Supporting our Vets In Need with Greg Williams

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Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE:
Colonel with over 27 years of experience in leadership, strategy, safety and security operations, emergency response and organizational development.

ATTILIO:
His educational accomplishments include a BS in computer related mathematics from University of Oklahoma and MS in information management, from Marymount University in MS in military, operational arts and science.

ADRIENNE:
He is currently the Executive Director of us vets, Barbers Point please welcome back. Our guest, Greg Williams. Greg, are you there?

GREG:
I am. Thank you for having me back on Adrienne.

ADRIENNE:
Welcome back.

ATTILIO:
Welcome back. What’s the latest?

GREG:
So the latest is I just wanted to tell all your listeners, first of all, that they should be proud of all the fantastic support that team Lolly is giving us vets, Barbers Point and US vets Hawaii, but then to tell them that we’ve got a golf tournament coming up, they want to get out of the house, they want to support the vets on Friday, May 27. That’s the Friday right before Memorial Day at the Halacha lay Country Club, which those in the state that are golfers know that that’s a private club. And it’s not really easy to get on there. We’re hosting a golf tournament with a shotgun start at 1130. And all the support goes directly here to Hawaii, and supports both locations at Barbara’s point and Waianae.

ADRIENNE:
Now this this golf tournament, this is one of your I guess your big events for the fundraising, for the facilities? Where else does the money raised? Go to

GREG:
sure facilities operations, sustainment. Pretty much anything that we need as an organization to support those local veterans and families. That’s what all this goes to.

ADRIENNE:
So Greg, you had made an interesting comment on a video that we had done with you about the percentage of the funds raised are donated. What was that exact percentage that goes directly back to the veterans?

GREG:
Yeah, so we are very proud as an organization that for every dollar donated to us 85 cents goes directly back to the veterans. Oh, wow.

ADRIENNE:
And I think that’s an important thing to understand or, or to know, because there are some other nonprofits out there that that that number is not so high. Right?

GREG:
Yes, we are. We are very proud that we, you know, we take a fiduciary responsibility, we understand that we’re being given a gift by those donors, and those people that give us money, and we want to make sure that we’re using it to the best of what we can to support our veterans and families.

ADRIENNE:
So speaking of supporting our veterans and families, what is the mission statement of us vets?

GREG:
So very simply, the mission statement of us vets is to, as I put it, in a nutshell, to end veteran homelessness. And we do that in a variety of different ways. Because we’re trying to provide housing counseling, career development and kind of comprehensive support, wraparound support for the veterans and their families here in the state of Hawaii as as part of a national organization.

ADRIENNE:
So, so, so who, who’s qualifies or who’s ideal for this? There’s a veteran that has a family, and they’ve fallen on hard times, how can you help someone like that.

GREG:
So in a situation like that, they would probably fall under what we would call supportive services for veterans and families and things that we can do there, pending their qualifications, or we can help out with rent, we can help them get set up with basic household needs, like if there’s beds or furniture, or other things like that. We have programs where we can support those veterans and their families to kind of get back on their feet, and in some cases, provide real support for a period of time.

ATTILIO:
Yeah. Now, people just tuning in, and we have it up on our live stream, but I want to the numbers, is it 3481257? Yes, okay. 3481257 Some people will like hey, I want to call that number and get more information.

ADRIENNE:
I think the best place though to get the information is on their their website. Yeah. Because there’s also a place to donate. Yeah, and sign up for the golf tournament. Right?

GREG:
That’s right. Us vets.org/events Hawaii golf is the link for the golf tournament and there’s there’s still spots available. I know there’s golfers out there. And I know there may be just people out there that are like you know what, I don’t know. Golf but you know, I would like to donate some in kind donations because we’ve got lots of prize opportunities. There’s going to be food and entertainment. I Heart Radio is going to be our MCs, they graciously said that they would help us out there. So it’s really going to be a good time. And this is the first time this is our ninth annual. But this is the first time in the last two years that we’ve been able to be in person, nice

ADRIENNE:
for you business people out there, you can sponsor a hole or, you know, be part of the sponsorship opportunities

ATTILIO:
or get a foursome Is it a foursome?

GREG:
It is but if you only had an individual player, we’re happy to pair you up with other players as

ATTILIO:
well, one good player and three really bad ones,

GREG:
then you just total, that’s totally up to you and Elio, I would be one of the I would be one of the bad players,

ATTILIO:
I would just be one of the three bad ones. And we’ve combined our swing, you know, we would add up how far you will combine together for the distance. Yes. And the, you know, I always like to talk about the the marketing for benefit marketing that we learned about from TOMS Shoes, Toms Shoes, as you buy a shoe, they’ll they’ll send shoes to kids in a third world country. And what they found was that, you know, it was a, it was a it was combining profitability with helping others at the same time. But what we found, through his study of the marketing, like the yogurt with the pink foil lids for breast cancer, was that when consumers perceive your product or service as something that’s similar to your competitor, what helps him make the decision 95% of the time to go with you is your participation or your your what your company does to give back in your community. So if anything, I just you know, I want to attach giving back to the community to the your business owners out there, your your your bottom line, and do something like this, what better organization to support and our US vets and what your guys mission statement, which is again,

GREG:
to end veteran homelessness. Yes.

ADRIENNE:
So speaking of ending veteran homelessness, Greg, maybe you could share a success story with our listeners, I think that putting a story behind your mission is always helpful to fully understand what your program does.

GREG:
Sure, well, then what I would love to do is the gentleman that I see is kind of a superstar of us that’s Barbers Point. And is really kind of indicative of a Full Circle of Success. There’s a young Army sergeant who became homeless, and he came back from the kind of the Gulf War timeframe became homeless ended up like many people experiencing homelessness, running afoul of the law for various reasons, ended up in jail, was released to us vets, we have a Veterans Justice Outreach Program through the VA was released to us went through an entire one year process, where he pretty much got his life back together. When he when he came through that he ended up getting finishing up AP post this, he got his he got his associates degree, ended up finishing his bachelor’s degree eventually got his master’s degree. And I’m proud to say that this gentleman in the past year has been nominated and is accepted to the US vets board of directors.

ADRIENNE:
Wow. Wow. That’s a quite an amazing journey.

GREG:
Absolutely, like I said, I think his story is one of kind of a full circle of what’s really possible. When people put their mind to, you know, participating in programs that we offer.

ATTILIO:
The

ADRIENNE:
Gladiator? Well, I was gonna say like, I know that you have this golf tournament, and you will always take, you know, money and in kind donations. Is there anything else that the community or our listeners can do to help and support us vets?

GREG:
Oh, absolutely. You know, we’re always also because now we’re kind of coming out of the pandemic. And like a lot of organizations, we’re starting to do things in person. If there’s people out there that are like, you know, what, I would love to teach a ukulele class or I would like to help do mock interviewing or you know, whatever it is, we would love to connect with you there. But then most importantly, kind of what we call friend raising is just being aware that we exist and what we do is import So that way, if you’re with another organization or you encounter someone that you believe might be a veteran, your first thought will be, oh, I should call those guys over at us.

ADRIENNE:
So just spreading the awareness. Awareness. Yes. And knowing that you guys are out there, how many veterans can you house at any given time currently you serving currently.

GREG:
So it really depends, because there’s multiple programs, I have a transitional housing program, which many people think is a shelter, but it’s a shelter with a program attached to it. So they’re all the veterans are working on something they’re there, I can house up to 119 veterans, then I have an emergency housing program, which is actually across the state of Hawaii to include, I have some beds in Guam, through a partnership with Catholic Charities, and I have 35 beds available there. And then on top of that, there’s kind of no limit to the number of people we can help in career development and workforce, or in that supportive services arrangement that I talked to you about, as well as kind of helping them seek permanent housing. And one of our exciting new ventures is the tiny homes at Como oku, the cow, Holly, and we had a grand opening Welcome Home event this past two weeks ago, what you might have seen on the news, and we are proud that we now have 22 of our 36 tiny home units full and have people and that that program is for veterans and non veterans.

ADRIENNE:
That’s very exciting that you’ve filled up that many already. Yes. And there’s still room for people that need

GREG:
there. There is for sure. And I do know that you know the state of Hawaii is very ambitious, and are currently tenant governor, he very much so wants to put probably 10 More of these around the state.

ADRIENNE:
Now will will us vets be helping to oversee these additional areas? Or will other nonprofits or people be put in charge of the additional tiny homes?

GREG:
Sure, I think that remains to be seen. Obviously, if an organization comes to us and ask us if we would be willing to operate it. We are always happy to have that. But we may not be the right partner. At that time. We just happen to be the right partner. In fact, that’s actually how our Waianae site started was way back in 2007. Then Governor Linda Lingle came to us vets and said, Hey, I’ve got this shelter here. I need somebody to operate it. So we know that in the cow, Holly, or the tiny homes, villages, were kind of blazing a path. And so there’s a lot of lessons learned. And you know, how do you operate this? And how do you make it sustainable for the long term that we’re learning that I’ve that we have no problem sharing with any other organization at all? Because it really does, you know, it? There is no such thing as plagiarism when it comes to this social services world?

ATTILIO:
Well, we call it r&d department.

ADRIENNE:
And we had the opportunity to walk through the project as you guys had just opened. And we’re getting prepared to welcome some new people. And it’s a beautiful, beautiful facility. And they did a great job with all the finishes that the commercial kitchen Barbers Point.

ATTILIO:
Yeah. Yep. So yeah, it

GREG:
was. It’s definitely a fantastic partnership. And I want to I want to make sure that people understand that this is truly a partnership with HP H A, the State agency, and homemade Hawaii who actually developed the site. We’re just fortunate and blessed enough to come in to be asked to operate the site on behalf of the State of Hawaii and its residents.

ATTILIO:
Yeah, we got firsthand seen that, you know, came from Mexico, they don’t have in a lot of these programs are the safety nets in place. So we’re very appreciative and have more of a mind of gratefulness to what we have here in the US having that gone. visited Mexico recently.

ADRIENNE:
So, So Greg, what would be the qualifications for somebody that is, you know, in need of housing, are they interested in these tiny homes? Who, who’s the ideal candidate?

GREG:
So first and foremost, under their current guidelines, they must be currently homeless. And then they would, they would be assessed. Most people that are experiencing homelessness are a lot of them. Once the most, a lot of them are associated with some agency, and they probably have a case manager. Yeah, so in that case, we can talk to the case manager, agency, the agency and find out more about them. And there is a, there’s a, there’s an income requirement, a maximum income requirement, because obviously, we want to make sure these, these homes are going to the right audience, if you will, to those that really need them. These are for singles only, so no families, in this particular tiny home village, no and no pets, we do, obviously, we allow service animals as required by law, but it’s usually going to be a single person that is just really looking for that place to stay. That to make that next step from either a shelter or living on the street, to have a place to call their own. And we recognize that US vets and I know that the state sees this as well, in all our conversations with them as we kind of see this as a stepping stone. Because there’s a lot of people that are maybe trying to get various Section A or HUD VASH type vouchers, for support, this may be kind of an interim step for someone liked it, this might be a good, permanent option, they may move in and say I love this, I love this environment. I love this little small community feel. And this is where I want to stay. But we also even though we require them to sign a one year lease, which is actually something that would help them say you came to us and you stayed for a year and you paid your rent. When you leave, we can now be a landlord referral for you. So we can make that recommendation, which in a lot of cases people experiencing homelessness don’t have that. Or they have a bad record. Yeah. Right. So we can help them try to kind of clean that up, if you will.

ATTILIO:
You guys also helped like place people in employment, and then you kind of work with an employer.

GREG:
That’s correct. We have quite a few different agencies that we work with, as well as my workforce program can work with them on let’s build a resume. And it could be that they already have a job, they just want a different or better job. We can work with them on that. No, how do we get you there? Let’s build this. Let’s build a plan. Let’s get to the tools and support you need to take that next step. All right.

ADRIENNE:
So real quick on the workforce agency that’s not just for homeless, that’s that’s for any veterans that need help with?

GREG:
That’s correct. Job placement. Yeah, that’s correct. Any any career development or placement that they’re looking to improve or get a job, we can help them with that. And one of the ways and we just did it recently through the star advertiser, they had a big job fair. And we as USMs were honored to kind of be one of the primary one of the primary sponsors. And we took a lot of our veterans down there and you know, they were able to connect with various employers. So it was a really great thing.

ATTILIO:
All right, so let’s remind our listeners what are top three ways that they can support us vets.

GREG:
So top three ways you can support us vets obviously is donations in kind or monetary. The second way is exactly. The second way is time and talent. So I want to teach a class I want to help I want to you know, come engage with the clients and then the third and probably most important is fundraising. So it’s just that general awareness of who we are as an organization and referring people to us as appropriate.

ADRIENNE:
And there’s still room at the golf tournament so sign up for that.

GREG:
Absolutely I have I think as of today I still got about 70 golfer spots left all right plenty plenty room

ATTILIO:
are you golfers been stir crazy at home home sheltering now’s your time to play that song on the way to the golf course Who let the dogs

ADRIENNE:
out. And it’s gonna be at the Halacha lay golf course

GREG:
walkaway golf course that’s right. And we will have the traditional hole in one when a car you know different different types of golf tournaments and prizes that are available

ADRIENNE:
there even giving away a cruise Attilio

ATTILIO:
giving away a cruise.

GREG:
You guys thanks to that awesome organization team lolly.

ATTILIO:
Why not? Why not go out enjoy some outdoor weather, some golfing and help support a great nonprofit organization at the same time. No better way to spend your what is it so weekend?

GREG:
It’s a Friday.

ATTILIO:
It’s a Friday. Oh, even better. Tell your employer. Oh, I gotta go support the vets need Friday off.

GREG:
There you go. And I’m happy to you know, I’m here. Happy to call your boss and tell them why you’re not there. Perfect. Hello, what are you doing this Friday? Morning? Friday right before Memorial Day? Monday, May 30. Yep. Well, thank

ADRIENNE:
thank you Greg, for all that you do. Boss with you to the golf tournament. Yes. Thank you for all you do, Greg, and you go, we’ll see you at the golf tournament.

ATTILIO:
Okay. All right.

GREG:
Thank you so much, guys. Appreciate it.

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