We Hire Members of the Military Community Because Our Business Depends on It

Eurpac hires veterans, retirees, and military dependents.

Our company doesn’t do this out of some sense of obligation, or pressure, or gratitude. We are grateful for the service of those who risk their lives for this country, and their families. But, we run a business, not a charity. And that business runs better when we hire members of the military community.

We’ve learned over time that military-affiliated employees are more responsible, more reliable, and show better problem solving than the average employee.  These people have already done things that were much more challenging than working for us. They’ve already been taught to overcome obstacles and think for themselves – we just have to train them on our product.

An Exciting Week in American Jewish Life

Last week was quite an exciting one. I started off in my hometown, speaking to the Agudath Israel of America Legislative Breakfast in New York City. The breakfast focused on the safety and security of the Jewish community and featured many exciting speakers, including Members of Congress, local elected officials, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the FDNY Commissioner and members of the NYPD. The participants spoke of the collective partnership that is necessary to ensure that the Jewish community is safe from threats as well as resilient to deal with emergencies, no matter the cause.   

From New York, I headed west to Denver for the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), where I had the opportunity to meet with JFNA professional and lay leadership as well as dozens of organizations that do work within the Federation system spanning the breath of Jewish North America. From organizations selling Challah to fight hunger, to ones helping to settle immigrants in America, I was struck by the overwhelming sense of commitment to tikun olam. Repairing the world, a central Jewish value dating to biblical times, has inspired innovation to help solve modern day problems.   

While I mentioned it in a previous blog entry, I would be remiss if I did not recognize the contributions of our Veterans, who we honored last week. Just four weeks ago, we dedicated a monument to Jewish Chaplains who died while in the service. To them, and all who have served, we say thank you for all that you have done and all that you do. 

For the Win: The Next Greatest Generation

For the Win is a guest blog series featuring the remarkable initiatives that young Americans are advancing to win the future for their communities. Each week we highlight a new young person and learn about their inspiring work through their own words. Submit your story to appear in the For the Win guest blog series.

Mohit Jain, a 17-year-old from Omaha, Neb. is a member of the National Youth Advisory Council at generationOnthe youth enterprise of Points of Light. Mohit, inspired by his grandfather’s battle with Alzheimer’s, first became involved in service by working in the medical field. He is actively involved in medical research and is a member of the American Red Cross National Youth Council, the Live Well Omaha Youth Advisory Council and the Nebraska Governor's Advisory Council.  For his work in public health he is a recipient of the Nebraska Governor's Point of Light Award and the President's Volunteer Service Gold Award. Recently, Mohit created a website to help connect youth in his community with volunteer opportunities.

On November 3-5, 2011, Mohit traveled with generationOn to the World Youth Volunteering Summit, hosted by the International Association for Volunteer Effort, in Barranquilla, Colombia where he co-presented a workshop entitled, “The iGeneration: Social Media, Volunteers Unite” which he developed along with his fellow generationOn National Youth Advisory Council members.

It is said that Colombians do not walk from place to place, but rather, they dance. This past week, I traveled to the World Summit for Volunteering and Service in Barranquilla, Colombia for a weekend full of music, service, and adventure. My fellow member of the generationOn Youth Advisory Council, Clay Hurdle, and I had a unique cultural experience that was not only about presenting a workshop at an international conference on volunteering and service, but also a call to fulfill our duties as global citizens and to help us continue to make our mark on the world.

Globally, there are divisions that are caused by ethnic, racial, and gender differences, but after meeting youth from Somalia, China, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Ghana, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, France, Russia, and Germany (just to name a few) it has become evident that there is at least one idea that still remains a cohesive and binding factor regardless of the origins of the individual - the desire to serve and the fact that service learning is a natural human instinct. We are the service generation. The same ideas of service learning that are found in my community in Omaha, Neb. or in Clay’s community in Lake Park, Ga., are also found in youth around the world.

Mohit Jain. (Photo from Points of Light Institute)