Veterans Journey Forward (VJF) — a Chehalis-based veterans organization founded in 2022 and operated in the Veterans Memorial Museum — seemingly vanished last month, with its online presence wiped from the internet.
While some VJF employees remain at the museum in their positions assisting veterans with counseling services and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit assistance, all traces of the VJF name and logo are gone.
That includes former VJF Director Jesse Lloyd, who saw his employment terminated last month.
The museum’s website now simply states veterans benefit services are offered there, when previously it had a link directing people to VJF’s website and a feature article on Lloyd.
Following the VA closing the South Sound VA Clinic in Chehalis in 2021, VJF began working through the museum in 2022 to help fill the void of veterans services.
On top of running the Veterans Memorial Museum, Executive Director Chip Duncan had been partnering with other local nonprofits, allowing them to use the large fields around the museum for their own events. Those included the Lewis County Autism Coalition Car and BMX Bike Shows and pet adoption events with local animal rescues.
For the past several years, Duncan and Lloyd’s partnership led to many local veterans coming to the museum for help from VJF. That partnership continued until Oct. 9, when Lloyd’s employment was terminated.
According to the letter Duncan gave Lloyd that day, he was let go “due to financial constraints of the Veterans Memorial Museum and not a reflection of performance.”
Lloyd says he doesn’t believe the stated reason for his firing. Now, he claims he is preparing to sue Duncan, having filed official complaints with both the Washington state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and IRS.
Lloyd made wide-ranging claims about Duncan’s management after his termination, though they aren’t all matched with evidence.
Lloyd met with The Chronicle on Oct. 27. Duncan answered questions via email, denying or refuting Lloyd’s claims in their entirety.
VJF and the museum intertwined
While on the outside, VJF and the Veterans Memorial Museum appeared to be separate nonprofit entities with separate websites, Lloyd was officially managing the organization as a department of the museum under its nonprofit designation, he said.
“I had come to Chip and said, ‘I’m about to start this and do this nonprofit,’ and Chip was like, ‘Well, why don’t you just do it here?’ We had long conversations about it, because the whole purpose was to do the right thing for the right reasons,” Lloyd said. “And, initially, that functioned just fine for the first two years or so.”
Lloyd stated he handled most of the documentation of VJF's individual finances. However, Duncan still had the final say before anything was signed and submitted. Duncan described the founding as a partnership.
Budgetary issues
It was at the beginning of this year when budgetary concerns began to arise, as funding Lloyd thought was coming from Lewis County was withheld, he said. However, this issue stemmed from separate concerns county officials had.
Lloyd described himself as being a persistent thorn in the county’s side in attempts to get it to remove barriers he believed were blocking funding.
County officials described it in a different light.
The Chronicle met with Lewis County Public Health & Social Services Director Meja Handlen and Lewis County Veterans Advisory Board member George Dodd on Nov. 13.
Dodd, a U.S. Navy veteran, is also a certified veteran services officer (VSO) for the county, assisting local veterans in getting help through county services, or referred to organizations that can help them through the Lewis County Veterans’ Relief Fund.
According to Handlen, the reason they began withholding contract funding from VJF earlier this year was due to reporting concerns about services being provided.
For example, they may have received a VJF report stating a certain number of veterans obtained assistance in a certain month. But when asked for specifics, whether the certain number was an exact number of individual veterans who were assisted or it was fewer veterans filing multiple claims, they could get no clarification.
“The county’s always been transparent about what was needed in order to continue forward,” Dodd added. “Whether it be the numbers, the documentation or anything else. It was kind of like pulling teeth to get what Meja needed. There was always the thought to help them continue to move forward, but if you don’t have everything properly documented, it can come back and bite you.”
County officials are required by state law to have specific documentation on hand before releasing funding. Upon conducting an on-site spot check to see how they were documenting the services they provided to local veterans, Handlen stated Lloyd argued that wasn’t how they operated.
Both Dodd and Handlen lamented the current situation with Lloyd and Duncan, as they had seen positive results come from the partnership.
After contacting a homeless veteran who was living in his car, the veteran received assistance from VJF’s certified VSO and was able to get a 100% VA disability rating.
“This was someone who was staying at the park in Morton … When he got that 100% disability, man, life changing,” Handlen said.
“He texted me and said, ‘Hey, check my house out,’” Dodd added. “He’s got a house in North Carolina now, not a place I would probably like to move to, but it’s a house. He’s safe and he’s happy and he’s got his girlfriend with him. And as we fund these programs, that’s what we want to see: the veteran moving forward.”
There was also some concern as to Lloyd’s own peer counseling certification status as the Washington state Department of Health’s website currently lists Lloyd’s certifications as expired going back to 2023.
However, Washington state Health Care Authority program specialist Mary Chambers confirmed with Lloyd his certified peer counseling certification was still active earlier this year.
Lloyd says he had other financial concerns, including a $300,000 TransAlta Centralia Coal Transition Board grant, which was given in a lump sum, according to Lloyd. Some of that amount was used to pay out the rest of his salary for the year, but he couldn’t account for the rest, he claims.
“I was told, within six months of us getting that $300,000 grant that was meant to be spread over three years, that it was gone,” Lloyd said. “I don’t understand it. That’s also where (Duncan) and me butted heads about two weeks before I was fired, because I wanted to know where all that money was.”
Duncan told The Chronicle “we are in compliance” with the grant spending guidelines and denied the notion the money had been misspent.
“The TransAlta grant was for three years and is being spent as it is intended,” Duncan added.
The grant was awarded by TransAlta last year to “support the Veterans Journey Forward program,” according to a Nov. 18, 2024, Centralia Coal Transition Board news release. “The grant funds will be applied to administrative expenses, mental health training and counseling, events, and dental triage and assistance.”
The Chronicle has reached out to the Centralia Coal Transition Board for more information on the grant, but has yet to receive a reply.
Other claims by fired director
Lloyd said he had another monetary concern — a draft business plan for the museum to take over and run the county’s animal shelter, he said.
Aside from Lloyd’s concern with the costs of running an animal shelter, he also questioned how it would help local veterans. He had previous discussions with Duncan about setting up a therapy dog training center, but no concrete plans were ever established.
Duncan confirmed internal plans are being discussed for the Veterans Memorial Museum to make an attempt at purchasing the Lewis County Animal Shelter.
“We are considering submitting through the upcoming RFP (request for proposal) process for the Lewis County Animal Shelter,” Duncan said.
Duncan also disputed Lloyd’s claim he lost sight of VJF’s original mission.
“Jesse is a man who genuinely cares for veterans and I hope that he can continue with this passion in the future to help veterans in our community. It is never about who helps veterans in our region — it is always the mission that veterans receive the support they need,” Duncan said. “As for the Veterans Memorial Museum, we will continue the mission to provide veterans services — to heal and honor.”
How Lloyd was fired
Two weeks before Lloyd was fired, he said he requested a meeting with Duncan aiming specifically to discuss VJF's finances again. He claims Duncan was dismissive.
“The week after that, I was brought in and told that I was a problem with the county because I was perceived as ‘resistant,’” Lloyd said.
On top of communicating with Lewis County officials about funding, the pair frequented Lewis County Board of Commissioners and Lewis County Veterans Advisory Board meetings to discuss possible funding.
“We came to the conclusion that I just wouldn’t engage with the county anymore. I just wouldn’t go to the board meetings. I wouldn’t deal with that. Chip would,” Lloyd added.
Then, a week later, on Oct. 8, Duncan called for an emergency meeting of the Veterans Memorial Museum’s Board of Directors the next morning. Lloyd was not informed of the meeting and found out about it when he showed up for work that morning.
The Oct. 9 emergency meeting lasted an hour and a half. Following its conclusion, Duncan handed Lloyd the letter and officially let him go.
Lloyd believed he was fired due to conflicts with county officials and his persistent questions to Duncan about VJF’s finances.
Duncan disputed these claims as well, stating budgetary issues were indeed the cause of what happened on Oct. 9.
“Jesse’s position was terminated related to budget issues. After careful consideration of our funding sources and our grant compliance requirements, we determined that it was necessary to eliminate certain positions,” Duncan said. “We did not make this decision lightly and determined it was the best financial decision for the organization.”
He took issue with Lloyd’s claim of county influence in the decision.
“With respect to Jesse’s speculation about county officials, we are not aware of any conversations with county officials where they expressed a desire to have Jesse terminated,” Duncan added.
Additionally, Lloyd accuses Duncan of copyright infringement, as he claims Duncan was using VJF’s name and logo for weeks after Lloyd was fired to advertise for the “Shades of Red, White & Blue Masquerade Gala” museum fundraiser held on Nov. 8.
With Lloyd threatening to sue Duncan over the use of VJF’s name, Duncan also took issue with Lloyd’s claim as VJF’s founder.
“As for the Veteran’s Journey Forward program, Jesse helped to develop this program while he was employed by the organization. It was a program of the museum,” Duncan stated. “That being said, we have made the decision to not object to Jesse’s efforts to move forward with the name and program on his own. We are still providing veteran’s services and intend to do so going forward.”
More claims
Following his termination, Lloyd is also raising a number of additional concerns, though he appears to have brought none of them forward prior to his firing.
Among his claims is the assertion that military uniforms and memorabilia donated to the museum by local families were thrown away.
While Duncan said some uniform items have been thrown away in the past, he disputed the claim that the discarded items were donations.
“I can only assume that Jesse is referring to some of the overstock items that we carry which are used as ‘fillers’ for future displays or are loaned to the community on an as-needed basis. These items included some uniforms and gear, which we deaccessioned when we had an excess of the same item,” Duncan said.
Additionally, Lloyd claimed some of the weapons displayed at the Veterans Memorial Museum have not been properly de-millitaried, or de-milled, and are still fully functional.
Lloyd said he has filed reports with multiple law enforcement agencies over the weapons he claims are not properly de-milled.
According to Duncan, though, the museum’s weapons, and the security at the museum itself, are compliant.
“I can assure you that all firearms on display in the museum have been de-militarized and none are presently functional,” Duncan said.
He added he was fully confident in the security measures currently in place at the Veterans Memorial Museum.
Lloyd said while he hopes to resume VJF on his own at some point, he said he is concentrating on his legal battle right now.
“I know I’ve been taken advantage of,” he said.
