Ep 105-107, January 2022:

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Today on Wisconsin veterans forward. I have a secret weapon. I have a secret weapon for your business, for your organization, for your career, for your life. I got a secret weapon and often overlooked secret weapon. And that secret weapon is storytelling. You probably could have put two and two together by the very loud and grabby thumbnail photo that I had. It it's your organization's most valuable tool and not a lot of people even consider it much less. Put the resources behind storytelling telling the story of your organization, whether you're a profit or a nonprofit business is how you get stakeholders invested. And that could be a donor. If you're a nonprofit that could be a volunteer committee member, if you're a nonprofit or if you're a for-profit business, storytelling is how you get people interested, not just in your product, but in your mission, but in your that's how you develop those super fans.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

If you read pat Flyn or that's how you get those loyal return, repeat consumers, those true fans that will come back and purchase and engage and interact and evangelize on your behalf. If you tell an a effective story about your experiences and your expertise in your industry as a career developer, career seeker, or professional, you do that on LinkedIn. And next thing you know, you've established yourself as a thought leader in an industry, makes it easier for you to find positions. If you're looking to grow and expand, move, or find a new gig or whatever, storytelling is such a valuable skill, we've invested a lot in storytelling over the last year, and we could still do more with it. We wanna tell people the story about how the veteran's chamber is helping the entire Wisconsin economy, creating economic opportunities for veterans, for military family members, for surviving dependence, for caretakers and, and how, how empowering them helps the entire Wisconsin like Wisconsin economy.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

We want to tell that story and we want to tell, not specifically like we do X, Y, Z, but we want to tell the stories of the people who we impact and how, and what the end result is. This person started with X, we provided X support. This is, you know, like those stories are compelling and they get people to engage and volunteer and come to events and like nonprofit for profit. Doesn't matter if you are not invested in storytelling, if you don't have someone on your staff who is capable of telling a compelling story you need to reevaluate. If you don't have a, your, your mission statement should be compelling, should almost be a little mini story in and of itself as a professional, your elevator pitch, or a business owner, entrepreneur, your elevator pitch should be a compelling story, right? There's, there's so many parallels here.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

You gotta be able to spin a yarn if you wanna be successful. And there's nobody better in this entire planet earth at telling a compelling and engaging story. And he's laughing at me right now behind the scenes, but I mean, this, there's nobody better at telling a compelling and engaging story than my friend, Justin ke. Now, I, I worked with him back in the day, years and years and years ago. And he has since transitioned to being the, the regional director of communications for the red cross, which is like such a great fit. He's a published author. He tells stories, compelling stories. It's perfect for him, cuz there's nobody better at it. And I'm so thankful in this, in this month where we are talking about nonprofits and community service to bring him in, obviously given the fact that he has worked for nonprofit organization, but to bring him in and to share his expertise with, with all of you, we haven't had a storyteller.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

And so I'm very excited for you to hear firsthand how he tells the red cross' story and how he does that to help others and further the mission and the vision and the aims of the organization really built it up, man. I know he's I know he is gonna live up to it. This is good stuff. I'm very excited. We're gonna get into it right after this, you are listening to Wisconsin veterans forward. Wisconsin's premier audio resource for veterans, military families, veteran owned and veteran friendly businesses, Wisconsin and veterans forward is brought to you by the Wisconsin veterans chamber of commerce@wiveteranschamber.org. Justin Kern, my friend, how

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Are you? I I'm, well, I, that buildup <laugh>. I mean, I really have to bring it. But I mean, that is part of story telling too, right? You want to build up and bring people in. I mean, it's, you know,

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

If I introduce you as the world, great. The world's greatest storyteller and you can't rise to the occasion, then you might not be the world's greatest storyteller. I don't know. Yeah.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Right. It'd be a Zora Neil Hurston Dennis Johnson, step aside. <Laugh> Justin from Milwaukee's here.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Before, before we get into storytelling about organizations, I want to tell a story about a tragic experience that you endured this last weekend. For those of you that don't know Justin. Yeah. He ha is a lifelong die hard Buffalo Bill's fan mm-hmm <affirmative> mm-hmm <affirmative> tell us a little bit about what you were going through in those last few minutes of the game.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Yeah. Yeah. I am the co-president of the Milwaukee area, Buffalo bills backers. We do meet at Stens bar and grill. If you are interested in joining us, we'd love to have you. And it was ultimately the game, the ups and downs. And I do mean ups and downs were a reminder of kind of the the the, the true heartbreak and reality and reminders about life, that sports for a lot of fans, especially winning teams, typically the Packers, my condolences as well fan fans of winning teams. You, you like sports because they're an escape from life. I solemnly believe that enjoying the Buffalo bills, particularly being from Western New York as I am is a reminder, a cold, hard reminder of life of the

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Reality, the futility of existence.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Yeah, right. That it will, it, it ends badly in the same way for all of us <laugh> and even, you know, with Paul bunion at quarterback doing folklorish tales of athletic greatness, incredible

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Player, incredible player

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Still you know, was, were not able to, to, to slay the, the giant in front of us in, in, in a, in a way that will live on much like wide right forward lateral for hockey fans, no goal. And now we will have 13 seconds onto our resume of pain, but what makes me, oh, what, you know, the there's only one other game that hurt worse than this super bowl, 25. But what makes this feel okay, is reminding myself that after super bowl, 25, we got to go to three other super bowls mm-hmm <affirmative> and that there is a lot ahead of us that is extremely exciting.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Oh, you guys have a bright future, right? This isn't this isn't the end. I don't think, I I'm sure. You'll be perennial contenders here. Moving forward. Yeah. Yeah. So enough about sports, I suppose. It's depressing for us to talk about too. That

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Was about life, but sports. Sure. Yeah,

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just when you score that last minute, touchdown <laugh> you die, you know, or whatever, like yeah. Life has a way of just cutting you off at the knees sometimes. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> so, so your career brought you to the red cross and you have since been the regional director essentially for, I mean, not the official job title, but you're the chief storyteller for the region. Yeah. What does, what does that mean? What does that look like and how do you use storytelling to kind of further the red cross' mission?

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Right. I mean, we ha I, thankfully we have a brand that most everyone can recognize in some capacity, but they folks may not always, they may have different entry points into what we do. And so what, what is awesome about my role, I, I have a fellow staff member here in Wisconsin and we have 30 volunteers that, that help us just on the storytelling and social media and communication side of things. You know, we are able to dive into what kind of our focus is, is the impact, you know, what, what is it matter that we have these programs? What, why is it important that we go to a home fire or collect blood? And so at the end of the day, what we're always trying to do and what I, you know, tell other folks that are in this kind of similar role, remind them is that, you know, it's nice that you have the programs you have and all that kind of thing you have to, you have to not just have a, a why, but a, but a, so what you have to, you have to make people outside of your organization, understand who the person is, who was displaced from the home fire on 31st and west Wisconsin, and that they are your neighbor.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

They're not just a number that this was, this is someone that's your neighbor, who the day after CREs, the first day of QA we lost their home, lost everything they have. And, and that, because of your support whether financially our great volunteers on the ground that is, that is why it matters that, that we exist is that person receiving help when they need it at most. And so just examples like that, right. Is, is that's what I try to focus on with our work is to try to to share the impact of, of, you know, why we exist in the first place, why we've been around for more than 140 years shout out Clara Barton 200 birthday just passed if you're always every single episode of jeopardy, Clara Barton will be the answer if you're looking for the, the angel the battlefield question <laugh>. But but yeah, I mean, it's really getting to, to that impact beyond, beyond just the brand, the recognizable brand beyond, beyond the kind of what you think people know bring them to the, to the mission, to the impact that they can, you know, kind of like you mentioned, that that's how we've been able to sustain and, and keep going is because people hear and see that impact and then they wanna join us. And, and thankfully they, they do

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

So, is that the difference between just, you know reciting a new story or passing along inform and actually telling a story, is it pulling into that human element? Is that the, is that the difference and how do you differentiate between a house burned down and Jane's house burned down,

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

For sure. For sure. Yeah. And so my background as a, as a journalist, as a journalist for, for nine years covering daily news and the tech industry before kind of going into the nonprofits space and, and it, it is it's, there's two kind of aspects of the storytelling. So a lot of times we will have for our constituents, we will do things like what we would call an impact report, and that would have the, the, just the facts ma'am kind of thing that would have the data about how many volunteers, how many meals that, that kind of basic stuff. But even in those, I try to sew in the features, the feature part. I mean, we, we are we are feelings driven beings. I, you know, we, we can, we can all the reason and data in front of us, you know, it's great, it's helpful. It it's

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Proven that that doesn't matter to us, but

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Honestly, at the end of the day, we are driven by what, what grabs us and what inspires us. And and that, you know, especially in, in the nonprofit space or, you know, I think this is true of a lot of sales positions too. You want to inspire someone to be a part of what, what you're involved in. And so even in those fact sheets, you know, we try to add an element of like the, the the, the military, like the, the service member, we were able to bring back home to be with their family in an important moment, which is a, an important part of what the red cross does. But, but I think the thing I, I try to spend the most time on and, and, and bring even just a little piece of it into, in, into all our social media, into when we're talking with the media, is that you know, in, in journalism, we would've called it a, a, a feature story or a profile story, you know, talk about the person who, who is the volunteer and why it's not just that there is this program that can do X, Y, and Z.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Because it, it really is that, I mean, feelings driven aspect of, you know, what we're able to connect on the feelings level is why people, that's, why people are gonna be a volunteer or, or, you know, right. Donate blood with us or, or, or whatever it might be.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

And it's not just for nonprofits, the, that this applies to, yeah, because for example, if you wanna sell somebody an iPhone, you could tell them that it's affordable. It accomplishes X, Y, Z, and tell them everything they need to know about how it will change and upgrade their lives, and still have less success than the person that can paint a story and paint a picture in customers, potential customers, head of them, visualizing themselves, holding the phone and what they can do with the phone. And, you know, like it's the, it's that human element, which I would think could get exhausting. And, and, and so here's what I want to ask you about. And I do wanna talk about your, your military work too. You had mentioned that briefly. Yeah. As, especially with bringing the, the refugees from Afghanistan, that's very, very important, especially to our audience, but I just have to ask in doing disaster response for example, a few years back, my hometown of sun Prairie, Wisconsin experienced a explosion because of a gas leak downtown through streets, where I rode my bike every day when I was a kid, a firefighter who I went to high school with didn't know personally very well, but went to high school with perished in that explosion.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

The pictures from that, I mean, I'm getting chills thinking about the pictures from that event. Still just floor me to this day. And I remember in seeing a lot of press about this, seeing a video from the red cross and being interviewed and being strong and confident, and, you know, we are here to help and convey that when I'm sure deep down seeing those things probably stabbed your soul a few times, how on earth do get past that is just the fact that, you know, you're doing a good thing, overarchingly help you, or are you haunted by some of that imagery? How do you reconcile those two things?

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

I mean, while sun Prairie was, that was, that was especially for Wisconsin folks in the last couple years was a, was I know we were extremely proud to be able to be there and open the shelter and help folks mm-hmm <affirmative> because that the downtown was devastated, the family obviously, you know, we work with firefighters every single day and, and some of our volunteers, you know, knew him well. Right. And and so it, it does, it becomes very personal, especially the work we're able to do here in Wisconsin. I, you know, I think something that I try to remind myself is the, that I, I try to think about things in the terms of I'm not talking for myself per se, that I am helping to get information in that instance out about a shelter in case someone has not heard that we have a shelter.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

That's kind of what scares me at at the start is to make sure that as much as possible that we're able to let everyone know our services. You know, that's something I'm keeping in mind, but from the personal side of things it can be really challenging. I, I you know, especially places that, you know, well you know, know that's, Milwaukee gets me a lot because I live in Milwaukee and the fire situation is, is a struggle there, but even places that I I've been new to. So I went in 2020 in the fall to spend a couple of weeks in Northern California where they, to, to help with the wildfires and I I'm from I'm from the great I'm from Western New York and have lived in Milwaukee, you know, mm-hmm, <affirmative> between those two, we don't have wildfires like they have out there.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

So, right, right. Flying into that, I, I literally had a, a physical, when it was plane was landing in Sacramento. I had a physical gut reaction coming through the haze of smoke. There was like a, something in my soul that said, you should be going away from here. You should not be going to here. Right. And, and what kept me going was like getting on the ground, getting into my car, going to the red cross office, where they were just like shuttling hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of meals to people at hotels and shelters and meeting the volunteer years. And knowing that I was part of something much bigger to help people through whatever they needed right now, whatever that was, and as challenging and uncertain as it may be for. And I'm sure first responders deal with this, you know, to, to an exponential level, but as, as uncertain and scary as it may be in the capacity of serving when you talk with people who are going through it, it's that it's, it's so much darker and worse and would be that much darker and worse if you weren't there.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Right. And so I, you know, I try to remind myself of that, that I, you know, I personally, I am not the hero that being in there, but that I am able to, from the marketing communications side, a point of things share the stories of our volunteers who are on the ground. There, the ones that are like working the forklifts and going Mike Woods was the guy I was going like every single, I think I, he was nonstop. He, every single day for a month, he was, he was going to hundreds of hotel rooms to bring people meals that had no other food. Wow. People that people that said that a, a, a woman told me that we came up with Mike and I went up to the front door, Mary Ford, she answered the door and she said, this will be a celebratory lunch.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And we said, why he, Mike got to new pretty well. And she said, I found, I just found out that my son is alive. And that, that is the, that is the gravity of what people are going through. Right. And so, you know, when you face something, there was some uncertainty, even in sun Prairie of like how many people may be missing or that kind of thing. So right. When you're in a situation like that, even answering an uncertain, as you may be from, you know, again, the marketing communication side, the first responder side you know, people on the front lines of military, I, I, I can only imagine being in service and, and coming across these scenarios, what drives you is that, you know, you are a part of, at least a force to help with positive change and help change whatever dark uncertainty may exist at that time.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

So that's what kind of, you know, that's what I, I try to think about. It's hard. We have mental health people on staff that, especially the wildfire I took advantage of those folks are in the wildfire thing. Cause I, it was like, I it's still that, that haunt, you said haunting. And it really is. I mean, you were like in a alien world, it didn't feel, I was like, how do you, people live like this? And they're going to work like a lot people like going through their regular day. I'm like, and they, and they're like, wow, how do you deal with the blizzards? I was like, I'm too. But but, but yeah, it's, I mean, you know, we have mental health folks on staff that check in with us and health services people too. But, you know, ultimately what I kind of remind myself is that if I'm able to be part of someone's story and help share what they're going through, that will ultimately provide kind of more assistance and keep the, and I, and ear and, and, and the world watching on things that, that have happened, cuz there's so much going on all the time that you can, that you know, that there's still people out there helping the, the Mr.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Rogers thing, you know, the, the, you know, look, look for the helpers, look for the helpers thing. Yeah. That there are still people out there doing it, like you know ho Jose Andreas's world, world central kitchen, like the team Rubicon people like tons of organizations, salvation army that are out there answering the call. No, no matter what happens, no matter what happens.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

It's good stuff, man. And I wanna, so I wanna pivot a little bit and talk about, I wanna talk about Afghanistan. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> a lot of people who watch or listen to our show obviously, well, unless you have had your head buried under the sand, or you, you live in a cave somewhere, you know, that th this last year there was a pretty rapid draw down or withdraw from Afghanistan. And as a result, we had a, a bunch of people from Afghanistan who needed a safe place to go. And, you know, we are, we are a nonpartisan organization like aggressively nonpartisan. That said, I, I have never seen people from both sides of the aisle in the Nevada community collaborate. So enthusiastically and so hard on something before, as they did with bringing Afghani refugees and here and supporting them, especially the folks who were downrange with them and knowing that they were vice standards and victims in this whole thing, bringing them here, seeing people from both ends of the aisle, work together to bring them here and provide them the support that they needed during a very difficult time was stinking inspiring and, and such, such a credit to the veteran community.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

You know, when, when in fighting in any community is always a thing, especially, you know, when people are, are deeply entrenched and firmly entrenched in their beliefs or whatever, but like, it was such a bright shining spot for a community. And people seeing people do great things from both end of the aisle, the, the aisle was, was just spectacular. And at the center of that mission were some key players to include the red cross. Can you tell us what being involved in that was like what it was like to meet some of those people and tell some of those stories and, and what did you, what did you walk away from? What did you learn from that whole thing? Right?

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

It was, I mean, in no small order, it, I'm still a little close to it. You know, this was August and September that, that our, we, we were working with the department of defense at formal McCoy, still a lot of people still there mm-hmm, <affirmative> at Fort McCoy and some of the other, the, the other military installations. But it was the most, it, it feels like the most remarkable thing that I I've ever been able to be a part of in, in a single kind of career setting. And I think the reason that, you know, some of the reasons you stayed, this is, this is this is, you know, being our, not to tell our age here, but this has been a war that has been going on half our lives. Yeah. And has involved a lot of people, a lot of people from my family have served over there.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And, and I, I know you and, you know, friends and family, I'm sure the same and, and my wife's family. And so it's very personal, right. Everybody kind of knows somebody, right. And red cross in general, we have been working with tons of people sending as people deploy as people return years later as they need other services. But in this instance, you know, once they announced Fort McCoy's place in August it was, it, it was incredible what we were able to be a part of and help stand up and, and who stepped up, you know, to your point was really remarkable. So we had dozens of volunteers from the red cross help out for the first two months as people arrived. And it was at the height is around 13,000 people. If, if I'm remembering that correctly wow.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

At Fort McCoy. And so, you know, Northwestern kind of Wisconsin area if you're not familiar and we, we had an influx there and the other military installations red cross is helping at not just volunteers wanting to sign up to help, because this was a historical. That was a word that kept coming up was historical or historic mm-hmm <affirmative>. It was veterans who were our staff members and our volunteers. And I, I can share a quote here. Corey Corey Paul from Ohio was one of our just champions. He, he came out here as a staff member. He had served in the army national guard and, and deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. And he he had, he described to me, there were, there were just Afghani nationals that helped him and his, his group identify IEDs and make sure that it's safe as they were doing patrols and, and doing oth other other duty in Afghanistan on the ground.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And he signed up and, and just a quote from what he said after he had been at Fort McCoy for a month about why it was so rewarding as a veteran. He said, when I was in Afghanistan, there was so many times where I wanted to take off my gear and go play soccer with the kids. But couldn't, as a veteran, it's doing my soul a lot of good to give back a little bit, to listen, to provide people comfort to people who have experienced a lot of trauma. And that was the, that was the mood that, that you know, I think that why we had so many veterans particular really interested in, in, in, you know, it was, it was a spirit of like giving back like that they had been there and seen what people ha are going through and, and knowing that a lot of the folks that evacuated and, and were here, you know, it was like so many people that helped them directly or indirectly.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And so you know, I just, I, I, it was, it was amazing to have to be a part of that and to see, and, and kind of share Corey's story and so many other volunteers on the ground. But I mean, it was, it was an absolutely surreal scene to turn off. This is cranberry country in Wisconsin. Right. <laugh> this is like, it's like CRA I stayed at the cranberry lodge, just, I did literally where there's like carved wooden bear, and there's, every room has pictures of cranberry BOS. Okay. And you drive 10 minutes up the road and take a right. You get into Fort McCoy, you pass through all the security stuff and you take kind of a loop around in Fort McCoy. And it's, it's you know, it's not, it's not a military installation world. It's you know, it's not like Fort hood where people are there constantly.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

It's like people are in and out for training more. So mm-hmm, <affirmative>, mm-hmm <affirmative> and in these barracks or in these kind of residential units for blocks and blocks and blocks all you saw was people from Afghanistan. And, and then, you know, you'd see red cross folks, you'd see, you'd see people from the N or, or, you know, other, there were, there was Coasties there, there was all, there was people from every, every branch was there. Yeah. but it was almost entirely, it was just thousands of people from Afghanistan, all of a sudden in cranberry country, Western Wisconsin, just absolutely surreal. Yeah. And to just, do they have cranberries in a Afghanistan? I wonder if that was like a new concept for them? I, I think that, yeah, I think I, I, yeah, that's a great, that is a great question.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Actually. I, I do not know there's your next article for you. Yeah. Yeah. I, I just, just to give a flavor of the folks I, Abdu was a person I talked with. I, I, I just, like Corey said it was you know, there were a lot of like, as I'm sure folks who served over there, there was, there's kind of international language of, of hand gestures. If you, you know, if you didn't know PO or, or one of the other languages there know, hand, hand signals, hearts you know, hands over the heart kind of thing. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> a lot of gesturing to try to kind of with folks that may not have known English. I unfortunately, English, the only language I I'm proficient in, but a lot of folks didn't know English and, and, but kids were just running around being kids.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Right. And, and yeah, and that was super eyeopening. And I started playing soccer with, with he's probably five, six years old and Abdul, his father came over and he's there with his two brothers, his wife, and, and he had three kids including a, a, a couple of week old child. Mm. And, and I kind, I've just said, you know, we got to talk and Abul had, had worked with American service agencies in a role that he had in Kaul from Kaul, grew up in Afghanistan. And he said they got the call that if you are not down at the airport in two hours you're gonna miss your spot. He had to bring his fan. They had just, his wife had, had, they had a premature, a baby. He was a preemie oh, wow. Who had been born 10 days earlier.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And they had to bring the child, their two toddlers, his two brothers and his wife, and bring them to the, to the airport. And he said that he showed pictures on his phone. It was the, that you saw with hundreds of people on a military plane, it was, you know, intense, scary, and just the sense of what people would go through just to just to be somewhere. I, I think we, it gave me an appreciation of what we have in this country, right. Oh yeah. And it, it in it and it also gave me an incredible insight into what that safety and security and sense of freedom, what people will risk to to have that in their own lives. So I, yeah, I don't wanna get too worked up about it. I, you know, well, it's, it's, especially after the big weekend with the bills, I don't wanna just hang the emotional guy on the show, but sobbing and yeah, it was, it was, I mean, as, as you could imagine, I mean, it was like this full and, you know, that was just my experience. Cory said he had those experiences every day, as, as someone who served in Afghanistan to have it full circle, but to be able to be there for people and kind of when, when they needed it at this next step of their journey was it was nothing shorter, remarkable,

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

It's so easy for people who have not been deployed or have engaged firsthand with these people to it. It can be so easy to allow them to become dehumanize in our mind. And Afghanistan has been this country, these poor innocent civilians, these mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and children and family members who just wanna live their lives and have joy and love and food and sleep and shelter.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

You know, Afghanistan has been beat up for decades and decades and decades all the way back to pre Russian occupation. And I mean, they have, they've been through the ringer, but it's easy to see throughout the last several decades of war and conflict over there for to see that as the enemy or to dehumanize those people. And <affirmative>, and in that vein, even though we had bipartisan support from the veteran community to bring those people here, people who didn't have firsthand relationships, there was, there was a spattering of resistance. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> people saying, yeah, they, we, you know, weer, they deserve the support that we can give them, but not in my backyard. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, which was an and very unfortunate to see. And again, the veteran community from both sides of the aisle really did their part to try and educate and deprogram decades of, of, you know, propaganda that made these people not human to the average citizen. So my question for you is as a storyteller, how important was it for you? Like you didn't have to convince the veterans and the volunteers that this was a good thing. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> how important it was it for you and is it for you to tell the stories and to bring humanity back to this community, to these people that, that deserve it and, and to help bring rally the average citizen who may be resistant, cuz they don't know any better to bring them on board. Yeah. I, I mean,

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

I was honored. I was completely honored to be able to just be some element of their life and to help, you know, like you, this is Abdu is a, is a father mm-hmm with a family. Who's just trying to do a job. You know, I, he has an it degree like these mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know? And so you, you have ambitions

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

And goals

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And yeah, yeah. So, so to, to you know, yes, to, to make it someone to share how, you know, you know, the, the commonalities I think is super, was super important. I think, I think one of the things that, that a lot of folks and this was a good example of being able to kind of transcend this. I think a lot of people in marketing communications roles, they look for this dream or perfect story they look for. I, I, I actually, I think when there's a story that has, you know, of course you want conflict, that's fundamental to any story, but for the, for there to be conflict and for it not to be cookie cutter for there to be like aspects that are messy and, and that kind of pull you in different directions. I think that truthfully tells a deeper nuanced story harder to do, harder to do a lot of times.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

But I think at the end of the day, if you are, if you are sharing that story and acknowledging that this is, this is you know, this is a deeply conflicted area with the history, you know, history of, of pain and problems. But to be able to share a present daylight and a real person connected with it on, on different sides, whether it's volunteer staff or, or the person who had evacuated with their family you know, in whatever instance that is, you know, I think in marketing communications, I think telling that, telling that messier, gray story not more so not shying away from it. I think it gives opportunity to really connect with people on a lot of other levels rather than just thinking that you have, that everyone's a monolith people that want to hear this one story will react this one way.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And I think that if you kind of, people are a lot smarter and again, you know why we are emotional and have reactions over certain, I think we don't even fully understand. So I think right, to kind of like give that nuanced you know, not clear cut version of the story of, of what people are going through and how you can help. I think that's integral and we were able to, I think, do that pretty well with a lot of the work we had at Fort McCoy in other places around the country. And, and it honestly is still happening every single day in Afghanistan, proper I should, you know, acknowledge well, and these, these

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Folks that are here at Fort McCoy, what happens to them are they re are they integrating into our community? And if so, how important is the ongoing education for the average citizen who again, may be resistant to it? For

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Sure. So, so red cross, we were there for about two months, our, our commitment with the department of defense wrapped up, other organizations have been mm-hmm, <affirmative> kind of in that place of you know, we were bring a lot of essential needs formula and, and some of the basic needs as well as a number of other resources. But so, so other organizations still doing those things, we're still helping behind the scenes and of course in Afghanistan and, and one small part I missed as well is that we have been helping a lot of people who did serve over there with the processing of this. I mean, you know, one of our, through our kind of programs to help veterans and service members, you know, we do a lot of kind of helping people work through things or just listening and being there for people because this have a lot of triggering aspects and a lot of huge PTSD and, and who knows what, but, you know, I think that, you know, as far as kind of you know, it's, it's, it's it's, it's a situation where a lot of folks have there's sponsorship challenges and there's issues with there's a lot of organizations that are helping place people.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And, and I know that process is happening. It's probably not as happening as fast as, as a lot of folks would like, you know, this is definitely a temporary residential situation for them. And but that doesn't make it any easier, especially after, you know, after time kind of drags on, but I, I know I'm hearing stories out of WASA and Milwaukee, Madison of families settling in the people, you know, sharing meals and, and getting down to just the regular things of life of finding jobs in schools and those kind of things. And it's happening in Wisconsin, it's happening all around the country. And, and you know, it, it makes me extremely proud that we had some small part in kind of the welcome to this country for, for so many people.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

We, we you know, Wisconsinite know how to welcome people. We, we, we, we get 'em a coat and then make a, we make

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

A cast Packers coat. There were a lot, I did see a lot of, there was a lot of Packers gear that, that folks were wearing as there kind of like first new t-shirt in the United States. We

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Introduced them to their first casserole.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

<Laugh> hot dish.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Yeah. Do a potluck. Right. man, I, I could, I could talk to you forever about all this stuff, but I do wanna make sure that I get to to these links that you sent me ways that people can get involved first off tell us about the hero care network and why somebody would wanna click to learn more yeah.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

A hero care network. And then we've got an, the, the hero care the complimentary app. So basically, you know, service member, veteran, military family, lots of resources to, to red cross has, has, is actually congressionally mandated to support military and veterans mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so when it's the kind of thing where reconnection workshop, if you, if your family is, is struggling to, to kind of reintegrate after deployment and into civilian life, again, we do programming around that, including virtual program. We, we are the, we are actually the organization. If you have a family member that's ill, or if you have a, a childbirth at home and you're deployed abroad, mm-hmm, <affirmative> the American red cross is actually the agency that gets you back to the states. Yeah, that's through our hero hero care network, too. There's also great you know, assistance things and, and, and all kinds of resources in there.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

So I just wanted to share that because Wayne McDonald, one of our, we volunteer for 35 years with our service to the armed forces team great guy. He was a air force veteran, and he, he said, you know, I don't, I didn't remember anyone giving me the break down at that time when I was serving that all these red cross has had all this stuff for me. And so that's why he's made it his mission to be a volunteer, to, to tell people about these programs and, and to help people through our hero career network.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Yeah. And even as early as basic training, I was a basic training instructor for the air force. And I remember, you know, some, sometimes tragedies happened back home while somebody was in a training involved environment, something happened to their spouse or their parents, or a family ma you know, something like that. And, you know, the, the, the way that we coordinated getting them back home and then reintegrating them back into a training environment was through the red cross. So, I mean, for, for those that don't understand just like the far reaching impact of this organization, do a little bit of digging and it's, it's mind boggling just how much good these folks do. And I think that's, that's amazing. So the, the other thing I wanna say, what is this military veteran?

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Yeah, we've got an event every year in Southeast Wisconsin. And there is a military hero honor that we give out as part of that. So if you've got someone in your life who obviously, you know, the word hero gets thrown around a lot, but if there's something special, I think we think in particular of someone who a service member or veteran who's helping other service members or veterans you know, there's a nomination form in there to to submit for for a person for one of those awards. It's it's a pretty sweet event and, you know, you dress up in a nice tie and you get honor, if we pick you and all that stuff, there you go.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

What's what's the deadline for submissions for that.

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

We will extend it is actually, I'll give you some breaking news. It will extend into the middle of February now. Ah,

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Well, I'll make sure to put these links in our show notes. The last thing that I want talk about is you wrote a long form love letter to the city of Milwaukee, your published author. Tell me about the Milwaukee anthology. Yeah, I

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Edited arranged it wrote pitched through a party, did a bunch of events, but yeah, the Milwaukee anthology belt publishing is a great publisher out of Cleveland mm-hmm <affirmative> and they do they have just a great focus on, on the, the real people and real stories out of the kind of whatever you wanna, whatever your determination of the geographic boundaries of the, of the rust belt. I think they kind of deem it as something between like Fargo down to like near Louisville, out to New York around the great lakes. But they, they had done a number of these really awesome kind of non-fiction city guides to really get to know who actually lives in a city. The, the lesser told stories. And I, you know, they, they I'd written a few other things for them. Just kind of still going on that journalism background mm-hmm <affirmative> and, and at one point they were like, well, why don't you do the Milwaukee one?

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

And that was new to me, but it was, and it was a very deep, it took a lot of time and a lot of knocking on doors and it, what it, what it kind of turned out to be was just a great chance to meet so many people that either I had wanted to people, you know, remeet people I already knew or get to know a lot of people, especially people that just kind of came outta nowhere. One of the essays is a number of kids who have migrated from Russia and Ukraine and Lithuania and Poland who go to St. Salva school on the Southwest side of the city. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>, they all wrote little essays about it's kids in elementary school, writing essays about what they, what they think about for their own futures in Milwaukee, what Milwaukee means to them. And a lot of other great, great stories in there, just from people who, who really live here and, and all the, you know warts and all kind of thing about yeah. Where we live and why we love it.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Well, definitely worth checking that out. Like I said, one of the most talented and adept storytellers on the planet Johan, I could talk to you forever, man. It's so good to catch up with you. I appreciate you, you joining

Justin Kern - Red Cross WI:

Us, thank you much. And I do hope that you have a piano under that microphone and you'll play us out like a little too Background.

Adam Braatz - WVCC:

Good stuff. Appreciate y'all joining us for this for another week of Wisconsin, veterans Ford. We'll see you here next week. Same time, same place. Thank you for listening to Wisconsin veterans forward brought to you by the Wisconsin veterans chamber of commerce. Please visit at wiveteranschamber.org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, leave a rating and review in whatever platform you're listening through.