(upbeat music) - Coming up next on this special Veterans Day edition of "Arizona Horizon," a nonprofit group provides event tickets to military service members and veterans.

Also tonight, Colonel Wanda Wright talks about her induction into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame Society.

And a veterans resilience program helps support military and first responder families.

Those stories and more next on "Arizona Horizon."

- [Announcer] "Arizona Horizon" is made possible by contributions from the Friends of Arizona PBS, members of your public television station.

- Good evening and welcome to this special Veterans Day edition of "Arizona Horizon."

I'm Ted Simons.

Vet Tix, a Tempe based nonprofit, honors military service members and veterans by providing free tickets to things like concerts and Broadway plays and sporting events.

We recently learned more from Steven Weintraub.

He's the Chief Strategy Officer of Vet Tix.

Welcome to "Arizona Horizon."

Good to have you here.

- Thanks, Ted.

It's great to be here.

- Give me a better definition of Vet Tix.

What are you guys up to?

- What are we up to?

We're up to a lot.

We've recently just achieved a milestone, distributing our 21 millionth ticket since we started in 2008.

And we just continue to grow.

And our organization, a 501C3 based here in Tempe, and we distribute free event tickets to veterans, service members, and our sister organization, First Tix, is the same organization for first responders, so police, fire, EMS, current and former can sign up and take advantage of this.

- 2008, correct?

- Correct.

- So what got this started?

- My boss, our founder, CEO, Michael Folkareto, Navy veteran, was at the Super Bowl in Glendale.

Him and his buddy who's a fellow vet, they're there, they're sitting empty seats next to them, and he was doing a community project at the time and he wanted to send some vets to a D-Backs game as a way to thank them for their service on Memorial Day.

And he sees empty seats at the Super Bowl and he's like, "Wait a minute, I need to ratchet this up to the next level."

So that's how it all started.

- So basically, we're talking Broadway plays, we're talking ballet, we're talking boxing matches, the whole nine yards here.

If there's a ticket, you got it.

- Any kind of ticket, if there's a ticket, it could be Food truck festival, it could be, again, performing arts, anything where there's a ticket involved, if we get them as donations, we distribute them.

- Recipients, all branches of military, service members and vets?

- Correct.

And all eras, all eras of service.

Oh, so it's not just post 9/11.

We have over 90-year-old veterans that use Vet Tix and they have their smartphones, and on their smartphones, they're putting in for these events and attending them.

It's that easy.

- Good for them.

Family members as well?

- Absolutely.

- Oh, it does work?

- 100% family members because that's what it's about.

It's about creating memories with your family and friends to make up for that lost time while you were deployed, away, missing family events.

This is how we can create memories and make up for that lost time.

- So Bruce Springsteen was just in town here recently.

Let's say that when that concert was announced, someone was interested in going, what do they do?

- What do they do?

Okay, our Vet Tix members, they sign up, they create an account for free, they get verified.

So we make sure that they're actual veterans, service members, so on and so forth.

Then they get daily emails about events in their local area.

So if we have tickets to events that are coming up, and it might be three weeks out, it might be the day before.

So you just never know what's gonna pop up in your inbox.

- How do you know what kind of tickets will be available?

- And that's where we work with our donors.

We have over 45,000 donors.

A lot of them are private donors, season ticket holders, people that aren't gonna use their tickets.

But Live Nation Entertainment is our largest donor.

So we've got promoters, performers, teams, venues that are our donors, and they'll donate these tickets to these events.

- So it's kind of like a ticket broker in the sense that except for selling them, you're giving them away.

- Yes, absolutely.

And again, because we're a nonprofit, they get the tax write-off because we're a charity.

- Have you had pretty good relationships with promoters and with teams and agencies and groups?

- Yeah, and see, here's the cool thing Ted, is that a lot of organizations want to give back to and support our military veterans and first responders, but they don't know how.

But so a lot of our donors, what do they have?

They have tickets, they have event tickets, and that's how they can recognize and support our military veterans and first responders.

- And there's like a service fee for delivery, right?

- Nominal service fee.

And it's not even $20.

- I mentioned Bruce Springsteen.

I would imagine it's hard for anyone to get a Bruce Springsteen ticket.

Are there events that are just simply, sorry, we just can't procure them?

- Yes, and we will never procure tickets on the secondary market.

Only through our donors, and we'll make spends because we're a charity and that's what our program is.

So when we procure tickets, it's directly with the event, the venue, so on and so forth.

- So if someone goes online and they see the list of events that are available, if what they're interested in is not on that list, then you're probably out of luck for that particular?

- Yes, exactly.

However, we'll get donations sometimes the day before the event.

And it's like, oh, no Beyonce tickets, but last minute we get donations.

So that's why our Vet Tix members, they know to check their emails or on the app.

- What kind of feedback you've had from this so far?

- We have over 1.2 million thank you testimonials that we share with our donors, so our donors can see the gratitude of our members, the impact.

And it's not just saying thank you.

There's another aspect of that.

We have hundreds of testimonials that say, "You know what?

My buddy, he wasn't feeling right.

Not in a good headspace.

I took him to this event and we were sitting with other veterans and service members and on the ride home he said, 'You know, if you didn't invite me to this event, I was gonna kill myself today.'"

And that's not a one-off.

- [Ted] Oh my goodness.

- So that's the social impact that we have.

- Well all right, Steven Weintraub, Vet Tix, congratulations on your success and continued success.

- Thank you sir.

- Good to have you here.

(bright music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) Colonel Wanda Wright is the former Director of the Arizona Department of Veteran Services and a 21 year veteran of the Arizona National Guard.

She currently serves as a director of ASU'S Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement.

Earlier this year, Colonel Wright was inducted into the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame Society for her contributions to the state's veteran community.

We spoke with her about the honor and her involvement with Arizona veterans.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you Ted for having me today.

I really appreciate it.

- You betcha.

Inducted the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame Society.

How's that make you feel?

- It was such an honor to receive the nomination, first of all, and then to actually get the award is just, the pride I felt that day was just overwhelming.

- And this is again for veterans honored for their work outside of military service.

- This is outside.

So you served in the military, and then if you've done something after the military that's of significance to help the community, doesn't have to be veterans, this community, someone can nominate you for the honor.

And it goes through a whole process.

The nominations end in March, and in October, they have the actual ceremony to acknowledge all the new inductees.

- Yeah, and you were there.

The society itself is, talk to us about that, kind of a leading advocate for Arizona veterans?

- It really is.

Pat Upa is the President of the society, and they do great work in veteran court.

They advocate for the state veteran homes and a number of other veteran challenges that they work on to try to help veterans in the state of Arizona.

- Let's talk about you, you work locally, nationally for vets in a variety of ways.

We've had, as I mentioned, we've had you on this show numerous times because you're always busy out there.

What gets you going?

What gets you doing this?

Because that's a lot of work.

That's a lot of effort.

- Well, it's veterans.

They are the joy of my life.

Right now I'm dealing with student veterans because now I'm at Arizona State University.

And I have a lot of joy with that as well.

We have a new course called Applied Military and Veteran Studies, so we can teach veterans and civilians about veterans and military service members.

And it is such a great way to live your life as a public servant.

- Certainly sounds like it.

And you've talked about, we talk about suicide and getting back into the swing of things from a variety of issues regarding veterans.

But the suicide issue just seems like it doesn't go away.

Talk about your efforts there, your work there, and where we're headed with this.

- So I think it is still an issue, obviously, and it has been an issue for a long time.

And the state of Arizona is doing a lot of work around suicide prevention.

One of the things that they're working on is mortality review.

And so now we're looking at every death, every single death that has happened in the state to review them to see if they were veterans.

So we have a good understanding of actually how many veterans have died by suicide in the state of Arizona.

Then we can go back and do forensic work on why, and then use that to create strategies to help prevent it in the future.

- And I know some of the issues involve transitioning out of the military into civilian life.

And again, we've talked to you a lot about that.

Are those still, I mean, is that getting any easier for veterans?

- I feel like at least there's programs to try to help it be easier.

But it's just tough.

It's tough to transition, when you've been in one institution, you come out of it, and now you're trying to navigate the world.

It's difficult.

And so I always challenge everyone to support veterans any way they can.

If they're your neighbor, if you work with them, if you have children who you're teaching who are dependents of military service members, help in any way that you can.

- Getting the needed care and assistance for veterans.

A, how difficult is it?

And B, is it getting better?

- It is getting better.

The VA is doing a good job I think.

It's still difficult to navigate sometimes, especially if you have multiple illnesses.

And so that gets a little complicated sometimes.

And if you have to be sent outside of the VA, that can also get a little complicated.

- Indeed, and employment efforts?

Just straight employment.

We talked about transitioning.

But just getting a job and fitting in.

- Yes, it's still difficult.

I mean, I think a lot of military service members transition into education for that very reason.

They feel like they need to get reeducated and re-skilled, particularly cybersecurity, because that's the next big thing, right?

We have a lot of chip manufacturers here now, and so that's sort of a new trend.

And so many are going back into education.

And we have programs to help those who wanna transition into employment right away.

And I think it is getting better.

- Would be remiss if I didn't mention first African American woman to become a Colonel in the Arizona National Guard.

How did that make you feel?

- I've had a great life, Ted.

- I just have to say.

- It sure sounds like it.

- Great family.

I grew up and I had great mentors in my family.

My mom and dad are just special people.

And just being able to live in the military, and I loved the military when I was in it and then getting out, and I was a Vice Principal for a school for a few years, and then I became the Director for eight years, which was the best job I ever had.

And now I'm at ASU helping student veterans.

- Yeah, when you hear that, when you hear about the Hall of Fame Society, 21 years of service and all this kind of stuff, when you look back, I mean, do you allow yourself to look back or- - I forge forward pretty hard.

- I was gonna say, you seem like you don't do too much of that.

You do a lot of forward thinking.

- I do.

I am a strategist by heart.

But I do reflect, especially of my father, who was a Vietnam veteran, he's also Colonel Wright.

So I'm Colonel Wright Jr. - I see, I see.

- And we talk about how he was so successful during civil rights time, and how standing on his shoulders made it so much easier for me.

- Well, Colonel Wanda Wright, it's a great career.

Keep it going.

You're not slowing down a bit as far as I can tell.

Congratulations and thank you for joining us.

- Thank you, Ted.

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(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music) - A new ASU program looks to support veteran, military, and first responder communities by linking research with real world solutions.

Rachel Larson from ASU'S College of Health Solutions joined us recently to tell us more about the program.

Good to have you here.

- Thank you.

- You bet.

Military and Veterans Resilience and Health Collaborative, what are we talking about here?

- Yes, so within the College of Health Solutions, we started the Military and Veteran Resilience and Health Collaborative, also known as MVRHC.

So we can shorten it down, but we have multiple initiatives to serve the health of our military connected community.

One of our initiatives is to increase eligibility of America's youth to serve.

Another initiative we have is to optimize health and human performance of those currently serving.

Another initiative is to serve those experiencing invisible wounds, and then to ease transition by improving social determinants of health.

So we're trying to improve health across the lifespan of a veteran.

- And doing it again by way of research, but making sure that the research transfers over to real solutions.

- Yes, absolutely.

And so we are collecting data on some of our programs that we're currently offering.

One program namely that we have recently launched is our Home Base Warrior Health and Fitness program.

And so that program is free to service members, veterans, and their families.

It was developed by the Boston Red Sox and also Mass General Hospital.

The veterans, family members, service members can come in for a 90 day cohort where they'll get individualized training sessions, consultations with registered dieticians, and other wellness programming.

- I was gonna say, it sounds like exercise, science, nutrition, hydration, sleep, mental health, all of these things are focused, true?

- Yes, absolutely.

There's some small educational pieces on, as you mentioned, sleep, hygiene, and other wellness practices.

- And you're working with Luke Air Force Base, true?

- Yeah, we are working with Luke Air Force Base on our Fit to Serve initiative.

So we're actually developing a course with Luke Air Force Base.

Some of their fitness center staff are helping out with some of the curriculum development.

And that course should be launched this fall.

And it's called the Fit to Serve course.

- And that is the bottom line here, which seems to be improving the fitness of young people, how big a concern is that right now?

- Actually they're calling it a national security threat.

So saying about 75% of America's youth are ineligible to serve.

The aspect that we're trying to improve there is the health and fitness.

So health-related concerns, obesity, lack of physical activity are leading to poor fitness scores.

And so if we can do anything to combat that, then we're definitely on board.

- Like the old presidential seals when we were kids, when I was a kid at least, you got a little presidential seal if you did a certain amount of pushups and that kind of business.

- Yes, I participated in that.

I don't know if they do.

And there's also lack of physical education in schools now too.

- [Ted] Mental health, factor here as well?

- Yes, mental health, that's one of the overall outcomes that we're focusing on with the Warrior Health and Fitness program also.

So it's a community health program and we're trying to improve mental health through fitness.

- And you're partnering with the Arizona National Guard and possibly maybe Defense Department, how is that working out?

- Yeah, so with our Optimizing Health and Human Performance Initiative, we're partnering with the National Guard to help them facilitate their Health to Holistic Fitness program.

We also have, I wouldn't say partnered, but we're funded by the Department of Defense, and currently work with five different military installations on cross-cutting prevention and improving overall war fighter readiness.

- And are you seeing results yet?

What are you seeing?

How's it working out?

- Yeah, no, I would say one thing that we have identified with some of the military programming is there's often siloization.

And so bringing everything kind of under one roof, and I can speak specifically to the Army that we're partnered with to the Health and Holistic Fitness program, right?

Everybody's now starting to work together and sharing services and sharing responsibility as well.

And so we're seeing improvements and changes in the culture, and so all positive things.

- Very good.

Rachel Larson, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Yeah, thank you.

(gentle music) (bright music) - [Narrator] Nearly 5 million people a year travel to Arizona from all over the world for a chance to peer into the sublime expanse of the Grand Canyon.

It's hard to imagine that any of them noticed the giant Navajo sandstone slab jutting from the earth just outside the park's Eastern entrance at Milepost 268 on Highway 64.

A plaque was once affixed to this stone.

It honored the victims of one of the gravest air tragedies in American history.

On the morning of June 30th, 1956, TWA Flight 2 and United Airlines Flight 718 left Los Angeles within minutes of each other.

One was en route to Kansas City, the other for Chicago.

They would collide over the Grand Canyon.

(somber music) Both airlines and the government would recover, identify, and return home as many of the victims as the rugged wilderness would yield.

67 of the TWA victims, 63 unidentified, are buried in the citizen cemetery in Flagstaff.

Services were performed by Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Mormon clergymen.

29 unidentified victims from the United flight were interred below a memorial in the Grand Canyon Cemetery on the South Rim.

(bright music) Public outcry from the accident resulted in the creation of the Federal Aviation Agency and a modernization of the country's air traffic control system.

Nobody knows what happened to the plaque that once paid tribute to the victims of Flight 2 and 718.

But their deaths are honored by the safe arrival of the many tourists that fly to the Grand Canyon each and every day.

(car honking) (gentle music) At the entrance of Bullhead City's Community Park on State Route 95 is a marker honoring Northeastern Arizona's vital relationship with the Colorado River.

(boat honking) For nearly 30 years in the mid 1800s, commercial steamships served the mining communities of Northern Arizona, hauling supplies from as far down river as Yuma.

Cargo was unloaded at nearby Hardyville, often returning downstream with bargeloads of local ore. Bull's Head Rock from which Bullhead City derived its name was located just upstream.

The escarpment was used as a navigation marker, and the point where Mojave Indians forded the river.

Bull's Head Rock was submerged in 1953 with the building of Davis Dam.

(upbeat music) Today, the Colorado is still Bullhead City's lifeblood.

Jet skis have replaced the steamships, and Nevada's casinos just across the river have replaced the mines, mining tourists' wallets instead of the ore from the mountains.

- That's it for now.

I'm Ted Simons.

Thank you so much for joining us on this special edition of "Arizona Horizon."

You have a great evening.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)