Alleviating Food Insecurity as a Late Career Milspouse With Monica Basset
...Everyone get ready for a dose of inspiration on what Late Career Milspouses are capable of!
2022 AFI Army Spouse of the Year®, Monica Basset entered military life in her 30's, and has never stopped building community wherever they've been stationed since! As an advocate for fighting military food insecurity, her passion is truly infectious. This conversation will educate you and inspire you all in one!
Topics we cover:
👉🏻How to fill the gaps you notice in your own military base community
👉🏻What it's like to have a predetermined identity before entering military life, and how to shift
👉🏻Her amazing advice on how to strengthen your military marriage when shit gets rough
👉🏻Why we've seen an increase in discussing the military food insecurity issue, and how we can get LOUDER!
👉🏻Monica's inspiring permission slip to fellow Late Career Milspouses
If you're catching this episode in real time, vote for me for the 2023 AFI Military Spouse of the Year® here (and thank you! ♥️):
Meet 2022 AFI Army Spouse of the Year®, Monica Basset!
Monica is a military spouse and advocate for the underprivileged in the military community. Through her personal experience with food insecurity as a child and by connecting with military families facing these same struggles, she has made it her mission to ease the burden of food insecurity and shine a light on undernourishment of families. She built Stronghold to respectfully supply resources to families, provide actionable solutions, and educate others on the crisis of food insecurity in the military. Monica was named the Armed Forces Insurance Army Spouse of the Year for 2022 because of her commitment to alleviating food insecurity.
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Website: www.strongholdfoodpantry.com
Keep up with Stronghold Food Pantry + Monica on Facebook:
facebook.com/monicabassett2022afiarmyspouseoftheyear/
facebook.com/StrongholdCommunityFoodPantry/
Instagram: instagram.com/_simplymonica_
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse, Mentor, Speaker, and Certified Enneagram Coach.
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
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Consider supporting the podcast below by buying me a podcast editing date over coffee ❤️
TRANSCRIPT: Alleviating Food Insecurity as a Late Career Milspouse With Monica Basset
[00:00:00] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Hey y'all. Welcome back to the Heart of a Mil Spouse podcast. Jay Leray here, and I'm joined by another very special guest on the Late Career Mil Spouse series. Today I have with me Monica. Monica. Hi, would you like to introduce yourself?
[00:00:15] Monica Basset: Hi. Thank you so much, first and foremost for having me on. I am Monica. I. Guess I am a late career spouse, Um, I'm an army, an army spouse. I married my husband when he was a captain, had already had his good chunk of change in the military already put in, and I had, I was in my early thirties, But he is younger than me and. We were both very much settled into who we were and who we thought we were meant to be in this world. Um, I had a career. I owned my own home. I was very well established, and I met him at a restaurant and we started [00:01:00] talking, and he wa he brought something into my life that definitely was not worth giving up, even though it meant restarting my life and my career a million times over.
[00:01:13] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yeah, , I love that term restarting. Uh, cuz that is absolutely what it feels like. And at least for me, in the beginning it felt very like exciting to restart. And I think that kind of fades a little bit because then you get kind of punched in the gut by military lifestyle and you're like, oh yeah, okay, this is.
[00:01:36] Jayla Rae Ardelean: This is what maybe people were talking about, but the beginning feels like a fresh start. It feels like a fresh start, right?
[00:01:42] Monica Basset: It does. It's like, oh, what crazy and amazing places are you going to take me to? And then it's like, oh, you mean I can't bring my friends? And you can't. I can't bring my stability. I can't bring my retention with a corporation with me. Um, but when we moved Oconus, when we moved to Germany, [00:02:00] it was really when I felt it, because then the rules of the game completely changed.
[00:02:06] Monica Basset: work, finding work was infinitely harder and childcare was just non-existent. We had just had our first, when we finally made our trek over, uh, to Germany. And so that's when my real gut punch came, and I remember just being angry spouse for several months. And he finally was just like, let me have it, just let it go because we can't continue this way.
[00:02:34] Monica Basset: And he was right. I couldn't continue that way. I couldn't punish him for something he had no control over. You know, uh, it's not like he wants to leave. It's not like he wants to take a TD wire or rotation or a deployment. He'd rather be home with me and his kids. But, um, I couldn't keep fostering that negative energy.
[00:02:52] Monica Basset: So I remember one day I just let it all. Cried it out, kind of yelled and got angry and then I said, okay, so what am I gonna do [00:03:00] now? Because I have to make a life for myself, a happy life for myself. And then I just started hosting all the moms and all the kids at my house and, um, I find a lot of joy in feeding people and making and having people come together.
[00:03:17] Monica Basset: So that's what I did for the rest of my two years there.
[00:03:20] Jayla Rae Ardelean: I love that you had that moment and it quickly turned from like, oh, I'm so angry, and like this burst and this necessary reaction that needed to happen under those circumstances too. Okay, so what am I gonna do about it? because that period of time between the reaction and what am I gonna do about it? A lot of people get stuck there, and there is no, what am I gonna do about it?
[00:03:45] Jayla Rae Ardelean: I've been in that place where I'm not feeling ready to do anything about it. I don't know where to start. I'm overwhelmed. Not really sure what's within my wheelhouse to already try, you know? And so that period can feel really long for a lot [00:04:00] of spouses, and it sounds. For you at least you were like, yep, let's get to, let's get to work.
[00:04:05] Monica Basset: Yes. Um, it really was. I just had to turn it around. I just had to, uh, he called me out on the carpet and the moment that he did that and he let me say and release what I needed to, he gave me that space. And I think that's really important, um, that we allow each other that space in this, especially as a late spouse, um, as a late spouse.
[00:04:29] Monica Basset: We already have some maturity and some years behind us and to allow each other to know, Hey, we're starting this new and we're starting this together. It's, it's hard to start new habits at such an old age And so giving each other that space and that allotment to say, you're entitled to feel what you feel now. What are you gonna do after you feel that? So I think that was really beneficial for me and that really just made me, [00:05:00] the ball was back in my court. I get to do. I get to either continue my pity party or I get to change those, adjust those sails, and change that dynamic and that conversation for myself.
[00:05:13] Jayla Rae Ardelean: so what is it that you did? What did you change? How did you inspire everyone?
[00:05:18] Monica Basset: I started just helping and getting really involved. So I started, honestly, I just started having groups at my house, whether it was mommy and me, arts and crafts, but I al always food. The key is always food, especially in Europe, you know, Um,
[00:05:34] Jayla Rae Ardelean: And a drink or two, maybe
[00:05:36] Monica Basset: yes, yes. Um, so it really started that way and I really. My love for building community really started there because I was so isolated.
[00:05:47] Monica Basset: It was such a small installation in Europe and it was very passive, so it was where we trained NATO troops. So the husband would be gone 21 days playing war, [00:06:00] and then he'd be home for four and then gone for 21. So it was a constant rotation of that. So there was a lot of alone time for spouses and that can be very difficult.
[00:06:12] Monica Basset: So, and I'm sure that that attributed to my hostility towards
[00:06:17] Jayla Rae Ardelean: moving
[00:06:18] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh, 1000%. So it's like you moved me all the way over here, and now you're not even here.
[00:06:25] Monica Basset: Right, right. So I just started creating community. That is really what saved it for me would change the dynamic and hopefully changed the dynamic for many other families that I would constantly invite. I mean, it really was those 21 days I was hosting something at least once or twice a week. And then I have barbecue.
[00:06:47] Monica Basset: I learned how to grill there too, like started charcoal grill from scratch because then I'd host all the burgers and the hotdogs for three or four, five families in the neighborhood and they'd come in, or villages, I guess they call 'em villages in Europe a [00:07:00] lot. Um, but that is really what changed, um, just forming that community and me falling in love with building community.
[00:07:08] Monica Basset: And then that gave me the opportunity to give myself grace and to also get more adventurous. My daughter and I just started traveling while he was gone. We just would get up and go,
[00:07:23] Monica Basset: yes, just gonna drive to three countries. No big deal with my toddler. Not, you know, . But it's funny, it's once you start trying to cultivate yourself. A lot of opportunities come and I've seen that over and over again because as a military spouse and with us moving constantly, that period of, uh, down in the dumps or let me readjust my sales again, doesn't just happen once.
[00:07:49] Monica Basset: It happens quite often.
[00:07:51] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh yeah. It's a, it's actually like a constant cycle. Um, and when you're, we're on, when you're on the up and up, You're on [00:08:00] top of the world and it's great, and you know it's gonna come back around. And it's, it's hard to anticipate that, and it's also hard to manage it, but the sooner that you accept that, that is, that is what's gonna happen, then you're, you're better able to equip yourself with the tools that you need to manage it.
[00:08:18] Jayla Rae Ardelean: And yeah, I agree. So I did wanna ask you about the military Spouse of the Year journey because what I find so funny about it is that it's kind of like a beauty pageant.
[00:08:33] Jayla Rae Ardelean: In that there's like a campaign. I don't mean that to dis anybody. I just mean that there is, there is a whole campaign attached to it. Um, I'm about to embark on that campaign myself because I was nominated and I'm really excited about it. But what I found really inspiring was that you made it really clear that you were a late career mil spouse [00:09:00] without saying the term.
[00:09:02] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Late career mil spouse in your profile that is going to live in perpetuity on that website as a branch finalist. How does that feel? No, I'm just kidding. Um, but I found that, I found that so inspiring because I. Knowing what I know about you online and like what you stand for and the community building that you, that you referenced and, and how important that became to you.
[00:09:30] Jayla Rae Ardelean: I found it so inspiring that somebody who joined this lifestyle so late in life took, took it with almost open arms and sure, there are the challenges, there are the struggles and you named one of them. Um, but you have truly made it your own. And I think you've, you've kind of blazed a trail for other spouses like us, and it's one of the reasons I wanted you to come on.
[00:09:58] Jayla Rae Ardelean: So really there's no [00:10:00] question in there. It was just mostly, it was mostly just praise Monica
[00:10:06] Monica Basset: I, I appreciate it. Um, I don't ever think of myself that way. Definitely not as blazing a trail. someone said something to me earlier, kind of in what you just said, and I was like, I just, oh, they were telling me how, you know, our year, my year is about to come up right in May. And then it's the opportunity for someone else to, to take over the reigns of, uh, branch leader.
[00:10:30] Monica Basset: I was like, I don't even think about it that way. I just, I know what I need to do for me and for my family and to fill my cup and to satisfy my passion and to do for my community. And that's just what I do. And I think that after I, I decided to myself that I was not gonna let these obstacles of changing careers or not being able to have a career and not being [00:11:00] able to have my tribe and my community from the past that I said, I have to build my own and this is how I'm gonna embrace it, and this is how I'm gonna build a new one and hopefully help others.
[00:11:10] Monica Basset: It's kind of what I continue to do and that I hope someone can get a nugget from that or, and know that you can build your community, that this can turn around for you. So I appreciate everything that you just said. I never think of myself that way because like I said, I just, I just do. Um, and that I'm so much better at that than speaking . I'm so much better at that than going out in public.
[00:11:41] Monica Basset: I, I, I'm just so much better at just doing the thing.
[00:11:45] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yeah. Do you think because you had such a strong sense of identity and your values and what you stood for and your career and all of that, before entering the military lifestyle, do you think you applied all of [00:12:00] those skills to the military lifestyle, and that's why it was, it sounds like, not that you didn't struggle, but it does sound like you, you were able to pick yourself back up fairly quickly. And I'm wondering if the fact that you were already, you know, 33 years old when you entered this lifestyle, I mean, most most spouses are entering sometimes when they're 18 and their soldier is enlisting sometimes in their mid twenties, in my case, which is still pretty late Um, but what, what was it for you, do you think that made it easier for you to kind of continue being yourself and applying those skills.
[00:12:46] Monica Basset: I, I attribute it to a couple of things. One of which, yes, I had more time to grow in my career, to grow in my passions and in who I was like I said, when my husband and I both got [00:13:00] married, we both were very independent and thought we knew what we were gonna be and do for our individual selves. part of that I do attribute to my career path, my career progression before I met him.
[00:13:12] Monica Basset: You know, I had the ups and downs, I had the hard interviews. I had to. I had to support myself. Right? And, but the other part I truly have to say is how I was raised. I was raised with the mentality of you pick up your bootstraps, you do what you need to do. a lot of resilience early on, even though we always say the military cultivates a culture of resilience. I think I came with some of that in my background just because where I was raised, housed, raised the community that I was raised in, things of that nature that attributed a lot to who I am as an adult, and I've just been able to tweak that as we go.
[00:13:55] Monica Basset: And always, always, my biggest thing is that I have to [00:14:00] remember that my service member did not choose to go on t d y on my birthday. My service member did not choose to deploy for a year, two days after our baby was born. Emergency C-section. These were not my service member's choices. And when I keep that at the forefront of my mind, my service member did not want to remove me from my career field.
[00:14:25] Monica Basset: if I keep that at the forefront of my mind, It's a lot easier for me to get through the day and to pick myself up and say, okay, you had your 30 minute pitty party. Let's keep moving forward because we're a family and over and over again, I would still choose him.
[00:14:42] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh, I love that so much. . Oh, you would still choose him? That's so good to hear. I would, I would, yeah, I would choose this a hundred times over also. and I think it's, it's one thing that people fall back on and say, uh, just in marriage in [00:15:00] general, like, Hey, we've had our ups and downs, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't do this any differently.
[00:15:04] Jayla Rae Ardelean: I wouldn't choose someone else. I wouldn't choose a different path. Like I'm so glad that our converged, um, but I do think the context of that you're applying to that is slightly different. It's like there is an outside entity controlling a lot of our lives, where we move, how we work, how often they're gone, how often they're home.
[00:15:32] Jayla Rae Ardelean: And, I don't use the word control in like a negative capacity necessarily because there is this mindset of service, obviously that is attached to that, and it is, it is a necessary thing. but sometimes it does feel like the reigns are in someone else's hands, and I don't know if you can, you can relate to that of like, well, when are they gonna [00:16:00] be in mine?
[00:16:01] Jayla Rae Ardelean: When are they gonna be in his in ours? You know,
[00:16:07] Monica Basset: Not for a long time, sister, not for a long time, And I just think, I, I truly just think that if I keep myself in the mindset of the, what you were saying, there is a bigger entity at play here. my husband loves duty for his country and to do and to be of service for his country. And I fell in love with him for part of that. Because that to me was just beautiful.
[00:16:35] Monica Basset: And I fell in love with part of who he was as a service member because he was one before when we started dating. So I have to give that leeway. I have to fullheartedly understand that there is another entity at play here. It's not just to two people in this marriage, right? It's, there's another
[00:16:57] Jayla Rae Ardelean: There's a third party[00:17:00]
[00:17:01] Monica Basset: And, and they are happening all of the time. That's just how, I think, that's what's helped me get past the hard moments. The moments of getting up and closing business and not having a career and moving overseas, or the fact that my service member has not been home for any move in or move out because he is gone t d y. Yes, exactly.
[00:17:31] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Ew,
[00:17:31] Monica Basset: literally one of the times he was pulling out for 45 days of being gone for t d y. As he was driving out our trailer was rolling in, our semi was rolling in with our household goods. I was like, fabulous. So, yeah. And Oconus, he was gone to another country when we had our pack out.
[00:17:51] Monica Basset: So he has never actually been home for a move-in or a move out. he left two days after our baby girl [00:18:00] is born emergency via C-section and he was gone into Germany for another 30 days. So there are a lot of things that is upset as I want to get, um, especially we haven't been around that long. We aren't the high school sweethearts or the college sweethearts that joined the service from the beginning or that were military children in the past.
[00:18:24] Monica Basset: Cuz I come across that a lot as well. We came in late. We were used to corporate America. We were used to a civilian life where you put in your leave form at, or I don't even think we called it a leave form. I don't even know anymore your vacation request. And we got whatever four day we wanted, as long as we had the days in in piled up.
[00:18:45] Monica Basset: So coming into this life with some other entity, overseeing everything that we do is hard. So, and that's why I'm sorry, I keep reiterating if we just go back to the fact that your spouse loves you and they don't have, they [00:19:00] didn't choose to leave you, um, I think can really change the dynamic in the relationship when people are having a really hard time accepting where they're at in their marriage and in the military career.
[00:19:15] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yeah, I think that word accepting is really, is really important because when it does feel frustrating and it feels like never ending or you know, insert whatever, it's feeling like it's really hard to remember that the first step of getting out of that and moving past it is acceptance . If you just accept what is, because we will try to like fight it and change it and wish for something different.
[00:19:44] Jayla Rae Ardelean: And I get caught up in wishing for things to be different and I've, I mean, I'd like to think I've built a lot more self-awareness around that tendency in the past few years, cuz those first few years were really tough. [00:20:00] Because if you're just constantly wishing that things were different and reality wasn't reality, like that's heartbreaking.
[00:20:08] Jayla Rae Ardelean: That's a heartbreaking space to, to continue to remain in. Um, but yeah,
[00:20:15] Monica Basset: it's an easy space.
[00:20:17] Jayla Rae Ardelean: oh yeah. It, it's, uh, it's a default space for some people. It's, it takes. it takes practice to like move out of that and to on to acceptance and then also moving on to, okay, so is there something that I need to change? Is there some sort of like dynamic or something that I need to approach in order to better handle this? What kind of skill do I need to build so that this isn't so freaking hard every single time?
[00:20:48] Monica Basset: Right, right. No, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:20:54] Jayla Rae Ardelean: so I just, I love how you put that and it does, you know, put back [00:21:00] into perspective that even those who come to us and say, I've accepted this for myself and here's what I've done to improve my situation over the years, being a late career military spouse, and here's my like inspiring tidbit to give to all of those late career mil spouses out there.
[00:21:22] Jayla Rae Ardelean: The other side of that coin is you couldn't have all of that if you didn't also have the struggle and the moments where you wondered if you could even get through. like you have to have both the light in the dark cuz you wouldn't know what the light is without the dark. And you wouldn't know what the dark is without the light.
[00:21:41] Monica Basset: absolutely. I 100% agree with that. For sure.
[00:21:45] Jayla Rae Ardelean: So thank you for giving us both . We definitely flipped the coin. We were like, we're in the, we're on the light side of the coin and then we flipped it to the dark side. So, thank you,
[00:21:58] Jayla Rae Ardelean: so I did wanna ask [00:22:00] you, and I, I, I try my best to remember to ask every guest this what permission slip would you essentially write for other late career mill spouses? or even just to, you know, to any listener. I'm not trying to like totally pigeonhole you or anything, but to any military spouse who is struggling, who is having a hard time, What kind of permission slip would you write for them?
[00:22:24] Jayla Rae Ardelean: You guys should see Monica's face because she is like, you're asking me this question. as though she wouldn't be the perfect person to ask.
[00:22:35] Monica Basset: I will share with you what everyone tells me to give myself, and that's grace because there are so many learning curves both when you join just out of the gate. If you are a high school sweetheart, if you are a new college grad, if you are a late spouse, there are so many curve balls that are thrown your [00:23:00] way.
[00:23:00] Monica Basset: And especially for me, it was the constant fight of this doesn't make sense because my brain is programmed for corporate America. My brain is programmed after 30 years for the civilian workforce.
[00:23:14] Monica Basset: I was often told, just give yourself grace. This is a learning curve. This is a learning moment because when you do, when you are programmed a certain way already, it's really hard to just rewire. And when I say rewire, it's everything you thought you knew about life is different in the service.
[00:23:35] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh yeah, it's a gut job. And then a rewiring.
[00:23:40] Monica Basset: Yes. And it's to the point where you try to describe it to your civilian friends and family and you just give up because they're not getting it. That's staying not get it. Mentality is you, when you first come in.
[00:23:53] Monica Basset: Like, but why you're looking at your service member, like, I don't get it. Why? Like, why does this operate [00:24:00] this way? And then that leads to a lot of frustration and anger and all those things snowball and take, and take into effect in different ways in your marriage dynamic, in your family dynamic.
[00:24:12] Monica Basset: So I just say allow yourself to take a step back. Go lock yourself in a closet. Go keep yourself in a room. Take a step away from any situation that you think you might be aware of like I said, because we're hardwired and programmed one way, and just take a step back and give yourself grace to be on this learning curve. Because sometimes our service member can't adequately explain to us why the military is working a certain way, why the military opted to throw these new these new rotations in the mix, or why your household goods are halfway oconus is, and you got a new order to go somewhere [00:25:00] else, like neighboring state.
[00:25:02] Monica Basset: And all of that just fosters so much anger and frustration and a lot of the times we just need to step back and give ourselves grace, give our partner grace, and just realize that it's all a learning moment and the military's never gonna stop teaching us lessons.
[00:25:24] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh, that was so beautiful and inspiring and I think what's right underneath the surface there, especially for new spouses or late career mil spouses is that there is so much learning to be done. And that's actually the source of imposter syndrome for many of us because if we're constantly learning and don't know the answer to something, sometimes our brain will trick us into thinking, well, you're not cut out for this, and that spouse over there is killing it and doing so [00:26:00] awesome and you're not.
[00:26:01] Jayla Rae Ardelean: And why? Why are they doing a great job? And you seem to be learning everything over and over again. so I think a applying grace to yourself hits so many different markers that we experience as late career mil spouses. So I thank you for that to everyone.
[00:26:24] Monica Basset: You're welcome,
[00:26:27] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh my gosh. You just have such a lovely spirit. And I, I wanna close the conversation because I want you to get a chance to talk about which projects you're working on and, with your current duty station. which actually, I don't even know what it . I missed it. I don't even know where you are.
[00:26:45] Monica Basset: We just moved this summer. We're at Fort Leavenworth now.
[00:26:48] Jayla Rae Ardelean: oh, okay. Okay. I, Fort Leavenworth is one of the only places I actually know , so
[00:26:55] Monica Basset: didn't I hear you say, was it between Rome and this?
[00:26:59] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yes.[00:27:00]
[00:27:00] Monica Basset: Yeah, that's what I thought I heard in one of your podcasts.
[00:27:03] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yep, yep. So it was an easy choice, right?
[00:27:07] Monica Basset: Yeah. I'm telling you. I mean, yeah.
[00:27:11] Jayla Rae Ardelean: No. For anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about, I'm talking about, it's like seven years ago when we first met, this is actually our second stint in Rome, but that first stint, it was like, do school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas or go to Rome, Italy. It's not really an option obviously, Rome, Italy is is the, is the choice to be made.
[00:27:31] Monica Basset: You know, young, young couple in love, right?
[00:27:34] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh yeah. . All the hall markers. Yes.
[00:27:38] Monica Basset: I'm now the founder of the Stronghold Community Food Pantry, a food pantry here that serves our military service members and their families. And it really is an extension of the work that I started over a year ago At our last military installation, I started emergency care baskets out of my garage.
[00:27:57] Monica Basset: And I know a lot of [00:28:00] people, especially people not in our military world, always ask like, they can't put two and two together. How are you a service member and how do you need a food pantry? And, um, yeah. It, it's, it's a hard reality. But as I mentioned earlier, you know, we're built in a culture of resilience and we're built in a culture of we help our own.
[00:28:23] Monica Basset: Don't ask, don't tell. Uh, the Department of Defense has released that military families one in four. Across the board. All military branches are suffering with food insecurity. And I see it. We see it both at two different installations and across the board with friends, sharing their screenshots of what's happening in their bases and their installations.
[00:28:48] Monica Basset: Friends that I'm talking to in Ramstein and various other OCONUS installations of how families are struggling. So I am the founder again of stronghold food pantry. [00:29:00] I serve military families here, and it is just another way and an extension of building that community and building those relationships and knowing and letting military families know that I am here to support them and to help them, and then to also build a community of volunteers who want to do just the same for their service.
[00:29:24] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh, and thank you so much for all of the work that you are doing in that area. I think at least in the last, um, and this could be, this could be related to just an algorithm. but I think in the last year I've heard more and more about food insecurity through the military online, like on Instagram, for example, just in the past year.
[00:29:46] Jayla Rae Ardelean: It's not that I've never heard of the concept or understood that it was an issue, but more and more people are talking about it and it's getting louder, which I think is so important.
[00:29:57] Monica Basset: Yes, I am really happy that you [00:30:00] highlighted that. I think that we have now with our new Secretary of Defense that for the first time there was a secretary of defense calling on the carpet, the issues that our military families were struggling with in the health and welfare department.
[00:30:15] Monica Basset: And with that starting to hold data and research era where now that research was put out this summer, I think that almost gave more voices, the open door, the opportunity to also share. Because as we know in the military, as I have said, you know, w we tend to help our own and we tend to keep things quiet.
[00:30:40] Monica Basset: But the fact that there was someone at the Pentagon, at the Department of Defense saying, these are the numbers, there is an issue, has opened the door for many of us to say yes. And let me tell you how bad that issue is.
[00:30:54] Monica Basset: So I truly have to give credit there because I really do think that [00:31:00] that was something that was a key element to just allow the rest of us to act, to voice our concerns and to voice what we're seeing at the ground level.
[00:31:10] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yeah, absolutely. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much for all of the work you're doing.I wanted to give you a chance to say anything else about it if you felt that you needed to whether that's like branch specific or even base specific. I'm just not sure how coordinated your effort is amongst, like, how far does it reach?
[00:31:33] Monica Basset: Yep. So Stronghold Food Pantry currently serves all of Kansas. I am very honored and very happy that while the pantry is headquartered here at Fort Leavenworth, because I was donated space, which is amazing by Armed Forces Insurance and they've donated space, I am able to funnel food resources [00:32:00] to the Caring Basket program is implemented for military families at Fort Riley. And here I'm able to service National Guard reservists. And as we know, Fort Leavenworth, we're not as we know, but some of us know that Fort Leavenworth also has branch wide people from the Marines, the Coast Guard, uh, the Air Force.
[00:32:21] Monica Basset: So I'm able to service many different families and we are currently in the works of being able to provide assistance to military families in different installations, so I'm very happy We have our 5 0 1-C3 , which is that magic piece of paper with the I R S that allows us to get in more donations and have greater impact to our community. And so we are, we do have a goal. I have a goal. Stronghold has a goal to be at at least three or four other installations across the nation by end of quarter two.
[00:32:59] Jayla Rae Ardelean: I'm sorry, by the [00:33:00] end of quarter two of this year. Wow. I thought you were gonna say by the end 2024 I thought for sure that's where you were going.
[00:33:11] Monica Basset: Um, there is something to be said sometimes about the way I operate. Now I moved here mid August. I had a meeting with Armed Forces Insurance who was offering me space, and I had my ribbon cutting November 22nd. By December 31st, I helped over 166 service members and their families military children.
[00:33:35] Jayla Rae Ardelean: oh my gosh. This this just speaks to the absolute need, like the fact that you were able to move that quickly, but also that you were able to service that many families in such a short amount of time. That is heartbreaking.
[00:33:48] Monica Basset: It is heartbreaking and, and the need is there, and I always try to educate both friends and family and the community at large, both civilian and [00:34:00] military because as I've said to many friends that work in the advocacy area with me, even in the military, I was not aware of policies, procedures, in legislation, and all of these different roles that play into helping our service members before I got knee deep into it.
[00:34:23] Monica Basset: You know, when I started a year and a half ago, I was, I just saw a need in the community and I started in my garage. I'd buy, I'd go to the dollar store and buy laundry baskets in bulk for a couple of dollars. And I filled them with food and with toilet paper and household items. And I would distribute them only because I saw the need, not because I was part of an organization or I was part of something else that was do you know, needed to happen.
[00:34:49] Monica Basset: And that slowly propelled me into where I am now because I did get a nomination for the Armed Forces Insurance military Spouse of the Year [00:35:00] program, and then I became, More aware of different people doing advocacy work across the board in different realms, but they all affect military families.
[00:35:12] Monica Basset: And so then I started taking a deeper dive into where are these numbers coming from?
[00:35:17] Monica Basset: How are we helping them? What are some of the causal factors that tilt military families into food insecurity and how can we get to the root cause? And all of that has led me to learn. Helping the root cause is going to take years and it does need to be addressed and fixed, and that is Congress and d o d.
[00:35:40] Monica Basset: But it also needs to be addressed and educated and implemented at the lowest levels because there are other military spouses who have no idea that this is going on unless they are in it at that point in time. And there are are civilian counterparts who want to help because they're community [00:36:00] members and want to help have zero idea of this is what's happening in their community.
[00:36:04] Monica Basset: And so I, I truly believe that. Fixing many of the issues, uh, the health and welfare part of our military community and our families because, you know, we're not the military of 20 years ago. We're not coming into the service just looking to get an education or coming in as brand new 18 and 19 year olds just wanting to do their time and get out.
[00:36:28] Monica Basset: Our service members, over 50% of them across the have families that is not the military of the past anymore. And so we have not kept up, we've been very reactive to these changes that we need to attack it at multiple levels, and a lot of that is grassroots and at the top and. Like I said, it's very important for me to get the word out there because many of us are not in the know, and I [00:37:00] have to commend the military Spouse of the year program for just teaching me so much and opening my eyes because there are so many amazing spouses that are in the fight for various reasons and are happy to mentor and help and teach, um, the rest of us about what really is going on outside of our own little bubble.
[00:37:23] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Can I just say your entire demeanor changed when you started talking about that in like, in such a great way? It's it's an absolute compliment. You were just like, You were so positive and, and bubbly and you know, just happy to be here before that. And then as soon as I asked you about that, all the passion came in and it was like, you know, it just, it was like from zero to 60 it felt like, and that's, that's like the exact reason that I'm glad that there are people like you who are fighting for these causes because it does take a shit ton of passion [00:38:00] and it.
[00:38:01] Jayla Rae Ardelean: It takes a lot of perseverance and a lot of work to be able to, to work at that from multiple angles and to make the right connections and to pursue the the right people and get in front of the right people and recognize that you have your own education to do as well, and you just spout off all those statistics like they were nothing. They were just like at the ready. So I just, I'm so glad that we have people like you. That's all I was trying to say.
[00:38:31] Monica Basset: Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks.
[00:38:35] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Um,
[00:38:36] Monica Basset: love what I do,
[00:38:37] Jayla Rae Ardelean: yeah, it's, it's obvious. And for anybody who doesn't already follow Monica on Instagram, you need to, because she's sharing, um, A lot in the day-to-day when it comes to, um, when it comes to food insecurity. And it's been really helpful for me to, to see that for Monica because it helps me to keep it at top of mind [00:39:00] too, that this is one of, this is one of the more pressing issues that our military community is facing right now.
[00:39:06] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Um, and your approach to it is always like, this is what we did today and I. Geez, that's a lot . Like, that's a, every time I'm like, that's a lot in one day, But now after talking to you, like, and talking to you more, I'm like, oh yeah. Okay. So there's just a lot of, um, hardwiring that you had prior to military that just, you know, as you said, uh, made you. You know, pick yourself up, pick your boot, pick yourself up by your bootstraps and, and get to work type of mentality so it makes sense.
[00:39:46] Jayla Rae Ardelean: It all makes sense.
[00:39:47] Monica Basset: Well, at least I make sense. That makes me feel well,
[00:39:54] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Well, I will include all of your beautiful links into the show notes. Um, if [00:40:00] anyone wants to get in touch with you, um, potentially, uh, about questions about this topic or just to say hey and how much they appreciated your conversation today. Um, but let people know where they can find you online.
[00:40:14] Monica Basset: I appreciate that. So you can find me at underscore simply Monica underscore at Instagram. And we have a Facebook page, stronghold Community food pantry. I also have a Facebook page for the 2022 Arm Forces Insurance Army Spouse of the Year. And then our website is www dot stronghold food pantry dot.
[00:40:36] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Yay. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you and we'll see ya. We'll see ya on the gram, I guess.
[00:40:46] Monica Basset: Thank you. Hey, maybe I'll see you in May.
[00:40:49] Jayla Rae Ardelean: Oh, oh. What are we trying to plug up? I don't know. We shall see . Bye everyone.[00:41:00]
[00:41:00] Monica Basset: Bye.