Season 7: A Little Bit Louder Now • June 4, 2024

Advocacy, Freedom, and Finding Your Voice.

Shana Cosgrove talks to Kassie Sandacz, CEO for Voices of Vets.

In this episode of The Outspoken Podcast, host Shana Cosgrove talks to Kassie Sandacz, CEO for Voices for Vets. Kassie, a trained vocalist, was encouraged by her government teacher to visit Charlotte Hall Veterans Home to sing for vets when she was a senior in high school. Although she was focused on her math studies and didn’t go at that time, years later she remembered the request and decided to give it a try. That one afternoon changed her life forever. Through the magic of music, she touches the hearts and minds of veterans in memory care facilities across the country, often reigniting a spark within them that was thought to be long extinguished. When she’s not at her full-time job or doing her Peloton workouts, you can find Kassie traveling across America, singing songs of yesteryear and bringing joy to those who dedicated their lives to our freedom!

QUOTES

  • “Music is Magic!” – Kassie Sandacz [13:30]
  • “The thing I’ve learned over the years is letting go.” – Kassie Sandacz [35:00]
  • “Keep going. There are definitely going to be roadblocks, things aren’t always going to go the way you want them to; it’s not the way you handle things out of a situation, it’s about how you handle things in a situation.” – Kassie Sandacz [42:50]

TIMESTAMPS 

  • [00:04] Intro
  • [01:34] Meet
  • [01:40] How Shana and Kassie Met
  • [02:11] Connecting Over Lunch
  • [06:11] Mission of Voices of Vets
  • [08:41] Three Major Components of Voices of Vets
  • [10:30] More Than Pictures
  • [12:28] Connecting to Vets Through Music
  • [14:28] Origins of Organization
  • [18:40] What Turned Voices of Vets into a 503c Non-Profit
  • [20:01] Veteran Homes Across USA – By the Numbers
  • [21:40] Voices of Vets Performances
  • [22:42] You’re A Grand Old Flag
  • [24:59] Growing Voices of Vets From a Pet Project to an Organization
  • [28:37] Singing Throughout a Lifetime
  • [31:41] Favorite Non-Patriotic Song to Perform
  • [32:16] Practice and Preparation for Musicians
  • [33:35] Voiceraisers
  • [34:24] Working Full Time While Growing Voices of Vets
  • [36:28] Proud Moment of Performances
  • [42:47] What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?
  • [42:30] Book Recommendations
  • [44:55] Interesting Facts about Kassie
  • [48:45] Outro

RESOURCES

RELEVANT LINKS

I’d love to hear from you — your feedback is important to me and I read all of it. If you enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll give us 5 stars. I’ll be sure to thank you via email. If not, let me know what you think we should do differently. Don’t forget to hit “subscribe” so you’ll receive notifications about guest interviews and other topics that drop every Tuesday.

Live well, Shana

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