Mr. Urban is also a veteran, having served America as a Navy Lieutenant from 1968-1971, with shore duty in Viet Nam in ’69-’70. He agreed to join the management team at Voices United for Veterans to help right some wrongs he witnessed, first-hand, many years ago.

“I want to participate in order to assist vets who never got the assistance they needed. Coming home from Viet Nam in ’70 showed me how the public can toss aside members of the military and forget about them when they most needed help. I don’t want the public to ‘toss aside’ our veterans again.”

Born and raised in Portland, Lee “joined the Navy and saw the world” before returning to Maine’s largest city. He is a widower with four children and a beautiful granddaughter who celebrated her first birthday in June, 2011.

It is that same kinetic energy she tirelessly brings to her work with the Texas Children’s Hospital’s “Heal Sick Children” program, and other causes she supports.

“Children, Veterans and Indie Artists who ‘give back’ are three causes that are very dear to my heart. Giving back is a family affair. My husband and I are always looking for opportunities to give back to the charities we love. Now that we are new parents… this becomes even more important. It is our desire to teach our own child the rewards and the necessity of helping without being asked.”

In addition to joining our management team, which she serves as Secretary and Treasurer, Melina gleefully volunteered to advise other artists with whom we collaborate in this vital mission.

“The veterans and those who serve our country deserve more than being left homeless with no skills, forgotten and broken. We owe them more. I joined Mats for Pats because it helps me use my meager talent to give back to the community that we are from, and my music and my time are the biggest commodities I have to give. I joined the Advisory Board because I know that it is easy for me to help other artists also rise to the occasion. I joined the board of Directors to maximize how much I can give back — and it makes my husband very proud. He is serving his sixth year in the US Coast Guard, and comes from a long line of service men and women. Among them, his father, brother, grandfather, grandmother, great uncles, cousins, and great grand father. Our family has served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.”

Please visit her website to learn more Melina Gerges Bradley.

He is a veteran of the Vietnam Era, serving with an Army Ordinance, training & support company in Germany from 1966-’68. His father was a World War II Navy veteran in the submarine service, and his uncle served in the Army during WWII.

Ken founded Voices United for Veterans this past April out of a personal experience and strong distaste for how many of our men and women who served America are treated upon returning home with psychological and emotional issues.

“Homelessness, and a primary contributing factor, mental illness, have touched my immediate family. And I guess I’d always known that some percentage of those who live on the streets are fellow vets. But it wasn’t until I began to see those numbers grow, while every week watching Congress axe funding for programs vital to helping our heroes, that it became clear to me what needed to be done. Hundreds of nonprofit service organizations across the country do amazing work every day with every aspect of the homeless Veteran crisis. Everything from transitional housing and counseling to job and career training and opening avenues to higher education. They help restore dignity and assist Veterans in taking back their lives – even as the dollars dry up. So I said to myself, that’s our mission. We raise money to support these programs.”

 But how to do that?

I’ve been lucky, since returning from military service, to have spent my entire life in show biz. I’ve been on stage, and on radio and TV. Along the way I’ve worked with many very talented music artists, actors, broadcasters, news anchors, talk hosts and writers. A number of them with big hearts and endless energy for worthy causes. Influential VOICES for change. And there it was. We entertain the masses and raise money while raising public awareness about the problem, and those working to solve it. President Obama came into office with a five-year plan to end Veteran homelessness. We want to be part of achieving that goal and happily end our mission.”

Every step of the way, Ken has had the love, support and counsel of his best friend Penny – and the unflinching adoration of their cats, Miri and Tiggy. Add the bonus of serving with an incredible group of Directors, while living and working in beautiful Portland, and it’s impossible to envision any other outcome than success for this mission.

To learn more about Ken Main please visit the Penguin Pods website.

Notable is her leadership of the newly established Testing Center of Excellence world class QA model. She also serves as the Aetna Way Excellence Award coordinator for the northeast region where she oversees the Aetna wide recognition program engagement for the enterprise. She has worked in various IT positions over her 29-year tenure with Aetna.

Ms. Pillion holds a degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut. She is an active member within her church community where she serves in the role of church president. Ms. Pillion’s community leadership includes PTA president and home owners association president and she has led many successful community wide fundraising events.

Inspired by her father’s service as a World War II Army Veteran and her son’s two tours of duty in Iraq with the the Army National Guard, Ms. Pillion seeks to lend her management expertise to serving the needs of our military veterans.

The owner of Ironwood Rainworks, Inc., a music services company, while keeping a busy schedule as a performing artist, Scotte still finds time to teach Middle school English and science at Jefferson Academy Charter School in Broomfield, CO. He holds a B.A. in English from Regis University where he graduated Summa cum Laude.

But it is Scotte’s passion and energy for and dedication to our cause that have us wishing we could clone him.

“My family has a long history in military and law-enforcement, but in addition, as a songwriter the rights to freedom of speech and assembly are vital. As a family man, I also want to leave these freedoms as legacies to my children and grandchildren. The men and women who serve to protect and defend these freedoms deserve better than to find themselves homeless and forgotten by the nation they served. It is our duty as the citizens they served to be there for them in need, just as they were for each of us.”

In addition to our charity, Ironwood Rain actively works to support the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They have also worked in support of the Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter, Habitat for Humanity, and M.I.A.(Musicians in Action)

Please visit the Ironwood Rain website to learn more about Scotte Burns.

Previously Harriet directed the Management Training Center at UJA/Federation- NY, was a Partner in Katz Martin Associates, a career development services firm, and an Associate Professor at Yeshiva University. In addition, she served as Associate Director of Fundraising at the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation, helping to raise over $400 million dollars.

A gifted communicator, Harriet co-hosted Tune In to Relationships, a weekly radio program in New England, dealing with such topics as Bridging the Generational Gap, and Decoding Gender Signals. She has written articles on Golden Rules for Creating Win-Win Business Solutions, Evaluating a Perspective Employer, and appeared in O Magazine in “You’re Fired!”

She received her degrees from the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley, and Yeshiva University. She has been certified by the Centre for High Performance Development (UK), MBTI by the Association for Psychological Type International, and by The Five O’Clock Club. She is a Board Member of the Association for Psychological Type, The Kurland Foundation, and Orphans International, and past Board Member of the Association of Career Professionals-International, New York Chapter.

Please visit her website to learn more about Dr. Harriet Katz.

He is also a champion for Veterans causes. Inspired in 2002 by a chance encounter with a wounded WWII vet, Dr. Sam wrote the lyrics to “Before You Go.” This musical tribute to thank aging WWII and Korean War veterans, and another for Vietnam vets, has been heard by countless millions.

Dr. Sam serves on the Board of Directors for Vets Helping Heroes, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to provide a professionally trained assistance dog to every disabled hero wounded in the global war on terrorism, to enable these heroes to return to a life with dignity and self-reliance, whether visually impaired or having other special needs that require an assistance dog. All services are provided at no cost to the veteran.

To learn more about Dr. Sam Bierstock please visit his website.

After returning from 3 tours of duty in Vietnam, Alex was homeless himself several times and battled alcoholism. When he looked around and saw the number of homeless veterans, he vowed to do what he could to help them. Starting with his own Social Security check, he rented a house in Oakland, bought some beds, and brought home some vets. In 2009, the California Legislature Assembly selected Alex McElree as the 16th District Veteran of the Year for his work.

From that beginning, Operation Dignity, Inc. has grown to a full-fledged non-profit 501(c)(3) veteran run, service-enriched provider serving primarily the homeless veterans and displaced populations of Alameda County. Their goal is to provide safe housing, nutritious meals, and a full array of services to help homeless veterans so they can begin their rehabilitation process. Alex his Board of Directors work to offer clean and sober residences with on-site support for sobriety and other self-help groups to those who need a hand.

To learn more about Alex McElree and Operation Dignity please visit their website.

Before embarking on a full time copywriting career, Ken spent 20 years as a radio personality at stations in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Ken has served on the boards of a number of non-profit and public service organizations, including the Leukemia Society of Southern Connecticut and Partnerships Adult Day Center (West Haven, CT).  Since 1994, Ken has been a member of the Board of Governors of The Yale Broadcasting Company, the licensee of the non-profit student radio stations at Yale University.  His tenure on that board includes a four-year term as chairman.

Ken is originally from Chicago, Illinois.  He moved to New Haven, CT to attend Yale University from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in American Studies.  He did his graduate studies at the University of Indiana Department of Radio and Television. 

Ken lives in Hamden, CT, with his wife of 30 years, Cindy.  Their son Lucas received an undergraduate degree in Communications and a Masters of Elementary Education degree from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT and is pursuing a career as an elementary school teacher.