Patriots’ Hall names new executive director

DRIPPING SPRINGS  — Retired Lieutenant General Scott McKean was named the executive director of Patriots’ Hall of Dripping Springs — a 10-acre campus dedicated to providing services and resources to Central Texas veterans and their families. The organization’s mission is to create a permanent retreat and resource base for veterans of all ages and military branches to connect and find support. Patriots’ Hall features a 7,100-square-foot multipurpose facility that is capable of hosting events and other veteran support organizations; it’s expected to offer a variety of resources to veterans, including basic needs, education, Veterans Affairs benefits assistance, mental health, physical health and transition services. “In essence, the mission is to help veterans and their families connect, grow and thrive in our community. It’s as simple as that,” said McKean, who was selected to become executive director by the Patriots’ Hall Board of Directors because of his vast leadership experience, commitment to service and passion for assisting veterans. McKean was commissioned in 1990 as an Armor officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served more than 33 years in the United States Army and has led at every level from platoon to division command. He deployed to Iraq five times between 2003-2017 and he also served three tours in Korea. During his career, McKean and his family were stationed throughout Texas, including Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Killeen, Fort Bliss in El Paso and he finished his service at Army Futures Command in Austin. “I spent the last three years working [ atArmy Futures Command in Austin] and it gave me a great opportunity to find a place to live here in the Central Texas area and we found Dripping Springs. As I started getting to know folks in the community, I learned about Patriots’ Hall,” he said. “I went there and visited. It was just a volunteer thing for me just to go and kind of see how I can help what their role was. From that point, we just really matched and we just kind of started trying to get this mission moving forward.” McKean explained the history behind Patriots’ Hall, starting about six years ago, the VFW's and American Legion’s buildings in Dripping Springs were basically condemned and they were looking for a place to meet. Kathryn Chandler, who eventually became the founder of Patriots’ Hall, took that role on and began raising money to buy land in order to get a VFW facility constructed. However, after being told to look at the bigger picture, Chandler and some others who were helping her, including Dripping Springs ISD Trustee Mary Jane Hetrick, did some surveys in the Hays County area. “They got a great and very clear message from the veterans. What they were looking for was somewhere where they could come together, meet with their fellow veterans for the camaraderie, a one-stop place to get assistance when needed and find ways of contributing to their community,” McKean said. Contributing to the community was emphasized by the veterans’ spouses in the survey feedback, McKean said. “I think this is something that's not uncommon to our experience in the military. As you move every two to three years, you're moving to a new community. It's just kind of how the military service runs. The spouses volunteer in the community and when you are serving, you know that if you're not deployed, or doing that, you're also serving within the community,” he said. “Once you leave the military, it's hard to find [a community] if you don't know people [and] if you don't have folks with a common background. And so that camaraderie and that bringing folks together is what these veterans are looking for.” Currently, McKean said that they are learning about other veteran organizations, conducting surveys and seeing what they can offer at Patriots’ Hall — this includes hosting veteran organizations that are virtual, but are interested in having a physical presence. “As we've been doing our surveys, a lot of these veteran organizations, and there's a lot out there, they are virtual. They may host one or two events a year somewhere, but they're virtual type organizations. And so what we're doing is [reaching out to] organizations to see who would like to have that physical presence, day-to-day presence at one location,” he explained. “We're not trying to recreate services that others are doing. If someone's doing it and they want to come, we’ll host them in this facility because that's the whole point of it. We take advantage of what other people are doing and give veterans some consistency and dependability about where they might be able to find those resources.” McKean said that there are different ways that the community can help, including residents who know a veteran that may be undergoing some challenges should direct them to Patriots’ Hall. “The community knowing that not only is this a place that we're trying to assist veterans, [but] this is a place where veterans are going to come to figure out how to best serve their community. This is where we start connecting better with the community and really building those relationships,” he said. “That person next door is someone that you can rely on and somebody that you can ask something for if they need something … I think it's gonna take the Dripping Springs area and Central Texas just to another level." Patriots’ Hall is in its final construction phase and is scheduled to begin serving veterans in the summer of 2024. For more information, visit www.patriotshall.org .