- [Narrator] Support for this program is provided by: the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, the Schillhahn-Husky Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

- On today's show, we'll learn about two nonprofits that serve our veterans.

One provides emotional support through creative songwriting.

The other offers mortgage-free homes to disabled veterans.

We are stronger together, Chattanooga, Stay tuned to learn more.

(upbeat music) Welcome to Chattanooga Stronger Together, I'm Barbara Marter.

Freedom Sings USA provides emotional support to veterans and military personnel, by telling their stories through songwriting.

Bobbie Standefer is Executive director.

Bobbie, thank you so much for coming and visiting with us this morning.

- Thank you.

- I want to learn more, and I know our viewers do too, of what is Freedom Sings and what is the why behind you created this nonprofit?

- Well, it's creative arts therapy actually, and it's actually creative writing.

We teach them to get their thoughts out on paper.

Usually we're sitting with the scribe in class or on Zoom, and the scribe just writes anything that they say and then, it all goes down.

The veteran can, or active duty or family member, we work with all of them.

We work with Gold star, Blue Star, but they see their words, the thoughts that they had been in their head, that's been troubling them or you know, whatever, has their, their life story.

We start out with, you know, "Where are you from?"

"What was your family like?"

You know, and get them comfortable with talking.

And then, they talk about their military experience.

And then the songwriter, we have professional Nashville songwriters.

Most of them are award-winning.

Two co-founders with me are Don Goodman and Steve Dean.

Don Goodman wrote "Old Red" for Blake Shelton and "Angels Among Us," Alabama.

Steve Dean wrote the Song of the decade, "Watching You," for Rodney Adkins.

And, I found them actually, in Georgia.

And, I was working with another non-profit, in alternative therapies, and actually a counselor in the VA contacted us and said, "All we have are drugs and psychotherapy, and these veterans, or these young men and women are coming back from combat and their lives are spiraling into chaos."

You know, they're using alcohol, street drugs, whatever.

And so we started looking for alternative therapies, and that was here in Chattanooga.

And I found these songwriters in Georgia, that were working with active duty, actually, out of Fort Benning.

And so I said, You know, "We're looking for this in Chattanooga, could you come back to Chattanooga?"

We held a retreat at the Choo Choo, so, that's a little bit of the history, but, we found that the veterans, you know, there are songwriters that hear veterans stories and write songs about it, but, the veterans were saying, "We need more."

So we developed a program around it.

And so, actually it's vet-to-vet therapy, It's creative writing and it's music therapy.

The songwriter helps them piece together the main central theme of what's in their heads.

They're looking at it on paper.

So, the songwriter helps 'em piece it together into their song, their story, and then we always ask 'em, "What's your favorite type of music?"

We do all genres of music.

We've got R&B, we've got big band, World War II, we have soul, hip hop, you know, of course country, because our songwriters, most of them come from Nashville.

So, we have weekly classes.

We have an all female veteran class, because female veterans have specific problems, that they're uncomfortable talking about in a co-ed class.

We have a Wednesday morning class, it's going on right now.

It's a national class, It's co-ed.

We have a live class at the Vet Center on Thursday nights, here in Chattanooga.

And, we have a California class.

Of course, these are on Zoom.

- Right.

- COVID actually helped us.

We started out with one class, Erlanger was good to us, and we started our classes down at the Lifestyle Center.

And then when COVID hit, we found Zoom, and that's when we became national.

We do retreats all over the country.

If a VA organization or a veteran organization wants us to come, we'll come.

In July, we were in Colorado, in August, we were in Arkansas, Little Rock, Central Arkansas, VA had us up there.

We were at the MacArthur Museum of Military History, Arkansas Military History.

And that was very, very successful.

We may do a concert with our songwriters.

I mean, our songwriters are hit songwriters, and so, they have hits and it's, it's a fun thing.

It's our special operations veterans class.

There's a high rate of suicide in special operations.

So, they say it's very cathartic for them, just to get it out, you know, and you put it to music.

Cam Busch is a volunteer creative arts therapist for us, and we, at the vet center, Chris Acreage, is a counselor there that sits in on the class.

And we have a psychiatrist, David Good, on our national board of directors.

He works with veterans in Colorado.

So, it's helping them get emotional balance.

And, it's giving them something that they can depend on.

Once they get their song written, they're alumni and they come back and they work with the program and they help other veterans.

We've found that veterans need a purpose.

- Yeah.

- It helps them.

They were doing the major purpose of their lives when they were fighting for our country, and they come back and sometimes they're lost.

And so, you know, they, they wanna help other veterans, so, we give them that opportunity, to come back and volunteer and do that.

- Yeah, so, on a retreat, what does that look like when you're gonna, present a retreat or, or have one?

Is it a day long?

Is it week long?

You know, what does the program look like at a retreat?

- It's usually a weekend.

We go in, usually, we can do this any day of the week, but, we go in and in the evening we have a meet and greet or a social, There's some food.

The veterans who are going to be in the program and their families come.

Our songwriters sing their hit songs.

So they, the veterans know the style of, of their writing and their music.

And then, we pair the veteran up with a songwriter.

They go off the next morning, after a little continental breakfast, they go to separate rooms and the songwriter listens to the story, listens to the veteran, and then pieces together their story into a song.

We'll break for dinner, and then the songwriters perfect the songs.

And then that night we do a concert, and the community usually comes to that concert and the veteran comes up on stage with a songwriter, when their song is sung.

And the veteran can say anything that they want to, and... - Oh, wow.

- So we have a full concert with these talented songwriters, and it's usually a pretty big deal for these, for these communities that we go into.

- Those who don't have family members, even if you do have a family member and they come back, on the outside, they may look normal, but on the inside, no one could really understand what's going on psychologically with them.

And they say "music soothes the savaged soul."

But, music therapy really helps them to pull that out.

- Yes.

- Talk about it, process it.

- Yes.

- And put it on paper.

- Yes.

- And, it's, it's a healing process in itself, without them realizing that they're self-healing themselves.

Which I think is amazing.

- Right.

- So, um, let's talk- - We've seen a lot of stuff.

I mean, we've seen veterans come into class, they won't even look at you, you know, they'll have their heads down.

(Barbara sighing) And then, after they go through the process, you know, they're like different people.

They seem to have more self confidence.

- They're getting their dignity back, aren't they?

- They're getting their dignity back.

- Which I love, I love, yeah.

- You're right.

And we validate what they did, because, they see some very terrible things.

I mean, in the Middle East, they saw women use their children as shields, you know, out on the battlefields.

I mean, these, our active duty, you know, they have to process all of that.

You know, we have medics, medics have a hard time because they're dealing with everything.

You know, body parts, you know, death, right there on the battlefield.

You don't just get rid of that in your brain when you come back, you know?

It's still there.

- It's very traumatic, and it can change your, your, the way you process things.

- Right.

- Especially those who saw combat, you know, I was working with another group and they actually build homes for vets and, you know, they're like, "You have to look at the outside around their, you know, no trees in the yard, or this or that."

- Yeah.

- And you don't even think about that, because, that's not the life I live until, you know, you're confronted or you know somebody, or it's a family member or something like that.

So, you have classes... - Mh-hm.

- And they're Zoom, but, are the ones here locally, are they Zoom or are they in person?

- We have the Vet Center class that's live right now.

The rest of them are Zoom, You know, we have veterans from all over the country.

We had as far away as Hawaii... - Oh, wow.

- Come to class.

And you, of course, he had to get up pretty early, for the 9:30 class, in the morning Eastern time.

- Yeah.

- But- - But it was worth it for him, wasn't it?

- For him, it was worth it, They're thrilled.

They're thrilled to get their stories on paper and, and into their own... - Wow.

- Specific song.

We've got a program right now, where we're trying to get as many World War II veterans as possible.

- Oh, wow.

- And so, our World War II album is about to come out.

- That's amazing.

- And the families love to play these songs, you know, when they pass, at their funerals.

- Oh, that's wonderful.

- And it's, it, it's very, like I said, cathartic, for these veterans to, to be able to get all of this out, but then, put to their favorite kind of music.

You know, where it's, they can listen to it.

- Yeah.

- You know?

- Yeah, I know.

Well, I'd, I'd like to direct our viewers to your website, because, I know you have some of the albums that are out there that they could purchase for a nice donation, which I love.

- We've got the Female Class album.

I do want to hit this... - Oh, okay.

- Coming out soon, "The Trailblazers album."

We call the class trailblazers, because women are trailblazers... - That's right.

- In the military.

- They are.

- Hunter Girl, who just won second place in American Idol, founded that class for us.

- Awe.

- She started her career with us, actually.

She's really busy now.

And so, Minnie Murphy's the lead songwriter in that class.

But, Hunter will be, her songs will be on that album and Minnie's.

And then, we have a blinded female veteran who, who her eyes, you know... - Yeah.

- From an I.E.D.

And so, she actually is gonna sing her own song, - Awe, that's wonderful.

- On this, So, we're real thrilled about that.

- Bobbie, I really appreciate you coming in and I have learned so much, and I hope our viewers have learned too, and really appreciate it.

And will go to your website and any of our vets out there, from World War II on to, you know... - To today.

- Today, Will take advantage of this service that you offer to them, to help them to live a full life and everything.

So thank you so much.

♪ Didn't know that I ♪ ♪ Signed that line to be ♪ ♪ In secondary PTSD ♪ Welcome back.

Keith Mosley is joining us from A Soldier's Journey Home.

The organization is a community based volunteer group that constructs mortgage free homes for disabled soldiers.

Keith, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you for having me.

- So, when I was doing a little bit research for today's show, since 911, there were 2.5 million vets, 80% of those saw combat theater, and 30% of those came back wounded in some way or the other.

So now I want to know, what is A Soldier's Journey Home and the why.

- Sure.

Those are staggering numbers, and of course, they're terrifying, horrible to think about what some of those guys and gals were giving up for us.

Soldier's Journey Home is, it's a non-profit organization, based here in Chattanooga, and we're just dedicated to building homes for wounded veterans.

We feel like it's the least we can do, as a group of people that understand what was given for us.

We build those homes usually in 12 days.

So, we build one house a year, we build it in a 12 day period of time.

There is some prep work ahead of that.

But, we have over a hundred volunteers, from 22 states, that come together for that two week period of time.

And it's like, you know, ants on a cupcake.

It's just (snaps fingers) here we go.

And we hand it over, They have a fully furnished mortgage-free house, at the end of that 12 days.

- So, how do you find, I mean, how does a vet qualify for this home?

Or how do they find out about the home?

- Sure!

- What's the procedure?

- Mh-hm, yeah, We, we have a vetting process for our vets.

You can start that process at: www.asoldiersjourneyhome.org.

Sharon Holland does a really good job of getting our people coordinated and that sort of thing.

But, you can start that process there, there at our website and there is a questionnaire and some guys that will talk to you over that process.

But, that's the beginning point.

You can find us on Facebook or any of the socials, but, that's all gonna lead you back to the website.

It's very easy to find how to get qualified and that sort of thing.

- So every, every vet, disabled vet, has a different type of disability.

And so, the homes, I understand, are custom designed for them?

And those are smart homes sometimes, or all the time?

Tell me about a house.

- Sure.

- I wanna know more about the home and everything.

- Every vet is different.

So, many of our vets have injuries that you don't see.

Mental, mental injuries, just from their time away.

Some of our vets have more obvious injuries.

And so, when it's called for, we will build an automated home.

If someone's wheelchair bound and needs access to a stove that isn't 36 inches high.

- Right.

- We'll have that automated and bring it down.

So, there are different things.

The doors will swing open on their own and, and those sort of things.

But that's not, we don't always do that.

We don't do that all the time.

It's when it's appropriate.

We look into doing the smart homes in that, in that avenue.

But if you have, for example, if you don't want trees in your front yard because you're nervous about what that looks like outside, your brain doesn't feel good about that.

Well, we're gonna talk, we're gonna talk through our vets about what do they want the outside of their home to look like.

"Do you feel nervous about hidden places?"

We're gonna go through that with a, with a fine tooth comb and make sure that we're building them a home that they feel comfortable in and they can access a more normal life through.

- So basically, this is their safety zone?

- We hope so.

- Yeah.

And I never really thought about the outside world, with the trees and everything, because, of snipers and things like that.

And any loud noise or car backfire or anything like that, that could just really throw them to the ground.

I mean, it's just.

- Yeah, that's true.

We, they have things that we have to coordinate.

You and I have things in our home that we have to coordinate and think about.

And so, we try not to think about it in terms of, "Oh, this is a person that really needs special attention."

We do want to give them special attention.

But, we're just trying to design them a home that works for who they are.

- Right.

- And the experiences that they've had in life.

They're just people, who've done these amazing things.

And we're trying to give them something that they can call home, that can give them a start, a restart, if that, if that needs to be had and get 'em going again.

It's a jump start.

- Yeah.

And, how long have you been doing this?

- I've been with A Soldiers Journey for five years, I believe now, four or five years.

The organization's been together for 18 years in different capacities.

- Wow.

- I think we've been "an organization" for seven years.

We started out on disaster relief funds, I think we've built seven homes now, as A Soldier's Journey Home.

- Where are some of those homes located?

- We have, we have three, I think, here locally.

One was in McDonald, that was three or four years ago now.

We've built in Ringold.

We've built Speedwell, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois.

- Wow.

- We built in Maine.

We built in San Antonio.

So, all over the country, we focus on building in, in the Southeast, as much as we can.

- Okay.

- Much of our volunteers are based in the Southeast, and so, coordinating the travel and that sort of thing, is easier if we locate our homes there.

But we're open, we're open to the eastern part of the country for the most part.

- Right.

So in, in the six, five or six years that you've been with them, is there an impactful story that you could share with our viewers that would really bring it home to them?

- Sure, I'm especially proud of Alex.

I think you and I have talked a little bit about Alex.

And Alex's story is one that, that is exactly what we're going for.

Here's a guy that, that went and served his country.

He's a Purple Heart recipient, is an absolute hero, at least in my opinion.

He would never, he would never say that, probably be mad at me for saying that.

But, he was ready for his life outside of the armed services to begin.

So, he was trying to figure out how to coordinate this life, the post-service life.

And, we were able to give Alex and his family a beautiful home up in McDonald, that he doesn't have to pay a mortgage on.

That he could, he could, he's been studying there, he's earned a master's degree since, since he received his home.

He's working on his doctorate right now.

He's in logistics and is doing incredibly.

Has a new son and... - Aw.

- Just, we're just so excited about, you know, the opportunities that, that we've been able to give him, just from having a place where he can, he can call home and he can say, "This is, this is my, this is my place of operation.

This is my place where I'm gonna, I'm gonna start going out into the world."

Cort, up in, up in Columbus, their story is cool.

I think he's got like 11 or 12 children now.

- (gasps) Okay!

- Yeah.

(laughs) We built a, an incredibly large home for them up in Columbus, because they have all the children, with a homeschooling classroom down in the bottom, in the basement.

- Yeah.

- And they're, you know, they're farming and doing wonderful things on, on their property.

- Oh my God.

- So, excited.

He's a, he's a double amputee.

We're just excited about giving them opportunities to do the things they hope to do, post-service.

- So, where do you find the land?

- Oftentimes, our recipients will come with land, Hey, I, well, "I'm willing to purchase this land."

Or, you know, we, "I've inherited this land," or whatever.

That being said, if we find a recipient that doesn't have land, we'll coordinate with realtors in the area that they're looking to, to purchase in.

And we'll figure out how to acquire that land and, you know, go through that process.

- So, what's the price range for a home?

- Our homes usually will have a, have a post-construction value anywhere from $400,000 to $700,000.

We build proper homes.

- Wow.

So there's, you know, there's a ton that goes into that.

But, you know- - And these are mortgage free?

- They are.

- How do you build something like that in 12 days?

I know there's prep work that needs to be done.

- Sure.

- So, how do you build it in 12 days?

And then, do you have repeat volunteers that are like, "I love what you're doing, Let me know where the next one is.

I'm gonna be there and we're our, and my crew's gonna come," or whatever.

- Sure, absolutely.

We have, our volunteers, we, you know, laughingly call them "our big dysfunctional family."

We are all, most of us are fire, paramedic, police retired.

I would say 90% of who we operate with is, is of that, of that field.

We also have service people who come and volunteer with us.

And then, just your random subcontractors that, you know, "Hey, we, we love what you're doing.

Let me help you put this roof on the house every year.

Let me donate the siding installation every year."

So we have, we have some guys who have come with us along the way.

Yes, I think we have over 170 coordinated volunteers that, you know, maybe not every year, are they with us, but, but they come regularly.

And, we have a core group of about 90 to 120 that I know I get to see every year, in June.

So, anybody that wants to be a part of that is, is welcome.

You can find us on www.asoldiersjourneyhome.org and start that process.

There's a, a waiver and some connection paperwork and that sort of thing, but- - So that's how you would vet somebody that says, "Okay, I've got a work crew, we could do, you know, beams or we could do laying the foundation, or we can do the driveway," or whatever.

So, you vet them through your website?

Do you look for certain- - That's how we would contact them.

So, if they said... - Okay.

- If someone said to me, you know, "I've got a national Sheetrock installation company," or or "I've got a regional company that does Sheetrock.

We would love to come and hang and finish Sheetrock for you."

That's just an email, that goes to our people who coordinate volunteers.

And then, we're gonna reach back out to them and say, "You know, who are you really?"

"Why are you interested in doing this?"

"And do you, can we count on you to hang and finish sheet rock in two and a half days, on a 1400 square foot or a 1800 square foot house?"

- Right.

- So, we'll have a vetting process for that.

Scotty Freeman handles a lot of our vetting for our, for our vets.

And then Sal, Sal Centrone handles all of our vetting for, for our subcontractors.

- Yeah.

So, we have, like, about a minute and a half left.

- Sure.

- Is, is there a waiting list?

- For volunteers?

- For vets?

- We are always looking for new candidates to build homes for.

So yes, we, we have, we have many people that, that go on our website.

We are in the process, right now, of vetting our, vetting our vet for next year.

So, the best thing I could tell you is, you know, if you're interested in, in having a home built for you and you served and you come back and you have some injuries, you know, get on the website and if you put something in, put an application in, we'll reach back out to you and, and see if, see if we can fit.

- Right, yeah.

Well, one of the things we're gonna do is, we're gonna put your, your website up.

- Sure.

- And, we want to encourage our viewers to, to go and visit your website.

If there's anyone that really has a crew that can volunteer, go out there and check it, sign up as a volunteer.

But, I absolutely love what you and your group are doing.

- Thank you.

- So, thank you.

- Thank you for your time.

- Yeah.

And thanks for making such a difference in these people's lives.

And thank you for joining us today.

We hope Chattanooga Stronger Together offers new perspectives on issues that are important to you.

If you're looking to make a difference in our community, let us know.

Email us at stronger at Stronger@WTCITV.org or use the hashtag #StrongerWTCI on social media.

I'm Barbara Marter, and we'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Support for this program is provided by: the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, the Schillhahn-Husky Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.