If there isn’t the sound of trumpets heralding Jeannie Miller’s entrance to a room, there probably should be. She has the kind of energy that, if bottled and sold, would make her millions. But it's where she directs all that energy that makes her so impressive: helping Wounded Veterans and Backing the Blue. In between her busy schedule, Jeannie sits down with the Elsa Kurt Show to share.
Elsa Kurt: I know how busy you are you are with all of your goings on, so we'll get right into it. Tell me about the Wounded Veterans Project and how it all started.
Jeannie Miller: So, a few years ago my husband and I belonged to a combat Veteran motorcycle association- a great association- they do a lot of great things to help Veterans. I then joined their committee to find Veterans in need. It was it was really great; we were able to help some Veterans, but the only problem that I had with it is that it's such a large organization that it became difficult to timely help Veterans who needed it quickly. So, after some consideration I just thought, ‘you know, how can I make this better?’ I talked with my husband, and we decided, you know, let's go for it. Let's try to have our own nonprofit, and we'll be able to do turnarounds a lot quicker and help Veterans a lot faster. So, that's how it began.
EK: Amazing. When did you start this?
JM: Well, we're going on our 4th annual event, and I think- we switched over non officially because it took us some time to get the paperwork for the 501C3 due to COVID- but it's been about 3-4 years now.
EK: And you've done some really amazing things in that short period of time. I've gotten to first-hand witness what a powerhouse you are, and how you get people together for these events.
JM: Well, you know, my ultimate goal would be to for me to be able to do this full time. It's tough when you have a full-time job- and everything else in life- to be able to be on top of all of this, but fortunately, with the help of my board members and our amazing volunteers, we’re able to get stuff done. We have not ever gotten any funding or any grants at this point- we're trying- but, right now, all of our funding has come from the community. They've been a huge support of our fundraisers, which has been amazing, and thanks to all of them. We really couldn't do this without them.
EK: Tell me some of the events that you guys have done & have coming up.
JM: Sure. We have our annual Veterans Appreciation Dinner, which is actually coming up in May. I believe it's May 22nd that's at the VFW here in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. We just decided that we wanted to be able to put on something that cost Veterans nothing, cost the community nothing, and just to come in so that we can really show our appreciation to our Vets. We have music going on that day, we've got great food catered, and sometimes we do different things during the event as well, but we're really happy to give thanks and have the community come in and thank our Veterans as well.
We've been doing that every year. It's been really great. Thankfully, people are very happy to give some donations so we can have some help for that, and we do have sponsors as well which is great. So, that's been awesome. Our biggest fundraiser that we do every year is called Dunk for A Vet. This is our 4th year. We’ll be doing it in September. It's really a huge event. We've got a poker run going on that day and the Scramble Run. So, they can go anytime throughout certain hours and then they come back, too. We're holding it at Four Seasons by the Lake in Stafford Springs this year. When we come back there, we’ll have a dunk tank where we have a lot of fun dunking people. We've got vendors, we've got great food, we've got a Mötley Crüe cover band this year, which is gonna be pretty fun. So, that's our biggest event that we do each year that really helps us to be able to forward those funds and help Veterans throughout the year.
EK: What you're doing is such a huge undertaking, and you obviously have such a great crew around you that are committed to this and doing all these things for our veterans and for our law enforcement. So, huge thank you for that.
Our pleasure. We've got a pretty small board; it's just me and two other people. One is my husband, who's a combat Veteran Marine, and then we've got our other third member, Rosie Courtney, who does amazing things for us, too, but again it's really a lot in the volunteer work because if it wasn't for them we'd be having a really hard time pulling it together.
EK: Tell me a little bit more on how people can help you. what's the website and Facebook pages and everything that we can direct people towards to help?
JM: Great. So, my website is woundedveteransprojectinc.com, not to be mistaken for Wounded Warriors -it is a great organization- but they are huge and we are nowhere near that. We are based out of Connecticut, a small nonprofit, but we really do some great things for Veterans. So, you would go to woundedveteransproject.com, I've got all of our events up there, a lot of our pictures from previous events, we've got testimonials from Veterans who either want to remain anonymous or would like to say what we've done to be able to help them so that other Veterans can feel like they can reach out as well.
One of the toughest things for us, is just getting Veterans to say, ‘I need help.’ They are very proud people. It's tough for them to admit that, so it's important that we let them know. It's not just about us financially helping them but thanking them for everything that they've done for us, and we wanna be here to help them. We've got our website we've got Facebook pages- one is Wounded Veterans Project, and one is Back the Blue by Wounded Veterans Project. We kind of do a little side thing for our police officers, too. We've got Twitter, we've got Telegram… all that good stuff.
EK: So great. Now let's talk a little bit about that Back the Blue rally you have coming up. What is going on? Tell us the date, how people can register- right, they need to register to be a part of the ride? Go ahead and give us all the details on that.
JM: They don’t necessarily have to register; we can do that the day of, because we're not charging for this. We're just asking for a donation of $10 per bike or vehicle whatever you have. Last year people were very generous and gave more than that, so, obviously we'd love that. But we're just asking for 10 bucks.
So, basically this started this will be our third year it was really in the thick of things when law enforcement were really getting a hard time and I really couldn't stand sitting back and doing nothing about it. So, we decided that we would put together this motorcycle, car, truck, whatever you wanna drive parade and go by a couple of the local police stations here, in a line, and show appreciation- wave our American flags and Blue Line flags. The first two years that we did it we went by the same police stations. We had police officers and their families outside standing at attention, welcoming us, thanking us… it was really awesome. We probably had about 130 bikes and maybe about 30-40 cars and trucks all decorated with flags. People on the side of the road were stopping, cars were pulling over… it was beautiful. A couple state troopers in Connecticut gave us an escort one year. We had the local police departments giving us escorts the next year. This year, we're just changing it up a little bit we'd like to go to a couple different police departments and show them our gratitude as well.
EK: You know, the negative voices have always been so loud and that's all we hear on mainstream media. The truth is in the people that turn out for things like this, and show their support. And that is one of the most gratifying things that I've ever witnessed. So, it's a big deal. For anybody who doesn't realize how much of a big deal what you're doing is, just ask a law enforcement spouse. It means the world it truly does.
JM: Just to be in the front of that motorcycle line with the police officers in front of me escorting, and I've got my huge Thin Blue Line flag on the back of my husband’s bike, and just to see the gratitude- to see the officers standing there at attention- it's very emotional. I'm a huge supporter of law enforcement, so I really want them to know that we are out here. There might be times where we’re the silent majority, but on this day, we wanna show them that we're here and we support them and we're totally behind them, backing the Blue.
EK: I thank you as a spouse. I thank you on their behalf- I'm taking the initiative to thank you on their behalf- I think they won't mind.
JM: Actually, the first year that we did it, I opened it up to other people who might want to do the same parade the same day, the same time as us, and they did that out in New London and since then, the woman who organized that has become a nonprofit specifically for law enforcement officers. She does hers every year, too. So, if we could spread this around it would be amazing.
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The June 9th event is open to all friends, family, and supporters of police & Veterans, and starts at The Four Seasons by the Lake in Stafford Springs, CT. Attendees will gather between 5:00 and 5:45pm, and Wounded Veteran Project volunteers will have a table for registration/donations. Parade begins promptly at 6:00 pm and will go through three different police departments (locations TBA on date of parade). The ride ends at Shea’s American Bar and Grill in Manchester CT, culminating with live music from Bomb Shelter Band – whose members are both Veterans & in law enforcement. Meet LET UNITY & Right America Media personalities Elsa Kurt and Kevin Alan, who will also be in attendance to interview and broadcast from the event.
Lifelong Patriot & longtime Police Wife, Elsa Kurt has channeled her fierce love and passion for defending the defenders as the creator, Executive Producer & Host of the Elsa Kurt Show , correspondent and media personality for Right America Media & Law Enforcement Today. Her book, Welcome to the Family (Life Behind the Thin Blue Line) has been called the “must have survival guide for new LEO spouses.”
The vocal LEOF advocate is also a multi-genre author who has penned over 25 books, including twelve contemporary women’s novels. Her fiction stories explore the complex and relatable experiences of everyday life – the love & laughter, the heartbreak & sorrow, and everything in between. She finds the extraordinary in ordinary lives and puts you in the front seat of every story. Elsa has also written several children’s books, all with themes of encouragement, empowerment & uplifting messaging.
In 2022, Elsa launched The Writer’s Tribe Talk Show, an audio & video podcast for authors & a line of author merchandise in her Writer’s Tribe Store with clothing and more for authors & aspiring authors. Elsa also created three lines of apparel, accessories, & home decor: EKS Store with show & first responder merchandise, iGoodhuman, and Very Sweary Stuff.
As of 2022, she is the current Vice President of the Connecticut Authors & Publishers Association. Elsa has also embraced the fun and entertaining world of Tik Tok as theotherelsa.