Joseph is the President of NRL Wealth Creation Strategies, LLC in Roslyn, New York. He likes to spend his spare time volunteering around his area. The group that has the biggest impact on him is General Needs because he believes he has a responsibility to help out homeless veterans who have made tremendous sacrifices for others. His volunteer experience with General Needs started off simple, supplying food, clothes, and gifts for veterans, but over time his role grew and he became an important contributor to General Needs’ cause. He decided to join the organization’s efforts solely because of Lonnie. Joseph met Lonnie in the insurance industry 36 years ago, and at the time Lonnie was dreaming about starting up an organization that would help homeless veterans in need. The beginning stages of Lonnie’s vision focused primary on local areas for veterans. Soon after, he organized the actual General Needs organization, expanding to Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Manhattan, with the encouragement and help of Joseph.
Joseph’s favorite memory with General Needs was actually the toughest one for him. He visited a veterans shelter in Queens and felt sad because of how the veterans were being treated. “The veterans were basically locked up in little cages because they are mentally shot. They have to be sedated.” He went with a dozen other men during the first trip to the shelter, where he handed the veterans socks, underwear, sleeping bags, and sneakers. For the second time around, 8 of the dozen guys did not come back because they could not take watching the veterans suffer. However, Joseph was able to develop great chemistry with the veterans after a couple of visits.
