Rick Hannon’s work with homeless veterans and Veterans Bridge Home, Rick shares his background as an Army combat veteran with two Iraq deployments, a son of a Vietnam veteran, and a Gold Star brother whose Marine sibling was killed in Fallujah. He describes his own difficult transition, work in adaptive sports, and five years as a Mecklenburg County VSO helping veterans with claims and VA housing programs. Rick explains Veterans Bridge Home as a local, community-based connector across the Charlotte metro region (including nearby South Carolina), helping veterans navigate VA healthcare, benefits, housing, food support, peer support, and suicide prevention through the Staff Sergeant Gordon Fox grant, plus community events like Veterans Coffee and disc golf. The discussion covers mentorship, TAP program gaps, employer partnerships and career workshops, newsletters and events, replacing lost DD214s via archives/VSOs, survivor benefits and end-of-life planning, and life insurance options.
00:00 Welcome And Intro
01:48 Rick Takes The Stage
02:35 Gold Star Brother Story
03:39 Leaving Army To College
05:36 VSO Work And Homeless Aid
07:51 What Veterans Bridge Home Does
09:43 Local Resource Navigation
11:42 Gordon Fox Grant And Suicide
13:26 Veterans Coffee And Outreach
15:07 Events And Getting Connected
16:27 Service Area And Mission 85
17:49 Benefits Questions And Widows
20:12 Community Support And Volunteering
22:49 Mentoring Veterans Forward
23:21 TAP Program Gaps
24:35 DD214 Tips and Records
26:07 Veterans Bridge Home Impact
27:15 Employment Pipeline Explained
30:02 Newsletter and Community Events
31:10 Recovering Lost Vietnam Records
35:53 End of Life Planning
36:30 Insurance Options Q&A
37:57 File Your Own Claim
40:09 Closing, Thanks, and Wrap
Veterans Bridge Home
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