[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're joined now by Matthew Ellison, who's Executive Director of a terrific organization called the Patriot Fund, Inc.

Their website is up right now.

Matt, great to have you with us.

- Yeah, Steve, thanks for having me.

- Tell everyone what the fund is and the website's up and why this fund is so important.

- Sure, so the Patriot Fund exists as a fundraising entity for other nonprofit organizations that are supporting the veteran space.

What we do is we connect patriotic philanthropic individuals with our operational partners.

That's what we refer to as the organizations that we support.

There is a heavy vetting process that these organizations go through to earn the support of the Patriot Fund.

And for the folks that enjoy supporting us, they really find value in that due diligence component of what we do.

- Yeah, this is part of our series called "Honoring Our Veterans."

We also want to thank our partners and friends at New Jersey Manufacturing for making the connection between our programming and Matt and his team at the Patriot Fund.

So we can honor our veterans.

We can say thank you for your service, and that's important.

But let's be more specific.

The most pressing needs of our veterans in 2026 would be?

- So for me, it's clear.

It's not the official mission of what we do here at the Patriot Fund, but what really drives me and motivates me every morning is the dozens of veteran suicides that take their own lives each and every day.

That statistic, to me, is staggeringly sad.

And it's been a blessing to be in this role at the Patriot Fund, to be in a position to help those that are suffering.

And the men and women that have served and protected this country, we owe them everything.

And to contemplate that there are 22 that can no longer bear the difficulties that they encounter with their transition back into civilian life is just, it's soul-crushing.

It really is.

So being in the position to help is a wonderful experience for me.

- Some of the nonprofits you support are engaged in the effort to combat, to deal with suicide, but also to help veterans identify mental health issues and help them accordingly.

Fair to say, Matt?

- Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

- So help us understand this.

From your perspective, and I'm always curious about this, there are different reasons why different people get involved in veterans initiatives or initiatives that help veterans.

What's your why?

- So for me, this is a second career for me.

I left a 20-year career in healthcare.

And I took the role of the Patriot Fund as an opportunity to honor my grandfather, who's a 20-year Navy guy.

My father-in-law, basically the same type of story.

Both of these men were, they were just those guys.

They were everybody's best friend.

Everything they touched seemed to turn to gold.

And I took the role thinking it'd be a cool way to honor them and their service.

And it wasn't really until I started here that I learned about the 22 veterans that are committing suicide each and every day.

More when you consider deaths that can't be ruled a suicide, but it looks as though it may have been.

My why started off as a nice feel good story to honor those in my family that I've served.

Now it has taken on a much larger mission for me personally when I learn about the suicides that occur every day.

That's my why.

- Talk about the families of veterans and the programs and the organizations you support that support the families of veterans, Matt.

- Yeah, so Gold Star families, I mean, how can your heart not bleed for them?

There's a Gold Star family that lives right across the street from me.

And to be honest with you, Steve, when this man took his own life probably about three years ago, I was still in healthcare and I didn't realize the suicide issue that existed.

And when I learned of him taking his own life, I remember saying to my wife, "Wow, it's a shame, he served, "you know, and he just deserved a better fate."

And then when I realized about the issue and how widespread it is, all of a sudden, that man's death really carried some weight with me.

And I eventually worked up the courage to walk over and ask his sister if she'd be willing to talk about, you know, her brother.

And for the longest time, she really, really struggled.

She was actually the one that found him.

And, you know, she would, she talked about how she couldn't get the image out of her mind and how her life was completely turned upside down, not just by the sudden unexpected loss of a beloved family member, but just with her own mental issues, struggling with the PTSD of finding her brother like that.

She sought treatment, eventually found relief in some rapid eye movement therapy, which has been a tremendous blessing to her and her family now.

But I don't know, it's hard to put into words, honestly.

I mean, a tragic and unexpected loss in any family is difficult to bear.

But when you think that, you know, someone has served and has been overseas and hasn't been in your direct line of view and contact all the time and you worry and you worry and you worry another home and you feel like the worst is behind you, but then you check the statistics and you find that there's five times as many since 9/11 that are dying by suicide than were killed in action, you know, the real horror for many occurs back stateside in the dying.

That's hard to grasp.

It's hard to quantify, put into words.

- This has become personal for you.

- Yeah, very much so.

Yeah.

I can remember where I was, Steve, when I learned about that 22 a day suicide statistic, and it literally stopped me in my tracks.

And it sounds dramatic, but it's changed my life.

It really, really has.

You know, I thought the Patriot Fund had a wonderful mission.

Then when you layer on the dozens of lives that we are trying to save each and every day, all of a sudden, it takes a new meaning.

There's tragedies in this world, and that's an unfortunate reality of it, but it's a blessing to be in a position to help, and that's the way I look at my role at the Patriot Fund.

- Okay.

So money, we're a nonprofit, you're a nonprofit.

NJM, New Jersey Manufacturing supports a lot of nonprofits.

The money part of this, how important is it for you and your team to bring in the dollars to support these grants to these organizations that are helping our vets?

- Oh, it's everything.

My favorite day of the year is grant writing day and reaching out to everybody to let them know that they've been a recipient of the grant and let them know what their grant amounts are.

And our grant amounts run from about $100,000 down to 15, 20,000 for some of our first year organizations that we are supporting.

And it's my favorite day of the year for a reason.

The gratitude, the emotion that these organizations express when they receive the check for us is really moving.

I mean, for a lot of these organizations, it means the difference, especially in the current landscape of things with federal and state granting, you know, in, in question and so difficult to come by.

The grants from us, a private organization, means, again, a lot to them and the men and women they serve.

- And to New Jersey Manufacturing and other corporations who are corporate citizens who try to support organizations and make a difference, we say thank you to them as well.

So to Matt, to you and your team at the Patriot Fund, we thank you for the work you're doing.

We'll continue to honor our vets through our programming.

Thank you, Matt.

All the best.

- Oh, it's our pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by NJM Insurance Group.

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And by Rowan University.

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