Scott DeLuzio    00:00:00    Thanks for tuning into the Drive On Podcast where we’re focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community, whether you’re a veteran active duty guard reserve or family member, this podcast we’ll share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And now let’s get on with the show.  

Scott DeLuzio 00:00:22    Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Drive on Podcast today. My guest is Tom Kilgannon. Tom is the President of Freedom Alliance, a nonprofit that seeks to support America’s military by assisting with the rehabilitation needs of wounded service members and their families, as well as care for the families of the fallen amongst other initiatives that they take part in. We’ll talk more about that in just a minute, but first, Tom, welcome to the show. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your background?  

Tom Kilgannon   00:00:51    Sure. Hey Scott, it’s great to be on the program. Thank you for having me. The Drive on Podcast is a wonderful podcast. Lots of great information. So I’m happy to join. So many of your wonderful previous guests have just contributed so much to this important conversation.  I’m a civilian. So, it’s doubly honored to be here with you. I’m a civilian, but I have been working in this arena of helping veterans and military families for over 20 years now at Freedom Alliance. We’re an organization and charitable organization that is committed to helping veterans. We were founded by a Vietnam Veteran and of course at that time in our nation’s history, there was not the robust nonprofit community to support veterans as there is now. So, we always keep that in mind with what we do and we want to make sure that that never happens again in our country. And those who put on the uniform take an oath to support and defend the constitution, always have the resources they need in training in the field and after they come home.  

Tom Kilgannon   00:01:59     and for the families of those who don’t come home. So that’s a broad way of explaining what we do at the Freedom Alliance. I’m happy to get into some of the specifics.  

Scott DeLuzio     00:02:12    I think, you kind of touched on my first question that I had for you,  where the idea for the Freedom Alliance came from. You talked about the Vietnam veterans, but how they came home without the support network. The benefit of having today with all the various nonprofits and the different support that are out there. But where did the idea for the Freedom Alliance come from? I guess, what was the objective in the early days when it first started?  

Tom Kilgannon   00:02:52    Sure, we were founded right about the time of the first Gulf war. And at that time,  we put together a really big care package drive. We put together tens of thousands of care packages to send over to the troops who are over there, but as Scott, that war thankfully did not last very long. And so the organization was in its infancy.  The war was not on the front pages after a few months. And, and so from then we continued our programs, but it was, it was a little bit of a struggle. And then of course, years later, 9/11 came. And, we really went back to the playbook that was put together, at the start of the organization, and just arranged the programs a little bit differently to fit the current times.  

Tom Kilgannon  00:03:45    And, we, we really took off from there. 9/11 was the start of 20 years of our nation being at war millions of America...