Merrimack Valley Studio Productions

Veterans Assembly Hall September 2025 Studio Call In from Rae O'Donnell, President & Co-Founder of the Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire. Jeff Riley – Vice President & Co-Founder Donn Mann – Director & Co-Founder Scott Chausee – Treasurer & Co-Founder Introducing the 1st Annual VETFEST to be held in Merrimack NH on November 7th (Friday evening) at the Anheuser-Busch Biergarten, November 8th (Saturday) on the Anheuser-Busch event grounds, and the formal Gala on Sunday, November 9th, at the American Legion Post 59, Hillsborough, NH. Rae comes from a "family deeply rooted in military service, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, father, and brother". She introduced herself as US Army Veteran serving in the Military Police and married to a Combat Experienced Veteran. Being a veteran is in the "foundation of everything that is me, it is how I was taught," she says. Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire was initially co-founded by four individuals: herself, Jeff Riley, President of Salute the Troops Foundation, Donn Mann, Commander of the American Legion Post 59 in Hillsborough NH, and Scott Chausee, Nam Knights MC of America's Granite State NH Chapter. She laughs when she remembers the four of them sitting in a Mexican Restaurant, thinking about the concept of an NH VETFEST and wondering if anyone would even be interested. Given the social media buzz and frequency at which it appears on our feeds, emails, and calendars, I would be surprised if this event becomes anything other than a tremendous success. Rae points up that more than 60 non-profits and veteran-focused organizations have already signed up to participate in Saturday's Resource Partner Day. Rae talks about how she was impacted by a veteran's suicide and identified the need to make the Veterans Community in NH more aware of the resources that are available and how to access them. Rae recognizes the role that larger "Institutional Organizations" play also knows that sometimes it's difficult for them to be as responsive. The demand is sometimes overwhelming, and the resulting message being sent is that there's no help available. The group set out to change that messaging and connect both the individuals with resources, but also help the organizations themselves network together. In doing research in the State of New Hampshire alone, they identified over 290 Veteran-centric non-profit organizations operating in NH. "That astounded me," she remarked. We were also taken back to learn there were so many organizations servicing our Veterans in the state. Rae says their challenge was to figure out a way to bring all of these non-profit veteran organizations together. "If we didn't know there were this many organizations out there, how are the veterans struggling day to day going to know? They're Not!" An event like VETFEST pulls the organizations out of their silo's. The goal is to connect these smaller organizations and establish "resource partners" amongst the community. She wants to change the perception from seeing the neighboring non-profit as competition to one of collaboration and networking. VETFEST has a two-fold goal, to resource the individuals and network the organizations. I asked her if the idea of hosting VETFEST NH was something they were bringing in from elsewhere, and she replied, "No, not at all, we didn't do any research, we didn't look, it really did come from all of us." We asked ourselves, "What can we do to put this into action?" Because the Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire was so new, they never anticipated going down this road. VETFEST NH initially was just "let's get people together and open up those days." What they discovered was that it was overwhelmingly well-received and became "a lightbulb moment" for so many. They soon realized that they really needed to make this official and ensure that what they were saying was going to happen actually happens. I asked if they found themselves facing a Put Up or Shut Up Moment. "Yes, absolutely", she laughed. She recalled that if Jeff Riley, one of the board members, were on the call he often says that "it's time for non-profits to put their money where their mouths are". Essentially the same message. She explained that smaller non-profits are often overlooked or overshadowed by those bringing in big money budgets. For the Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire, it's not about being "on the map", they're about making Veterans aware of what is out there. "It has nothing to do with where we (the non-profits) land and everything to do with what we are producing for our veterans, are we servicing our veterans, and do they know the resources are out there." She points out, quite correctly, that there are plenty of small non-profit, veteran centric organizations that are "boots on the ground" and having a big impact. VETFEST is about changing that message we discussed earlier, where we appeared to be saying there isn't help to there is help, "because that's where the hope comes in". We asked her if the organizers were vetting the participating organizations, was there a criteria they needed to meet to participate? If the entity is a veteran-centric organization Rae explained that at the outset, they were only permitting non-profits to participate in the resource partner day, but they found in doing so that there are organizations out there that were not non-profits, but the service a large number of veterans, in some cases, upward to 90% of their clientele. They approached VETFEST not seeking money or to profit, but to partner with the organizers and deliver their message that they are there to help the veterans as well. Rae says, "If you help veterans and that is what your focus is, you are welcome at VETFEST. There are presently more than 60 resource partners enrolled for VETFEST, and that number is continuing to grow. We are accepting resource partners right up until that Saturday. Reach out to Info@VRANH.org if you're interested in participating. Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire is entirely volunteer, and no one draws a salary or benefits from their participation. The NH VETFEST is a three (3) day festival that kicks off on Friday evening at the Anheuser-Busch Biergarten. Rae points out that Anheuser-Busch has been an amazing partner in organizing this event over the first two days. Friday evening, they're inviting the public and participants to join them for music, beverages, and to meet everyone informally. It's an Open Event. The 39th Army Band will be playing live. Anheuser-Busch will donate $1 for every beer purchased back to VETFEST. All proceeds from the festival will be donated back to the participating non-profits. Saturday starts at 9 am with a completely FREE venue for a family-friendly event. In addition to the resources we've discussed, they have a Kids zone, food trucks, a Cornhole Tournament, the National Guard Rock Wall, a Motorcycle Poker Run starting and ending there, Military Vehicles on display, and the list goes on. On Sunday, the weekend wraps up with a formal Gala at the American Legion in Hillsborough NH. She pointed out that the Gala hits a different audience and features guest speakers, media, and fundraising. It's also a way to formally recognize everyone. Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire is not just VETFEST. It is and will become their staple or flagship event, but they want people to know that they are continuing to work throughout the year and bring organizations together. They are already looking at how they can change and improve going forward. "It is a movement for change, it's a movement for hope, and actually changing that narrative where asking for help is a badge of honor, it's not a weakness." 1st Annual VETFEST Anheuser-Busch in Merrimack, NH https://www.facebook.com/share/1Fzc5kP2cd FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – OPENING NIGHT: "Buy a Vet a Beer" & OFFICIAL KICK-OFF Location: Anheuser-Busch Biergarten, 221 DW Highway, Merrimack, NH Event Time: 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM Live Music | Community Connection | First Cheers for Change SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – RESOURCE PARTNER DAY Event Time: 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM Anheuser-Busch Grounds, Merrimack, NH SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9 – VETFEST GALA American Legion Post 59, Hillsborough, NH A Formal Ticketed Event Our closing event is a formal evening to honor our partners, recognize our sponsors, and reflect on the impact we've made together. The Gala features: Special guest speakers, hero recognition, sponsor recognition, dinner music, and remembrance. The 39th Army Band https://www.39tharmyband.com Veterans Resource Alliance of New Hampshire https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574823903671

2025 Cartman's Call In from the Parent Chapter Brother Cartman joins the Merrimack Valley Podcast, coming across the airways from the Corn Masg, Cigar Ash, & Motorcycle Trash Podcast! Brother Cartman is a Patriot Member and 3rd Generation Patch Member of the Club, his Dad, Machine Gun Kelley is also a member of the Parent chapter and his Grandfather, now retired was also member of the Parent and Tampa chapters. He recently celebrated his 10th Patch Anniversary and recalls how his Grandfather intersected with the club at the local VA during their bingo nights & subsequently prospected and joined the club. We joked a bit about the 2nd Bike Trend working its way through the club. Cartman has an "unridable" 1980 Sportster in the back of the garage that's always "amost there". The second bike is almost always the favorite; but you wouldn't want it for the long march. The Annual Beefsteak event was recently hosted by the Parent Chapter and organized by Brotheer Flatline. It was a great time and another successful event. We talked about how in many ways, the Beefsteak marks the first big event for the New Year. The event recently moved to its current location in the Elks Lodge in Paramus NJ and by all accounts it has been a great location. Next Up is the Parent Chapter's Car & Bike Show on Sunday, May 4th (rain date: May 18th). The biggest event of the year for the Parent Chapter. The event boasts DJ Music, Vendors, and plenty of food, the grill will be going all day! Its hard duty working from early in the morning, throughout the day, sometimes in the blazing sun and in the heat. The Car & Bike Show event has had a long run at the Parent Chapter (does anyone know how long its been continuously running?). Gates open at 8am and Cartman promises he will be up front working the parking crew. He doesn't have a flashy safety vest; but he did get radios which he clips on his shirt. It gives him an air of importance, he says laughing. The event is family friendly, public event with cars and motorcycles, so the decision was made to forgo alcoholic beverages. Its the one event at the club house that is minus libation. Next Up is the club wide run to DC for Memorial Day! July 26th, the Parent chapter will be doing their Christmas in July event. This past year, the chapter did their first Toys for Tots run and donated the toys to a local Boys & Girls Home. In July they are going to invite the kids out to the clubhouse, grill, have games, music, and collect donations for the home. September 21st, the chapter is hosting their Annual "Buzz Run". An escorted ride, it used to be their poker run, destination is to be decided. Last year they had a great route for the ride, rolling roads and wooded area. The run returns to the club house with a large spread of food. The Run raises money for a Scholarship Fund that Brother Fritz will present to the school every year. October 4th is the Chilli Cook-Off. Brother Goob organizes the event, which is held Rain or Shine. Cartman thinks its one of his favorite event and denies he might be a bit partial because his wife is defending champion chilli winner. Everyone gets to judge the competitors during the competition which has a panel of judges but also awards the Fan Favorites. Competition is rumored to be fierce. The Champion gets their name on a plaque and become immortalized in the clubhouse. December 12 has been reserved for the Parent Chapter's Christmas Party. Details to follow. October 18th for the External Chapter Ceremony at the Orlando Chapter. Cartman reveals some insider information on the Mash, Ash, and Trash Podcast as we wrap up the episode.

Swamp Fox Chapter Call In Today, we welcomed Brother Skee from the Swamp Fox Chapter in Charleston, SC to the podcast. Another great episode where no plan was the plan for the conversation! Skee introduces himself and the chapter at the outset. Serving both his country and community, not necessarily in that order. At 38 years of age, he decided to join the Navy and says he held his own with the other recruits, nearly twenty years his junior. After 6 years of service, he was sidelined with an injury and subsequently medically retired. The Swamp Fox located in Charleston SC, was started in 2015 with Skee and a handful of other patches. Growing quickly, they soon began to deal with the challenges that come with a large member footprint and have since leveled off at a more manageable size that is producing results. "We are doing a lot better now than we have in previous years", says Skee. They currently have a group of "really good guys". "I would rather have 12 guys that will go to everything than have 40 guys and have same five guys show up all the time." The Chapter has their 10 year Anniversary Party Coming Up on April 26th starting at 12noon. Low Country Veterans has been designated as the charity to benefit from the event. Low Country is a Veterans' Residential Home on James Island. The chapter has donated and visited the home in the past. They have donated Care Packages to the Residential and Transitional Living programs. Listening to the Boondocks Chapter episode on the podcast, Skee admits he's liberating their idea of buying supplies through Amazon to put together 100 Personal Hygiene packages. "Actually, we kind of stole that", he says. All of the programs are crunched for money these days, Skee points out, and this helps them out. The residents really appreciate the chapter visits, just hanging out and talking with them. Alot of residents are WWII and Korea era veterans who enjoy the bikes and the visits. The chapter is running a Gun Raffle, and the proceeds help them with these programs. One of the chapter's patches recently had a serious motorcycle crash, and a Go Fund Me has been set up to help the family defray the hospitalization cost. Link Below Go Fund Me Link Nobody supports our Brother better than our own. We started to explore the details of their upcoming Anniversary Party. The first detail that jumped out was the Bikini Bike Wash, which we first suggested was going to be Skee himself washing bikes. He suggested they may be more successful if he accepted donations to do it in reverse and pay him not to wash the bikes. $20 per plate gets you the Low Country Boil, DJ music, cigar & knife vendors, beverages, and the promise of a great afternoon at their clubhouse. They are prepared to feed up to 80 people. The chapter has cornhole boards, dart boards, pool tables, and a large industrial parking lot behind the building. Plenty of room to enjoy yourselves. In January, the chapter turned out to help a Veteran's widow with repairs to her porch and home. Once the work started, they discovered that it was going to require a lot more than first anticipated. Last weekend, they completed the work with a paid General Contractor & work crew to finish the siding on the house. They are still working on replacing the floor in the future. We talked about how impactful the sweat equity is as opposed to just writing a check. The chapter hosts a monthly Open House at the clubhouse. We talked briefly about how challenging it is to organize and execute Poker Runs and such. It's hard to get municipalities to support large runs, road closures, and escorts. Not to mention liability riders and growing traffic. A legacy member himself, Skee has been around the club since he was 16 years old. We explore some of the obstacles he's encountered trying to etch out his place in the club. Skee talks about the importance of networking and developing your own reputation among the community and bike scene and how they've worked hard to build that credibility. "Over the last year, we've lost some members, and we've actually gotten closer as a chapter; we've become a much closer chapter," says Skee. "I hated losing the guys that we lost, but I'll tell you what, the rest of us have rallied."

No Plan was the Plan Sometimes the conversation just clicks. Here's a teaser of their upcoming episode.

Appalachian Chapter Calls In We had a great podcast today with the Appalachian Chapter and welcomed our NK Brother Sig back to the podcast. Brother Sig is no stranger to our podcast and was one of our, if not the first regular call-in guests to join our Group-Casts way back in the day. As a Career Officer and K9 handler, he reflects briefly on his 27 ½ year career and a chance meeting in Washington DC where he met the Nam Knights MC and bravely waded into the mayhem outside the Hilton Hotel in Crystal City. He hasn't been the same since. The Appalachian Chapter is celebrating its 27th Anniversary as the Seventh Chapter of the Nam Knights MC chartered on January 16, 1998. A worthy celebration to say the least! On the weekend of April 10th to the 12th, they will be pulling out all the stops to mark the occasion. Even though they've been around for almost three (3) decades, they certainly aren't taking their foot off the pedal. This week, March 22nd they'll be hosting their Bike Night at the Grumpy Old Men Brewery! Brother Sig says they try and host an event a month to keep both the Brotherhood and the Community engaged. "We will have something every month, except December" The chapter enjoys amazing community support, but that doesn't come without hard work. There are a lot of prominent folks vacationing in the area and some local breweries that are "hugely supportive". "We've gotten an infusion of new members", says Sig, and with that came a lot of new ideas and energy. "We've got some prospects in the pipeline too". The Chapter hosts a "Bikes and Brews" event every September benefiting the Georgia Police K9 Foundation. Live Bands, Raffles, and it's a very big deal. The next one is scheduled for September 13th and will be their fourth time hosting the event. The Brewery that helps sponsor the event is moving to a much larger venue, offering the chapter a larger footprint to organize the event. Every year the chapter tries to make it bigger and better. The chapter runs Trivia Nights, Chilli Cook-offs, the Angel Tree promotion, Toys for Tots, Feed Fannin, and anything the local area needs that we can jump in on. "We are very fortunate that everybody here has embraced the Nam Knights MC" and they're taking that ride as hard as they can because they want to help the community as much as possible. https://feedfannin.org Brother Sig says the area is a little out of the way but they still get great support from the local chapters, particularly from the Georgia Area. He encourages any patch that's coming down their way to ride or for vacation, to please give one of them a call and check in. There are some fantastic riding to be had and they would like to point you in some right directions. "When people come to town, it's like Christmas for us".

Southern Tier Call In We welcome Brother Contempt and Bulldog from our New York Southern Tier Chapter. The chapter started in 2004 and recently celebrated their 20th Anniversary last year. The chapter is a busy, tight crew that opened their own clubhouse last year. We talked about their unique geography in the mountainous foothills of the NY Catskills. Great scenery, great roads, there's not a bad direction to head in. We laughed about cold mornings and warm afternoons. Southern Tier hosts some different events like their Fly In Breakfasts at the local airport. They've been hosting them for about five (5) years now which regularly draws 200 people. The chapter provides the manpower assistance and in turn the chapter benefits via fundraising. "We leave it better than we got it", says Brother Contempt. Pointing out that they clean the venue thoroughly before they leave. Minutes later perhaps confessing to some nefarious activities as well. (joking). We talk about their venue for the August Event. The field provides plenty of space of camping overnight, axe throwing, shooting competitions, bonfires, tattoo artists, bands, and more. This will be the 21st Year of the event and in the last two years they've expanded the event even more with bands on Friday and more activities. The event is open to the public and clubs which are encouraged to attend and support our Veterans and First Responders. This year Brother Ambassador promises to "to blow it up and make it bigger and better than ever". Contempt contends that he will soon succeed in having a Huey or a Blackhawk land in the field one of these years. The chapter admits they might have "stole" the term Burger Burns from the Merrimack Valley with tremendous success! "We've gotten a tremendous following." It helps us out during the winter, we post that thing on our facebook and people show up. It's been a huge help to the local Vets Club and Legion Post when the Burger Burn draws the crowd and it's a huge boost to their business. Contempt expounds on why it's important to have that community connection. "If something happens in this area, one of the first group people talk about is the Nam Knights." That only benefits the veterans and first responders. That results in some interesting donations. This year they did fishing gear and tackle for the Vets Home. We get side tracked a little with a discussion about their donation of robotic cats and dogs to the Memory Unit at the Vets Home. What a unique idea. A few years ago they delivered 10-15 electric razors. This year the chapter hopes to do the Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway as part of a chapter week's long ride in the Fall. "We've got a good crew, that likes to ride, likes to do things and hangout. Alot of BS flies and a lot of drinks get dranks!"

2025 White Mountain Chapter Call In 17th Annual "Blues Bash" February 22, 2025 Doors Open at 6pm Food starts at 7pm $20 PP Indy & Maker welcome WMC's LT and Youngblood to their first appearance on the podcast. The chapter started in 2007 and is based in Concord, New Hampshire. More recently the chapter has experienced a change in membership and is currently undergoing a bit of a reorganization and change in its personality. This year's Blues Bash is the 17th anniversary of the event. The event boasts a unique food fare where each patch brings their own "signature dish" to the event. Indy points out how the chapter successfully organizes the event. Many local patches and prospects have cycled through the event over the years. "Its a great event, so much stuff going on, you never see prospects sitting around", setting the bar high. LT points out some recent changes in the way they organize the room to ensure that everyone is included in the festivities. The event always dodges the potential of seasonal weather. LT advises that the event is rain (show) or shine. We asked if they ever had anyone ride to the event. Not that anyone could recall. The support that the chapter gets from the VFW is strong and a great partnership. Raffles include 3 items raffle: 55" inch flat screen TV, Blackstone Grill, and $100 Cash.Plus a door prize and basket raffles. The event always has a big and diverse community turnout, in addition to the Nam Knights chapter attendance. EVENT PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/share/17prFXxTDb