Play For Your Freedom
For David Lionheart a wounded warrior was something that seemed more physical in nature, until one day picking up a close friend who was a veteran, he noticed his hat mentioned being a wounded veteran. After a conversation about his friends service David set out to give back to the wounded veterans at his local VA hospital. This led to the creation of his non profit, Play for your freedom. David and his volunteers organize sports matches and other activities for wounded veterans to help them connect once again with fellow veterans. Their goal like is to make an impact on the veteran suicide rates plaguing our community. David discusses the non profit as well as the film he did with former guest Ash Patino called PTSD: The walking wounded.
Battle Buddy Podcast Guest Links:
http://www.playforyourfreedom.org/
Battle Buddy Podcast Links:
Transcript from Episode 53 with David Lionheart:
Keith McKeever 0:04
Welcome to the battle buddy podcast with Keith McKeever. Welcome back to another episode of the battle buddy podcast. I have David Lionheart with play for your freedom. He was also featured in a film from a previous guests earlier this season ash patina with the PTSD, the walking wounded film. So got some questions about both things that he's involved in. So David, welcome to the show.
David Lionhart 0:28
Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's an honor to be here.
Keith McKeever 0:31
Well, I'm glad to have you here because that, that the film the PTSD, the walking wounded was, like I was just telling you a couple minutes ago when I saw somewhere on Facebook, and I was like, Oh, what's this film and went to Amazon, and I watched it. I think I had paid for it and watched it within like 10 or 15 minutes of seeing it advertised, because I knew as well as things I wanted to see. And I was blown away, I immediately went upstairs after I watched it, and I put it on for my wife. I was like, Hey, let's turn the TV on, go to Amazon, you got to watch this. This is this. This is amazing. Because it's powerful, so many different ways. But you were featured in it because you got a nonprofit called play for your freedom. Before we get into that, just tell us a little bit about yourself.
David Lionhart 1:14
Sure. So my name is David Lionheart, I live in the Hudson Valley in New York. And I'm the founder of play for your freedom, which is a veteran wellness project that we started. And we offer fitness and peer to peer support for veterans and their families who are looking to make a healthy transition from military life to civilian life, um, being around their peers and, and seeing what that's like starting over, you know, with a new job and a new approach to what life is going to look like. As well as still trying to maintain the respect and honor that they've earned in the military. So we try and facilitate on both ends. A lot of gratitude from our staff, we have an incredible staff of civilians and veterans, responders, just good people who want to come out and help with with what we're doing. And, you know, pre pre pandemic, I'll describe who we were because in person programming changed a lot. But we are getting back into it. But we host a wellness workshop, as we call it. And basically, will, will come in a hospital, or a group of veterans from the community and their families. And they'll come in and we'll play sports for a couple hours. We, we do basketball, football, but football, we do track and field obstacle courses, whatever, whatever they want, we will do. And we always say we have an open heart and an open mind. And we have that and we have exactly what we need to help. And, and so after a couple hours of programming, again, which can be sports or art, we have live music, usually my dad plays or we have some local bands that come out. And then our staff prepares a home cooked meal for the veteran. So we provide a healthy meal for them. And it's a time to kind of decompress a little bit, a lot of the men and women that we work with come coming out of the hospitals, it's not a lot of healthy options for them as far as fitness. And really, a lot of people are just isolating themselves in their in their rooms. You know, in that space I've learned in the military community is very complex. Again, I'm just a carpenter. I'm a civilian. So I didn't serve even though I have family members have. So I'm really interested in continuing to learn every day we learn something new about somebody who's going through something that we haven't, and we try and pair them up with somebody who has. And so during those workshops, we have people coming out a little out of shape, some of them and and we say no matter what your age or ability, you have a place and a purpose in our programming. And so when everybody gets there, whether you want to just sit and watch and heckle your friends or you want to come play all two hours of football game, we we allow that space for that person to choose. And we have a couple of retired professional athletes that come out and work with us as well. One of our volunteers, Jeff had a relationship with NFL alumni. And they came at the very beginning when we started doing this and ended up sticking around and enjoying the atmosphere. And they've become very valuable in the program along with our staff. And so, you know, once we are done playing sports, we try and bring everybody in for a huddle. And in a big high five at the end. And now you've got these endorphins running through your body, you might have been moving more than you normally have. So you're breaking a sweat and tighten up your shoes and it's starting to get competitive again. And you know, we've learned in the military, you you're used to fighting with a unit and a team and we try and put people back on those teams again, with our staff and other visiting veterans and we create an atmosphere that's that's recognizable to somebody who's now fighting alone, but now can relate to what it's like to be back with a group of people who care and who are interested in their well being. And then we go into dinner or lunch depending on the time of day that we're serving. And again there's nothing like breaking bread with somebody just means so much and when they're going back to the hospital and you know getting Chow It's a different feeling when someone's scooping some homemade food they may would love for you and my dad play his music and my mom sings against their local bands. And we hand out some forms for them to fill out with no names required, but just asking how they're feeling right now and what we can do to better serve them next time. And we have gotten two negative comments in the past couple of years. One is that they wanted coffee, we didn't have no coffee.
David Lionhart 5:19
One time the CD was a little cold. And so we bought better sternos We got some better candles. But overall, it's it's the response that we get is I haven't had this much fun, sober. I didn't know I could enjoy myself without substance use and things of that nature. I haven't talked to somebody in a long time, I haven't caught a touchdown pass since I was a kid. And really, so it's an all inclusive atmosphere from the time they walk in the door, where at the bus, greeting them to the time that they're hopping back on the bus, taking leftovers to people who couldn't make it out. And we always say, hey, you know, somebody who didn't come back to their bedroom today, go get them, we want them at the next workshop, like there's no reason why anybody should be alone, especially during a time of trauma and healing and recovery. And, and Tate's together, we stand and stand with one another and, and really create that energy that's everlasting. So the coordinators that we work with, they give us the feedback that when the vets go back to the hospital, they're still talking about the games for another week or so. And so we see our accounts every 30 days, they come out once a month for hospital, sometimes twice a month. And so there's an accountability factor. If somebody's in the hospital during recovery. Normally, it's a 45 day spans, we might get them twice in the time of they're staying there. And so we, we really appreciate that. And they always come back, we have almost a 100% return rate if the veteran is still in the hospital. And some of these beds have been in the hospital for years, that we've been working with them, and some of them are just in there for one string, and then they're out. And that's cool, too, because that's the ultimate goal is someone healthy enough in the hospital to stay connected with positivity, and ultimately getting healthy enough to get back with their families and get back on their feet and enjoy the life that they fought for it and allowed for us to live and enjoy.
Keith McKeever 7:06
And I think that's what really struck me when I was looking at, well, after watching the film and and researching what you guys were doing, I was like, it's including everybody, it's a variety, different activity, so everybody can partake it, or at least spectate, you know and be there. But one of the things I've noticed over the years is that lack of connection to the military community, that when you transition, when you transition out is gone. You know, everybody you serve with, they filled your spot with somebody else, right, some new guys come from another unit or to basic training, whatever and are filling that spot. And that mission has to go on, which is important. But you're you're not part of that circle anymore. So now you have to find a new circle and the people who don't just don't have any kind of connection to the to the community. You know, and I, I know when I got out. I didn't have that for a couple of years. And I always felt in the back of my mind. Like I wanted some sort of connection to the military veteran community. For me, it was Honor Flight. I got hooked up with my greater periodic flight and I've been volunteering ever since. And they're like
David Lionhart 8:12
the back on their feet next weekend.
Keith McKeever 8:15
Yep, we've got our we've got our flight here, our first flight in two years coming up in a couple of weeks. So awesome. It's awesome to be back in the saddle again, if you will. We've had a lot of meetings, a lot of fundraisers and stuff lately. And it's I really, I really missed that over the last couple of years. But those first like two years, I was out I just had nothing. And I was like I I knew in my heart I wanted to be connected in some way shape, or form. And then well just like this, like I watched the honor fight documentary that came out. I think it was filmed in like 2008 2009 Something like that. It was on Amazon. And I watched it and I was immediately hooked. I was like look, I wouldn't have been able to serve if it wasn't for the guys. The Vietnam guy the Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea World War Two etc. And everybody before them, that's that's no longer here. I owe them a lot, you know, and they're also my brothers and sisters. I look at it We're big military, veteran family. So got to take care of these people and they deserve a trip and if I can help play a little part in making that happen. I will. And it's it's been a game changer for me. And so between that and what I've seen on Facebook, the lack of connections, I know how important that is. And that's that's an awesome thing that you're giving us those guys and gals that are you know, kind of, I guess arguably sitting in hospitals floating in no man's land, and who do you have to talk to you right your doctors, your nurses, you
David Lionhart 9:39
know we say that you just need to fight for one more day. You know the saying lately for me has been plus one. You know if it's one to eat healthier or get get better in that regard, focus on the next meal. If it's about trying to work out or exercise focus on the next time you go for a walk or go do something or you want to be a better parent, focus on the next play. A session with your little ones. And the world has become very overwhelming and a little chaotic and things of that nature and trying to get our feet back on the ground. And underneath us. And for people who were living a life of normalcy, they're struggling, let alone people who were self medicating and depressed and on the verge of madness. And the isolation over like you said, the past couple of years is, we're gonna see we, we got our work cut out for us, brother, because there's, there's some, there's some people that really need some outreach, and I delivered a talk recently and spoke about being a good neighbor. Now's the time when you see a stranger to say hello, and, and really kind of step out of your comfort zone, you know, we always emphasize when you're leaving the grocery store, and there's the two Vietnam veterans in there selling the poppies, or, you know, some of the older fellas are ladies in there, it's easy to throw a quarter into the bucket, and run past without even making eye contact and grabbing a puppy. But you know, instead of saying thank you for your service, you might start thinking about stopping and saying, How are you doing today. And that might be the first time that someone's asked them that in a really long time, and, and start humanizing our warriors and, and during that interaction, you'll, you'll still deliver the respect to them just by simply treating them like a person. And, and getting them to feel and like people in print and proud people again, and, and that's the least that we can do. And for a fella like me and the people that are on our staff, like we're just we're forever indebted, like you said to the generations of people, my great grandfather served in World War Two, and he's a purple heart recipient. And I didn't understand really what that meant until I got a little bit older. And when I started playing for your freedom, it was inspired by an Iraq war veteran, young fella, and he's I was friends with them for a couple years. And, and when I found out what he was going through, because he looked normal and fine, and you know, handsome and successful, and all that, but he was going through some stuff. And and I didn't understand that either. So when we stop and start listening to somebody else, and what their military community or not, it really just strengthens the community at large and helps us as people, be better people and figure out what that giving pointed, it's, and sometimes it's just a smile, you know, and that and that goes a long way, you know, and start small, you know, and from there, you know, we can we can get that as far as we can go.
Keith McKeever 12:25
Good point about striking up a conversation, because as a veteran, anytime you wearing anything that labels you as a veteran, and then people or people find out and you know, here's the here comes the handshake, and thank you for your service. I'm not saying it's a wrong thing to say. But sometimes it's it's one of those things. As a veteran, it's kind of hard to have anything to say back, you're silent. And it's like somebody had said, wants to say, you know, thank you for your support, which we are thankful for civilian support. But sometimes it just kind of leaves to like an awkwardness in the conversation. Thank you for your service. It's like, Oh, thanks for your support. Yeah, like, now we're in an awkward moment moment, that we're just staring at each other like, okay, all right, well, have a good day like, but if you ask somebody how a student how they're doing, you know, where did you serve? What did you do, you know, not a good idea to maybe pry too deeply, some people are definitely not going to tell you. But some people like me, I'm gonna I'm pretty much an open book, if somebody wants to sit down, I would say two years ago, I probably wouldn't have hardly said anything while I was in the Air Force, blah, blah, blah. Now, I'd probably be like, gonna grab a coffee, I'll tell you all about it. Because I see that there's, there's power in sharing a story and bridging that gap between veterans and civilians and letting them know like, you know, what we went through. But not everybody's comfortable with that. But with that in mind, I'm curious. Your friend who was an Iraq war vet, was there a certain event where you asked him a specific question to spur conversation or he just open up to you or what was that like?
David Lionhart 14:10
So play for your freedom? The origin, he is the origin. So we were getting ready to go play football, just a couple of friends before everybody sits down there. But watching NFL football all winter. So I went to go pick them up for practice, we're meeting up or something like that. And he put on his wounded vet hat and I was like, oh, man, what's up with that? He's like, Oh, you know, I received some help some support from these guys. I said, for what? And then he went on to tell me you know, he had some hearing damage she couldn't sleep at night from you know, the time in combat, and it struck a conversation that it was always I was just buying a beer like Thanks for Thanks for going man. Thanks for doing your thing. Thanks for years buying a beer in the bar kind of thing. And and once we had the conversation and you opened up a little bit about that, you know, once I commented on the hat, I went to everybody else who was playing the football game, and offered that we kick in a couple of bucks donate it to where he's getting his help from. I handmade everybody's jerseys, I bought these blank jerseys from somewhere out west and spray rubber paint them names on the back, puffy paint American flag, you know, I got the short one. And because there was wasn't enough good sizes, you know, I had the belly shirt. And so we went out and we played, there was 18 of us on a bony field raised almost $2,000 donate, and we ever we signed a football. And we give them the what was the first ever warrior Gamevil. And then from there, we went to 72 people, men and women played the following year, and raised almost eight grand and donated it to where he was getting his help from then he passed the vote next more with your game ball off to the next guy. And in from there, that's where play for your freedom started. And I started calling around to hospitals and trying to get somebody to let me play football with our veterans because I wanted to actually meet the people that we were trying to help, I didn't want to just send the money to outer space. And so that's when I met Jeff Bozeman, one of our volunteers, he was working at the Renegades local baseball team and I went to the stadium was pitching an idea to play football at the stadium there. And they say you gotta meet our security guard. He's a veteran. And you guys, you guys should talk. And then from there, we just started stemming down the line of, of where we, where we ended up. And so really, my buddy was, that was the catalyst that got me pushing my Well who else is like him, that looks okay, but that's not okay. And, and that that really began. So our focus from the beginning has always just been really getting right down to talk into the veterans that are in the community and around us. And we've flown all over the country and performed our workshops. And I wanted to do that, because I had to prove to myself and to the group that we can show up anywhere. And if you show this kindness, it'll work. And we have a platform, and it's some structure of the game and the equipment. It all just gets right on the airplane with us. We're just people in a couple filled up footballs, you know, like, there's not much to it, you know, anybody can do what we do, we're just really good at it, because we care. And And now, you know, with that, when the film came into conversation, I approached Ashley about doing it, because the suicide rates better students, the people that we lose, and that we lost in the program, play football with someone one week, and the next week, they're not there. And that, that hurt. I'm not I'm not trained for this, you know, I'm just a carpenter. So that was tough, you know, and I lost my brother to suicide when he was a teenager. So I had, I had very bad during that time, and this visit woke up the monster. And
David Lionhart 17:52
there was a bigger message that we couldn't be in front of everybody at once. But to know that a veteran in Illinois saw this and went and watched it and was impacted on it. That's exactly why we had to make this story happen, and tell the stories of real people and have a hard conversation because not everybody wants to have that heart talk. But once you see it from what's your face to face with it, you know, it's bigger, it's bigger than a physical wound sometimes and, and seeing what these these people are struggling with. And in my vision for the film was to really see a story from a couple of different people in the military community. Jillian shared about her brother being a family member, and what that was, like, you know, during the overprescribing epidemic, and then a couple of combat Vets sharing their stories on what that was like to be blown up into the face and things that they went through. And then I was sharing my side of it as a civilian. And I don't expect everybody to go start a nonprofit, but like you and I were just saying, when you see somebody in a grocery store wearing the hat, ask them how they're doing today, men or women person, whoever it is, if you're an employer, and you got somebody showing up late and you know that they were in the service, they might not have slept for three days, if they have some anger issues the night you know why? Now you understand a little bit about what that's like, in the four walls that they're that they're in living in terror, you know, and sometimes that terror is just right in their own home. And so we really wanted to raise some awareness for regular people who didn't know anything about the military whatsoever, and do it in an approachable way, not just come out and blast everyone with the real harsh details. But kind of what we wanted to walk you through what it was like when that person signed up on the line leave in high school or wherever they were, and go into boot camp and hopping on the helicopter for the first time driving this equipment or carrying these guns or being a family member while those people are away and learning what that's like and seeing what that's like from all aspects if possible. And then, you know, we rounded it out coming back at the end saying hey, there is help out there and there is hope. And it's not just us. We partner with a lot of great organizations on our flight was one of them. And, and we, it's not just about us, you know, one day somebody asked me who our competition was. And I said, You mean other people trying to help people. I said, our competitions death, man, you know, like, there's nothing, there's plenty of money in this world to go around for everyone. And we as an were volunteer base, nobody gets paid in our organization. You know, we serve about 1200 veterans a year and their family members. And we do a lot with very little. And, and so it don't take money to have a smile and a handshake and say how you're doing, you know, so we, you know, we really just kind of hit hit the ground running and our staff is incredible of spouses of veterans, you know, moms and dads and people who just care, you know, who just want to come out and just give on this platform. And, and I encourage our volunteers to volunteer for all those other organizations, and I volunteer for those other organizations too. And, you know, that's, that's why we are strong. And it's building that sense of community with one another for good cause, because it'll leak into others other spaces, too. I mean, everyone's got their thing, right. Because, you know, you have a child who was born premature and have this something going on with your I met a woman the other day, she focuses on veterans that have families that are going through some of those issues, and she helps military members, right, she's at the hospital with them while it's happening, and putting hotel rooms together, I think, once you learn about something, and you have something glowing in your heart to be able to help, we can help everybody. And that's that's where we're at, you know, everyone's got a different walk and a different story. And we're just keeping an open eyes and open yours, and, and seeing where we can go with it. Because there's real good people out there. And it's, it's important that our veterans and our community members know that. Because sometimes it get grim, you know, and we got to just stay stay positive as possible, you know?
Keith McKeever 21:50
Absolutely. And you got a great point on competition, because it's not competition, it's, it's, it's a race against numbers. It'd be great if the number, the daily number was zero. In reality, it never will be. But if we can see the statistics go to 20, that 18 to 16. You know, if we can see I'm just moving in a positive direction, it's great. And I think any one of us can do every single day is make some sort of an impact. Just keep pushing forward. Because you never know where that impact is going to be. You never know where it's gonna, where it's going to reach out. I never thought doing this podcast I would have. I figured maybe at some point, somebody would reach out say, hey, you know, one of your episodes helped me with X, Y, or Z, right? Pride month and a half ago, I had somebody reach out to my wife, somebody in my own community, saying that they were struggling as a spouse, to a veteran. And they knew and understood some of the things that they were going through, but they were their veterans struggling big time. And they were looking for help as a spouse. And my wife was like, Well, you know, my husband just message him. So I sent her like, three or four episodes, I'm like, watch these. This will give you some resources. This will give you some insight into different things. One of them was actually the film. I said, Hey, here's the link to Amazon, you got to watch this film. Because to me, that film spoke. Like, it really spoke to me, the guy you had on there who was at a prison camp. I haven't been able to verify Ash was checking with him. But I was that was my first deployment was a prison camp. And so as he started kind of talking about that, it was just like, for me, it was a flood of emotions. Like, I know exactly what this guy's talking about. Yeah, we've that place is hell on earth. It was a shithole there was no worst place on earth to be that it'd be surrounded every single day, by literally 20,000, prisoners, terrorists, prisoners, common criminals, murderers, you name it, some of the worst disgusting people on this earth. And that really shapes you at a young age, I'll tell you that. To see how mean and disgusting and terrible this world is. Probably probably the reason why I do what I do at the podcast and volunteering is to give back and shed some positivity back in this world. You know, be a little bit of a light
David Lionhart 24:13
and you're you're you're an example and a role model for people and people what you're doing is incredible people need to know about it and need to see it and it's I'm sure it's healing for you as well. Like you said you were in a tough place and I learned about that, that space developed during the making of this film. And so thank you, thank you for doing that and not only doing it but now helping others understand and and your growth is an incredible tool for your community in Atlanta at large. And and I give you a lot of credit for that because that's not easy, and it's it takes a wait you know, it gets carried away at the same time because you're reliving those moments over and over again that are really really hard to relive, and and cultivate again and so I give you a ton of credit My friend, and keep doing what you're doing because like you saw the other day that woman reached out, looking for some help. And you never know, you know, you send a message to a friend you haven't heard from in a while my hit them on the head and the right way, you know, whatever that is, you know, follow your heart and you're doing a good job Peace, man, I give you a lot of credit, man.
Keith McKeever 25:17
No, I'm just doing what I can't bring people on have conversations and hope that, you know, the episode reaches somebody and inspires them to improve their life or get involved or whatever the case may be. Give them some options realize that they're not alone, that there's people in organizations and the care out there. Absolutely. Your side. I think on nonprofits, the number escapes me right now. But I will say there's like 45,000, like veteran, nonprofit, there's a ton. There's a ton out there. And they're all different scales, right? You have your, your big ones everybody knows about like Wounded Warrior Project in the Honor Flight network, just to name a few, then you got little ones, you know, like, in your hometowns that, but no, they're $1,000 a year. And they're, and they're turning that into building one wheelchair ramp for a veteran in need, or making some handicap modifications or providing some mental health counseling to, you know, up to a couple visits or something like that for somebody got in your neighbor's grass. Going over. I there's there's another nonprofit in my area actually providing mental health counseling. And I have not had them on my podcast yet. But I, I will one of these days. Great couple. And they're providing mental mental health counseling, and I kind of asked him for some momentum. So how many guys? How many have you been able to help? And they were like, like, probably five people. And I was like, well, that's five more than what? So you don't know that ripple effect of that is, those five people if they get the tools to change their life, and they can start making positive strides, then that might be reflected in their spouse or significant other whatever their children, their parents, maybe even the next generation or generation after that, like you don't know how impactful just helping one person can be.
David Lionhart 27:16
You know, it's a, I call it a hand to hand combat. It's when you when you take on it when you take on a person, and you gotta answer that phone. No matter what time it rings, no matter what's happened at one person is a lot that when you have a family when you got youngins and life and a job and things of that nature, helping a person is a lot for them to have helped five people. That's five very deep stories, you know, and I said, after we lost our first veteran that we had met through the hospital program, the one one was too much, you know, that one thing about the power of one and, and it's that the hand to hand combat is that cell phone work, that visited that cup of coffee, we say a lot happens over a bottle of water, at our workshops, you know, you walk over offer someone a glass of water, and before you know it, you're finding out a whole bunch of stuff and, and that's heavy, it's heavy for the person carrying it and it's heavy for the person to take it on. You know, so we try and encourage it's, you need to know as somebody who gives back yourself, and I gotta be mindful of it, too, that giving back is also very, very weighted. And you have to do it in a healthy way to be able to do it on the long term and manage that. And when I first started the organization, I was just going gangbusters, and man, anybody, anybody anywhere, you know, we were doing it. And then I understood now a little bit older and wiser. I'll be 40 this year. And I understand the power of one and helping, helping you're helping yourself so you can help someone else. It sounds cliche, but that's the power of one is really, really important. And from there, once you manage that you can move to and three and four and whatnot. But to make a serious impact on somebody that one on one time is so important, and so important for our veterans, to know that someone's there and reliable for them.
Keith McKeever 29:08
Same thing is kind of true for for volunteers too, and help you know, one extra person helping you than another extra personnel. Can you just does that compound effective. You can do more, you can take less off view for more on them spread the way to get more accomplished. So that's what that's what makes nonprofits run. So. So how can how and where can veterans get involved? If they want to volunteer if they want to participate? Do you have that on your website?
David Lionhart 29:41
Yeah. And we get we get feedback forms. You know, since the film came out, I've been getting a lot of emails from people around the country, just telling me who they are and just saying I'm a Veteran. I'm struggling as well. And sometimes we get asked questions about employment or housing from and it's hard on a national scale to help redirect in those specific cities that
Keith McKeever 30:02
need a little bit more information than more housing like
David Lionhart 30:07
Mom and Pop, you know, locally, we can do that I'm part of the Hudson Valley veterans Task Force. And it is full of beautiful people that if something needs to Paul, my brother of any they take furniture from hotels at you should interview her, I'll send you her information. She sounds good, incredible. So she takes huge trucks and unloads hotels when they're redecorating, and takes all that furniture in, you know how heavy all that stuff is. And they and they put it into veterans, apartments, veterans who are just getting new housing or need furniture or something like that. And she is Gangbuster man, she is just that woman has so much energy, it's incredible. So there is locally, I can help out a lot more. So through our website, if you're within a three hour radius, you know, that's where most of our main accounts are. And if you have a family member that's in a VA, that's in New York, whether it's upstate or downstate, we go all the way up to Syracuse. And we go as far down as Delaware in our East Coast stretch. And we have a couple of hospitals in New Jersey that we work with. So I would say anybody in our immediate area would just be a matter of reaching out and asking, you know, when our next workshops are, and they're kind of going day to day, right now, we did have one scheduled for two weeks ago, but there was a COVID outbreak and one of the units, so you had to bag it, you know, so the next one that we have coming up is on the 20th of April. And we're really looking forward to welcoming in that hospital in that group of vets in. So traditionally, we'd be doing four to seven a month. So our volunteer corps was very active, and we could just be taking people in like crazy to redirect him to where we're heading next. Now we're kind of just getting baby steps back into what we're doing. And the film became a really important tool during this time where we were limited with in person programming. So sharing the film is a real big help to just kind of get that message out there. Same way It landed on your front desk. And if it helps somebody and it shows them a little bit, we, we didn't want to make a documentary on Play for your freedom, we wanted to make a documentary on people who look okay, but are not. And that that could kind of put us into a place where we really understood what some of the big complexities are in the community. So if you have a desire to help or reach out, doesn't have to be in our immediate area, we can talk about that. And I can also help educate on how you can get involved in your own community. So I consult with other with veterans who are starting nonprofits, even if they're in a different space, I offer my time to consult with them and just share what I've learned and mistakes that we've made. And so if there's a need, I can help try and connect a person in the community and offer some suggestions to help them get involved locally, because that's where you can make the biggest impact is the people around you. So reaching out through play for your freedom.org There's a form to fill out that you can send directly to me, I answer all the emails. And and yeah, we're just we're always willing to have a conversation, and just seeing the best that we can do with what we've got, you know,
Keith McKeever 33:17
awesome. That's a, that's really good to know, you know, helping other nonprofits because that's gotta be up. I can only imagine that process. Yeah. And the paperwork. And the idea are you got like, I want to help in this way, shape, or form, but how to put all those pieces of the puzzle together and make it to make it happen. You know, and I've seen a lot of nonprofits start, it's sometimes a very painfully slow process. You got to get those first few volunteers, you got to get people to see your vision and align with it. Which you kind of mentioned, your, your volunteers, like I'm not surprised, with something as easy to throw together as getting together and playing sports. Here's your water, Gatorade, let's play some sports, everybody hang out talk, whatever and in some food compared to what some other people are doing in nonprofit spaces, this seems pretty easy to throw together versus you know, hunting hikes or you know, other things or more complicated things like an Honor Flight, trying to get 180 people on a on an airplane to DC
David Lionhart 34:21
Yeah, an older generation and to some people who have never been there, you know, that's I give honor flight a lot of credit. And, and again, we love networking with them locally, and supporting them locally in you know, to see somebody who's, you know, we never know when our day is going to come, you know, and as we get older that day gets closer, right? And we're here for it. We're here for a good time, not a long time. And and to brighten up someone's day who could really use that as the years go on. Whether they're 18 or 80 Doesn't make a difference, especially for the older generation that have the courage for them to go and kind of relive some of those things and be honored and feel and feel wanted and appreciated. And, you know, we I attended one of the send offs, I haven't gotten to actually take a flight yet, but I volunteered at one of the send offs. And it was just incredible man if there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd, as far as I could see, and that was just really special to see that happen. So, yeah, wherever you are, you can make a difference. I tell our volunteers, if you've got two years and a smile, you know, you're gonna be okay. You know, you got you already got the tools it takes to make a difference. And, and that's, that's where we're at.
Keith McKeever 35:35
You said a key word that kind of floats around our honor flighthub. When we talk to people out in the community about what we do is honor flight, because it's all volunteer based as well. And we say, Look, nobody in our organization gets paid. The only thing we get paid with is we get paid with the smiles. When you take it most of what we take at this point is Vietnam guys and get some Korea, we don't have any more two guys in April. I think we have got one in June. But these guys are at the airport early in the morning, like early. And they're drinking coffee eating doughnuts, they got smiles on their face. They're happy, excited. You got a roomful of veterans, who are struggling with all kinds of different things. But they're together in their community, with loved ones, or even maybe a guardian that they don't even know. And I'm sure it's the same thing with you guys organization, they're just happy in the moment. Their environments changed. They're around people that that they connect with on a deeper level, even if they've never been before. And it's just, that's, that's what we always say is our pay is when we look around, we see the smiles. And then when guys come back, and they're like, You know what, that was just one hell of a trip.
David Lionhart 36:50
We that that is our paycheck, you know, the handshakes the paycheck and the hug at the end, saying show up with a handshake leave with a hug. And it's, it's been incredible. We've we've met almost 5000 veterans in our program since we started. And that's I never thought in my wildest dreams, that that would be something I'd be able to say that I got to actually meet once we started the meeting of the service members and their family members. And that's the that's the the the greatest gift that can be given back to us. And, and it's it's just incredible.
Keith McKeever 37:28
Yeah. Awesome. So do you have any? Any future plans? Any, any changes anything different coming down the pipeline?
David Lionhart 37:37
Yeah, I think that we are going to name a new director of big bar programming. He's the veteran I mentioned earlier, his name's Jeff. And he's taken on some of the programs, and which is great. Again, I'm a civilian. That's been you know, I'm the founder and, you know, an intricate part of building this program. And it's time to pass the torch of sorts, and I'll still work on probably national growth. And and I want to take our program and give the book to somebody in the community who wants to do what we do in their community, and just say, Here's how big our office is, here's the equipment we need. Here's what feeds this many people, here's the here's the book. And here's how we did it, make your modifications how you feel fit. But with putting Jeff as a veteran in front of our other veterans, I think it'll help with recruiting and things of that nature. And, and it's always good to get a fresh fresh set of wings in there. And, and I can focus on some more of the growth and national development, where play for your freedom is gonna go. The documentary is connected us across the country with some people. And that's, I think that's our next steps. And you know, even though we're small where we are, we have that figured out, we operate out of an office that was an old armory, the Newburgh armory, and there's an indoor turf field and one of the hangars. And so we that's where we play football, and play all of our sports. So our office has a football field. And it's really great, and the community is great around it. So we have that secured. We're expanding into the service dog space, not training, necessarily, but providing for people in the Hudson Valley. So we purchased a service dog this year from clear path, and it's gonna get paired with a veteran right from our local VA Health Care System. And so that's really important for us to take on just to learn about it and to help facilitate it and I've seen the power of the what these animals can do. For someone, they become friends out animals, and, and life life changers. And so as we move through play for your freedom, we started off with a PTSD unit that we worked with that came from Montrose. And from there whenever I was at the hospital, I would start asking who was behind the other closed doors and why they weren't out with us and like, oh, that's spinal cord. They don't come well. Can they get on a bus? Yes, we'll get the bus to the football field and we'll figure it out. Who are they? Oh, that's the women's unit, they don't like to be around men, well, we have a lot of good men down here, get their coordinators and get them down here, whatever it is. So we just started, we went from 20 people at a workshop to over 100 at the hospital. So everybody was welcomed in and our big, what made us successful was just picking any door down necessary to get people that were behind them, and make remove a stigma that everybody couldn't be together. Because once we did that, we had upright veterans helping adaptive veterans get to their doctor's appointments, because they just made friends at this workshop, you know, now they had people connected with one another, you know, someone I always, you know, offered a sing the national anthem, if no one's out there, but we always prompt and everybody thinks that together. And I said, don't leave me out here alone, you're gonna regret it, you know, then that's somebody steps up and sings the national anthem. So when we come next time, they know that they can come up and do that again, you know, so we're just kicking down doors to try and help him in the service dog space that was this year as door to kick down. And, you know, after we had concluded the film, and got that off, off and going, so we're always just interested in reaching out and helping in new space, more we know, the more we grow, and the more we know, the more we can help effectively. And that's really what is the foundation of our organization.
Keith McKeever 41:17
It's awesome. The service dog stuff is really important. Yeah, and I'm glad to see over the last, last 10 years or so, since I got out of the air force, that is I've seen more and more service dogs, or maybe it's just that I'm more aware of people that have, but I'm glad that there's more organizations out there that are doing they're doing the training. I'm glad that there's I'm not the expert on it. But legislative steps, you know, in I know, there's been some things introduced over the last couple of years. But people are just being open to the idea of the power of having a service animal, whether that's for PTSD, or for physical stuff, you know, I have a dogs, you know, get your soda or beer out of the fridge or closing doors, seeing eye dogs like it's it's awesome. To.
David Lionhart 42:08
Yeah, I visited a training facility up in Syracuse. And I was watching Ryan, who's the trainer there. And they're, they're, I think a year away from receiving one of the top certifications in the country for their dog program. And so hats off to them and that clear path and I watched the the, the woman who was helping train, put her hands over her head and the dog sticks the nose up to lift the veterans head up or she was tapping her foot, the dog would touch the foot, she would tap her other foot, the signs of anxiety and the signs of depression. With those notable things are, and the dog was reacting so quickly. Again, it doesn't take much to get me to cry when it comes to that kind of stuff. But I just couldn't believe it. And it's a thing that somebody would receive judgment free love from an animal that was trained to help them with what's going on with them, reducing seizures, I had a veteran say he used to have seven seizures a month and was down to less than one, you know, and that that's incredible what a quality of life that can change for you. If you're not carrying a certain weight, less weight you take off your shoulders, the lighter you feel and the fresher you feel. And so again, it's plus one, you know, one thing at a time, what's what's what can we get you one step closer to getting better, and figure out what that is and figure out if we can do it. And if we can't, we got to find somebody who can. So that's that's kind of our attitude.
Keith McKeever 43:35
That's awesome. So you've got all kinds of sports. You mentioned art earlier, you do like painting sculpting. What What's that looking like?
David Lionhart 43:45
I personally started creating art a couple years ago as a healthy outlet for myself. And and so I've been fortunate enough to land into a curating space at a local gallery. And we actually have a show up right now with about 40 Different veteran artists who work at an art for vets group. And so they use it as a therapy opportunity and a social opportunity. So we have their art lining the whole center of the gallery. And it's been a cool way to connect with these veterans and be offered a women's workshop and equestrian farm where they have rescue horses that use or you know, equine therapy with veterans. And so we plan that day we have several artists come and do landscape painting with the veterans scrapbooking. We had one artist Donna Mickelson came and she does symmetrical movement. I built her a giant eight foot by four foot chalkboard. And two people stand on each side of the chalkboard and move together with the chalk in their own way that they're moving. And and so wherever we can put that into place in the workshops, it's it's proven to be very, very valuable just to give somebody that option. Not everybody's interested in sports, you know, we have the live music there, we have people that walk up and want to sing or just want to sit and listen. And so we try and give back the culture, to the veterans who fought for us to have the freedom to have that culture. And so whether it's art or music and or sports, you know, we try and provide that at different capacities and levels, wherever, wherever we are in our programming, and wherever is suits best, you know, to serve the veterans in that space. But the art became important to me. And I'm just now starting to connect with a way of getting that into the veteran community through the gallery. But really incredible guy named Kevin, he runs the Hudson Valley Center for veteran reintegration. And he I found in his office, I saw he was a photographer. So we're going to be putting his show up next month, in the gallery of black and white portraits of veterans from his time and service. And he builds kayaks for veterans, and his partner does yoga. She's done yoga with us at our women's workshop before so there's so many different things out there, man. Like, I feel like you said there's something for everyone. There's 45 nonprofits out there and the veteran space, there's someone specializing in something that can help you. And if they're not look into what it's like to do it yourself or taking a friend out and doing it and you know, it's just make it make it possible. Anything's possible, you know,
Keith McKeever 46:25
yeah, it doesn't need to be super complex. And I just had another random idea, because you're right, some people don't want to do sports. Some people are more artistic in nature, music, painting, sculpting, whatever. But is that another idea? Since you're in the hospitals? I don't know if this has ever been brought up. But what about like board games? Oh, yeah, we can have one volunteer show up with maybe not monopoly may not be a good idea. But some other board games or something where, you know, you could get four or five, six veterans sitting at a table. And it could be, you know, in the hospital where they need the treatment, and they can just relax for a couple of hours. Yeah, just you know, all it takes is one volunteer and one board game. card game or something.
David Lionhart 47:07
We had. We've been playing volleyball for volleyball at one of our New Jersey clients. And there's a group people sitting right there next to the volleyball and that plan. Speights play it playing cards. And before Christmas, this past year, we hosted our first family night community night. And we had board games we had cornhole boards set up. We're pursuing mini golf, building our own little mini golf course in our office area that we can break down and set back up again. But you're right on. I mean, it doesn't doesn't take much to to make it happen. You know, a little Kinect for in Ohio always gets everybody going. By I saw, so someone's gonna play this, like this is one of the greatest games of all time,
Keith McKeever 47:48
is much less dangerous than monopoly. Much less dangerous. Yeah. Be careful with monopoly. So. But that's awesome. I appreciate you coming on here and sharing this. Like I said, when I when I saw the film, I was just, I was blown away by everybody's individual story, the way that Ash directed it put everything together. It's just It meant a lot to me, as a veteran to see it, because I felt like, and that's why I took a run upstairs to my wife. And I tried sharing it out, I said, It spoke to me. But to me, the real power was connecting the way we feel as veterans and these things to the people kind of on the outside of our circle, and civilians. So like, my wife knows quite a bit about my service and my stories. But like my mother doesn't know as much. You know, some of my friends and family probably don't know a whole lot unless they listen to my podcast and hear me talk a little bit here and there. But to understand your mind and what you know how you deal with different things based on what you see, because the things you can experience while serving in the military. I mean, a wide variety of experiences you can have, but you can get PTSD from not you don't have to be in a combat zone for that either. A lot of the things can happen. It's just your body's reaction. And and then you have to navigate afterwards to how it affects you and everybody's different. So to have some insight and that's powerful thing. Yes. So I appreciate you. Appreciate you coming on any, any last words, but anything, go out and
David Lionhart 49:27
ask someone how they're doing today?
Keith McKeever 49:30
That's a good one. That is a good so I appreciate. Appreciate you being here, David.
David Lionhart 49:36
Hey, thank you so much, Keith. I really appreciate it man in any way we can help you let us know. Okay, and keep doing what you're doing man. Conversation has power. And I give you a lot of credit. And thank you. I will say thank you for your service. And and thank you for spending your time with me today.
Keith McKeever 49:51
Yeah, no problem. Thank you for your support. And thank you for everything that you're doing. You got a brother, you can keep up the good work. Thanks. All right, there we go everybody just make sure you like subscribe, follow us, check out our website battle buddy podcast.net for all kinds of resources, and if you are struggling in any way, shape or form remember the National Suicide Hotline is 800-273-8255 or you can text 838255
