Aging with Purpose and Passion

Veterans, Purpose, and the Power of Service: Inspiring Women Over 50

• Beverley Glazer • Episode 122

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Shelia Schneider's journey from military spouse to nonprofit leader reveals how our life experiences perfectly prepare us for unexpected purpose. Raised in a family where all nine siblings had military connections and later marrying an Air Force serviceman, Shelia intimately understood the challenges military families face—frequent relocations, year-long separations, and the struggle to maintain career continuity while supporting a service member.

Her professional path was anything but linear. From making biscuits at Hardee's to wearing hard hats in food processing plants to becoming a university professor, each seemingly disconnected experience built the perfect foundation for her current role as Executive Director of the Kaufman Fund. What began as volunteer work alphabetizing registration lists evolved into leadership of a vital veterans' support organization that helps 2,000 former service members annually.

The Kaufman Fund addresses critical gaps in veteran support through eight innovative programs. Their dental initiative tackles a shocking reality—only 4.5% of veterans qualify for dental care through the VA. Their mental health program uniquely extends to family members who share in the trauma but are excluded from VA services. From distributing winter coats to homeless veterans to providing emergency legal assistance, their comprehensive approach creates immediate relief while building dignity.

Shelia's advice for finding purpose resonates regardless of age or circumstance: "Look in your backyard. What is it in your community that you see needs help?" She emphasizes that purpose often begins with small contributions—even volunteering just a few hours monthly can create ripple effects of positive change. Her journey from Girl Scout leader to nonprofit executive demonstrates how starting with one small act of service can evolve into meaningful impact that transforms both the lives you touch and your own sense of purpose.

Ready to discover your own purpose? Subscribe to Aging with Purpose and Passion for more inspiring conversations, and visit reinventimpossible.com to explore resources for your personal transformation journey. Remember, as Shelia powerfully demonstrates, 'it's never too late to begin making a difference'.

Have you enjoyed thiis episode? Please drop a review and sent it to a friend. 

And you might also enjoy Fit Stong Women Over 50, a podcast for the Becoming Elli Community. Where fit strong women motivate eachother to stay on their goals.

Resources

Kaufman Fund.

Shelia@TheKaufmanFund.org

http://www.thekaufmanfund.org

https://www.facebook.com/kaufmanfund

 https://www.instagram.com/thekaufmanfund_tkf/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-kaufman-fund

https://www.youtube.com/@TheKaufmanFund

Podcasthon Event - www.podcasthon.org

 Beverley Glazer

https://reinventimpossible.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverleyglazer/

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion, the podcast designed to inspire your greatness and thrive through life. Get ready to conquer your fears. Here's your host psychotherapist, coach and empowerment expert, beverly Glaser psychotherapist, coach and empowerment expert, Beverley Glazer.

Beverley Glazer:

Are you ready to create deeper meaning and purpose in your life? Well, welcome to Aging with Purpose and Passion. I'm Beverly Glazer and I'm a transformational coach, and I help women to have confidence to create the life they know that they deserve. And you can find me on reinventimpossiblecom or text me in the show notes below. This is a very special episode. It's a segment of the third edition of Podcast Thon, where thousands of international podcasters are shining a light on incredible charities. You can find all these charities and the amazing podcasters that are out there on podcastonorg. There will be a link in the show notes for podcastonorg.

Beverley Glazer:

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Shelia Schneider, the Executive Director of the Kaufman Fund, an organization that transforms the lives of veterans and their families, and a charity that's close to my heart. Shelia's journey is one of service, service, resilience and making a lasting impact. Resilience and making a lasting impact. Keep listening to discover how you can create more meaning in your life and hear how women can lead the way in making a difference in the lives of others. So let's dive right in. Welcome, Shelia.

Beverley Glazer:

Thank you for having me Beverley.

Beverley Glazer:

It's a pleasure and I'd love to talk more and more about the Kaufman Fund, because it's wonderful work that you do. But first just to ask how did you even I mean manage to not only get into the Kauffman Fund but your whole life? Your whole life is one of service, and you have a long, long shared history of military service in your family, correct? So tell us all about that.

Shelia Schneider:

So first off, it's hold on that picture right there. That is a picture of my grandparents. My grandfather was in the Navy in World War II and they were from northern Arkansas, southeast Missouri, and they raised a very large family and they had 10 children. All five of their sons served in the military and then all four of their son-in-laws served in the military. They did lose one child to scarlet fever when she was very young. So of the nine remaining children, all of them had military service, and so I was raised with military around me at all times. I've had several uncles who retired from the military after 20 years of service, some who only did three, four years of service. But then I married a military man, a high school sweetheart. I started dating when I was in 10th grade and he joined the Air Force and off we went. We left St Louis and started our journey of his service and me following him around.

Beverley Glazer:

How does that work? Because it's so difficult for women who marry someone who's in service, and you never see this man, and perhaps you have to reroute to all over the world, all over the country. What was your life like?

Shelia Schneider:

so, um, I was aware of what the expense was for the family, having had so much military service in our family and one of my uncles who served 27 years in the Air Force, he had lived in Illinois, hawaii, turkey, florida. I mean he had been everywhere. So I would hear my cousins talking about moving schools every so often, how they would just have to start all over with their baseball teams and all of those type of things. So for us, when we started off, we moved from St Louis to Oklahoma City and started having our family, and it was wonderful. We had a great service community there, and so it was beautiful and we weren't that far from home. It was about 10 hour drive, so not too bad. But then my husband got sent to Korea for a year and because he was security forces, they really did not want the family to join him because his attention needed to be on the security part of it. So we stayed in Oklahoma for a year without him and that's where I learned I had some strength that I did not know Before he left. I needed him, I relied on him, and then when he left, when he returned from Korea, he said you no longer need me and I said you're right. I said but I want you, which is totally different.

Shelia Schneider:

And I witnessed a lot of families break up because of military service. They couldn't handle the separations. Some of the families, if the military member was deployed, the family would move back home. And I wasn't going to do that. There really wasn't anywhere to come back home that had enough room for me and the children. So I just stayed in Oklahoma and had a great job and my boss at the time he said if you'll stay with me for another year, I'll make it worth your while. And he did.

Shelia Schneider:

And then we were off to California and in California we were told that it was a closure base and we were told that we would be the last ones out. Instead, we were the first ones out and so we were only there about 18 months, first ones out. And so we were only there about 18 months. And it was a challenge because we relied on me working as well, because most people don't know that military members, especially the younger ranks, most of them would qualify for food stamps. They've kind of improved that since then, but we had to rely on two paychecks and, being at a place where the base was about to close. Nobody wanted to hire military spouses because they knew we weren't staying.

Shelia Schneider:

So then the military, in their ultimate wisdom, sent us from the middle of California in August, where it was about 101, to Great Falls, montana, where it snowed at Labor Day. To Great Falls Montana where it snowed at Labor Day, and that was an experience. I have never been that cold in my life. I didn't know that it could be too cold to snow. I now know that. I did not know what negative 85 wind chills felt like. I now know that and I know that I never wanted it again.

Shelia Schneider:

So we did not like our time in Montana for multiple reasons, and so the only option was my husband went back to Korea for a year and so with that I had a decision to stay in Montana when all my family was in St Louis, or to do what they say move ahead to the next duty base, and so I did. I moved us ahead to Whiteman Air Force Base outside of Kansas City and set up the home, got the kids started in school you know all of their activities, school, you know all of their activities and then that actually started me on my journey to where I'm at now. And just we loved our time at Whiteman and that community and it was just so supportive and we truly miss the area. But we are on a new path and it's just amazing for us. But we are on a new path and it's just amazing for us what kind of work did you do?

Beverley Glazer:

Because you're pretty well a transient. You'd be there for a certain period of time. What kind of work did you pick up?

Shelia Schneider:

I have. I've worked retail. I made the biscuits at Hardee's. I worked for an oil and gas consulting company. That was my first professional job. I worked for an oil and gas consulting company. That was my first professional job. I worked for a construction company. I worked temporarily for a maintenance department of a food processing plant where I had to wear a hard hat to go to the restroom. That was fun.

Shelia Schneider:

And then, when we moved to Missouri, I started working at the. At the time they were called Central Missouri State University. Now they're called University of Central Missouri, and I started there as an office manager and worked my way up, and 23 years later, when I left, I was a professor. I was a professor, I was working as the compliance officer for a grant in academic advisor and just absolutely loved what we were doing. We had a beautiful home, beautiful friends and it was just amazing.

Shelia Schneider:

And then 2020 happened and I lost my job, and so very good friends of ours knew all the work I had done with veterans and told me about a job here in St Louis and I interviewed and moved us back here in 2020. So and the best thing ever was for me to lose my job I would not be where I'm at now and I can truly say that somebody had a plan for me and it. I didn't see it at the time, but now, looking back, it's just been amazing. But yeah, my, my career path has been not a straight one, but it's actually helping me out in being the executive director of the Kauffman Fund, because there's so many experiences that I've had in my past that I use here, and every once in a while Wayne Kauffman, who is our founder, or Steve Rosenblum, another founder, they'll say where did you learn that at? Oh well, when I worked construction in Montana, and they're like okay.

Beverley Glazer:

So now you're permanently ensconced, yes, and your husband's retired from the military, yes.

Shelia Schneider:

And he retired almost 20 years ago and that must have been quite an adjustment, huge adjustment. So when he retired, he decided to go back to college, and so at the time I was working on my master's and both of our girls were in college and my husband's now in college. It was quite the experience that's the only way to put it and so, yeah, so he went to college and then the recession the 2006-2008 recession made it hard for him to find a job, so he just kind of found different jobs, jobs. But now that we're back here in St Louis, he's doing security at the Gateway Arch, loves it. It allows him to use all of his military experience and then gets to talk to the public and he just really enjoys his job.

Beverley Glazer:

Wonderful, wonderful. Tell us about the Kauffman Fund. How did you get involved in that? What was that all about?

Shelia Schneider:

So when we moved back to St Louis, I was working with a homeless program here in St Louis called the St Patrick Center and I was with the Homeless Veterans Employment Program. I have an HR background, so it was a perfect fit. And so with that, I started networking and everybody told me about this networking event for veterans and that I really should go to it. And it was hosted by the Kauffman Fund. And when I first started attending, it was still on Zoom and there were about 20, 25 people there. But I started learning all these great resources in St Louis and after about a year, everybody at St Patrick's Center who was working with veterans they were like oh, you need a resource, go find Sheila, she's got the resources. And so in 2021, the Kaufman Fund decided to start doing food for vets, where they give out about a week's worth of groceries six times a year, and I thought this is perfect for the veterans that I'm working with, because they're dealing with housing insecurities. So this would be helpful. And I like to tease the first time I went to volunteer, they turned me down. The second time they had their food event, it was about 10 minutes from my house and so I called to volunteer again. They're like well, no, we think we have enough. And I said, no, you don't understand. You're 10 minutes from my house, I'm going to be there, put me to work. And so that was in June of 21. And they had me on registration. And I'm looking at this registration list and it's not alphabetized. And I was like, who did this list? And they're like well, none of us know how to alphabetize it, send it to me, I've got you taken care of. And so then, after that I was the registration person, they'd send me the list, I'd alphabetize it. You know, it made it so much smoother. And then, in December of 21, I was called to a lunch with Wayne Kaufman, steve Rosenblum and Ken Weintraub, who is the chair of the food committee, and they asked me to take over the food committee because I had done such a great job. And so, in 2022, we increased the number of veterans we were serving. I was able to get us more volunteers and it was great.

Shelia Schneider:

And then, in June of 22, I thought I was going to a meeting about the food committee and it was a job interview. I was 10 minutes in before I realized it was a job interview and Wayne Kaufman explained that they had grown to the point where they realized that they finally needed to hire someone. They were a 100% volunteer organization from the start in 1990. And Wayne is a Vietnam veteran and you know they were like we need to hire somebody younger. I said how am I classified younger? You know, I've got children, you know. But they wanted someone who had grant experience, which I helped to bring a grant to the University of Central Missouri to help veterans go back to school. Um, they wanted somebody who was organized. I had proven that with the food for vets and somebody who was connected to resources and I had proven that as well. And so that was in June of 22.

Shelia Schneider:

At the same time as St Patrick's Center, I was interviewing for the manager position of the program. I worked for and received it. I received the promotion and was rebuilding my team. And then in September 22, I was at a planning committee for the Kaufman Fund's Casino Night one of their two big fundraisers and we were finished. Wayne said everybody out of the room, but Sheila and I went. What did I do? Oh no, and he said we want to offer you a position and I had to ask for a few weeks to be able to notify my staff before we notified everybody else. But then, January 23, I started as the first paid employee, the first executive director, and it's been a challenge, but it has been just amazing and definitely a true passion of the heart for me, and it's just been wonderful for me and it's just been wonderful.

Beverley Glazer:

How do you prioritize the needs of veterans? So many have really very special needs. How do you prioritize?

Shelia Schneider:

Well, for us we have eight different programs and so we have four referral programs where we work with professionals in dental, legal, mental health and chiropractic and we ask each of those professionals to volunteer to do one pro bono to help one veteran a year pro bono or give us a sliding scale. And our dental program. Most people don't know this, but majority of veterans do not qualify for dental care through the VA. Of all veterans it's about 4.5% that do qualify. That's a horrible number. There's lots of reasons for it. But our dental program is our largest program and with that we're working with two dental schools and about 20 private dentists to be able to provide dental care for veterans. And so with that one we of course take those who are in pain first. You know we always want to try to help them deal with that, want to try to help them deal with that. Some of them, their needs are so high that we have to find a volunteer dentist to help with just because we can't afford all of their care, or we have to spread it out over several years just because of the expense. With our legal referral program we have about 145 lawyers here in the St Louis area who have agreed to help us, which sounds great, but we have about 100, 150 calls a month for legal Mental health. The other great thing that I love about our mental health program is the family cannot receive services through the VA. It's pretty much strictly the veterans. And so with our mental health program we're helping the family. We're taking that holistic approach, because if the veteran is dealing with trauma, ptsd, things, anything, so is the family, and so last year we were able to help some children because they couldn't understand why their parent wouldn't let them watch cartoons with explosions or why their parent would all of a sudden get very upset, and so again, we were helping the veteran as well. But helping the children also helps, and so that's just an amazing program. Children also helps, and so that's just an amazing program. And with that one, here again, we're working with individuals who have agreed to do pro bono or sliding scales, and so we're just trying to make sure that folks are able to get into those services quickly, because even a veteran who's trying to go to the VA, it may be six to eight weeks before you get an appointment, and if you're in crisis you need help immediately, and so with this we are saving lives because we're getting them the help they need quickly and just trying to help as much as we can.

Shelia Schneider:

And then our other programs are more program events. So six times a year we do that food for vets, where we give out about a week's worth of groceries to include proteins and produce, because you can't find those in most food pantries. We also give out Christmas trees. That was our very first program in 2014 to give out Christmas trees and it's just an amazing event. Right now we're doing taxes for vets so we are an IRS certified VITA site and doing free tax preparation.

Shelia Schneider:

And then, during Veterans Day, we give out brand new winter coats and winter gear to those veterans dealing with housing insecurities and with that we're working with those programs that have the housing programs, because they know where those veterans are and so trying to get them the warm gear while they know where those veterans are and so trying to get them the warm gear while getting them the resources as well is another one of our programs. That is just helping so much, and you wouldn't believe how much a brand new coat just helps with the self-esteem because it's not used, it's brand new to them. They're the first one to take it out of the package. And then there's being able to help stay warm during the winter, and here in St Louis we were talking earlier we could have days where it's zero, with multiple snow, and then two weeks later we're at 80 degrees Time to take off the coat.

Shelia Schneider:

Yeah, time to take off the coat. But we're, you know, we're trying to do things like even with our coat program. It's the coat, hat, gloves, sweatpants, a sweatshirt, toiletries. Thick socks, because some of the programs that give socks to the homeless they're thinner. So we try to make sure we get thick socks, because some of the programs that give socks to the homeless they're thinner. So we try to make sure we get thick socks. For the winter, soil trees are always needed. And then this past year we gave them $15 McDonald's gift cards because the McDonald's that was closest to one of the homeless programs. You couldn't go in there unless you were buying food, and so this way we're not only giving them food but giving them the opportunity to go warm up and so you know, again, just doing what we can.

Shelia Schneider:

And Wayne Kaufman, when he started this in 1990, originally they were just doing golf tournaments and giving the money to other organizations and in 2014, they said you know, we really could do this ourselves In 2024, we helped 2,000 individual veterans in a 90-mile radius around the Gateway Arch 2,000. 2,000. 2,000. And we are a small nonprofit. We are classified very small and yet we're doing amazing, amazing things, which is why it's easy to have passion for it.

Shelia Schneider:

Oh, yes, we're living the talk. I mean it's not lip service for us. I mean not only are we doing our programs, but we're also helping these veterans get connected to other resources outside of our program, because at VetNet Connect, which is a networking meeting, last year we were averaging 60 people a month at that meeting. So that allows us, this outreach, to be able to say, listen, we don't have to do housing, but we know five programs that are doing housing, or we know another program that's doing this and it's just allowing us to build a better community here in St Louis, because we're relying on each other and using that sense of the military where it takes the team and you have to have each other's back and that's what we're doing.

Beverley Glazer:

Clearly, Shelia, you have a passion for helping.

Shelia Schneider:

I do have a passion. Yes, yes, I witnessed it. And when we were in the military, I witnessed those military members who didn't have the family support. So we would Thanksgiving. I'd never know knew if I just had my family, or one year I ended up feeding the entire squad that had to work on Thanksgiving day, because security forces is 24 seven, and so I prepared Thanksgiving dinner for 35 individuals who had to work.

Shelia Schneider:

And, you know, it's just, we have to help each other and and we talk about with our food program veterans will say, well, I don't need it, you know, and we say that's great. But you probably know brothers and sisters in arms who do need it and who are not going to ask for help because that's not a military thing to do. So go ahead and get the food and if it magically appears on their doorstep, wonderful, we're still helping the veteran, and so even we do that. Like I said, my husband's working at gateway arch and every once in a while he'll say, hey, sign up for the food for vets for us, because he'll have some young veteran who is in need but doesn't want to ask for the help, and we just I roll up next to him as they get off work and say pop the trunk. And there you go.

Beverley Glazer:

Fabulous Shelia. What advice would you give to other women who want more purpose and passion in their life and don't even know where to start?

Shelia Schneider:

Well, I think the start of it is to look in your backyard. What is it in your community that you see needs help? Maybe it's a park that needs to be cleaned up. Maybe it's a organization that's just needing some volunteers, and you can volunteer maybe two hours a month. Those little things add up. I have a volunteer comes in here three hours a week and all she's pretty much doing is putting all the business cards that I collect into my Google contacts, and all she's pretty much doing is putting all the business cards that I collect into my Google Contacts To her. It doesn't seem like a big deal. To me. It's huge.

Shelia Schneider:

So look in your backyard. What is it that you see needs to be fixed, and start there, and you never know where that's going to take you. I started off as a Girl Scout leader and then I became what they call a service unit manager, helping a bigger group, and then I became a trainer, and so I started in my backyard and then just kind of grew from there. And so look at, what is it that you're passionate about? Are you passionate about animals? Well, the animal shelters need folks to walk the animals, or maybe you have a lot of old towels and you want to, you know, rip them up and make it into things for the animal shelter. Start there. There's all kinds of things that need to be done and it takes somebody to say I have an hour and that's where it starts.

Beverley Glazer:

Thank you, Sheila. Thank you Just reach out.

Shelia Schneider:

Reach out. Yeah, everybody's in need of help, especially now, oh yes, especially now. All the nonprofits are, you know, looking for volunteers. Schools are needing help. Maybe it's a situation where you want to go and pay for a child's lunches, that they're behind on their lunches. Right, that one little act of kindness can cause ripples that go beyond your imagination.

Beverley Glazer:

Yes just start, just start. Thank you, thank you. Shelia Schneider is the executive director of the Kaufman Fund, helping veterans and families in need. Her career has been dedicated to supporting veterans, a mission rooted in both her personal and professional life. Shelia's lifelong passion for helping others and those who serve their country drives her purpose at the Kaufman Fund, where she continues to make meaningful impact on the lives of those who served.

Beverley Glazer:

Here are a few takeaways from this episode. You are never too old to make a difference. You can contribute. No matter how old you are, there's always something. Building strong connections can help us overcome our challenges. Your life experiences can help others in so many meaningful ways, and if you've been relating to this episode, think about one small thing that you can do to have more purpose in your life. Perhaps it's volunteering for a cause that has some meaning for you, connecting with life-minded women, or talking and taking small, little, consistent steps to support others when you know that they're in need.

Beverley Glazer:

For similar episodes on finding your purpose, check out episode 100 and 111 of Aging with Purpose and Passion, and if you've enjoyed this episode, you may also like the podcast Fit Strong Women Over 50 or the Becoming Elli community, where women motivate each other to stay on their goals. You can find them on becominglecom, and that link will be in the show notes.

Shelia Schneider:

So where can people learn more about the Kauffman Fund and the wonderful work that they do and all about you, sheila, is the T-H-E Kaufman K-A-U-F-M-A-N fundfund. org. You'll find out about all of our programs. There's a space there to donate and if you're in the St Louis area, you can also click to volunteer with us and so going out to thecoffmanfundorg and also if you're out there, you at the top is a link to our YouTube channel and you can see some of the great videos of our programs and the impact that we are making. That's terrific.

Beverley Glazer:

Thank you. All Shelia's links are going to be in the show notes and they'll be on my site too. That's reinventimpossiblecom. And now, my friends, what's next for you? Are you just going through the motions or are you really passionate about your life? Get my free checklist go from stuck to unstoppable to unlock your full potential. And that link is also in the show notes. You can connect with me, Beverly Glazer, on all social media platforms and in my positive group of women on Facebook, Women Over 50 Rock. And if you're looking for guidance in your own transformation, I invite you to explore reinventimpossiblecom. Thank you for listening. Have you enjoyed this conversation? Subscribe so you won't miss out on the next one, and send this episode to a friend. And always remember that you only have one life, so live it with purpose and passion.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us. You can connect with Bev on her website, reinventimpossible. com and, while you're there, join our newsletter Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. Until next time, keep aging with purpose and passion and celebrate life.