Volunteer Spotlight: Mike Hackett
Mike Hackett is a US Navy veteran, who served in Vietnam, and is a super volunteer because Mike has been with us since the very beginning of Growing Veterans in 2012. He attended the very first peer support training and has put in countless hours volunteering at the Lynden farm. I had the privilege of sitting down with Mike on a sunny afternoon and asking him about his experience since he’s been affiliated with GV:
Q: How long have you been with Growing Veterans?
A: “Since about the time it began. It was September about 11 years ago.”
Q: How did you originally hear about Growing Veterans?
A: “When I first heard about Growing Veterans it was in its infancy. Chris Brown asked me to come and have coffee with him at Starbucks and he told me what his idea was in forming this brand new organization; about dirt therapy and everything that we know now about what it does and that was his theory. He knew about my background in agriculture education and thought that it would help some people who are new to gardening and farming. I had never thought of myself much as a veteran that could be really helpful as a veteran. I got out of the service and just went to work, raised a family, went to church, and did all of the things you’re supposed to do. But I had kind of an emptiness going on, and some not good memories either from when I was in Vietnam. When Chris asked me to come to a showing of a video, it was a documentary called ‘Ground Operations.’ That’s what got me started because he was a student at Western (Western Washington University). So he was a student at Western and one of his instructors wanted to talk about veterans and how to help veterans that are transitioning into the civilian world from the military and Chris and she brought this premiere, showing ‘Ground Operations.’ It’s about the farmer-veteran coalition, which is a national organization. It’s kind of like what we (Growing Veterans) do, but it’s national. You can look it up online. They do a lot of really cool things. Anyway, they showed it at a theater at Western and then they had a question and answer period and Chris asked me to go up and talk about my impression of the video to the people that were there. There were probably around 40 people, there weren’t a lot of people that watched; but when I started talking about what the video did to me, it made me wake up. I said, ‘Oh! I’m a veteran. Oh! Oh! Maybe I can help.’ And then I just started talking about it and that’s how I got involved. From that day on, that evening onward, I’ve been with Growing Veterans. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but always connected to them.”
Q: What has kept you volunteering all these years?
A: “The reason I do it is I gain a lot from it. There are other veteran organizations, there’s a number of them. There’s the older ones, you know the established ones, like the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), American Legion, and those, they just don’t speak to me. It’s not that they’re not good, I just don’t identify with some of what they do and they can get political and I don’t like to be political, one way or the other. I like to stay neutral and they tend to go certain ways sometimes and I just feel more comfortable here and I’m actually thinking I’m doing a little good, or at least I used to when I was more active and a growing part of the operation. So, that’s why I come.”
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
A: ”I’ve got a 5 acre farm, a homestead, we grow a lot of our own vegetables and fruit. We (Mike and his family) have a small orchard. I’m pretty busy with all of that stuff. I’m active in a group called Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). I sponsor people who are trying to get sober. I myself have been sober 23 years. I used to use alcohol. I’m not proud of it, but I used to use it to numb out, you know, but I don’t do that. 23 years! Anyway, other hobbies, we like to hike and backpack and fish. We’ve actually done the trek to Mt. Everest base camp from Kathmandu. No, not from Kathmandu. We flew from Kathmandu to Lukla airport and then we trekked in 40 miles and then 40 miles back out over about 12 days and it was really cool. And then we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. 6 years ago, I think. Yeah, and we climbed Mt. Baker over here (Mt. Baker is the northernmost stratovolcano in the continental US located in Whatcom County, Washington), but we didn’t get to the summit because of bad weather and it was getting late and stuff, so we didn’t summit, but we got up almost to the crater. So we like to do those kinds of things. We also go on, there’s a schooner in Maine that I get on, called The American Eagle, she’s a 92-foot schooner. I’ve been on her 5 times now over the years and I love it. We sail up and down the coast of Maine. All around the islands and stuff. We’re not gonna do it this year because we’re getting on a schooner on the West coast of British Columbia going up to the Great Bear Rainforest for 8 days on a schooner. They’ll only be 6 passengers. So those are kind of my hobbies.”
Q: Do you have a favorite memory with Growing Veterans?
A: “Lots of them. Oh, I know what it is. Favorite memory was the first time, I think I showed you that (referencing a photo of Mike and the first peer support training class in the GV office). That was our first training for peer support. And the fellow in the middle is Slocanum (sic). He’s a Lummi Indian tribal member and Vietnam Veteran, he plays the violin. That’s him up there in that picture (same photo referenced). He presented a session in that peer support training. We did that on Lake Samish, I think, at the North end of the lake. It was an awesome training and we really got close. That bunch up there. I’m the last one of the originals. I just thought about that yesterday, I think. I’m the last one. I can’t leave now.”
Q: What would you say to someone if they were thinking about volunteering at GV?
A: “I love Growing Veterans. I feel at home here. Sometimes I’ve been like, you know you said you were kind of depressed (referring to a previous conversation Mike and I had), sometimes I can get a little bit depressed. I can get depressed too and sometimes I can get a little sideways about everything; stuff going on in the world and whatever. You know how it is, all the craziness, and so when I come here, it all melts away. You know we can talk about almost anything and not worry about offending anybody or maybe saying the wrong thing. We can just be who we are here. And most of us have been in the military and lived that military life, which is unique. It’s hard sometimes for a civilian to understand.”
Q: What is a fun or random fact about yourself?
A: “I love to grow tomatoes. I’m kind of obsessed with growing tomatoes. Heirlooms, mostly. We like to do wildlife watching too. We do that. Eagles, other types of birds, we have bird feeders at home and we try to identify birds. Peggy (Mike’s wife) has an app on her phone that has bird calls and you can put, when a bird is singing, you can put it up there and it’ll tell you what kind of bird it is. Kind of almost cheating, but it’s just for fun.”
It was a pleasure getting to know Mike a little better and we’re honored that he’s chosen to stay with Growing Veterans for so long. Mike is a cornerstone in the GV community and it definitely wouldn’t be the same place without him. Thank you Mike for all the years you’ve dedicated to Growing Veterans and we hope that you stick around for a lot longer!
