Five Questions for Mark Flower
Mark Flower
WHO: Mark Flower
WHAT: Dryhootch.org
When VITAL Source was a print magazine we ran a monthly feature called 5Q, where we asked local notables or up-and-comers five questions about their craft, career or passion. Now, in our super-deluxe web format, it’s easy to do the same from time to time. In this installment of 5Q, we invited Mark Flower of Dryhootch, the local non-profit organization that helps veterans to reconnect.
Riverwest resident Mark Flower is arranging slickly packaged bags of coffee when I first meet him. As we sit on a black marble bench on Floor Two of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, site of a “Dryhootch” display, he gives me a glimpse of his involvement with the organization. Surrounding us are tables filled with informational materials relating to the mental health of returning veterans.
1. Dryhootch is …?
Hootch means “a building,” a term used frequently in Viet Nam. dryhootch will be the name of a coffee house on Brady Street.
2. Another coffee house. Brady already has quite a few. What’s the “dry” tag mean?
It’s going to be a meeting place for combat veterans trying to stay dry, i.e. drug and alcohol free. But everyone will be welcome. We hope to open in February. It’s a non-profit. A first in the United States.
If a political agenda is fighting for the rights of veterans, then I guess we do. But we are neither left nor right. We just want what’s right. Whenever there is a money shortfall, the veteran suffers just like our normal citizens. Multiple deployments are only one of the problems.
4. Are you a Viet Nam veteran?
No, but I was in the Army from 1976 to 1980 and then in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1981 to July 2006. My friend, Bob Curry (the founder of Dryhootch), and I got involved with how best to come up with solutions to post-traumatic stress, a problem which is not going away and most likely will get worse. That’s why I stay involved. This is where we are in our journey.
5. Saturday, Nov. 7, the Veterans Day Parade marches from Wisconsin Avenue to the War Memorial. Will you be marching with them?
The Dryhootch outreach truck will represent the organization. Did I mention that we have people interested in opening chapters of Dryhootch in Madison and Chicago?
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