All across America and around the world, this is Veterans Radio.
This is Veterans Radio.
Welcome to Veterans Radio.
I am Jim Fossone.
I'm the officer of the deck today.
We've got some great programs for you.
I think you'll find very interesting.
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or at the web.
VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org.
Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well.
We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview,
something you didn't know before by going to VeteransRadio.org.
And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors.
First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org.
It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran-owned businesses.
You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org.
We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans.
Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation.
You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at LegalHelpForVeterans.com.
We want to welcome to VeteransRadio today a guest we haven't had on a long time
to get an update on Camp Liberty, Alan Lutz, board president and treasurer.
Alan, welcome back to VeteransRadio.
Thank you, Jim. It's been a while and I'm excited to be with your audience again.
Well, Camp Liberty started in January of 2013, so it's been around for a good decade now
and it's got a lot of news to talk about.
Why don't we start with for our veteran radio listeners who maybe aren't familiar with Camp Liberty.
Alan, talk to us about what it is and what its mission is.
Sure. Camp Liberty is first and foremost believes in that the great outdoors can be a source of healing for people,
a source of gratification and enjoyment.
So we use outdoor recreation as a way to support our veterans and active duty service members.
We want to sincerely thank them for their service.
We do so in a way that our programs allow for inclusive outdoor activities so that no matter what a person's physical ability,
they're able to enjoy our resources. We have a beautiful lodge that's fully accessible.
We have three miles of trails that are easily walkable.
We have off-road track chairs that allow people with mobility challenges to still go around and enjoy that.
And we run a whole host of outdoor recreation programs throughout the year as a way to connect with veterans.
To thank them. And then as we get to know people, we learn about them and help them with resources that can improve their lives.
When we first started out, our major focus were kind of the signature injuries of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan complex,
which were traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress diseases. We're still focused at.
But we've expanded our mission a little bit more, broadening out to have a lot of veteran interaction with other citizens that have mobility issues
and want to enjoy Camp Liberty.
And we've recently completed a strategic plan where we are expanding our mission, finding some gaps in coverages between private and governmental programs
where we can assist veterans a little bit more. But it all starts with the outdoor recreation.
Being outside nature is just a blessing, a natural way to put yourself at peace, at ease, and reflect on life.
Yeah, there's plenty of history and research on the value of outdoor recreation as being therapeutic.
So I don't think there's any question that this is the right kind of therapy for some folks.
Tell us a little bit about the land that Camp Liberty leases. And I want to talk about some of the 2024 event schedule.
But let's start with the land.
Sure. Our parcel of land, which was acquired back in 2013, is 138 acres.
And it's a veteran's paradise. If you like outdoor recreation, it's just a wonderful place to be.
The land was selected because of the diversity of game and plant life and the fields and the meadows and the hardwood forests that we have out there.
It supports a bunch of wildlife. And then we've got nearly three quarters of mile frontage on the River Raisin.
We put in a farm pond, which is one of our major projects right now to stock with fish.
And on that we have a beautiful lodge that can sleep up to 12 people.
And what we call a program center, it's really a barn where we keep all the toys and equipment and everything that makes everything out there possible.
And through volunteers, each year we continue to improve the property.
We plant five to six acres in food plots, which draws the wildlife in so people can enjoy seeing them.
And do a lot of family events out there. So it's really a wonderful place to enjoy a whole bunch of different outdoor activities.
This is in the area of Manchester, Michigan. For those listening nationally, it would be the southern lower peninsula, kind of, I don't know, I'll call it middle of the state.
It might not exactly be middle of the state, but southern Michigan.
And last year you delivered 12 outdoor inclusive recreation programs over 400 people attended.
These are like, including things like 3D archery shoot.
And you also got on the road to educate more than 2000 people with messages supporting veterans and promoting inclusive outdoor recreation.
So 2023 was a good year. But I was really impressed when I saw the 2024 event schedule and kind of things that you're doing or coming up to do.
Do you want to talk about some of those?
Sure.
You know, we have been re-energizing Camp Liberty coming out of the COVID years and reorganizing from a leadership standpoint, reorganizing financially and reorganizing our programs.
And I'm really excited because, you know, the vision that we had for the charity back a decade ago is really now reaching fruition and, you know, having the impact that we had hoped.
And so this year, a strategic plan includes really doubling the amount of programming that we're providing. And we're typically having two events per month at least.
This upcoming weekend we're really stacked up. On March 15th, we're having a symposium relating to Veterans Health.
On the 16th, we are having a first responder hunt to thank and engage with firefighters and policemen and EMS workers in the surrounding area.
And then on March 17th, I'm really excited for a new event. Our goal for this year is to do more family-oriented events.
And we've added an Easter egg hunt and that starts at 11 and will run through about 2 o'clock.
But I have it, I'm good authority that the Easter Bunny is going to be flying over Camp Liberty at about 1.30 and dropping Easter egg treats for the youngsters.
So we expect about 200 people this weekend for our Easter egg hunt on Sunday.
And that's open to all Veterans and people in the local community around Camp Liberty. You can find specific information about that on our website or our Facebook page.
So those are our March events. In April, we have a spring turkey hunting event.
We host Veterans specifically. Wild Turkey is one of the game species that's very prevalent on the property.
We invite a number of vets to come out and stay in the lodge, provide for all of their food and resources and hook them up with experienced turkey guides to take them out to hopefully enjoy seeing and maybe taking a turkey home.
Also, in April, we have a presentation from the conservation officers from the Department of Natural Resources that will be talking about inclusive recreation opportunities throughout the state of Michigan.
We'll be talking about specific topics related to game laws and how people, veterans, the benefits that veterans have through the Department of Natural Resources programs.
And then answering a lot of questions, hopefully giving us some inside information on great places to fish and hunt, things like that.
May we have our annual conservation day where we'll be planting trees and food plots and flowers and things like that.
This year, we are planting a large pumpkin patch, which will be one of the features of our fall family fest.
We're also planting four acres in corn, which will be a corn maze for an event we're having in October. Those will be done at our conservation day.
Other things, we're sponsoring a Merritt Badge weekend with some Boy Scouts troops.
June 24th, we're having our summer picnic, which will be a big family event with music and food.
July, we're putting on a large VA benefits workshop. One of the gaps that we've found is that many veterans have a difficult time negotiating the VA and DOD benefits system
and understanding how to improve their benefits, what benefits they've truly qualified for, those sorts of things.
We're putting on a couple of these benefit workshops this year. August will be participating in that fest.
Let me break in here because there is a whole list of these things.
Alan, if folks want to find the list for the back half of the year, give us your website again that you can go to to find out all the events that Camp Liberty has proposed.
Thanks, Jim. Our website is www.camplibertymichigan.org. All one word, camplibertymichigan.org.
It's also on our Facebook page as well.
And that's where you can get more detailed information on any of the events, how to register, where the location is, the timing and that sort of thing.
So we'd encourage veteran radio listeners who want to get some outdoor recreation, some therapeutic activity and to kind of go look at that.
And it's not just for the veterans, it's for family members as well.
But one of the, or a couple of the exciting things that you've got going on, I wanted to make sure we had time to talk about, is you've added an executive program director
and an executive director of development and veteran volunteer services to the team.
So tell us about Melinda Schwinn, who is the executive program director.
Yeah, Camp Liberty had previously been all volunteer supported.
And what we determined is that we really couldn't deliver the level of programming and resources without having some professionals engage.
So we have two great women who have joined our team. Melinda Schwinn is an executive who is, has been, her family's been very involved with veterans.
She's been personally involved with law enforcement and has been an educator at the college level.
And she is helping coordinate all of our events and coordinate our volunteers. Those are two big jobs that have really allowed us to expand the programming that I was just sharing.
And she is a really great communicator, a great leader and a really big benefit to our program.
Yeah, I think every nonprofit reaches that point where they say, man, volunteers are great, but we need somebody to work a little harder, a little more time available.
And so you've also added Beverly List as a executive director. Talk about what she brings to the table.
Right. Beverly is a veteran herself. She is a veteran of the Air Force and she is very involved regionally with the American Legion service organizations serving in a number of different capacities over the past few years there.
So Beverly comes in as really building our relations with veteran service organizations, perhaps understanding the VA system and some of those administrative areas.
She brings talents in those areas. And then she's also our director of development.
We still rely on donations to fund our program. We're 100% funded by outside donations.
And so Beverly is developing our fundraising programs and will be hosting some fundraisers.
We're still searching for the right philanthropic and fundraising areas to do, but Beverly is leading those efforts and is doing a very good job with that.
Well, I think it's always important to let potential donors know that this is also a pretty efficient organization in terms of where the money gets spent. Do you want to comment on that?
Sure. If you go to our website, you can find our most recent annual report. And in that report, we provide a copy of our financial statement for 2023.
And, you know, the 2020 and 2021 with COVID was a real difficult time for the charity. And we really had to come back for that.
And I was very pleased in 2023 that the charity was able to run break even from a cash flow area.
And out of our expenses, 87% of every dollar that came into the organization went to fund programs specifically for veterans and for members of the community to enjoy inclusive outdoor recreation.
So we only spent 13% on insurance, administrative tasks, you know, registrations, accounting with our annual tax return, making up some of the largest administrative expenses we've had.
So all of the board of directors are volunteers. No one receives any compensation beyond just the joy and pleasure of helping, you know, other people.
Our Beverly and Melinda are receiving some compensation as contractors that are doing this work for us. But otherwise, we're really trying to run an efficient organization so that donors can be confident that their money is going to go to help people.
Well, this is important for folks to understand. And we're talking to Alan Lutz as the president of Camp Liberty, which is a nonprofit organization designed to help both veterans and broader reach to folks with disability and first responders
out at its recreational site in the Manchester, Michigan area, 138 acres with some river frontage so you can fish and you can hunt and you can just be in nature.
But one of the things that I thought was interesting, Alan, in your report was one of the greatest threats. And I think, again, this is, we're talking about this because it really resonates, I think, for most nonprofits.
One of your greatest threats you identified was volunteers. Do you want to expand on that?
Sure. In order to provide our programs, it would be financially extremely difficult at this point to hire people to coordinate all of the programs that we wish to deliver.
And so we count on volunteers to assist that. And this isn't volunteers that are doing hard labor or anything like that.
What we share with people is if you enjoy hunting, help volunteer to help some other people hunt.
If you enjoy fishing or doing conservation work or riding the tractor to help plant food plots, those are all things that we need to do to deliver our programs.
And it's not strenuous and it's not a lifelong commitment. But without those volunteers, we just can't provide the programs, plain and simple.
Again, the COVID period was very challenging for Camp Liberty and for a lot of charities where the volunteers stopped volunteering because of all the COVID restrictions and worried about becoming sick and those sorts of things.
So we've really had to rebuild those programs. And I'm happy to say that we are finding new volunteers and people are getting re-engaged and since having Melinda's assistance, she's doing a great job with communicating volunteers so that we're able to staff our events and build relations with veterans and people with disabilities.
And I'm optimistic that we will have the volunteers we need.
It's an ongoing effort that we want to be reaching more people and inviting them in.
And we just say do what you love. If you love outdoor recreation, if you have the talents or treasures to help us cook a meal where we're hosting veterans for a hunting event, hospitality, coordinating some of our events, those sorts of things.
Those sorts of things don't require a lot of tremendous skills or months of dedication or anything like that, but we need those volunteers to be able to have a strong program.
And a lot of our volunteers are also people that understand veterans' benefits, understand mental health issues, understand the struggles people are going with.
So we have a whole network of people that if we find someone that's struggling with an issue, we may be able to connect them to others that have experience and expertise in those areas and benefit them beyond just what we can do out at Camp Liberty.
So we would encourage people to get involved, especially if you love outdoor recreation yourselves.
And if you're interested in volunteering or maybe you've been looking for the appropriate charity to send some money to, tell us again the website and what they can do at the website.
Sure. CampLibertyMichigan.org is our website. We are a 501C3 charity approved by the IRS.
On our website and Facebook page, there are icons or buttons that you can click on that will allow you to donate.
And there's also a volunteer registration form where you can click on that and fill out a quick little form that will tell us about yourself, what activities that you would personally like to engage in at Camp Liberty, or if you're also interested in volunteering, the different interests you have in volunteering.
And that will go into our database and you'll get on our email mailing list where we put out about a monthly communication to share opportunities for programs and for volunteering at Camp Liberty.
Yeah, it's a great website. It's got all kinds of information. I encourage veteran radio listeners to go there. I know there's somebody in Brooklyn, Michigan at the moment who's just rolling their eyes because I said it was near Manchester a couple of times and Brooklyn, Michigan folks are all saying,
No, no, no, we're separate. We're different. It's south of south of Jackson, Michigan. So easy to find easy to get to good highway access will get you close and Alan, we really do appreciate you taking some time to update veteran radio listeners about Camp Liberty talking about the struggles coming out of
COVID but but the great 2023 that you had and the really very, very positive looking 2024 that you have so thanks for spending some time with us today.
I appreciate the opportunity Jim to reach some other people through your program and appreciate the great work that you and your family does for the veterans.
You got it.
And I want to thank everybody for listening to veterans radio today. I am Jim Fawcone. It's been a pleasure to be your host. I'm a veterans disability lawyer at legal help for veterans and you can reach us at 800-6934800 or legal help for veterans.com on the web.
You can follow veterans radio on Facebook and listen to its podcasts and internet radio shows by visiting us at veterans radio.org. That's veterans radio.org.
And until next time, you are dismissed.
We again want to thank our national sponsors, the National Veterans Business Development Council, NVBDC.org, VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, the Vietnam Veterans of America Charles S. Kettles Chapter, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
VFW, Graf O'Hara Post 423 in Ann Arbor, and the American Legion Press Corn Post 46 also in Ann Arbor. We appreciate all your support. You can go to veteransradio.net, click on the sponsor level and continue to support keeping veterans radio on the air.
And until next time, you are dismissed.