Cyndy Jones on us live at Mashpee TV

saraphina and I were in a entrepreneurial book club where Stephanie never read the right book and Stephanie was terrible at this book club I really stopped at CL I did not fabulous I'm what I just had a visual had a visual proud of it hold I have no idea where my phone is here I am digging through my purse as we're about to start the show I've got Cindy Jones with me next door and uh how are you today I am doing well and honored to be here thank you Stephanie thank you so much for joining us I uh we had a little snafu the last time that you were supposed to be on the show with me yes someone wasn't feeling well it happens I uh I had a rough night last night because we I just I couldn't sleep I was excited to talk to you it was Super Bowl my was the excit yeah well and had a house full of boys and uh all the teenagers my husband had like a conveyor belt of food going I'm like who are you who are you feeding enjoy it I you know long it drove me crazy for many many years but now that I've only got one left at home it's like at we're nearing that space yes right yes right and you walk in this morning with a bag of cookies and I laughed because my kids know when I'm upset or stressed out or something's going on because I bake oh great therapy isn't it hon especially when you bake bread and you can just get it out in the hands is that what it is is that where the scones came from is that where exactly I feel like every single time I talked to Cindy she's like let me cook for you let me get a coffee what do you want how do I feed you what's happening and uh I I feel like it's one of those things that I don't know it's a mom thing or a stress thing but it's a it's a place where you can just shut your brain off a little bit Yeah and be in that kitchen and and food brings Joy yeah which is why in found in our foundation hero and transition every time we have an activity in our programs it's always with the meal oh I love that I mean obviously we like to eat what's up Ashley thanks for joining us on the show this morning Cindy Jones a a woman of so many things Mercy Otis Woman of the Year mashpi outgoing citizen of the year you do a lot of things um I think I I receive these Awards because I represent heroes in transition but but it's something that you you started absolutely and it was from a place of stress it was a place of grief it was a place of what do I what do I do um it it for me it became very easy as to what to do yeah because um Eric who we lost in Afghanistan when his body came home at Dober on the tarmac um that's when it hit me and I grabbed my husband's hand and said we're going to continue our mission Eric was a helicopter pilot that protected the troops he loved he loved being a marine he loved being with his friends his brothers and sisters so when he passed it became very easy for us to continue his legacy by helping the brothers and sisters that come back there's something to be said for anybody that's done any military service and I can tell you it's one of those things that you'll never forget the people that you served with the communication the just that that feeling and I love that you continued that in in his legacy and as many times as you can read about Cindy's work uh heres in transition it's nothing like having the conversation with you and hearing it firsthand no matter how many times I've heard it and and because you're connected yeah yeah and you understand the pain and and the joys and the pain but there's a special camaraderie among military people that's a lot of times civilians just don't understand no they have you have your own I know my daughter uh I do I've got mine and then my daughter just went up to MEPS and I'm like oh I do do this was right are we doing this she ASVAB but she did all this stuff and she's considering reserves so I'm like okay but even still reserves get called baby girl and uh so that stressed me out a little bit I gotta tell you it was not something I expected from that daughter no I didn't expect it well Eric at the age of four between four and five said that he was going to be a marine it was like right okay and uh cuz he at 10 wanted to fly and that I accepted because people like you know you have a a a desire to be a pilot but when did when he went to when he when he went to Northeastern and I was told that he was going to sign up for marine I went no you're like what no he wasn't that type of person he was very mild and loving and a peacemaker yeah and he was exactly what Marine is yeah and so when you give you sign up and you you sign that line and you become military you become the government and I admire anybody who does that many veterans need help you are an angel in their eyes says Ashley um good morning Lauren thanks for joining us on the show we've got Cindy Jones and we're here live at Mash PTV yeah that moment of um I after I did all my glasses and paperwork and all right I want to fly planes this is literally what I did I was like I'm I want to go fly planes Rucker school is three years what do you mean three years you got to wait three years so I got to sit and rot and wait before I get to even go to my schooling what's what's faster so I ended up in Communications and here I am right exactly still utilizing the things that I did when I was in the military but it wasn't without you know suffering some pain but we're here there's a wonderful wonderful book by James Hillman called the souls code and in that book it's metaphysics and in that book he says whatever happens to you as a child and growing up prepares you for what you need to do in life and you just gave a perfect example commun here you are it is so true it is um and I I told my parents that I was going to be on the radio when I was nine and they laughed at me so you know it's the same same situation um talk to me a little bit about heroes in transition you guys have grown we have like Wow have you grown um it's been 15 years and um it it it grew slowly yeah um we started with service dogs but service dogs um didn't provide what I really wanted was to bring a family together um we service dogs veterans would take their dogs and you know we get them out of the house but it didn't bring them back into the F and so we we then went to horses yeah horse um echoine therapy is is magical it is and it brought families together so there was the beginning of it the families started coming together because the the children when a father or mother came back from a deployment or going to a deployment or being deployed the children have a hard time and they're in living in a world with civilian kids and their mom's and dad's home and and the military child Mom and Dad one of them is gone um and so it's hard for them so the horse brought everybody together they brought other other children together other parents together especially when they come back and you when you come back from deployment yeah you've been gone for a year you come back and um the family survived without you well they're they're functioning you know what I mean they've got a routine they're they're busy and now it's like hey every everything's off everything's off where do I fit in yeah and yeah it's hard so our our ecoin program which is called fit for families am in transition that's when our program really hits really has an effect because it brings mother father child children together and it relaxes them and horses do that magic and then it grew it's pretty incredible if you've never been around a horse it's just there's there's some sort of thing that they do they they well in order to be in the presence of a horse you have to live in the now yeah and you have to control yourself you have to let go because those ears go back when you when you're uptight and and once you start relaxing those ears magically come forward and they accept you yeah yeah so we had we grew um from there but then we Nicole Spencer came on board and um just start writing help me write thank you notes and then it just exploded and and being a runner that she is um brought in the our our most powerful um fundraisers is the r for hit which is coming up oh yes this will be year four for me doing rug for hit God bless you it is um I was like one year and I'm never doing this again and here I am year four and I'm like I can't not why do I do this and my husband says every year why do you do this I was like because I can't not we have built a little family inside of that damn van oh explain explain to to our our viewers what it this is a race like none other you have Runners that are running 24 hours a day and we start this year we're changing the race up a little bit but we have started in from Bourne all the way to Provincetown and back and there are skill building things in between and you live in this van you don't stop driving so someone's got to stay awake the whole time thank you Craig um because I do take naps right around 4 am. it always gets me I'm like you gotta drive I I can't open my eyes anymore um and then you you tag team and you run every three miles each person is running an individual Marathon uh and you're eating in there you're living in there we're finding bathrooms for them on the side of the road somewhere it's just like you have to F function and focus as as you would a horse as you would in that space we're all in this together we gotta live through this for a good 38 hours yeah around the clock it is constant and it is um it's an achievement it's it's a bonding experience like no mother and the amount of teams how many teams did it start with one um it was one just group you know the first team started at Ground Zero because Eric grew up in New York and so that and that's where it all happened with 911 and they left from there and then they came all the way through canadi through Rhode Island and here that was our very first one and there were two teams and then it just it's grown now I mean we have we have um what 300 Runners this year insane yeah amazing and it's a lot of people on the road so I do want to remind you when it is rock weekend and we will talk about this again please be cognizant please be watching these Runners sometimes have been up for two days straight and they don't even know where they're coming or going just be careful and mindful of them on the road that's all I ask it's always a good time a year that we do this this is still a little bit quiet and the weather is usually with us uh I know I said it not necessarily dang it I said it one year we had a northeaster it was rainy it was horrible like where where we going to be fine no it will be so everybody can join at at the start and at the finish line which this year will be at the fairground rille and if you're looking to support Ruck forhead and heroes in transition you can um buy pit stops where your logo is on something you can go and help a runner go we have so many great physical therapists yes I think this is my favorite thing where the runners are like get me to the place where they rub my legs forunate to have Alicia mowy had the team amazing um PT yeah absolutely amazing and it's needed yeah yeah coffee stops scone stops at your house snack stops really as many places the amount of people that show up around the clock to make sure that they know that we're not alone we're supporting what do you need how do we help you and around the clock yeah yeah and this year um the first stop is my barn is the pit stop I love it um there were so many so many Runners this year that um we went to um the upper Regional High School perfect and Chef Joe has taken on my recipe oh I love it all the students are making this the scones this year because I cannot my two ovens Chef Joe is the best we adore him his students are great oh oh they're absolutely wonderful and their food is so good every time I go there for a meeting they put a a dish of unbelievable pastries in front of me just unbelievable he never says no either I was over uh there and he Chef me up something for Thanksgiving I said we're doing chef thanksgivings from around the cape I said I need some can you make me up something from leftovers and he goes all right we'll make a bread pudding out of leftover whatever and he cheft it up let me videotape it he's like all right there you go have a good day here's your bread it was awesome and it's wonderful the students just love him and the environment there is just so magical I think anytime you have food around the environment relaxes and it brings people together 100% and really this is what we're seeing we started the mash B Farmers Market this year we're coming into year two and uh we're we're involving the high school kids I I'm really excited about building this volunteer program it's wonderful you know as well as anybody else that we are nothing without our volunteers and the people that show up unbelievable that's how I mean it was all volunteers in the beginning and we have so many volunteers and we could could not do our our function you could be the best director you could be the best organizer you could have the best ideas but if you don't have people that help you get this done and it's not happening people who believe in what you do and they want to do something and it's just they it's it's altruistic it comes from the heart yeah and that's what I found about heroes in transition because my husband and I retired here yeah my my mothers came in the 70s and we the cape and Eric always came we always came in the summertime and and the cape was very much part of our family but um but the Cape is is is a wonderful wonderful place to start a foundation because you have people who really care yeah and I was just writing that to a friend the other day that you know living in New York living near Manhattan through that that rat race and that anxiety and everything else you and and you know come to the cape and it's it's people yeah it's Humanity the cape to me is a community y it's a peninsula but it's the Cape is a community one big beautiful community so my husband and I are very fortunate to have started a foundation here yeah I'm not sure if it if we started someplace else if we started in New York I don't think we would have the success well because we have that island people mentality we're really there to support people and I I don't I don't know what it is but I came here I was stationed at Otis and I met my husband and I was like okay fiveyear plan right said bouth born and raised 25 later I have not left I have his britis we're here I love that and and we're not and we raised our family here so it was an absolute fabulous place to raise a family and I this community wholeheartedly embraced me and everything that I've ever done and I'm so thankful to be here uh and I every day I'm I'm Blown Away by the magic of the cape it's pretty incredible people yeah of course I just my heart goes up to the people so we've got the big rock for hit race coming up uh and you've had some shifts in the dynamic over at Heroes and transition I mean Nicole's leaving right she's moving on she's it and um it does happen I mean that's that's a lot of time to be at this space a long time and she's done quite an amazing job and who is taking over um Selene Gordon she's fabulous absolutely wonderful very organized very listens and and just wants to please and and this means a lot to her as well I found out when we started it it was like and people wanted to come to help everybody came for a reason to to truly help and those who those who really knew the reason and felt it stayed um so it's like Heroes became um it's a family yeah and people and people all started just volunteering to help us because we could never have gotten off the ground without the volunteers and then it's grown now to having facilitators and actually we have a staff of 44 which is amazing it's incredible and that's um and our facilitator well it's it's everybody and the staff but we have 15 programs that are running constantly 15 and there's many you know this could be three four five during a month so there's we're always going so um it's it's just it's powerful yeah yeah it's amazing when it runs and you don't even need to be a part of it anymore it's taking on its own life yeah right yes it's got it's got its own oh of course I mean you can't not baby but at the same time you can't not well sit back and Marvel a little bit about how this is functioning well everybody yeah everybody has it's a team it's an amazing team and and everybody has their job and they all they all do they all come from it from my heart everybody says all the time about how it's a family how how can you share her organization heroes in transition I will add it to the bottom of it Ashley she is absolutely amazing it's incredible the work that she has done over this many years it's insane um but there's some Bill of trust when you're building a family when you're coming in you're talking to military people often times at their not best and you're bringing them into these programs and telling them it's safe here and come here it's safe here it's okay to open up here you're you're welcome your family you're this there's there's a lot of broken pieces that you're supporting you mentioned the the right word trust yeah when we first got started it was to develop that trust and and we found out that veterans didn't really want to come and sit and talk no um and we we did have we tried many different ways we had different groups we had the parent group and stuff but um it was um Kristen Alexander and John who came to the house and we asked John if he would do the veteran group because we couldn't they wouldn't come out they we couldn't do that and Kristen said the magic magic phrase question what about the lives and that brought the men in and that's when we started developing our couples program so that trust level we um our programs are are basically in a hierarchy in a pyramid where the first level is is really building that trust it's Community level um so we at that Community level we have we have Gatherings everything's around food too and I love it it's like an ax throwing get together just like something light and fluffy and there's one there there's groups for couples and then there's groups for just veterans and groups for spouses very important to have the spouses of course together and then families so that develops that trust yeah that trust developed and it brought in um our second level of relationships how to keep relationships going because when men when you come back or are coming discharge and come home is trauma that to deal with um there's there are triggers um and being married you know your spouse may not necessarily understand what's going on and you just can't express it so um we did our research and found that divorces were very high in the military so we trained four facilitators and um sent them down to Florida to be trained in a pairs program which is a communication program so now we have every fall we have um one of the co-authors come up and he presents um Dr Clyde Angel and he was he's a chap a VA chaplain his last name is April which I just Angel which I just love um um that program brings it it starts on a Saturday and ends on Sunday it and and um we bring them to places on the cape um and they have a nice weekend quietly no all our programs are free so that it's it's free of charge and then then they sit and they learn different ways different skills different tools on how to communicate and it has we have testimonials where it has safe marriages um and I've talked about our family program hit program with the horses and we also have a program now we added that with ecoin we have an ecoin Warrior weekend for just veterans and it's Friday night to Saturday morning where the veteran basically is just with the horse and they do different activities with the horse they're they they're up Saturday morning at 6 and they're up the they're up mucking they're with their horse they have to pick up the horse and the thing is I love this part is that they're we take only eight y that's all and then two facilitators there are 10 horses in the arena and the men and women have to pick their own horse and sometimes the horse doesn't accept a person nobody's surprised by that they're they're stubborn and they they have to they have to be comfortable and that's you know and that person would end up finding a horse but it's it's it's it's magical how that happens that's a powerful weekend we had one veteran who who wrote In His evaluation he said I get more out of three days being here than three years of therapy because there's something said about not having your thumb on someone just being open and welcome and just leaving it there it's open if you want to take this but also the support system is there and it's really really important um not even just for trauma not even just for military I feel like this is a good situation for anybody to be in communication with we don't talk to each other I had a story on Friday where Americans are speaking 3,000 less words a day period because we're on devices we're on phone yeah it's all it's all being together it's communicating exactly and these are the places that you're opening up for these conversations which I just think is so important and a lot of times when you're gone through something that that is traumatic we don't want to talk about it because it hurts and so it's so wonderful that you have the space for that that the next level kind of hits what you're just saying our our highest our high level highest level is um self-care yeah and we started with females female we took female veterans and female spouses and put them together and we developed a program called reboot and reboot is is a course we call it literally is a course it's a curriculum on Nicole BRS does it and ladies if you're out there watching this and you're any of my former sisters uh in service please listen um and um through this besides being together um also um learn to take care of yourself to build that resiliency to meditate to calm down um it became it was it's successful and the men came to us and said what about us oh I love it that's always which is what we were hoping for we were going to do do it for men but but they came to us quicker than we thought so they do that now what we've added after that one is I had mentioned um Clyde Dr Clyde angel I had he um wrote another program um and it's publish it's now International um and it's called searching for meaning and he developed this program with Vietnam Vets he found out that he found he was counseling them he's he's also a psychologist um that these these vet um Vietnam Vets um once they retire um have a difficult time because they they never dealt with their with their experiences and um as they retire they have more time to think about it so he sat with them and and he and his co-partner um listened and developed a program searching for meeting and we have taken that program he now comes up twice a year for us love that and program in in searching for meaning deals with anger um deals with triggers um forgiveness which is huge yeah and then deals with grief so it's a and that is an eight session program and um and it's a powerful program so it's good to talk about these things because I think when people give they don't know what they're giving to sometimes or they'll give because one of their friends is doing the race or they're doing rock or they're whatever this is a nice organization she seems like a nice lady however there your money is going to programs exactly these are the things that you are paying for and it's um it brings the family together because you can see it's all about bringing the family together yeah and and when we have this Pro we found this program in fact there was one veteran who had terrible experiences was with us got received a dog took in all our programs it was searching for meaning that opened that door for her she had gone through all kinds of therapy and everything else that door opened it opened and she just blossomed so after many years um and we also have a a spouse came to me um last year and said Cindy I need something and we listened and um I approached Clyde and said you do this for the veterans yeah can you mirry that program for the spouses so we now have a new program called um seeking the I am you know the I am you know the biblical part Moses is like who I I I am who I am um because inside you have all these layers on you and then you get you have to find the the true self yeah and that's what this program does and it does mirror the that's wonderful I think that the spouse is the one sometimes that is left behind just maybe even more because they've got stuff it you sometimes you got kids and you got this and you got to have this wall of those layers and when somebody has a trigger or when somebody gets angry and has has trauma somebody on the other side like a spouse receiving it really doesn't know where it's coming from right is it me what did what did I do and kind of thing so um seeking the IM helps out that and then our last program is is firm and that's done right over here um at k Cod Rehab it's a program because I got on the internet one day and and did a little research and found out that um there was a problem with veterans coming home that they after they are discharged they sit at home and they don't exercise and you know that's weird so we have triggering so we now offer a six- week program through them that is absolutely wonderful because it not only evaluates and helps you with you know the certain exercises um teaches you nutrition and meditation and then they have the pool there as well so that's six weeks program and then they give them an extra six weeks on their own the gym I think that that is a Common Thread with people that have done any sort of services you lack yourself you've lost yourself in this mix of group and uh it's really hard you don't think of yourself anymore like that yeah so when you were so physical yeah yeah but I mean was never about that physical space it was always about being with the group and surviving and and making sure we as a team get to where we need to get and then you're like oh wait a minute I'm a me I don't care about me and it's it's really really hard exctly exactly it's really hard to explain to a lot of people why you don't care about those self-care items it doesn't register to you and um you said something very interesting because those are the courses this hierarchy this top of our pyramid yeah yeah and it's it's slow in catching on it it takes it takes a lot to come out to to do the work yeah because it's work that's where and but that's where the healing is so we're so thankful that you are bringing these programs and I think it was really nice to sit and have a conversation about what exactly heroes in transition is doing here especially since we have such a high number of returning veterans uh to our area of where we live I don't know whether it's the water or the crystals or the base here but there's a reason why we come here and we stay here or we're connected to the cape and for whatever reason we need your organization here we just do and we're thankful to have it I'm so grateful that we started it here how do people get involved um what if they're like I don't even know where to start um there's um volunteers at um Heroes and trans.org and um some of people will get in touch with you and find out where your interests are because we it we need volunteers yeah always yeah so building that good volunteer program wonderful yeah I love it also outgoing citizen of the year I want to make mention I'm going to wear my match P Chamber of Commerce hat for a hot minute because today is the last day for you to get your votes in who do you think deserves to be the next citizen of the Year business of the Year those unsung heroes we're always looking for people doing amazing things in our community that don't get recognized and sometimes they just need to be recognized so I don't care how small it is that you think that this person is just amazing please go to our Facebook page mashby Chamber of Commerce or go to our website mashby chamberofcommerce.com and just nominate someone it takes two seconds it's a Google form so and so is great because they are great I don't even it doesn't even have to get extra in there I don't need a bookl long explanation this is not a massive nomination I just want to make sure that the most amount of people get nominated so that we we know that these people are out there sometimes there are people that are unsung and they're unsung for way too long and I'm always looking for somebody that's just doing some amazing work in our town so that we can support them a it's not always about the recognition it's maybe we need to support them in the Endeavor in which they've decided to be unsung and it's an easy process yeah right to to to write and and yeah and just hey this person is amazing and this is it doesn't even have to be huge it means a lot I know it it helped us tremendously it's always not for me but for the foundation it's validation sometimes of this is the work and this is why we're doing this work I know Seline had been the one that nominated you for Mercy Otis and not very many people I mean the people on that list are pretty pretty amazing oh I'm I'm I'm humbled I'm truly humbled to be but I love that Seline was the one that nominated you and the things that she said about the organization because she truly believes in it and it's really she's seen the magic she is she's a gift she'll be on the show with us coming up in just a little bit I was an auction item at the last uh always love being an auction item at the last heroes a transition um uh group that I I missed because I was at H the Patriots game watching our Tom Brady lose do no he wasn't playing yeah we just got to watch the Pats lose again and was that was the last time that I went to Nashville film was to watch Tom Brady lose we watched him last night he wasn't losing he he was the most entertaining part of that game he's very eloquent is he he's so cute yes he is I really enjoyed um most of that game just because I I just don't like Patrick Mahomes I'm sorry to our Kansas City friends I know my girlfriend Christiana is probably like Stephanie seriously she's definitely asleep right now because she had to live through that misery last night um everyone was complaining about the Super Bowl halftime show like it or hate it that's what it was that's what was chosen um I think that we all wanted to have a little more PP and Circumstance and Fanfare but he had some great messages and he definitely took up that rap battle with Drake right back up if you follow any of that it was uh it was noise it was a loud noise I I'll just leave it at that also the Jacksonville Jaguars coach did you see that he rolled up with this $360 million yacht no no and parked it at the Super Bowl I think New Orleans needed a little party before the big party that they've got coming up that place I don't even know how it survives this many people but they're one of those positive people we talk about it all the time it's all about attitude right it's all about how you handle things trauma drama how you go through life right and one of my favorite little memes of when the South got cold New Orleans had snow before all of this and some of them was just cross country skiing and on the back of him playing a bugle and somebody else was having a good time like it's that attitude it is it doesn't matter what you throw at me and that's the attitude to get you through life to appreciate life to see it in in that light it's beautiful it truly is what and and I think I've lived long enough to to realize that when something hard happens and something that that seems to be so traumatic at the end you see a positive in it there's a posit God has a reason for it our hard our hardships can produce good things I love it Ashley said she found your website listed a campaign for support on Tik Tok oh the wonders of the internet we're so thankful for you Ashley we appreciate it and anyone watching today we really appreciate you I'm going to drop a link in the chat where you can get yourself involved in Heroes in transition it doesn't always have to be a monetary donation volunteers are always welcome ours Manpower thoughts and ideas always welcome Runners yeah right uh Team Hazard over here needs a runner I think we might have gotten somebody I mean this is how wonderful this organization is I dragged Rob from shipwreck to start his team started his team beauti but I was complaining about it I do trivia over there on Tuesdays by the way we're starting a six- week Run for the best we're we're adding this um great big campaign so all of your points stack up for trivia and the winner gets an overnight stay at Margaritaville a little money on their tab a little bit of their water park um so definitely join us if you like trivia on Tuesdays over at shipwreck but I said to Rob I need a teammate and all of a sudden I start trivia and he goes this is the guy Kevin he wants to run on your team he's a Mass Maritime Cadet I was like we need youth we need youthful legs on my team we will take him I know so we're hoping that uh and there's um a Polar Plunge too coming up yes there is happening over at Shipwrecked and that is coming up this weekend so uh yeah and of course now it's really cold like I did the one that we did for Kanas and mash B yeah it hadn't quite gotten that Cold Yet now uh I don't know I think you gotta be if you like cold plunges and you feel like it's all therapeutic and whatnot come on down we're raising money they were smart Maddie did a um a Super Bowl um pool to raise money for their team oh really oh wonderful wow each team in here is in transition comes up with very fun creative ways in which to raise money for their teams my team we going the lazy route we're heading on over to knockabout thank you very much to knockabout for hosting us over there March 9th is our team fundraiser so swing through buy some Heroes gear have a beer for charity it's the easiest way to donate to us just have a beer or a Selter thank you right so wonderful right so many wonderful ways to connect we'll be talking to a lot more um Ruck for hit members as the weeks continue and I will be talking a little bit more about heroes and transition but I thought it would be nice to start this season by having a conversation with you about uh the organization all right everybody we will be on the show tomorrow Hank will join me in the studio back at home we got a full week of shows for you Marie younger is joining us on Wednesday Thursday we'll be back here at Mash PTV if you want to do a show or you've got something important in our community that people need to know about please don't hesitate to reach out to me you can email me Stephanie at Stephanie via.com or find us here at lemon ado.com download the app Alexa play lemon Ado radio or you can just find it online we appreciate you also thank you we would be nothing without Mash PTV in our friends here Chris Ball is amazing and all the programming that they do here Channel 1072 and HD and if you don't have it call 1 1800 Comcast and get a new box that's the problem there 1072 Mash PTV thank you have a great day everyone thank you bye you escaped that was great thank you huh