Topping-off ceremony for new Veterans' Home in Holyoke

afternoon everybody uh thank you all for joining us today in the significant Milestone of this uh this project of the new veterans home at Holy Oak we are honored to have some very special guests with us today please join me in welcoming our esteemed guest Governor Mara Hy Congressman Richard Neil the secretary of the executive office of veteran services John Santiago state Senator John vus state representative Patricia Duffy the mayor of hoolio Joshua Garcia from comor Walsh Jo alanice and Richard Walsh and from Prime steel erecting Incorporated Jeremy long and a a welcome to all the Tradesmen staff veterans and their families thank you all for being here today your support is very important to us and this project as our current occupants of the veterans home at hoolio we have all enjoyed watching the building take shape before our eyes uh this topping off marks not just the completion of this building framework but it also symbolizes our commitment to our veteran residents our staff and Veterans took great pride in signing the beams to be placed today for all of us it marks the beginning of a new chapter in the veterans home at Holy Oak we are excited about the future and we look forward to all the new building we'll have to offer especially to our veteran residents thank you all very much for being here and at this time I'd like to invite mayor Garcia to the [Applause] podium hello everybody Governor I think uh I would just on behalf of the citizens of aolo and everybody that's here today I certainly want to give you a warm warm welcome back to Western Massachusetts and here in the city of hoyo uh Governor hilly secretary Santiago Congressman Neil Senator velis rap Duffy my colleagues in government I see mayor rout mayor view here with us today as well thank you go so much coming over it's an honor and honor is what the veterans home is about this awesome big building here in front of us and caregivers whose staff it honor the Courage the sacrifice and patriotism of the veterans who answered their country's call whether they served in Belgium or Berlin or seagon or quesan or Baghdad or fuah the heroes residing at the Hoy Veterans Home are part of an unen broken chain of men and women who have served this country with honor and with distinction A Grateful Nation represented here today by city state and federal leaders make this pledge The Pledge is we will not leave you when you leave the service you have done your part and now we're going to do ours so with that being said I have now the honor of introducing up president and Veteran Roger Cody who is going to do the pledge of el [Applause] agle off the mic you know I'm going to mess this thing up Roger they're going to do great there you go you can look that way R they'll hear you I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for all [Applause] thank you Roger this time Governor Hy well good afternoon and it is such such a pleasure for me to be here today with all of you um a topping off ceremony yall know what that is all the iron workers know what that is it's a really uh cool way to commemorate what's been amazing progress on this building um and I had the privilege of being able to sign the beam earlier that I know is going to go up uh so to our Sky Cowboys we thank you for all you do local 7 all the men and women The Building Trades who um have been part of this incredible effort it is just you know having been here a little while back it's just incredible to see the pro ress that has been made and before you know it you all are going to be enjoying uh new surroundings and others are going to be joining you in that so thank you for having us here um to mark this milestone in the Holy o veterans home and the transformation of veteran services Roger thank you so much for leading Us in the Pledge of Allegiance uh a veteran a resident of this home someone who has served and sacrificed for our country and we thank you uh to all of the veterans here thank you for your service thank you for what you have done for our community our state our country thank you for the model that you are uh to so many and you know we want young people today to answer the call for service and you know if you have a chance to interact with any of these incredible people um I know a young person would be inspired to to uh to sign up so thank you for um everything that you uh have made possible you know our service members our veterans and their families make possible all the freedoms all the joys that that we experience today as Americans and we must always remember that we must always honor that Tam Mar Garcia everybody from the city of jolio great to be back um and thank you for welcoming us to my um fellow colleagues in in government I see chair John V who's such a powerful member of the veterans committee uh rep Duffy um all of our legislative Partners In addition we have Senator Jake Olivera representative Minnie Dom representative Angelo pupo representative Carlos Gonzalez rep Natalie bla Cary rep Kelly rep Aaron Saunders um forgive me if I've overlooked anyone uh we also have our Inspector General Jeff Shapiro here as well um and it's just great to uh to see so representative Shirley Orga yes service member herself um so let me um let me just say that uh really special to be here today just always so special to Santa alongside our great chair and Congressman Richie Neil um Richie has done so much for all of us he's our champion in Washington who's bringing back uh funding to our state regularly he's absolutely key to this project as you know um delivering $263 million thank you in federal VA funding to make this it was a heavy load you're right yeah well a big big lift here huge assist huge assist from Congressman Neil we're grateful to uh to have you and we thank you for all you do another person I want to thank is uh a person you'll hear from shortly his name is John Santiago okay he's the Secretary of veteran services he's doctor in the emergency room he's a dad of two he just had a baby the other night little boy um and he is uh a member of the guard and served um uh abroad multiple times um including when I was trying to recruit him to come be I didn't forget where you were you were in Syria serving when I was calling him to say come be my my um my Secretary of Veterans Services so you know John has worked really really hard in transforming veteran services in our state and I'm just so grateful to him um from the homes at Chelsea now to Holio to the hero act which is the state's most comprehensive piece of veterans legislation I just am grateful to you and to the team at DBS for the work that you do and speaking of Team earlier today I get to stand with General Keef the agent General um and a western Mass native himself we're over in uh in Westfield West over and it was um it was for another occasion where that gate is going to be the minute man gate is going to be um in is installed and again I'm just reminded of the strong support for our military in Massachusetts and in Western Massachusetts and I Pledge on behalf of myself and lieutenant governor Drisco um that you will always always have our support director Mike Lao thank you to you and to the great team here at the veterans home we are so grateful to you for your care and your commitment we're thrilled to celebrate your team um a little later on there'll be award win Award winners uh that will recognize for the performance recognition program so congratulations to all of you uh I mentioned the the men and women of Labor who were out there making this all possible every every single day um and I know we have a lot of Labor Leaders with us as well including president Frank Callahan of the Massachusetts Building Trades president Colton Andrews Pioneer Valley Golding trades thank you vs and thank you to all uh in labor who are here today I'm really grateful that our great legislature saw fit to make sure and you and you can CL for this too because our legislature made sure that this project is done under a project labor agreement um that means a safer workplace for you guys and uh I'm going to continue to support this PLA and other plas uh that are important to our state and the jobs so in actually you know huge credits because of that the workforce and the pla that we're actually here ahead we are here ahead of schedule uh and the finished product is going to be of such tremendous high quality it's why this project not only met but surpassed State goals for Contracting and hiring workers including workers of color women and Veterans which is really really cool um so I want to thank as well all the contractors both the folks on the State team at dcam but also the uh the amazing Folks at at Commodore and Walsh and and everybody who had a hand in bringing us uh to this day we're here um we're here just in time for Veterans Day and it's an important time for our country uh an important important occasion to commemorate I had the pleasure because I was inadvertently parked in her driveway but Paula marot lives next door all right right next door and grew up grew up next door here um her mom and dad are both were both veterans and she spent a lot of time her dad would get get care over here and it was wonderful talking to her um about uh about what she's seen and about what this day means and the progress that's being made and just being reminded of the importance of you know generations of families in this area have stepped forward and served our country and continue to serve so um it really is really is special and it's special um now that it's Veterans Day a time every day should be Veterans Day every day we should be thanking and commemorating the men and women who serve and who have served and we honor them we honor them and their families um um we know what transpired during the pandemic my heart goes out to families who are heartbroken to caregivers who are doing all that they could during what was a very difficult time and this is a new chapter today it's like worldclass facility um protecting serving veterans the way they protected and served this country we honor the spirit of veterans and their families and those who serve and trust me we are committed every single day in our Administration to doing everything that we can to support our veterans and support our military service members and at this time I'm honored to introduce someone who needs no introduction your outstanding our outstanding champion in Congress uh Richie [Applause] Neil thanks governor and uh thanks to all of you who are so Faithfully assembled and our friends here who so admirably served our country in a of great Peril and I want to personally thank the professional staff here as well for the great care that they offered to my Uncle Bob garby who was here as many of you would know I was a regular visitor here not just for my uncle but over many many years and to come down Route 91 today you witness the Phoenix Rising From the Ashes that's how astounding this moment is the tragedy that occurred here cannot be swept under the Rood we all know what happened but the family that are here as well I go by reading obituaries and I still read those little testimonials that are offered and many of those people said my family got great care here at the Hool Oak Soldiers Home and I think that's a great Testament to the professional staff who loyaly and Faithfully provided that service I also want I also want to thank Dennis mcdna Dennis MCD is the head of the Veterans Administration one of 10 kids from Chicago he gets it when I called him to say we need to move this project up on the agenda he said give me some time and give me some room I'll get it done and he did and I want to acknowledge that the legislators and the governor were full partners with Dr San Diego in making sure that the state was able to honor their commitment as well and I also the Governor mentioned something El that's really important to me and that is this I want to thank our friends in organized labor this project is going to be quality because of you where we can get a project labor agreement you're always better off because the union people will come back and fix an error without any questions asked we need to recognize that on occasions like this topping off ceremony I've participated in many of them over this career the topping off ceremony from the iron workers notes kind of most of the achievement is underway there's still work to be done but as potential is met potential expands I grew up with the iron workers in Springfield they were from my neighborhood and one thing about a topping off ceremony I enjoyed a lot of topping off ceremonies with them in the aftermath of the achievement but the other thing we know about the iron workers and the mayor would testify to this they could put the building up and they could take the building down they were totally committed to the professionalism that comes along with that designation so to the mayor and the legislative delegation and our great Governor this is a terrific day we're only part of the way here because the commitment that we made when we sent them off has to be honored when we bring them home home and it's that quality of life that they have in aged years at this facility I can tell you this that this facility made national headlines for the wrong reasons today it's going to make National headlines because of all of you for the right reasons Dr Santiago said I can only take an hour to introduce him he was here with me each step of the way he represented the governor so ay and he was here for these big big moments as we tried to make sure that this initiative got off the ground Dr veteran Dr Santiago well good afternoon everyone uh it's so great to be here such an imposing building I you can see from the highway can see from Boston it's like why have ways when you could just follow a building but it's great to be here particularly with Veterans Day around the corner in fact this week we're celebrating Veterans all across the Commonwealth from flaw River a couple days ago wher two days ago and western Mass today celebrating this historic achievement and it's really been an historic achievement for the administration over the course of this past and a half it's been my honor to really represent the governor in the LG has the first Secretary of veteran services it's because of their leadership and their Vision that not only do we have the first secretary in the history to come well but we've been able to do amazing things we are transforming veteran services in the Comm of Massachusetts we are ushering a new era of services and I can promise you that we're investing more and Veterans than we ever have before and we're engaging veterans more than ever that's because of Governor Healey and was govern Drisco so I just want to thank you but the bottom line and all my experiences whether it's in the hospital or in the Army is that you can't do this work alone it's the ultimate game of teamwork and partnership and Congressman Neil literally 3 weeks into this position I get a calls from DC saying listen a couple things have to get addressed before this money is transferred to you a couple big things some hurdles he's the first person I turn to and it's because of his leadership and his staff within days we were able to jump those hurdles have those conversations and secure the funding for this transformational building so I just want to thank you for your leadership and that of our delegation here Senator vus representative Duffy and the folks from Western Mass this is a Powerhouse delegation we not questions or concerns when it comes to veteran issues those impacting the whole Commonwealth but particular the most MTH I go to them and it's because of them that we pass the most comprehensive veterans piece of legislation in history of the Comm Massachusetts together them their votes their ideas and the leadership of people like Senator V so just want to thank you for that and your partnership and speaking of that team whether it's Comm Walsh the men and women in yellow our folks in state government I see commissioner bakey somewhere and the folks at dcam you're changing lives I had the honor to open up the Chelsea veterans home earlier this past year and I can attest to you that the tears shed the moments shared with family and friends on that day and everyday sunet has been some of the most meaningful moments of my time as secretary and I can promise to you in Fall 2026 we'll be there as well here in Holio so I just want to thank you for what you do each and every day supporting the bedrooms out here in Holio Mr M and I look forward to opening up this building and continuing to play my small role as Secretary of services so thank you and I want introduce my good friend my brother in service Senator John Vas good afternoon everybody so a beautiful beautiful site the other the other the other night and if you haven't done it and I know we got folks here from all over the Commonwealth if you have it driven by this facility at night of 91 look at those lights it is a beautiful beautiful site the other night I'm driving got my wife and I've got my 2-year-old Carson in the car and he says he sees it and his eyes shot up with the lights He says Dad what's that and I looked at him and I said uh you know son this is hopefully a place that your daddy someday is going to call home someday and and and Dad they got dinosaurs there so folks I mean this is a this is a long time coming we've already talked about the Partnerships we talked about the Building Trades everything they've done had a schedule we are so very grateful the governor the secretary the congressman everyone here the mayor just the list goes on and on and Ono list goes on and on and on I want to talk about a different collaboration here for a second and I'm looking at my colleagues because years ago 2020 we need to do something initially we passed a $600 million Bond Bill $600 million doll Bond bill that's the collaboration that's front of Center for me today as well because every single one of my colleagues and I'm looking at their faces and I talk to each and every single one of you about this we didn't stop there as already been alluded to we had a tragedy of tragedies here so the delegation got together again and passed the new oversight bill so to my colleagues who so actively participated in this debate that started this debate I am eternally grateful I'm going to give a special shout out here for a second where is my legislative Aid c stand up at some point in time if you see me on the street let's have a cup of coffee and I'll tell you prec precisely what Caitlyn Mato did for why we are here today it's already been alluded to tragedy tragedy we frequently talk about I will frequently say you're probably sick of me saying it that thank God for the Blood Sweat and Tears of our veterans and our service members and the undeniable reality of this facility is that Blood Sweat and Tears contributed to why we're here today what I'm also mindful of the fact as I sit here today and I look at these veterans and I think to myself forget about all the other stuff in this world that we have going on I know that we are good when we have men and women like this who have served their country and we are forever indebted to you one here's why this is really really really important for any number of reasons one of the biggest crisises that we don't talk enough about in this country is that young men and young women are not joining the service as much as they used to be less than 1 half of 1% of this country serves today I'm going to repeat that less than 1 half of 1% serves this country today so you know what that tells me that a lot of men and women are doing a lot for the rest of us repeat deployments time away from their family coming back struggling underemployment unemployment substance use Behavioral Health the link goes on and on and on so I sit back and I say you want to know what what's one way we can look young men and young woman in the eye and encourage them to go fight for this country knowing full well that they might not come back this we can do stuff like this because when we do stuff like this what this says thank you for your service it's not empty I am so very proud to be the chairman of veterans and federal affairs in Massachusetts why because what we do is not empty rhetoric we recognize that service we recognize those families and I'm going to finish with this and this goes back to Caitlyn in 2020 in the height of the tragedy that was ensuing my office spearheaded listening sessions with family members that have been impacted by the tragedy that happened here at Co Caitlyn organized though and I'm speaking directly to the families here right now trust me when I tell you this that if it was not for your advocacy if it was not for your stories if it was not for your loved ones I'm not sure we would be here today with this building I am eternally grateful I'm eternally grateful for your service I am eternally grateful for the staff at this facility who treats this not as a job who treats this not as a job but as a calling they know their veterans they know their family members they know who's been visited who hasn't been they're here today with them to the people building this to my partners in government to the families to everyone that has part of why we are here today thank you so so very much I have the distinct honor and privilege of now introducing my partner in crime who I am so very blessed to share and representing this great city of hoo [Applause] paty good afternoon everyone good afternoon good afternoon um I really I want to thank everybody for coming you know my partners in government the governor our [Music] Congressman labor families veterans residents and also I do have a special shout out to my colleagues in the delegation it's always wonderful to see you here in hoo and this is about this Regional asset this home belongs to all of us of course course it belongs to the whole Commonwealth but it belongs to us here in this region and I thank the governor for recognizing each of you I also I saw Lindsay sabadosa step in so wanted to make sure Lindsay got that shout out as well um like virtually every single one of you here I have had a close involvement with this home for years for decades it started being a union rep for the in terrible staff here which is an incredible introduction it's also being a friend and an advocate for the residents here and their families looking at you all um tragedy has been alluded to but I'm it's wonderful to see you all here and you know we want to be here for you at all times it's really the honor of my career to have played played a small role with my colleagues in government in building this home so that these residents these veterans their families the staff and their caretakers have the facility that they deserve you I'm a fortunate person for a lot of reasons uh but one of the reasons why I'm a I'm so fortunate is I live just over a mile away just like right down in that neighborhood I go out in my backyard these past months and I'm watching this building grow it's incredible and it is a reminder to me every day of the example these veterans have given us the idea that there is something bigger than all of us there's can live by and perhaps especially those of us who had the honor of being in public service so thank you thank you so speaking of Partnerships we couldn't be doing this without Commodore Walsh and the incredible work that they're doing so it is my honor to introduce um Joe albanes and Richard Walsh [Applause] thank you thank [Applause] you we're not done yet but I I promise you we won't disappoint you uh Governor uh Congressman secretary Senator Representatives commission General labor leaders mayor veterans veterans here we are a few days from Veterans Day surrounded by veterans who will be served by this great facility and their families as we celebrate the latest milestone in this project in today's world we're cons constantly reminded of how critical the American Military is in our country's fight for freedom freedom is not free and with all that's going on in the world today we have thankful to be part of this great nation as a 29-year veteran of the naval construction forces I'd like to add my own thank you to all the men and women whove served our nation so bravely we would not be the world leaders that we are today without your selfless commitment thank you when I last thank you I'm going to give you my card uh when I last stood before you at the groundbreaking I spoke about purpose and the best thing about our business construction is the Deep purpose that we deliver on so many of our projects and there's no greater purpose than this state-of-the-art veterans facility that we will deliver for this community of veterans that will live here and the critical services will get from here for their families their loved ones no greater purpose the same Pride extends to dcam pet the design team cha and the dozens of subcontractors vendors labor leaders and most importantly trades people they know how important this project is and they're driven by this highest order of purpose to do their best every day purpose this new Veterans Home represents the the Common's commitment to serving those who have served us the commer Walsh team are equally committed to this Mission I'd like to take a moment to thank the team at dcam Adam baky commissioner J Mitchell Gordon Ren Mark Johnson Joe fio and your whole team too many to mention I know I speak for my partner Richard Walsh when I say thank you for your leadership and your confidence in sing commer wal to build this project thank you very much Joe and thank you all for being here today on such a special day um it is a very special special event to see the topping off you know seeing the final steel beam beside us makes me reflect on the work that has been completed since we broke ground just 16 months ago just a few facts about the project we have completed 28% of the projects we put over $112 Million worth of work in place and our team and trade Partners have put put in over 173,000 hourss of work just a couple of facts in this building alone with our iron workers we put over 4,000 of Steel in place and on the site incidentally we've installed nearly 150 geothermal Wells we'll see about the dinosaurs I'm not sure about that yet but again our Workforce is the foundation of our industry so I'd like to shout out our entire labor force that's with us today and specifically to Frank Callahan and Colton Andrews for their very special leadership from so that's just where we've been as Joe said when we first broke ground we had a daily average of 40 people on site today we average just above 150 but now with this beam in place we hit the green light and we'll be ramping up exponentially and are anticipating upwards of 450 people on site each day it's thanks to every one of these individuals each hour and each day they show up for work that we will deliver the project that we have promised you so building a project of this scale requires partnership to the veterans home Richard po Michael lzo Glen HEI as well as countless others thank you for your collaboration and for trusting us to build your new facility to our architect Partners at payet Scott Parker Sarah ring Kevin Sullivan and their team thank you for designing a worldclass program that we will build together to the Commodore walls team will sh Ryan Tracy Natalie assens Tim senle John Savage and the entire team it's your commitment and hard work that have gotten us to this point so finally congratulations congratulations to the Commonwealth federal state and local leaders the veterans home and the entire team on reaching this very important milone but as Joe said we still have work to do and we're looking forward to continuing so thank you very much and it gives me great pleasure now to bring to the Jeremy long from Prime [Applause] steel never gets old looking at it that's for sure good afternoon ladies and gentlemen esteemed guest and all the incredible veterans we are here to serve you what a truly magnificent day this is Mother Nature has decided to shine down upon us making this historical moment even brighter I've spoken out a 100 of these top and off ceremonies in my career and let me tell you one thing you rarely get a day like this the sun isn't just out and the wind isn't just howling it's practically waving their hands and saying let's celebrate our veterans my name is Jeremy long and I am with prime steel and I am a proud fourth generation local 7 Union iron workout [Applause] I feel a profound sense of honor and gratitude As We Gather to celebrate this time honored tradition in our trade the topping off ceremony for those who you are unfamiliar with this tradition topping off it's an iron workers right that occurs when the highest structural steel member is swung into place typically the last Steel Beam on the building this tradition is said to have originated with the Norwegians back in 1897 but its roots go much further back than that with references as early as 1700 ad the Scandinavians believed that the Vikings have brought this tradition from the European Union over here to the United States you'll see that there's a tree used often in these ceremonies and that tree symbolizes growth and prosperity coming from nothing to something the American flag that will be hanging on that beam well it's pretty simple right americ built and that we should clap for [Applause] absolutely regardless of its Origins there's one thing that's certain topping off tradition is a sacred moment for all these iron workers standing over here first I want to extend my deepest thank you Governor Hy Congressman Neil senator vus and all the distinguished VIPs that are sitting here today with us well let's be real who are the real VIPs here today it's the dedicated Union iron workers and the union labor force building this Union built [Applause] building these men and women had made many sacrifices we all take for granted they've given up family trips sporting events with their kids summer vacations and birthdays their unwavering commitment to the long hours have resulted in something that is truly so special for those who serve our country so let's take a moment and give a huge round of applause to the men and women of local seven and local 15 Iron Workers Local four and all the other local unions that are here represented [Applause] today as I reflect on the work that has done here I can't help but highlight the critical role that the union labor has played in this project the strength of our Union is founded in our members Massachusetts boasts some of the strongest unions in the country and that is something we all can take pride in I'd also like to express my gratitude to commodor builders and wsh brothers for believing in Prime steel and our fabrication partner Bose Atlas led by Nick Blaze together we have delivered this amazing structure I have written here on time but I've heard a lot of over schedule uh behind schedule I mean in front of schedule we have delivered this building on time under budget and without incident and that is a trifecta we can serly celebrate a special thank you goes up to one Shuster and his team for their unwavering dedication to worker safety I was given an early piece of wisdom that Rings true today Jeremy we need to get this job done but more importantly we need to get it done safely those words have guided us through every aspect of this project thanks to the commor Walsh team Frank Ste has implemented our corporate safety program that you see behind me right here known as our 20220 safety campaign very simply stated every worker on site takes 20 seconds every 20 minutes to look 20 ft around them small action like that has been so vital to keeping our job site and Associates safe Additionally the Innovative cocoon netting system that you see on this building to the left designed by essential perimeter Safety Systems is the future of construction safety it has protected all the workers on site and has helped the Commodore Walsh JB team keep on schedule safely so in closing let's all remember that this project is just not about the steal on the concrete it's about building a future for those who have served us selflessly as we top off this historical structure let us all celebrate the hard work dedication and safety that has brought us all here together today as an iron worker I would like to say thank you all for for being part of this Monumental occasion and let's continue to always honor our veterans with every beam we raise forever thank you very much and God bless now is my distinct honor to bring back up to the podium the governor of our great Commonwealth governor haly um well I think we've uh arrived at the point of the program The Big Show um we uh really really appreciate everybody being out today love our veterans love all those who serve and take care of our veterans and I know that everybody here is all in and making sure that we do that today and every day forward so thank you everybody for coming [Applause] all right so what we're going to do now is we're going to hook up the steel beam right over here we're going to fly it straight up you're going to see it come up and it's got the American flag like we talked about right on there they're going to bring it up and they're going to fly right into place I guess once it's all the way up whenever you guys are ready s for [Applause] right [Applause] spe guys everybody's getting nervous look at you getting nervous don't worry the Net's got you the Net's got you don't worry [Music] [Applause] wait wait Beau it really is