BeTempered
BeTempered
BeTempered Episode 35 - Heather Labbe's Impactful Mission with the Travis Mills Foundation
Have you ever wondered what it takes to transform adversity into a beacon of hope for others? Join co-hosts Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr as we engage with Heather Labbe, the dynamic executive director of the Travis Mills Foundation, who shares her remarkable journey from small-town Maine to leading a nonprofit that’s making a profound difference. Heather opens up about her unexpected career shift from aspiring paramedic to nonprofit accounting, leveraging her skills to amplify the foundation’s mission. Her story is woven with the inspiring legacy of Travis Mills, a quadruple amputee veteran whose resilience and vision have kindled a movement dedicated to supporting veterans and first responders.
Explore the powerful initiatives of the Travis Mills Foundation, which empower veterans and caregivers through transformative programs. Heather illuminates the flagship family program, offering experiences that shatter barriers for post-9/11 combat veterans. She also delves into the Warrior Path program, a groundbreaking initiative that encourages post-traumatic growth through innovative therapeutic activities, including a unique equine therapy module. As if that’s not enriching enough, participants also experience swimming with sharks and conquering high ropes courses, all aimed at fostering a life of fulfillment beyond perceived limitations.
End on a high note with the awe-inspiring tale of Travis Mills himself, whose indomitable spirit transcends his physical challenges. From motivational speaking to entrepreneurial ventures, his life is a testament to overcoming adversity with determination and humor. Heather shares the emotional journey of expanding the foundation’s facilities, ensuring a broader reach to veterans and their families. As we wrap up, we discuss ways you can contribute to this impactful cause and enjoy the lighthearted moments Travis brings to social media, making a difference one laugh at a time. Tune in for an episode that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the power of a supportive community.
What's up everybody, welcome to the be tempered podcast, episode number 35 35. Well, today we have a pretty cool woman, heather labby, who is the executive director of the tra Mills Foundation, and last week we had Chris Roseberry on who had a unbelievable story of resilience and perseverance and tragedy. You know just the mental fortitude just to keep going in life. And it was amazing and that all kind of started with my connection with Heather by reaching out to the Travis Mills Foundation. And you know this is a unique foundation for servicemen and women and first responders up in Maine and they do stuff all over the country and Heather goes into you know all the different activities that they have for families of first responders and of military veterans. It's amazing. It's amazing all the things they do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think the one cool thing with Heather is you just see her passion for it and you know why she's in the position she is with that foundation, and you just see there's the passion and just the utter um, I don't know just the vision that you could see from her yeah like she has it lined out exactly what five, ten years down the line yeah of what it's going to look like and how they can change even more lives and the bigger plan yeah, and she goes into the the story of travis.
Speaker 1:For those that you don't know, travis mills is a quadruple amputee. He's missing his legs and his arms because of an IED. Uh, as he was serving our country, you know, fighting for our freedoms and, um, you know, through his vision of, of wanting to um to help others who had been in a similar position, uh, maybe not the loss of limbs, but maybe something like PTSD or like that. You know he started the foundation and it's amazing. I encourage anybody to get on YouTube and just search the Travis Mills Foundation and one look at the facility. It is unbelievable. It's beautiful up in Maine with, you know, just an amazing setting up there. But what's even more amazing and she talks about all this is is all the things that they do for you know those, those people out there who you know, like she talks about Travis.
Speaker 1:You know he loses his limbs and he could very easily sit on the couch the rest of his life and do nothing, but he doesn't you know, he's out doing things that you and I do on a daily basis, but he just does them a little differently, right, and he shows, shows those out there, who, who are, you know, facing adversities and whatever it may be. That, hey, you can do it too and it's. It's a. It's a pretty cool thing to see, uh, a really unique uh interview with Heather and and she kind of tells us her story of how she got into, um, you know, the nonprofit for the Travis Mills Foundation. But you can hear her passion, you can see her excitement. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hope you guys really enjoy this episode.
Speaker 1:Yep Without further ado.
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Speaker 1:Welcome to the Be Tempered Podcast, where we explore the art of finding balance in a chaotic world.
Speaker 2:Join us as we delve into insightful conversations, practical tips and inspiring stories to help you navigate life's ups and downs with grace and resilience.
Speaker 1:We're your hosts, Dan Schmidt and Ben Spahr. Let's embark on a journey to live our best lives.
Speaker 2:This is Be Tempered.
Speaker 1:Well, Heather Labbe, welcome to the Be Tempered podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited to have you. You know we talked I don't know a couple, two, three weeks ago. I had reached out to the Travis Mills Foundation hoping to get Travis and you steered me in the direction of Chris and and, uh, we interviewed Chris for last week's episode and then, as I'm talking to you, I'm like Holy cow, this is a great gal, she's got, she's got a story and she's leading the charge at the Travis Mills foundation and uh, and we want to get that story. So I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us because I know you're busy.
Speaker 3:No, I'm honored to be here. You know it is a busy time of year, right End of year giving season, so but hey, this is a fun thing to carve some time out for. So, again, honored to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, thank you for joining us. So what we like to do is we like to start off kind of hearing your story growing up, and then we'll get into kind of what led you to the Travis Mills Foundation.
Speaker 3:Very cool. So I'm from a small town here in Maine, I'm born and raised here and my dad was a career firefighter, paramedic in the big city of Portland. And you know I grew up on a farm. You know, very, very humble beginning, so to speak. And I knew that when I grew up I wanted to give back and I wanted to serve. And that looked a little bit different over the years. At one point I thought I wanted to be a paramedic and then I found out that I would have to touch people, which wasn't really my thing, and so I thought what else can I do? And I worked a couple of jobs, went to college and I started doing accounting and I realized I really really liked I always knew I liked math and and so I, you know, I was trying to think what can I do with that? And I realized as an accountant, you don't there, it's less people.
Speaker 3:Um, I thought the previous executive director of the Travis Mills Foundation. She was a friend of mine. We would see each other at an ugly sweater party every year and she'd say, when I'm ready for you, I'm ready for a finance person, I'm going to call you. And I said, ok, I have a good job. We'll see. Travis sounds like a cool guy, but we'll see. And so in 2019, she called me and she said, okay, we're ready for a finance person.
Speaker 3:And, you know, my life had changed dramatically. My son had been born the year prior, seven weeks early. So what I thought my you know, mom working mom career trajectory was going to look like changed drastically when that happened, and so I decided quickly that I needed a job that offered me a little bit more flexibility and it was focused more on, you know, the family lifestyle. And I thought the foundation that does that right. They serve recalibrated veterans and their families, so seemed like they would have a good opportunity for me to have that flexibility and lifestyle that I was really looking forward. Um, and so I joined the foundation in 2019.
Speaker 1:Um, and the rest is history, as they say right, I want to back up a little bit, cause I'm a farm boy from Ohio. Uh, what was your farm like in Maine?
Speaker 3:Sure, so my grandparents had a riding stable when my dad was growing up. Both my dad and my grandfather are farriers as well. They were both firefighters and farriers, because every firefighter's got another job, so we had horses. It turns out because we were poor, we did all of our own hay and all of those things I thought it was. You know, we were doing firewood, we were doing hay, my dad, we did pulp. You know firewood for a number of years. So I always joke that my dad ended up with two daughters. Um, he wanted sons but he got two daughters, so he raised us just the same, um. So you know we were cutting firewood and you know twitching pulpwood out and you know taking care of the horses and doing all of those things.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's pretty cool. Uh, we don't get in any of the wood stuff here. We're corn and soybeans and cows and pigs, but I'm not a horse guy. I've got three daughters and two sons and I always told the kids when when they mentioned horses, I'm like if you can't eat it on our farm, we're not going to raise it.
Speaker 3:You know, I tell everybody now you spend enough time with cows and horses. You understand why we ride horses and eat cows. Same goes for pigs. I can tell you that same goes for pigs.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that yes, so. So you joined the foundation.
Speaker 3:So talk about that career transition from, uh, you know, were you a CPA? Um, I was going to school to get my CPA. So I had actually taken, um, one of the licensure classes or, uh, excuse me, exams, Um, and then the next one was scheduled. I was trying to get it done before Maverick was born, maverick's my son and he showed up seven weeks early, so that kind of messed my schedule up. I had to call him and say I'm not going to make it to the appointment. My son's in the NICU right now.
Speaker 3:And so I actually never, never, finished that and I debated. You know what does that mean for my life? Right, I've always been a straight A student. I do what I set my mind to. So it was really challenging for me to kind of take a step back and say what am I going to do with my career? Because I was going to become a CPA, I was going to start my own you know, tax business and do all of these things, and I had to do a little bit of evaluation and figure out where, where my life was going to go, because it was different than what I had planned.
Speaker 3:And you know, I was really grateful for the opportunity to come to the foundation because they believed in me when I didn't necessarily feel like I had the paper to back it like I thought I should. I had been working at a large corporate organization. I was a financial analyst for a business unit of about 350 people, so I was doing financial forecasting and budgets and all of those things and I felt pretty confident about what I was doing. But when the foundation called me and they said we need a finance person, I said all right, like game on. I wanted an opportunity to be able to make a difference in an organization. I had run a small business before. I ran an automotive repair shop, so I have a pretty, pretty well-rounded resume, so to speak.
Speaker 3:So I ran a garage, right, and I was the, you know, I was the bookkeeper, I was a service manager, I was the parts manager, I was out changing oil if one of the guys called in sick. So I learned a lot about small business then, right, because I had to go collect bills so I could pay the NAPA bill at the end of the month. But then I went to this large corporate organization and I learned so much about the other side of the business, right, like I said, forecasting and budgeting and all of those EBITDA and P&L and all the fun things that I could nerd out about for hours, and so then, when I had an opportunity to come to the foundation, I was able to take all of those things that I had learned right.
Speaker 3:A small business, a big business. How do we make a small business feel like a big business and make them useful skills and help bring the organization forward right? I wanted a chance to make a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what? What aspects of working in the nonprofit world have surprised you the most, compared to your time in the corporate sector?
Speaker 3:Um, so, uh, I used to joke that I went from a cubicle to an office, right, um.
Speaker 3:But finance is still finance and and what has been most powerful for me is being able to get involved in the programming.
Speaker 3:So I stepped into the role of executive director about two years ago and that gave me a chance to get out from behind my desk a little bit, turns out. Not a lot of people want to talk to the finance guy it's not a high priority, um, lots of people want to talk to the executive director. So I got a chance to get out from behind the desk, um, and in doing so, one of the things I've done is get more hands-on involved in our program. So our warrior path program, which is our post-traumatic growth program, uh has a horse component to it. So I actually teach that module. So, uh, one tuesday or two tuesdays a month, I get to get out from behind my desk, go to the barn and teach combat veterans and first responders about connection, which is, you know, it's just really being in a barn talking about horses. But then I get to help them apply that to their lives and give them tools that they can take home with them.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's pretty cool and it gets you your horse fix right.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, I get to wear boots and jeans that day.
Speaker 1:That's pretty awesome. So what other things does the Travis Mills Foundation do? I mean, kind of go into a little bit of detail of what's out there for anybody who may be looking for something along the lines of what the foundation offers, awesome.
Speaker 3:So we do all kinds of things. But of course, our flagship family program is where it all started, right. Travis, being a quadruple amputee himself, used to go on all these events and activities and he would go by. He got to bring a non-medical assistant with him because he can't put his arms and legs on by himself. But he was going on these trips with other veterans and they had to go by themselves because of the way the funding worked. And Travis realized like his family is suffering through this just as much as he is and he was fortunate because he got to bring Kelsey with him and so they thought how can we do that for other people?
Speaker 3:So we have our flagship family program where we serve combat veterans, post 9-11, veterans with some sort of permanent physical limitation, and that could be anything ranging from a TBI to we have spinal cord injuries, we have amputations, we have all kinds of permanent physical limitations, and the concept of that program is we show them that they can live life off the sidelines, and we do that by making our campus completely barrier free. So we have a high ropes course that was donated by the incredible Mike Rowe, and we've had, you know, triple amputees be able to navigate the ropes course, which is an opportunity that they don't get every day, and it shows them that they can do the things right. They can do the hard things and face the obstacles that they see in their everyday world, and that gives them motivation for when they go home. You know other other things that we do with them when they're here is we have a pool, right. Water is the great equalizer. Somebody like Travis can swim. Travis can swim with no flotation devices, no prosthetics, and what an incredible gift to be able to move that freely again. And sometimes somebody with like a permanent physical limitation may feel uncomfortable if they take their prosthetics off because now, all of a sudden, they look drastically different than everybody else around them. And so giving them an opportunity to be normal right, there's probably seven other people here that look like you in some capacity or move like you in some capacity, and um, giving the kids an opportunity to not have mom or dad that's the only one that looks like that, um is a pretty incredible gift. So so we we give them a chance to come in, come out and try, try, whatever, right? You want to go kayaking, you want to ride an e-bike? You want to. You know, like I said, do the ropes course, we do wheelchair basketball, we do all kinds of really fun things and just give them a chance to A be a family and B a family without limitations, right, mom can sit on the patio and dad and the kids can go swim in the pool and there's no barriers, right? And so that's our flagship family program, which is really very, very near and dear to Travis and Kelsey's hearts. From that, we developed the caregivers program, where we take care of the people who do the taking care of, and those are really fun weeks because we take, you know, we have ladies weeks, we have men's weeks and we tailor the activities accordingly. But we do, you know, take them apple picking, and we often do them in the fall, where there's, you know, foliage, and we go to drive around and do all kinds of fun things. And it's really nice because we get to take care, like I said, take care of the people who do all the taking care of all the time.
Speaker 3:In 2020, we partnered with the Boulder Crest Foundation to bring in Warrior Path, which I talked about a little bit, and that gives us an opportunity to serve combat veterans and first responders with the invisible wounds right. Ptsd everybody's heard of it and a fair amount of people have been diagnosed with it. So, like I said, my dad being a first responder myself, I didn't understand why my dad came home mad or upset. When I was 16, I just thought he was a jerk for not letting me go out in the car with my friends. I didn't realize he went to a fatal car accident the night before with a bunch of teenagers and he never had tools to be able to communicate that or deal with it. And so the idea of warrior path or PTG post-traumatic growth is to be able to take those struggles and turn them into strength.
Speaker 3:We're all going to have struggles. We can't pretend like we're not going to have trauma anymore and life's just going to be full of, you know, ponies and rainbows, um. So how do we take that struggle and turn it into something that can be helpful? Um, it doesn't have to be beautiful, but it could be helpful. So, um, that's that's a program that I feel tremendously passionate about and that's the one that I teach.
Speaker 3:Part of that program in Um, we partner. We do some offsite programming. So we partner with the Georgia aquarium. We take veterans swimming with sharks and whale sharks right in the aquarium in Atlanta, which is a super, super fun uh day, and the families get to be there and they get to see, you know, mom or dad swimming in the tank, which is a very cool thing. Um, we have a recalibrate program which we developed a couple of years ago and this is a. This is a really cool one, which we developed a couple years ago and this is a really cool one. So people come here through our family program. They have a great week, they live life barrier-free, and then they go home to their normal life and they face all the same barriers that they had before, and so we asked them to identify a barrier and come to us with a potential solution, and then we helped them source that solution. It could be anything from.
Speaker 3:I came to the foundation and I used a different style wheelchair and it was way easier for me, but that wheelchair is very expensive, and so we help them find that wheelchair, whether we find another organization that provides those wheelchairs or another organization that you know can link them up with that, or we provide the funding directly. Now the wheelchair is an example, but that's not super common, the single most common item that we have given out is the tonal, which is the like workout device that goes on the wall, kind of like a mirror. It's got all the magnets and everything. So I'm sitting in the health and wellness center that we built a few years ago and in the health and wellness center we have a gym and in the gym we put in a tonal and turns out. The tonal is like one of the most adaptable pieces of equipment that you can possibly have in the gym. It goes through like you can. You have a subscription and you can access all these different workout plans and you can adjust the workouts based off of what exercises you can and can't do. And it's all. Magnets and the arms are adjustable, so you can do all these different exercises from a single piece of equipment and it fits on a wall, which is super handy for somebody who is especially limited to a wheelchair. Or you know, they want to work out at home because going to the gym is difficult.
Speaker 3:Travis himself has a tonal. He comes here and uses it. He can use this piece of equipment and do all kinds of different exercises. I set it up for him the other day and the workout itself had, like you know, curls and calf raises and one other, one other exercise that he could do, and all I did is go in and edit the calf raises because, well, he doesn't have calves, so that wasn't a really helpful workout for him exercise for him. So I found a different one that he could use and it walked him through the same way that you or I would. It counts your reps, it counts your sets, it does all of those things, and so all Travis needs is somebody to adjust the arms and clip him in, which is what a gift, right To like, be able to feel kind of normal again. So we've given away probably 16 tonals this year.
Speaker 3:Um, folks that have come here have used the tonal and realize that that could be a benefit to the, to themselves and their family at home, and so they have to send a letter or there's an application.
Speaker 3:You know we get hundreds of applications, but we prioritize things that can really make a difference and then we have three, six and 12 month check-ins to see if they're meeting their goals. I got a letter from a participant the other day that I think he said he's lost like 60 pounds since he, you know, got this piece of equipment started working out. Then he started feeling better. So then he started eating better. Then he you know his workouts got better and now he's less physically limited than he was before. He had the injury still has the injury. That's not going to go away, um, but he's you know. He's lost weight and he's feeling a lot stronger and now he can get out and go grocery shopping with his kids and his wife doesn't have to go, like what a gift right, yeah, and not only physically, but I'm sure mentally, he probably is in a different state as well.
Speaker 3:Right, absolutely Like. I know that my workout is critical for me, right? If I, if I have a tough day at work and I don't get a workout in, like I'm, I'm not super fun to be around. So, um, and and that's what we like to talk about is the whole person wellness. Right, it's not just the physical wellness, it's not just the mental wellness, and so that's what I think is really unique about the foundation is that we have programs for physical wellness and mental wellness and then we try to give folks the tools to be able to capture all of it.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's awesome. I mean I got online this weekend kind of preparing for this and I saw the health and wellness center. There's a video, uh, I think Travis was going through, and then um watched a couple of different podcasts that um Travis was on and I mean the facility looks amazing. I mean it just looks like a beautiful setting with the pond or the lake or whatever. I don't know how big. How big is the lake?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's. It's a relatively large lake, I think it's. Uh, we have great pond on one side and long pond on the other, so we actually have two lakes at me right here, um, and so we've got, you know, a beautiful spot at a. The view is picturesque. There's, you know, elizabeth. So this is the old Elizabeth Ar this spot. I'll give her all the credit. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:So for our listeners who may not know Travis Mills, can you talk a little bit about Travis now? Now watching some of these podcasts and listening to him and, uh, he seems like a little bit of a character. Right, got a little bit of a humorous side to him. But can you kind of tell his story just a little bit and then kind of give the listeners some context so that they understand what the foundation is truly about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course. So I will start this with saying that Travis and Kelsey are some of my dearest friends in the whole wide world. And Travis was actually here this morning and he's, he's such an entrepreneur, he's like a serial entrepreneur, right, he's got his I'm going to say this morning. And he's, he's such an entrepreneur, he's like a serial entrepreneur, right, he's got his I'm going to say this lightly he's got his hands in everything. But he so he's, he's just a super spirited human being and I think that is what makes him so. His personality is so contagious, right, who doesn't want to get involved in it?
Speaker 3:But so Travis's story is he was on his third tour in overseas and he set his backpack down on a bomb. They had come through earlier with a mine sweeper and somehow, some way in this universe, the mine was not picked up, the IED was not picked up. He set his backpack down on a bomb and immediately lost portions of his right arm and right leg. He still had a few digits on his left hand and portion of his left leg. He was immediately. You know they, the medics, were immediately there. They were able to put tourniquets on and and and saved his life by the time he got back overseas, of course, he went to Kandahar and launched dual and then eventually they got him back to the stateside where he spent 19 months recovering at Walter Reed. And you know, by the time he made it back to the United States he was a quadruple amputee, so he had no arms and no legs essentially at that point. And then he spent 19 months recovering at Walter Reed learning how to feed himself, how to walk, how to do all of, how to drive Right. He drives a normal vehicle. So if you're ever up this way, watch out. But he just decided like he wasn't going to let that that hold him down Right. He very easily could sit on a couch for the rest of his life and not do a single thing.
Speaker 3:And I, when I say that that man accomplishes more before nine o'clock in the morning than some people do in their lives, I am not exaggerating in any stretch of the matter. You know he gets up every morning. He wakes up his daughter, he wakes up his son, he makes coffee for his wife, he takes the kids to school, he goes over to his various businesses. He's got a brew pub, he's got a marina, he's got the foundation, he's a motivational speaker. He's on the road about 150 to 180 days a year doing his motivational speaking across the United States and he's the founder and president of a you know, I like to call it a relatively successful and popular nonprofit. So he's got no shortage of work to be done.
Speaker 3:But one of the things that he says is that he lost his ability to serve his country in the way that he could. He was very good at his job in the military, had recently been promoted to staff sergeant just before he got injured and was doing fabulously and loved what he did, and I personally think about what a mental jujitsu match it must have been for him to try to figure out well, like, what is my purpose in life? Right To like he was a big dude and he was. You know, he was tough, he was brave, he was strong, he was all the things and then to find yourself sitting in a hospital bed with no arms and no legs and then to somehow have the tenacity to say like I'm not going to let this keep me down, I'm going to keep going in life and I'm going to accomplish things, and I'm going to accomplish great things. What an incredible story. And he lives that every day, and I think that's probably you know.
Speaker 3:One of my most favorite things about him is that you know there are good days. You know, one of my most favorite things about him is that you know there are good days, there are bad days, there are hard days, there are easy days. And the challenges that he faces every day on a regular basis. Just getting in the car, right, everybody's got an iPhone, everybody's got a, you know, a USB plug for their iPhone. Have you ever tried to plug that in with one hand? Like that's so challenging, right, and that's that's so challenging, right, um, and and that's that's something we take for granted, um, or you try, you know, sitting on the couch and scrolling on your phone, right, you hold your phone up and you scroll, or you scroll with your thumb. You can't do that, um. If you ever watch any of his videos and you see him, um, he holds his phone, so he has his left hand, he holds his phone and he scrolls with his nose, um, which is a lot harder than it looks. I you know.
Speaker 1:I want he had something on Instagram. I he was cooking or something. I mean it was, it was comedic, it was hilarious, um, but it's amazing because, like you said, you know all the things that we take for granted putting our socks on, putting our shoes on, scrolling on our phone. I mean you're talking, he's got arms and legs, he's got to put on. I mean that's a whole nother realm, right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And you know the one of his jokes and I steal we're at the point now where I steal his jokes Delivery is not quite as good, but we're getting there. Um, delivery is not quite as good, but we're getting there. Um, he loses 30 pounds every night, right? So you imagine putting on those prosthetics every day and then and then trudging them around.
Speaker 3:Um, so, one of my favorite stories we were traveling down to Florida for an event and, um, we got to Charlotte and his one of his legs, one of the sensors, was bad. So the knees have a couple of different settings and they're essentially like an auto swing. When they're in walking mode. They don't free swing because that would be very dangerous. So they have like a walking mode, so it kind of helps him to walk, just like the same way your legs help you walk. And one leg kept locking straight every other step, which is super challenging for him to navigate the airport.
Speaker 3:So we're, you know we're in the Charlotte airport and we're in the food court, and he calls his prosthetist and he's like hey, john, my leg keeps sticking, what can I do? And it's got a. They're Bluetooth, there's an app, there's all kinds of things we can do so John's like you've got to do a hard reset on them. It's like, okay, I'm going to give the phone to heather, um, because craig, his father-in-law and traveling partner, had gone, you know, to a different part of the airport. And so travis goes, I'm gonna give the phone to heather and I'm okay, I can do this. And john goes okay, you need to hold his leg upside down for 30 seconds to hard reset.
Speaker 3:I was like, okay, child, we gotta take your leg off. He goes nope, we're not taking my leg off. Okay, he goes, just hold my leg up. I have no hamstrings, don't worry about it, you can't hurt me. And I'm like okay, so we're in the food court with the tables that are about this big, and there's people everywhere and I'm just, you know, holding his leg up in the air. And there's, you know, there's, you know, there's blue dots on it. And John goes okay, when those blue dots blink three times and turn red, then you'll know it's, it's reset. And so we were going through this whole exercise and it's, you know, 30 seconds up in the air. And Travis is just in there. He's like, oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, this is so embarrassing. I'm like, dude, we got to fix your leg and it turns out we didn't fix the leg, it was a bad sensor and we had to go through the whole trip like that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:But that's life right.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's crazy. That is crazy. What a great story. So any more about the foundation. What separates the Travis Mills Foundation from other foundations out there that may do similar things?
Speaker 3:So this is a cool question.
Speaker 3:So we do things right and it sounds so simple, but we bring people here and we give them an experience, whether it and I was talking about our Recalibrate program earlier, and you know, one of the things that we're really mindful about, and particularly Travis I had him on the committee for a while.
Speaker 3:Turns out, he's a tough judge, right, so he doesn't want to just give handouts, right, and we had. I was meeting with one of our participants one day and the gentleman looked at me and he said I don't want a handout, I want a hand up. And that's something that we've kind of adopted internally is that we're not giving handouts, we're giving people a hand up in whatever capacity we can, and so I think that really sets us apart in that we try really hard to stay close to the original mission that Travis and Kelsey believed in, and bringing people here and showing them they could live life off the sidelines as we continue to grow and meet the needs of our veterans and meet them where they're at. We're not doing it in a way that we're giving handouts, we're doing it in a way that we're giving them a hand up.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's fantastic. So, looking ahead, what are some of the goals of the foundation in the next five to 10 years and how do you envision its growth and impact in the future?
Speaker 3:So, uh, two years ago, when we built this health and wellness center, we had just finished the ribbon cutting ceremony and I was doing a tour with a donor the next day and they said, okay, Heather, so what's next? And I looked at them I'm like I am done, we are done building. What's next? And I looked at them I'm like I am done, we are done building. We're we are just going to, we're going to build an endowment, we are all done. Um, so, fast forward to April 2024,. Uh, we're currently in design for a new building.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 3:Um, so in April the there was an apartment complex across the street. It has 12 single unit apartments and it came up for sale and it was on eight acres. And we had been casually shopping for an expansion property because we realized, like, we only have eight bedrooms here and we can't do a family program and a path program at the same time. We simply just don't have enough space for it. We have all the tools to do all the things. Everything else, right, the kitchen can accommodate, the activities could accommodate. We just don't have enough beds. So how do we find a solution for that? And the demand is there, right? We have all of our path programs filled all the way through. You know, six months out, as far as we can book out, we've got those filled and we've got another hundred people on the wait list. So I know the demand is there. And if you call me tomorrow and you say, heather, I'm struggling and I need help, I don't want to have to look at you and say, well, I can see you in August, right? That's not the right answer. So we immediately recognized we had to do better there. And then our family programs. You know we're always booked out, we always have a waiting list. So we've got to do more and we had looked at a couple of different properties around in the area. There's a lot of camps right, we're here in the Belgrade Lakes region so there's a lot of summer camps and things of that capacity. So we thought, for sure, something is going to pop up and when it's right, it's right.
Speaker 3:And my dear friend, kelly Roseberry, who was the VP of programming here at the foundation, she and I had looked at a bunch of different properties. She and I had looked at a bunch of different properties and October of 2023, she passed away unexpectedly, which was horribly tragic and was really, really challenging for the foundation, trying to figure out how we were going to navigate forward without Kelly. Kelly had been a PT at Walter Reed and that's how she met Travis, so she came here from the beginning, she helped him, you know, build the programs and start the foundation and do all those things and she was my right hand man. So I you know, after you know the dust settled and you know we're going into the new year, I looked at Travis and I was like man, I can't do it without Kelly. It's just, it's an obstacle. I can't navigate. So if something pops up, and it's right, we'll know. But I, if something pops up, and it's right, we'll know, but I'm not, I'm not hunting anymore. And he said you know, I agree with you and I kid you not.
Speaker 3:48 hours later, travis called me and goes hey realtor just called me, the apartments across the street are for sale. And I was like okay, thanks, kelly, let's do this. And it was it really. I don't really believe in consequence or coincidences, but it was definitely felt like fate in that capacity, and so we purchased the apartments and once the tenants are out in the spring, we're going to start renovating those spaces and we're under design for a building and that's going to become our post-traumatic growth facility, so we'll have enough bedrooms that we can host our guides, right, our employees that run the program and the guests that come in there, and then that frees up our main retreat too. So we're currently doing 17 weeks of path programming a year, so that gives me 17 more weeks that we can bring families in on this side. So that's what's coming down the line, which is very exciting. So the hope is, by the end of 2025, we'll be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man, that's awesome. So as we land this plane, I'll always ask two final questions. If you could have a conversation with a person living or deceased, who would it be and why?
Speaker 3:That's a good one, man. It was way more profound than I was. I was ready to give you my spiel on like talk about your mission statement, heather, not yet A conversation with anyone living or deceased. I think I would talk to my grandmother, my mom's mom, because when I this is and this is very personal this is not foundation related. Uh, I think it was.
Speaker 3:So, let's see, I've been here for five years. I was at you know, my corporate job, you know, five years before that, and I had my first business trip was down to Worcester, Massachusetts, which is not glamorous in any capacity. Um, my grandmother lived in Massachusetts and so I, you know, not far from, not far from there. So I went and had dinner with her and you know we were sitting down and I was talking about my big business trip and this new corporate job I had and how excited I was. And she said someday you're going to be a CEO and I'm so excited for that. And I just thought she was crazy, cause I was a, you know, a project accountant at the time. You know entry level and certainly not glamorous and very, very far from being a CAEO. And now, you know, 10 years later, I'm doing just that and to be a small town kid right from nowhere, maine, and to be at the helm of an organization.
Speaker 3:You know of this capacity. We're a you know, $10 million a year revenue budget serving hundreds of veterans every year. You know, nationally we've served veterans from 48 different states. We actually just had a gentleman fly in from Germany who was stationed over there. Come to our PATH program. So we're serving people all over the world and changing lives. Like what a gift. And she believed in me a long time before I ever believed in myself, in that capacity. And if there's anything that I've learned just from working with our participants and our students in the PATH program, it's that there's a lot of people out there that believe in you and it's okay to listen to them and I'm grateful that she believed in me before I even knew to believe in myself. So I would say thank you if I could have a conversation with her again.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome. That's amazing. That is amazing. Might be the best answer. We ever got you knocked that one out of the park.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So to tell us your mission. Statement at the foundation.
Speaker 3:So to tell us your mission statement at the foundation. Um so, oh, bro, come on.
Speaker 1:That was a test.
Speaker 3:So we're actually I am, don't tell anyone Um, well, and so I, I, I, I, I stutter on that because, um, we're working on expanding it, right, um? So it started with supports post nine11 recalibrated veterans and their families through various programs in the Belgrade Lakes region of Maine, but I actually have a board meeting on Wednesday and one of the things that we're talking about is that we're serving veterans all over the country, where they're at, and we're serving first responders in our Warrior Path program. So we're actually working on development, developing it to say, um serving our nation's heroes, and um through various forms of of um service. So I know our mission statement, but we're working on expanding it because we realize that there's a lot more folks to serve out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. That's awesome, amazing work that you guys are doing, for sure. And the last final question I have for you are there any closing thoughts, words of wisdom, is there a quote or a Bible verse? When life throws you a curveball and things get tough, is there something out there that you lean on that you could share with our listeners?
Speaker 3:Oh man, this is a good one. So this is one that I say I found myself saying pretty much once a day for the last six months. Right, leadership is hard and it can be very lonely sometimes. And sometimes you're faced with these daunting challenges and you get up every day and you're like, how am I going to do this today? Every day, and you're like, how am I going to do this today? But one of the things Travis and I often say to each other right, we're in the weeds, we're in the thick of it, and you know, you're, you know, dealing with whatever challenges come across the desk, right, like a broken pipe of you know, a tree fell on our generator, personnel issues, like any any of the bad press, like whatever it's going to be this day, and you, just we always look at each other and you go how do you, how do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time?
Speaker 1:That's right. That's great advice. I think of that often. I don't remember who I heard that from, but uh, you know, running a business and working with my dad on a family farm, I mean there's just it feels like you're a constant firefighter, right? Uh, you know, you think back to when you were running the little automotive shop and all the stuff you dealt with on a daily basis and you know, it's just like getting a left hook and a right hook and an uppercut and then a gut punch every day and, um, you know you go back on that. How do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? It's pretty awesome.
Speaker 3:That's well. I mean, like Travis does the same thing right, like his life could be super hard and and there's, he could get down and out about it. But we're just going to take it one step at a time, one bite at a time, and we're going to get through it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great, great advice, great advice. How can people find out more about the foundation? How can they donate if they want to donate? Give us all that information, absolutely Give us all that information, absolutely so.
Speaker 3:Our website is travismillsfoundationorg. We work really hard at keeping it up to date. We've got events on there. Speaking of that, we have a concert in Florida in January which is going to be very exciting, so that's down in Ocala. But anyway, we've got all our event information on our website. You can make a donation, you can buy some merch on there so you can be re, you know repping, repping, tmf, you know running around town and wherever you are. But, um, just be prepared, because lots of people ask questions about it.
Speaker 1:Well, that's.
Speaker 3:And then of course you can follow us on socials or you can follow follow Travis on socials and that is very entertaining. I highly recommend it. I agree, I, if you want some comedic relief, watch Travis on Instagram trying to cook. That's pretty good, absolutely. Sometimes he'll call me and be like I'm going to put this on Instagram. I'm like no please.
Speaker 1:No, it's a live video. It's already there. All right, here we go. Well, heather, we appreciate your time. I know you are a busy woman and you are doing some amazing things at the foundation and I appreciate you, uh, everyone there at the foundation returning my, uh my email and then having the conversation and tying us in with Chris and his amazing story and then hearing, hearing your story and then hearing more about the foundation. You guys are doing amazing work, uh, for amazing people who have done amazing things for for our country and, uh, you know, for people every day and uh, so I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3:Thank you guys for having me. It's an honor to meet you and, uh, I hope that we get a chance to meet in person. If you're ever in new England, you come give us a visit.
Speaker 1:Sounds great Thanks, great Thanks again and have a Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3:Thanks, you too.
Speaker 1:All right, see you.
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