Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Pittsburgh. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Leila Carter helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Pittsburgh
E14: From Deployment to Home: How Operation Troop Appreciation Changes Lives
What makes Monica Orluk with Operation Troop Appreciation a good neighbor?
Monica Orluk's chance encounter on July 4th, 2004 led to a twenty-year journey supporting America's military members through Operation Troop Appreciation (OTA). What started as a mission to send care packages to deployed troops has evolved into a comprehensive support system addressing critical gaps in both active-duty and veteran assistance.
When deployed troops contact OTA from remote locations worldwide, they receive more than just care packages. They get practical necessities often overlooked—portable protein options that fit in pockets during missions, hygiene supplies unavailable at distant outposts, and morale-boosting items that remind them they're not forgotten. These seemingly small comforts make a profound difference in maintaining health, energy, and spirit during deployments.
The organization's most transformative work happens through their Welcome Home Program, launched in 2014 to address an alarming statistic: 70% of veterans transitioning from homelessness would return to the streets within a year, despite receiving housing assistance. OTA's solution is beautifully practical—providing brand-new beds so veterans aren't sleeping on floors, delivering complete home starter kits with everything from pots and pans to cleaning supplies, and offering transportation to critical appointments. These services create the foundation for sustainable independence when government support ends.
What truly sets OTA apart is their volunteer-driven model, ensuring 90% of donations directly fund programs rather than administrative costs. Their newly renovated headquarters in West Mifflin symbolizes their commitment to creating not just services but community for veterans. Whether you're interested in volunteering, donating, or simply spreading the word, OTA demonstrates how targeted, practical support transforms lives of those who've served our country.
To learn more about Operation Troop Appreciation go to:
https://operationtroopappreciation.org/
Operation Troop Appreciation
(412)759-0696
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lila Carter.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a charity for active military and veteran support? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Monica Orlick, with Operation Troop. Appreciation, Monica, how's it going?
Speaker 3:It's going great, lila, thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thanks for being here. We're excited to learn all about you and your charity. Tell us about your charity.
Speaker 3:Well, operation Troop Appreciation was founded in July of 2004. So we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year, so in our 21st year, and we started primarily with supporting our active duty military that was deployed. So anywhere where there is a military member deployed anywhere in the world for either combat-related or humanitarian missions on behalf of the United States is eligible for our support. And then in 2013, when a lot of the troops in the Middle East had drawn down and returned home, we saw, especially in Western Pennsylvania, a sharp increase in the need for veteran support. So we spent a year meeting with the VA and other veteran support organizations to try to identify gaps in services that our veterans may need and to see if we could match those up to our core competencies and expand our services to the veteran community as well. So we launched our Welcome Home Veteran Support Program in April of 2014. And we run both programs simultaneously today.
Speaker 2:How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:This was very serendipitous because I had a very good friend who was deployed to Iraq as part of the National Guard the Pennsylvania National Guard and I had been looking for ways to volunteer and do more because I was sending his unit a lot of things that they needed and I thought there has to be some an additional outlet for me to do more than just focus on that particular National Guard unit.
Speaker 3:But I couldn't find anything and I just happened, on the 4th of July 2004, to read a newspaper article about this woman named Kristen Holloway who was starting a charity and she was looking for volunteers and she talked a lot about what she was going to be doing and it was supporting deployed members of the military. So I cut out the article. I was very excited and I thought great, I'll call her tomorrow and see if there's a way. I cut out the article. I was very excited and I thought great, I'll call her tomorrow and see if there's a way I can jump on board. Later on that day I went to a 4th of July event at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland and in a crowd of about 1,500 people, she was standing right next to me. I recognized her face from the picture in the newspaper article I introduced myself, and the rest is history. You know here we are.
Speaker 3:We thought we'd be doing it till the war was over you know we knew nothing about the military and you know, really we're both businesswomen, you know in our own right in our professional careers, but really didn't know a whole lot about the nonprofit world. But we're fast learners and you know, again, having been, I had a sales, marketing and technology background, she had an audit and accounting background. So you kind of marry all of that together and it's pretty easy to figure out what you need to do.
Speaker 2:Excellent. So what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:I think that some of the misconceptions are that we shouldn't be needed, that the government should be providing all the support that our troops and veterans need, and that's not necessarily true. From an active duty perspective, our troops have everything they need in way of equipment and all of the essentials that allow them to do their job. But where we come in is really a way to say thank you for making the sacrifices that you're doing and knowing that a lot of men and women that are deployed sometimes are deployed for the first time. It's their first time away from home. They may not have a support system at home, so we focus on items that are going to boost their morale, bring them a little sense of home, show them that we thank them for their anything that aids in their missions.
Speaker 3:They keep them motivated, healthy and well during their deployment, so it could be nutritional supplements, personal care and hygiene items things that they would otherwise have to pay for out of pocket. Also, sometimes our troops are in very remote locations so they don't have access to a military supply store, a PX, so it's hard for them to get those items and we make sure that they have enough. You know shampoo, body wash, deodorant, razors, shave cream, you know anything that you need to kind of maintain good hygiene while you're out on missions, as well as healthy and portable food options, energy drinks you know powder that you can mix with a bottle of water, anything that they can fit into a pocket or a backpack so that when they're on missions again, they're getting protein, they're getting energy, they're getting supplements and they're just able to carry on their mission without having to worry about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that you guys can offer that additional level of support and kind of had the offerings of. You know what they really need. So whenever you're thinking about who you need to reach, who are your main customer base and how do you attract them to the business, Well, the actual for the active duty program troops will contact us through our website.
Speaker 3:So we've been around long enough now that you know when troops get deployed. They know we exist and they know what kind of support we provide. A lot of them have been deployed before so they got help from us on their last deployment and they'll contact us on their next deployment and you know that's pretty much how we keep that program going. When it comes to veteran support, in the Welcome Home program we have specific services that we offer and it's a little bit different than active duty because we focus on veterans who reside in western Pennsylvania. It's Allegheny and eight surrounding counties, so that's our geographic footprint for veteran care and they're all referred to us. So we focus on veterans that are coming out of homelessness, at risk of becoming homeless, coming out of homelessness, at risk of becoming homeless. They may be coming out of inpatient care for physical, psychological, combat-related substance abuse issues. There may be some coming out of incarceration for something that was related to a PTSD episode or something, and they're able to secure funding through federal funds or housing through federal funds. But once they go into the homes, support kind of stops and you know when you talk to a veteran who says I'm better in a shelter because I've got a cot to sleep on and I get three square meals a day. That's where we said we can fix that. So our veteran program whenever these veterans are entering a new apartment or a new home, they're being reunited with their family members.
Speaker 3:We offer three specific services. One we make sure that the veteran and anybody residing in that house in the immediate family gets a brand new bed. So it's mattress box, spring frame. We have a partnership with the original mattress factory and all we have to do is order the beds. They deliver them, they set them up. They'll remove any old bedding. Sometimes these men and women have futons or air mattresses. They'll get rid of that so that they've got a brand new, clean bed with linens. And then we also provide what we call the Welcome Home Move-In Starter Kit. And if you've ever moved into a new place you need a lot of stuff Pots and pans, dishes, glassware, silverware, towels, linens, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, all of that.
Speaker 3:We provide those veterans with enough supplies to get them started in their new home so their cabinets aren't empty, right, they can cook healthy meals, they can keep their apartments clean. You know that's stuff that costs a lot of money and these veterans don't have a lot of money to spend, right, they're, they're on a an upward trajectory path and we want to keep that going. We want to make sure that they continue, in whatever phase of recovery they are, so that they're in a good or thriving condition six months down the road. They're in a good or thriving condition six months down the road. Right, what we were finding is that, prior to our support, about 70% of veterans that were coming through ended up homeless again within a year. You know, because they were cut off from the veteran community. They're in an apartment, sleeping on the floor, not able to cook, eating fast food, they're not healthy, and we make sure that that doesn't happen anymore.
Speaker 3:And then we also provide transportation, because a lot of them don't have cars, some aren't comfortable getting on a bus to get from wherever they live to Aspen, wall or Oakland. So we provide transportation for doctor's appointments, therapy, counseling, court appearances, job interviews, all of those critical appointments that are going to maintain that upward trajectory to a higher quality of life. Excellent.
Speaker 2:I just want to take a moment and thank any of our listeners who have been in active duty or who are veterans and who have served. We appreciate you so much and I hope that during this interview you realize that Operation Troop Appreciation is a charity that sees you and sees the struggles that you went through and that you go through, and that they're there to support you in that. Monica, I know that you have a lot of information and resources that you can provide people. Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast to connect to these people?
Speaker 3:You know there are a lot of things that we could be doing, but we are a 100% volunteer charity, so we all have full-time jobs, you know as well. So we kind of pick and choose the things that we do based on the bandwidth that we have and the resources at our disposal. I would love to do a podcast, but trying to, you know, get that going and it takes a lot of work. People think you just turn on a record button. That's not the case, right, you know. So we're focused on our programs and we're also that that's definitely on the table for a future activity.
Speaker 3:We just spent the last two and a half years renovating a building that we purchased because we outgrew our space, so that's really taken a lot of the focus. We were able to secure specific grant funding and we now have a beautiful two-story headquarters. That's going to allow us to expand the Welcome Home program and it's going to provide a place where veterans can connect and meet and we're going to have social events. And it's going to provide a place where veterans can connect and meet and we're going to have social events.
Speaker 2:Part of that may include doing like a monthly podcast with veterans who can just talk about their experiences. Yeah, it's also about community too, within the organization. I think that's beautiful.
Speaker 3:So, outside of work, what do you do for fun? Ota Between the two it's a little bit difficult to do a whole lot. But I have a place in Deep Creek, maryland. That's my happy place. So I go down to the lake and I like to kayak on the lake. So I go down to the lake and I like to kayak on the lake and just kind of it's a great place to check out.
Speaker 3:What's nice is I work remotely for my day job and for OTA. I can do what my part from anywhere. So you know, I can be down there and doing just as much work. But I feel like I'm on vacation, you know, because there's no it's. It's very quiet and peaceful on the water. You know, and I just you know I have a great group of friends and we do a lot of. We go to charity events. We support each other's charities. So purse bashes and cash bashes and those kind of events are always fun. I like to go hoping that I'll win, but really I'm looking for ideas for how we can improve our fundraising events and you know cool things that I see at other events.
Speaker 3:So, it all comes back to, to Operation Dream Appreciation in one way or another.
Speaker 2:Right, it's like your mind's always thinking, whenever you're a business woman, about how to kind of implement those same ideas. Right, right, right. Well, monica, please tell our listeners one thing that should stick with them, or that they should remember about Operation Troop Appreciation.
Speaker 3:I think that they should know that we were founded on the principle that we volunteer to serve those who volunteer to serve our country. And because we're volunteers, 90% of all the funding that comes into our organization goes directly to our programs. So where other charities have high administrative costs, our administrative costs are low because we don't pay salaries. So they know where their money's going if they donate to our charity. And I think that's important because a lot of times you know there's negative press out there about charities and how much of your donation is actually going to the cause that you wish to support. And you can be rest assured that at OTA it's going to support either the active duty or welcome home program.
Speaker 2:Very nice. How can our listeners learn more about Operation Troop? Appreciation.
Speaker 3:Well, they can visit our website, which is Operation Troop Appreciation, just allstrungoutorg. Or if you're on Facebook, you can follow us. Just do a search for Operation Troop Appreciation. We put all of our events and posts and photos out on the Facebook page and on our website. And if you're interested in volunteering through either the website or the Facebook page, you can actually just submit a request to info at Operation Troop Appreciation dot org. And we're always in need of people who want to help. So we're in West Mifflin and you know easy to get to kind of close to Kennywood, so come on out and join the team. We have a lot of fun, we do great stuff, we work hard, but we definitely enjoy ourselves while we're doing it.
Speaker 2:Excellent. Well, Monica, I really appreciate your time today and having you as a guest on the show. We wish you and your charity the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much, Lila. Very much appreciate your having us on the show. We wish you and your charity the best moving forward. Well, thank you so much, Lila. Very much appreciate your having us on the show and look forward to sometime doing this again with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening toPPittsburghcom. No-transcript.