This is a step up From the studio kitchen, from the studio kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen was beautiful. Yeah, your home is beautiful, but there's no Hulk leering at me. There you go. There's no intimidation factor. Big pink couch. Big pink couch, big pink couch. Comfortable, a hundred percent.

Scott McLean:

There you go, there you go. That's the selling point. To get people to come in, I have to coax them in.

Jonathan Oakley:

You get to sit on a real comfortable big pink couch. It's a vibe, it's for those that haven't been here. It's its own vibe. There you go, mission accomplished.

Scott McLean:

All right. So yeah, it's been eight months, eight months since you were on first.

Jonathan Oakley:

It's been a whirlwind.

Scott McLean:

Eight months. That's amazing. Yes, I looked at the data. I'm like woof, where did that go? All right. So instead of you saying, oh well, let me think back, I'll just kind of bring it along At this point. Eight months later, the current goals for Mission United Palm Beach County has anything changed? Is it still the same?

Jonathan Oakley:

Goals-wise, we're still working in the same direction. We're still operating under the same pretenses of increasing access for veterans right, try to find ways to get the veterans connected with the resources, increasing the ability for the resources to connect with veterans and connect with each other. How do we build the network? How do we get the network to be more collaborative and communicative to help solve those problems more efficiently, more effectively with less resources? Right? And then you know we're a funding partner, so we still provide grants. In those eight months since we've issued a little over $275,000 in grant funding, we had a funder come into the United Way with a little special pot of money that went out to three agencies specifically, and then we had another grant cycle that completed out in September, and so that was another quarter million that walked out the door to 14 agencies separate. You know, doing many different things. So just another year in the life.

Scott McLean:

Another year in the life of Mission United, palm Beach County. There we go, yes, so currently we just got done. I was fortunate enough to be invited to this through the One man, one Mic Foundation.

Jonathan Oakley:

My cheap plug that I put in every episode I'm down.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, we had the Mission United first ever summit Yep, right Of the three Dade County, broward County. First ever summit yeah, right Of the three Dade County, broward County, palm Beach County Yep, I'll just tell you it was. It was an amazing day. I'm not just saying this, this isn't lip service. I was, uh, I was fortunate enough to be invited and I was extremely impressed. I've been to some of these other type of summit things, uh, over Extremely impressed. I've been to some of these other type of summit things over the last, well, couple years because, since my involvement in the nonprofit, the veteran nonprofit space. But I'll tell you what this one was a grand slam, and I'm not just saying that because he's sitting in front of me it was a grand slam. So give the listeners a little background on how that thing came about and how it was pulled together and then, uh, take it from there sure.

Jonathan Oakley:

So we started out last spring, uh, the bob woodruff foundation. It's a national level organization, uh, that has the veterans as their, you know, main focus of effort and uh you can look them up online huge, huge group. And they had a foundation summit and it was in Fort Lauderdale, Broward, Michigan United hosted, and so myself, Chris Shanks, who's the senior director for Michigan United, Miami-Dade County United Way, and then James Heaton, who's the VP for Michigan United and Broward's United Way. We were all at this summit for Bob Woodruff and we said we should have our own and we started discussing what makes a good summit, what makes a bad summit, what do we want to accomplish with this summit?

Jonathan Oakley:

And we went into it with a few different ideas, but I think the main focus was how do we bring these agencies together so that we can, one, get on the same page and, two, how do we discuss the issues that affect veterans in a space where everybody can put their two cents in and let us know what they feel they're good at, what they feel they need help with and what can we do to make their jobs easier and what can we do to help them do it more effectively.

Jonathan Oakley:

So we put all this thought into it and we were going to have it next spring. We were like we'll have it in a year, this is great. And then James sent out an email in August and was like we're going to have it in November and it was okay. So cross the T's and dot the I's and work through the logistics of this with a great organization Cloud9, that they work with for event planning Great group of folks Love them to death. They worked with us and we put this thing together in a short amount of time Shorter than we thought we were going to have and so far all the feedback has been great.

Scott McLean:

Everybody thought it went well.

Jonathan Oakley:

Everybody felt heard, everybody felt like the structure was solid. And now for follow-up is we had AIs in the room listening to the conversations, recording, taking notes and we had a few other things going on. So the hope is we're going to build this report about the four areas right. So we had housing and homelessness and financial stability as a room. We had legal assistance and benefit assistance. We had health, so it's mental, spiritual, suicide prevention, all of that um and like health and education yeah, and then education, yeah, so yeah, education and employment, and employment.

Jonathan Oakley:

That's what I'm saying. So those four areas, uh, each of those four areas will have a report that comes out of the room with the agencies and we will understand how the vet space is working in that area. What do the vets need as far as education and employment? What are our challenges in the mental health space? What about housing and financial stability? And we'll be able to take those and put them to paper, generate a report, and the goal next spring would be to have another event where we bring these to government leaders at the city, county, state, federal level so that they can help bring resources to bear and they understand what the agencies are doing.

Jonathan Oakley:

Right, the government knows that they can't do everything, right? Uh, they know they need the agencies that are doing the work, you know, to help them in the mission. Well, the goal is to get everybody pulling the rope the same direction and and make sure everybody's, everybody's doing what we can. So, so we'll take it and and put that together and and hopefully the second go-round right with the government leaders will go as well as the first one with the agencies.

Scott McLean:

So how many agencies were there? Almost 50. Almost 50. Now for the listeners that might not be familiar with it, Dade County is Miami, Broward County, which just equates to Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach County, which equate to West Palm Beach or Boca Raton. A little plug for my town are three absolutely different counties. Oh yes, I mean, they are 100%, Absolutely different counties and to get agencies from each one of those it's not like it's a rival or anything, but we don't see what's going on in Dade, Dade doesn't see what's going on in Palm Beach County, and it was great to sit at the table with some of these people and just kind of get to know them and find out what they're doing, and it was very informative from that side also it's.

Jonathan Oakley:

It was informative for the agencies that I've heard that that learned a lot about what's going on in the other agencies or in the other geographic areas right, the other counties. But I mean it's, it's almost a microcosm. I always say this when I when people ask me about what we do here in Palm Beach County and how we're trying to connect everybody, I tell them all the time I said people in North County don't know what's going on in South County, people in South County don't know what's going on in North County and nobody knows what's going on in West County, right, yeah, so I mean that's just within Palm Beach County.

Scott McLean:

Yeah.

Jonathan Oakley:

So imagine the same mantra occurs when you talk about other places Broward, miami-dade, I mean, those are light years away. If Belle Glade is too far, then Lauderdale is even further than that. The only time people go down to Fort Lauderdale is maybe to the beach or to go to a Panthers game. The only time people go to Miami is to watch the Heat play or on their way to the Keys. I mean, so there's just, it gave us an opportunity to connect all those bases and the Mission United's in every location. Yeah, very different. Mission United Broward is the granddaddy of them all and is huge and is a one-stop shop and is phenomenal. James does a great job with all the work that him and his staff do for vets, and then Chris is like in the middle. He does some of what James does, but not all the things that James does, and he has his staff and then Palm Beach County's me, and we're less hands-on with the vets.

Jonathan Oakley:

We're not hands-on with the vets at all really.

Scott McLean:

I like that Chris actually sat in on some of these meetings and I didn't know who he was. Like I, I I'd never met him and he was in one of my, one of the rooms with me and and I'm listening to him talk, I'm like, wow, this dude, he's on like he, he knows what he's talking about. And I'm like, what, what, what? Uh, foundation is he with Right? And come to find out that he was right in there, you know, in communicating and given his two cents. I thought that was, that was uh, that was very he could have just sat back in the back of the room and listened. That's a lot of what I did, yeah, and, and that's okay, that's what you're there for. You put it together. You want to see how it goes?

Jonathan Oakley:

um, well, I think part of that was I told, and I told james this when we started talking about this um and it. So this was just me thing, it wasn't't necessarily a James or Chris thing and we all kind of viewed it different. But I felt like we had Palm Beach County, had a lot of agencies there, you know we had, you know yourself, with one man one, mike Heard, careersource Legal Aid, and I mean there was you know a dozen agencies that and some of them are our partners. You know David from Gray Team, I mean they're a funded partner.

Jonathan Oakley:

So what I didn't want to do was be in the room while David and Rhonda from Heard, you know, and some of these people that are funded partners. I didn't want them to feel like they had to say certain things Great point About Miss United or say like I wanted them to feel comfortable without a funder sitting in the back. There's no need to impress me, there's no need to like I'm not going to go report back to my council about what you said. I want to make sure it was open and honest. So I took a step back and just observed.

Scott McLean:

Makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But I can't wait to see what comes out of that. I think it's going to be absolutely productive, because everybody left there with a good feeling and it was good to get to see other agencies from two counties over you know, and hopefully that's the beginning of you know, many to come, hopefully Every couple of years.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah, that's the goal. That would probably make sense.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, uh. So what current projects or initiatives? Uh, is Mission United Palm Beach County or you yourself? You are Mission. You are the Jonathan Oakley from Mission United, palm Beach County.

Jonathan Oakley:

I'll let that one slide. I'll let that one slide. I'll let that one slide.

Scott McLean:

What do you got going on?

Jonathan Oakley:

So the biggest thing we just came off you know, Veterans Day, november.

Jonathan Oakley:

Thousand events, not a thousand, but we had a lot of events going on and the summit being one of them. So projects big. You know, working with James Chris trying to get this report completed, get all that information compiled and really have a good product that came out of this summit that everybody loved. Right, everybody loved it. We got to have a product that everybody loves too. Yeah, or or, or the we lose faith, right, right. So that's that's. That's one mission. We're going to have our United for Veterans event coming up in February. This will be the second iteration for Palm Beach County, united Way. You know our mission United to have this or the United for veterans event, two days, you know, day one mainly, uh, for the resources, the agencies to get together, network, learn about each other, talk through some stuff. A mini version of the summit that we just did.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah, you know, I guess, for lack of a better phrase. Uh, and then you know, day two is a resource fair, so vets from all over the county can come in. It'll be at Palm Beach State again same place so looking forward to putting that together with Palm Beach State and their Veteran Success Center. The director there is part of our council and a huge supporter for Mission United, vet himself, so we'll get with Lewis and get that taken care of. But those are the two biggest you know things that we're working on and you know just obviously the, the day-to-day operations, the grind of you know that, uh, grant vetting, grant processing, reporting and fundraising, because that's always, always in our forefront in our mind to raise funds to help keep Michigan United rolling.

Scott McLean:

Has there been an increase in agencies in the last eight months that have kind of reached out to you guys?

Jonathan Oakley:

Every year, yeah, every time. I mean. So year one, I mean here's an example. When we did our grant, I mean this is an easy one. The data's there, the math is there. Year one we had 12 agencies apply for a grant, asked for a little over $880,000. Year two, the number of agencies went up to 16. Year three, it's up to 22.

Jonathan Oakley:

You know, I mean, it's only, it's only going up the number of people and that's just the agencies that are applying for funding. That's, it's not agencies that we're laying hands on right, there are. There are agencies, you know, one man, one mike foundation is brand new, you know brand new haven't applied for a grant. You're here, you exist, right. And there are other agencies, just like that, team RWB, and there's a handful of them that we know are out there, we work with, we talk to, but they just haven't applied for a grant for whatever reason.

Scott McLean:

Whether they know about it or not. That's another thing. Correct, and that's a lot of word of mouth in this nonprofit world. Here, at least in Palm Beach County, a lot of it is word of mouth 100% and, like I just talked to you about a nonprofit veteran before the podcast, you're like, oh, I got to talk to them.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah.

Scott McLean:

Hook me up with them, yeah.

Jonathan Oakley:

Usually once a month, if not more, I get a. Have you heard of this agency? Right, and I'm like, no, never heard of them. Yeah, and it's an agency that is here in Palm Beach County or close. Yeah, you know, martin, whatever, and you know they fly under the radar.

Jonathan Oakley:

And again, that's part of the reason what Mission United is here to do, right, you have a lot of agencies doing great work, yeah, and is here to do right, you have a lot of agencies doing great work, yeah, uh, and they are so hyper-focused on their mission, yes, and, and you know, it's like the horse with the blinders on right, they don't get to see what's around them.

Jonathan Oakley:

They want to concentrate on what they're doing and their own little, their their space, um, and, and so Mission United can help be that advocate, help help be the person that can tell, tell you what's going on all around you. And there are some agencies out there that don't necessarily want or need that. There's an agency in North Palm Beach County that I've talked to. I've had lunch with the founder. We email back and forth, but he won't apply for a grant back and forth, but he won't apply for a grant. He doesn't necessarily want to jump headfirst into what we do because his demographic that he works on is Special Forces. Ah, okay, so it's very small community, very niche, and the Special Forces community is very tight.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yes, so he doesn't need help right exposing, they help each other exactly, I mean he's, he's sf himself, yeah, so for him it's, yes, it's not a need that he has and you know what plugged in.

Scott McLean:

It's kind of uh, you got to respect that correct, because he's not looking at it just to get the money correct, like that's a, I don't need it, but, thank you, let somebody else get it I put.

Jonathan Oakley:

I put as a fundraising events on our calendars. I I keep them plugged in to what's going on in the in the vet space. But he fills his niche and he does it well, so we let him. We let him be so. Mission united in palm beach county has the ability to morph and and give you what you need. If you need some love to fill the gaps, apply for a grant. If you just want some exposure and connection, get added to the mailing list. I give everybody a shout-out in the newsletter. You want to put your stuff in the newsletter? Send me what you want me to write. I'll put it in there. I'm not writing, but I'll publish it. I'll put it out in the newsletter. Send me what you want me to write. I'll put it in there. I'm not writing, but I'll, I'll, I'll publish it.

Scott McLean:

I'll put it out in the ether. Um and I. I have to say that I'm kind of fortunate in the sense that I had my uh, I got my feet wet in this world with herd foundation and then, you know, I started this podcast and I start to reach more people and talk to more people and then I start my foundation. I get to reach more people and talk to more people and that, I think, helps uh, not only help me, but I always mention mission united. I mentioned hurt. I mean, I mentioned as many foundations as I can to people and I think that needs to really be. I'm grateful for it. Yeah, and exposure I wouldn't have known. Probably maybe I wouldn't have known about mission United because I'd be. Yeah, it's not easy doing this, you know, starting it up and getting it on. It's getting it on its feet and getting some traction. And, yeah, I can see how people just they got blinders on some of these newer foundations that don't know Mission United exists. And Mission United exists to help us, literally to help us.

Jonathan Oakley:

The biggest thing is everybody has their own little network right. Herds Foundation has their network. Yeah, great team, you know. Connected Warriors 22.

Scott McLean:

Project 22, project. You go on and on, yeah.

Jonathan Oakley:

And a lot of those networks overlap. Yes, right, but there is an aspect to if you don't know, you don't know. So there are veterans that live in Boca and Delray, lauderdale, pompano, hollywood, whatever, all through South Florida, that have no idea about what all these agencies do, yeah, that have no idea about what all these agencies do. Yeah, and unless they get exposed in some way, shape or form whether it's this podcast or it's a summit or it's a resource fair or whatever, like they just randomly hiccup into it. If they don't understand what is out there and that's the challenge that we always face is it's not reaching my network. I can send my newsletter to every agency in Palm Beach County that I have, but they already know about Mission United, they already know about my calendar, they already know about the resource map. They already are aware of all these things.

Jonathan Oakley:

It's great that they have it, it's great that that resource is there for them, but ideally, that resource and that calendar and that map are for the ones that have no idea. Yeah, and that's the tough people to reach, that's the. That's where the challenge always lies. How do we get our message to those who aren't already built into this network?

Scott McLean:

Yeah, that is a that's a challenge. It yeah, that's a challenge, it is that's a challenge. But so how can, if somebody is in the community, the veteran community, and they want to get involved with Mission United? What's the website? What's the?

Jonathan Oakley:

So you go I mean get to Mission United on the United Way, palm Beach County. Unitedwaypbcorg is the website and if you look at the top line of the website Impact a little drop-down pops up. Mission United's there, bam. Our calendar's there, our resource map's there, my contact information's there. You can email me, jonathan Oakley, j-o-n-a-t-h-a-n. Oakley, like the sunglasses at unitedwaypbcorg. You can email Mission United At unitedwaypbcorg, and that comes to me and my boss. So there's a bunch of different ways that you can get a hold of us. Our phone number's on the website and we get connected with vets. Try to connect with us on a regular basis and I will tell you that our partner for navigation. So if you're a vet listening and you're like hey.

Jonathan Oakley:

I need some help. Our partner for navigation is 2-1-1. So if you hit 2-1-1, you'll get connected with the 2-1-1 on the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast and the submenu in there. I self-identify as a vet. So once it gets past the this emergency, please hang up, call 9-1-1. You get past that. It'll say if you're a vet, press one. You'll get connected to chris or scott and they have all the resources I have, plus some, yeah, and and their peer research, their peer mentors. They're trained to do this, uh, and so they'll help you find an agency to fulfill the needs you have. I have veterans that call me on a regular basis and I'll tell them that. And then, all right, dude, what can I do for you? I?

Scott McLean:

can't hang up. Yeah, exactly, I can't hang up, not yet.

Jonathan Oakley:

You're a veteran yourself. I am.

Scott McLean:

Retired Marine. Okay.

Jonathan Oakley:

Thanks for the crayons.

Scott McLean:

So how did they taste? Purple tastes like grape, really, it does, it does.

Jonathan Oakley:

Okay, it's mental, it's mental If you think it tastes like grape. It tastes like grape, yeah, uh, but yeah, so we just uh, the vet will call up and I'll try to connect them as best I can to resources, and a lot of times it's, you know, I connect them to the Palm Beach County VSOs Ron Hultgren is the lead VSO because it's a benefit question. Or I connect them to legal aid because it's a legal question, right? So some of it's easy, some of it's a little more challenging. But you know, know, we do our best to meet the needs and if, if the need can't be met with one of our agencies, I'm connected with two or three national level agencies that I can reach out to.

Jonathan Oakley:

American warrior partnership, bob woodruff foundation, uh, they have national reach. So if, if, by some chance, there is something in palm beach county that doesn't match it you, you know, between James and Chris, john South, or those two national agencies, chances are we probably can figure it out. It's a nut we can crack. For the most part I will say there's been a handful, less than a handful, but you know, small minority of ones that, sorry, not a whole lot we can do for you I and I had put that and I say this at the end of every episode.

Scott McLean:

Now that I have that little uh public service announcement at the end about 2-1-1 and what it offers, and uh you know, and I always tell the listeners listen to the end. It might pertain to you as somebody you know, because they offer a lot of services.

Jonathan Oakley:

It's one of the most unknown things and it's shocking because it's such a great resource. It's almost frustratingly so shocking. And before I did this Mission United gig, I worked for the Palm Beach County School District as a JROTC instructor at a school where two-on-one would have been a handy thing to know, and I mean I used to get phone calls from students on on a regular basis that needed some resource, needed some help. You know could have been food, money, a place to stay. You know some kids get booted at 18, whether they graduated high school or not. And so you know we get phone calls from students that need help and me and my partner instructor would work to try to help them as best we could. But I wish I'd have known about 2-1-1 then.

Scott McLean:

That's a tightrope walking it is Because you're dealing with kids and you can't get too involved. There's things that, yeah, that must have been. That's a tightrope walking. It is Because you're dealing with kids and you can't get too involved. There's things that, yeah, that must have been a big challenge. It was a challenge.

Jonathan Oakley:

But had we known, you know, if I had I known that 2-on-1 exists and 2-on-1 is a nationwide thing, it is. So if I had I known 2-on-1 existed, it could have been an answer to a lot of those phone calls. I would have their number at the front of the classroom and I knew 411, old school information. 811, I'm going to dig in my front yard and I don't want to break the water main. No idea what 2-1-1 was. No idea.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, I had an unfortunate phone call a little while back. That turned out to be. It turned out fine. But um, the individual was gonna, his wife was telling him over the phone call 2-1-1, call 2-1-1. And this kind of caught me off guard. This phone call, it was attempted suicide and a veteran and and I was like whoa, no, no, no, no, no, don't, I'm glad'm glad, you know about 211, but call 988 and then hit one.

Jonathan Oakley:

In Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast. It's the same place.

Scott McLean:

Is it really?

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah, 211 of the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast has the 988 contract. Yeah, so, depending, and there is one key difference I'm not sure where they are in the process, but so when you call 811, 211, it even though, for like for me, for my cell phone it's a north carolina phone number yeah, um, but if I call 211, 811, it pings the tower that the phone is hitting, okay, and gives you the local resource based on the tower your phone's. Ah, okay, 988. Last I I thought they were going to change, but last I heard they hadn't yet is by uh zip code. So if I call 988 on my cell phone, I'll get whoever's contracted 988. So that's in north carolina 252, as opposed to the cell tower that I'm bouncing off of. So, that being said, that's that's good information.

Jonathan Oakley:

Theoretically, if you call 988 and you have a 561 area code, you're going to get the same people you would call. If you call 2-1-1, you'll just kind of skip a couple steps. I think 988 kind of skips the one of the telemenus. Right like you, you almost get the fr direct to a person, as opposed to interesting having to listen to. If you're a vet, press one yeah, you're a not a vet press two. You know you have to navigate yes you call nine and eight.

Scott McLean:

There's a reason yes, absolutely uh, so we kind of touched on it. So you have have your event coming up in February Mission United Palm Beach County at Palm Beach State, which was a great event last year. It was a very productive two days. It was an interesting learning experience for me, so I know what to look forward to now. I had never been in a room with that many organizations, which prompted this podcast. As you know, that's the origin of why this podcast as you know, this that's not the origin of why this podcast came about.

Scott McLean:

Um, so I didn't know they existed.

Jonathan Oakley:

If something half as good as this comes out of this year's, I won. I can die a happy man, I mean it was worth it.

Scott McLean:

Um, what else is coming up in 2025? Anything other than that? Do you just kind of take it?

Jonathan Oakley:

Well, I mean, obviously, we'll have the, the, the summit part, right, With our government, uh, our government entities for lack of a better phrase right, Some elected leaders, some government folks, uh, and we're going to bring that information to them. Uh, we'll have another grant cycle for, for uh agencies to apply for, Uh, and we're always working, uh, to see what else is out there. Right, We've connected with Boca and we have our 4th of July 5K that we work with Boca on.

Scott McLean:

And that'll be another event we're going to do and the Veterans Day event, which the Veterans Day event you were talking, that was a really good event.

Jonathan Oakley:

dude, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Scott McLean:

It was really good, like I had friends in from out of town veterans, probably eight of them from Las Vegas to Maryland. They all came into town and I spoke, I did it, but that wasn't the point they said that was. They just did it right. They had a band playing a really good band. Afterwards Everybody was happy. It was just really a good. It's the best Veterans Day event I'd ever been to. Wow, shout out to Richard.

Jonathan Oakley:

Baller.

Scott McLean:

Yes, who put it together?

Jonathan Oakley:

He did a great job. He's a friend of Mission United. Yes, he works hard. I did the Memorial Day event last year in Boca. I spoke at it at the cemetery, yep, and then you know, they put on that 5K in July. He's the lead event guy there in Boca and he's really pushing a lot of great events and he knows, he understands. And the good thing about Richard is, if he doesn't know, he'll ask. So I get emails from him on the regular. Hey, does this make sense? Can we do this? I'm like, yeah, absolutely, that sounds good to me.

Scott McLean:

How many veteran nonprofits do you talk to in a week, roughly.

Jonathan Oakley:

Depends on the week, but anywhere from 10 to 20 depending on what's going on, and it varies for reasons, right? Yeah, yeah, I mean yesterday, you know I I went after, uh, some morning meetings at the united way. I went to wounded veteran Fund. They had their toy drive wrapping party for veteran families, so a bunch of stuff that had come into their conference room. And when I walked in, a career source of Palm Beach County was there. So I crossed paths with their CEO, who's on our advisory council, julia DiTolo, crossed paths with her as she was walking out, but her staff was still there, frank and Tori and them, and then Team RWB was in there, you know. So I mean there's three agencies right there, you know, in one shot, and so I got to talk and touch base with them and see what's going on, and so it just depends on what's going on that week.

Jonathan Oakley:

Sometimes it's all business, you know. It's this vet called and I refer them to legal aid and it's a follow-up with them, or it's a call to wound event relief or stand down or Salvation Army because of something that's coming up, or a vet that needs help, or whatever. And sometimes you know it's just to check in and see what's going on Specifically with events. You know, yeah, I have an event coming up. Yeah, is there anything I can do to help?

Scott McLean:

So we talked about fundraising and, well, Mission United Always Is not.

Jonathan Oakley:

They don't just give money, they need money always yeah, it's, it's a challenge, but we, we work in the big space. Yeah, I mean our fundraising goals robust. This year. It's there, I believe we're gonna. We're gonna get there. Good, um, we have have a plan. It's just a matter of getting people to pen the check.

Scott McLean:

Did you get my $100,000 check yet?

Jonathan Oakley:

It didn't get to you, I put it in the mail.

Scott McLean:

Just letting you know.

Jonathan Oakley:

You and the 10 other people. It's something that I'm sure Scott's learned as he's making his way into this space. There's a whole lot of people that love vets and want to support vets, and when it comes time to put pen to paper or whatever, they disappear quite quickly.

Scott McLean:

Oh yeah, so I've learned that.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yes.

Scott McLean:

And that's okay. And that's okay, you know, you, just move on. I learned real fast. Just move on. Always, yes, and that's okay. And that's okay, you know, you just move on, I learned real fast. Just move on, always yeah.

Jonathan Oakley:

We just keep moving forward, yeah.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, yeah. So what else? Anything else you want to kind of push, I think?

Jonathan Oakley:

the biggest thing is just, I mean I want to thank you, yeah, and thank this podcast for everything that's going on. I mean, at the end of the day, this is a weekly listen for me. I've learned about whether it's an agency. You know that. You've interviewed a vet that you've interviewed. I've learned a lot from listening to your stuff. Your second or first episode with Ashley put me into 22 Project, yeah, and I'm walking, living, breathing alumni of them, yeah, so I'm appreciative of that. I mean, as a vet and as a senior director of miss united, I'm grateful for everything you, you're doing. I mean you turn me on to another podcast. Yeah, I uh eric's, yeah, yeah, I listen to the I'm fine podcast on a regular basis. Veteran podcast, veteran podcast. In fact, I, I, uh, I truly want to go up and meet Brad, one of these days.

Scott McLean:

Ah, yeah, yeah, his partner there, his co host, yeah, his co-host the Blind Marine.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah, yeah, brad Stozik. He's a comedian, yeah, and I love listening to their interactions, but yeah, so it's just, it's refreshing, it's good and it gives me a taste of, you know, what goodness has come out of some of the work that we've done here in Michigan United. So it's always good to be reminded of the victories, right?

Scott McLean:

Yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the goals of the One man, one Mic Foundation is I teach veterans how to podcast from concept to publishing, and then I stay on if they want me to help them produce episodes or give advice. That's the aftercare, because there needs to be more veteran podcasts out there. It's. There's never been a time in the history of this country that a veteran is had more opportunity to be, to be heard a hundred percent. And it's through. It's not tick tock Instagram, those. It's through podcasting.

Jonathan Oakley:

Yeah, this, uh, it's not TikTok, it's not Instagram, it's through podcasting. The medium is unique, yeah, in that it you can do it any way you want. You can interact with it how you want yeah, you can, and there's a space for it. Like you know, you go to TikTok or Instagram or some of the other social media platforms and and their space is, they have space for you in certain ways, but podcasting seems to be one that is open to you. Know, like we had the discussion before, you could have a broadcast, you can truly tackle issues, like you know Eric and Brad do with the I'm Fine, yeah, you know, and talk through that you can create exposure or you can just tell stories, and all of them have their own place that they occupy in the podcast world. So it's definitely unique in that ability.

Scott McLean:

And I just actually this was not my intention, but I just realized, and it's not a pat on the back or anything for myself. This was not my intention, but I just realized, and it's not a pat on the back or anything for myself. But what makes my website very unique is that it's a resource page. Now there's 30 nonprofits up there right, and it's got the logo and it's got the website attached to it. But again, I just kind of realized this. What makes it unique is if you want to know about Mission United, you get an episode you can listen to to get insight as to what they are about. Then you can go to the website. Even if you listen to the first 10 minutes, you're going to know what they do, and who?

Scott McLean:

they are sure, and then you can go instead of just like what is this, what is this? And kind of click around. I was like you know what. That actually ended up. Pretty good, yeah, you know, because now I get to hear what Jonathan Oakley has to say or what Ashley Williams has to say about 22 Project and like, oh, now I'm definitely going to go look. So it kind of adds a little more oomph to giving the veteran or the family member of the veteran insight as to the foundation.

Jonathan Oakley:

It's just more information, yeah, and with information comes clarity and with with that, you know you're able to make the decision on yeah, uh, is this someone or something that I can trust is, does it provide something that I need, uh, or that I feel I want? Yeah, you know, uh, and I mean your podcast that you did with Ashley. You know that little statement she made in there that talked about, uh, the validation that she saw in the veterans when they went through the spec scan was for lack of a better phrase triggering right In my mind. I was like, oh snap, that's okay, all right, I see how that works. And so I just emailed her and said, how does this work, like, can I get in? And she's like, yeah, absolutely apply. And it was. And it was. It was.

Jonathan Oakley:

The initial reading of my first spec scan took place at the BRIC, at their office there in the Boca Raton Innovation Campus, and my wife was there with me. So me and Tori sat there and listened to Ashley tell you well, here's where blood flow is less and because of this right, all these are potential. You know, issues and pitfalls and challenges you may face. And me and my wife looked at each other and we're like we're just talking about this, like, literally, in the last three weeks we just had these conversations. Literally in the last three weeks we just had these conversations. Yeah, and so 100 I mean 100 validated everything that we had just discussed. Does it make it better? No, I mean just because you now know, doesn't, doesn't fix it right it's still a work in progress.

Jonathan Oakley:

Now you know, but now you have to understand why. Yeah, right, like it just gives you the understanding behind, or science behind, what's going on. Yeah, and now you're, now I'm in a better place.

Scott McLean:

And for the people that might not know what we're talking about, the 22 Project is they do hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment for veterans with TBI, and it's that treatment in itself is an amazing.

Jonathan Oakley:

Oh it's miracle.

Scott McLean:

Uh, that treatment in itself is is an amazing uh, oh, it's miracle work. Yeah, and I can get into that with another guest that I had and it worked for him and his episode on this podcast was heard by another veteran who was going through the same thing he was going through and he did it and he ended up reaching out to him saying I listened to your episode and saved my life, it changed my life. It was you know. So, these things, this is the, the, the effect that I hope this has. You know the butterfly effect. Butterfly flaps his wings in Africa. Two weeks later, there's a hurricane in Florida. You know, and that's what I hope to do with this and this, and I don't need another hurricane. No, we didn't get any this year.

Jonathan Oakley:

So that's oh you did. Doesn't touch boca, hurricanes don't touch boca. They got their special bubble.

Scott McLean:

That's right, we do all right, buddy. Well listen. Thanks for coming on again I can't believe it's been eight months, and well, you've seen a lot has changed in eight months.

Jonathan Oakley:

This is this. This is dynamite little studio this is. This is nice and I think that seeing the space, the other mics, the other headsets, Veterans are going to be sitting in these 100%. And I challenge James and Chris to come up here and let's get the Mission Uniteds from all three counties sitting in the same room to an episode and let's, let's got hammer us all with questions yeah, yeah, absolutely well, I keep hounding james about you know, getting podcasting involved in.

Scott McLean:

Good luck in the. Yeah, yeah, he's a busy man, I know he is, I know, but I and I hit him at it at the summit I was like podcasting mission united. He goes. It's on my list. Trust me, I have not forgot about you.

Jonathan Oakley:

You're on the list. You're like number five. You'll get to three and then you'll drop to five and then three, and then six, and then his list is ever dynamic. I'll bug him next. I'm visiting him next, next, next Thursday. They're primed for something like this, so I will. I will definitely. I'll plug. You need to get to Delray. You need to get to Delray? Yeah, absolutely, and he'll see what. Jump on the bright line, let's go.

Scott McLean:

Well, all right, my friend. Again, thank you for coming on. I always appreciate your time. You know you talk about James, but you're just as busy as he is and I appreciate you taking time to come on the podcast and reiterate to the listeners what Mission United is all about. And Mission United Broward County, Mission United Dade County, Mission United Palm Beach County I mean they're all great organizations doing great work for veterans and I appreciate all three. Now that I got to meet Chris, now I can have an appreciation for Dade County and yeah, that's it. I want to thank everybody for listening. If you like it, share it.

Scott McLean:

I think it's a good resource for veterans, families of veterans, to listen to and it's working. It's working and it's due to good organizations that want to come on and do that 40-minute interview, that 40-minute infomercial, as I call it. There we go, and if you're an organization out there that's listening and you want to be on the podcast, you can reach me at. We'll just say vetsconnectionpodcast at gmailcom. I always want to say one mic, one man, one mic Got to keep it all separate. I got to keep it separate. It's a, it's a challenge vets connection podcast at gmailcom. And well, we built another bridge today. This is the second level of this bridge.

Scott McLean:

Oh yeah we're the bay bridge now yeah we got a couple and, as I said earlier in the podcast, uh, listen to the end is a great public service announcement about 988 and 211 and all the resources that are offered to veterans, family members of veterans, friends of veterans, and if you're just a listener and you're not a veteran, it pertains to you also. So, with that said, again thank you for listening and you will hear me in a new episode next week.

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Scott McLean

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