Foundation for Pops Hosting Night of Heroes Gala

An evening of dinner, dancing, and honoring the people who served our country. Foundation for Pops is getting ready for its Night of Heroes gala, and we are getting a preview this morning. Joining us now, we have Executive Director of the organization, LaKeisha Hancock. Welcome. Thank you. How are you? I'm good. How are you? For people who've never heard of Foundation for Pops, tell us about your mission and what you do. Yes, Foundation for Pops serves veterans and people experiencing homelessness. We walk them through our Revive in Five to help them become whole. Why was it important to tackle those things? What are some of the challenges our veterans face? Absolutely. Pops was a Vietnam War vet, struggled with substance abuse, and was chronically homeless. And veterans, you know, we come back and are struggling, but it's a silent struggle. And so the importance of having a place that veterans can come and understand that the people leading the organization are veterans and understand their struggle and are able to meet them where they are to take them through the process of becoming whole again. Why do you think it's a silent struggle? Well, think about it. When we go to boot camp, they break us down just to build us up. And then we're built up to be these strong soldiers, sailors, and we're given a lot of pride, a sense of pride. And, you know, even when I experienced homelessness myself no one knew because I was going to work going to LA Fitness taking a shower going to work and no one knew and my job found out unknowingly they found out and we worked through it but we don't want a handout and so we don't give a handout we provide a hand up that's incredible so you know firsthand firsthand about the struggles what do you think Do you think there's still a lot more work to do when it comes to supporting our veterans? Absolutely. The key thing is that having access to medical and understanding the various changes that service members experience when they transition back to civilian life is very important. And then having the resources that are available and people that they can relate to. It's important. Yeah. And it seems obvious why we should focus on the people who served our country, but just kind of, you know, nail it in. Why is it important to make sure our veterans have the things that they need after all that they've done for us in our country? They've served the country. And what people don't understand is, especially for those who have served during wartime and what the experience is. And then the way that your life is literally controlled by the United States government, you are the property of the government. You can't call in sick. So there is a lifestyle and then they have to transition back to being a civilian. And sometimes that itself is traumatic. Wow. Was it traumatic for you? It was different. I struggled a little. yes i think what's really empowering about what you do it's veterans helping veterans why was that an intentional part of this piece well the founder and CEO of DQS whose grandfather was Pops you know understood there there was a gap and the mission was dear to me and to be brought in as the first executive director and to build it has just been a great experience and i'm very happy about it you're hosting your upcoming honoring um what honoring our night of heroes our night of heroes second annual gala and so at this gala we it's full of fun we're we're honoring local veterans Treasurer Sabri was our civic champion last year um you see the pictures of all the veterans that were nominated and awarded for various things that they do to help their local veterans and And so we're super excited to have you as our host this year. We have a lieutenant colonel that's coming to be our keynote and we still have sponsorships and tickets available. So go to the website and come join us. This is a fun way, a fun night to support our veterans, especially for all that they've done. Thank you for your service. Absolutely. And thanks for joining us today. We'll have more information on our website, Fox2Detroit.com. And we'll be right back.