MSEJ November 2017 | Page 4

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If you are interested please send your resume to Bianca Nafpliotis, Career Corps Volunteer Program Coordinator at [email protected].

Reflections on Veterans Day

By: Deb Kloeppel, Founder and President

As the sixteenth anniversary of Operation Enduring Freedom came and went last month and we approached Veterans Day, I've been thinking about our Veterans--the Veterans we've helped to find employment and the Veterans who still need that assistance.

The unemployment rate for Gulf War-era II Veterans is down and reflects downward trends in the overall civilian unemployment rate. This fact is good for Veterans, Veteran Service Organizations (like us), and the country as a whole.

Yet, I know there's work to do. We meet Veteran job seekers daily, and we work to connect them with the RIGHT job for them, one in which they can thrive and be an ASSET. We meet Veterans who are realizing their post-service dreams, and we meet Veterans whose talents and skills need to be translated for their civilian equivalents.

Our service members bring a wealth of skills and knowledge to the civilian workforce as employees, to our small business community as thriving business owners, and to our country as productive and engaged citizens.

A grateful nation can best thank these Veterans--these soldiers, sailors, Marines, and Coasties for Life--by welcoming them and their families into civilian life, as colleagues and as neighbors.

As we celebrate Veterans Day and move into the Giving Season, I challenge each of us to work diligently to bring our Veterans and their families into our communities, whether it be in the workplace, at the gym, in your place of worship, or any other place where we connect with others.

At CASY, we know "Thank You for Your Service," can only be the beginning of a promise to our Veterans. We'll continue to show our thanks by providing job readiness services to our Veterans, and we hope that you'll join us in connecting our Veterans into our communities.