Be a Hero-Hire a Hero, a sponsor of Army Week NOLA

This week's Monday Spotlight is on a sponsor for Army Week Association, Be a Hero-Hire a Hero.

                                           

         Be a Hero-Hire a Hero is an organization, founded by Jeff Klare and Noritza Perito, with  intentions of making the transition from military life to civilian life easier on our soldiers coming home from deployments. Although neither have served, the experiences of their family members in the service have helped make this dream possible. They originally started out hoping to help Wounded Warriors re-enter the workplace and start their civilian careers.  Since then, they’ve expanded their reach to assist all veterans, their spouses, and their families.  

           They’re able to assist veterans, spouses, and family members by incorporating three aspects into the job search;  promote education, recruiting, and retaining. They assist employers by educating them about all of factors that affect our veterans, as well as, educating the employers to interpret a soldier’s skillset. For our veterans to obtain and retain a job, their employers need to be educated about ways to assist them.  Jeff Klare and BAH-HAH take that responsibility seriously.  

 Be a Hero- Hire a Hero hosts many career expos to assist veterans, spouses, and family members in finding gainful employment. They incorporate a myriad of tools including career counseling, resume preparation, E-blasts of open job requisitions, a toll-free transition hotline, and follow along services for 1 year post placement.  They have produced career events from Boston to Los Angeles, from the Intrepid to Foxwoods Casino, to the National Constitution Center. There is also a virtual career fair that allows employers, veterans, and military spouses to communicate from anywhere in the world if transportation/timing is a problem.  They’ve developed a search tool where job seekers can type in location, keyword, and even their Military Occupation Specialty Code to make the job hunt easier and more manageable for our veterans. Since 2011, over 18,000 veterans and military spouses have been hired by leading companies in America.

            The transition from military life to civilian life is a long process and doesn't happen in one day. To date, thousands of our veterans and heroes have been provided job-searching strategies, employment, and  services through the help of Be a Hero-Hire a Hero.  Jeff Klare and Be a Hero-Hire a Hero, work very closely with Army Week Association. In September, BAH-HAH, Save A Suit, and AWA donated over 600 suits to veterans at a Citi Field Career Expo in NYC.  This Sunday, November 3rd, we are teaming up for the New York Jets vs New Orleans Saints Military Appreciation Game at Met Life Stadium.  On November 6, BAH-HAH will be producing a Career Expo Event in Philadelphia with UPenn and Drexel University at Legion Field.  Our COO, Jen Wilson, will be speaking at that event.  

Army Week is proud to support, and be supported by, Jeff Klare and an organization like Be a Hero-Hire a Hero that do so many wonderful things for our veterans, their spouses,  and their family members.

Go check out Be a Hero- Hire a Hero’s website at http://www.beahero-hireahero.com/ .

Our Vice President of Development, Christopher Molaro

This week’s Monday Spotlight is on our Vice President of Development, Christopher Molaro. 

Christopher Molaro knew in 8^th grade, witnessing the September 11 attacks on our country, that he was meant to serve. Chris explained, “ The sense of patriotism that engulfed us all really resonated with me, and I wanted to serve from that point forward.” Wanting to be involved in an organization bigger than himself, he chose to join the Army in 2006 and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was commissioned out of West Point as a Second Lieutenant in 2010. 

Molaro chose to become involved in veterans affairs because he considers it his duty to serve our country. In 2011, he and fellow Soldier and West Point alum Garrison Haning, co-founded a 501(c)(3)non-profit organization, Things We Read. They were both serving as platoon leaders in Iraq, and they wanted to help soldiers cope with the stress of combat by promoting reading while also bringing awareness to the need for continuing education. Things We Read collects book recommendations from famous, influential people that readers find interesting. Many of these books are donated to service members and communities in need.

Along with Things We Read, Chris has been a part of other organizations that dealt with veteran’s affairs including Purple Heart Homes and now Army Week Association. He and Army Week Association CEO, Christopher Page, have been colleagues and fellow Soldiers for years. During that time, Molaro came to know Page as – “a genuine individual who truly cares about veterans and supporting any cause which supports them and their families.” Because of their friendship, he knew that he wanted to be a part of Army Week Association because he believes AWA is going to have a substantially positive effect on many veteran’s lives. He is now the Vice President of Development for AWA. That title has him being an advisor to the AWA team while helping promote AWA’s mission and planning events which highlight and celebrate our country’s veterans. 

1st LT Chris Molaro is currently stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He is enrolled in the Field Artillery Captain’s Career Course where he is preparing to be promoted to captain. No matter what course his life takes, he wants to continue to make a positive impact on Soldiers and our veterans and continue service to his nation in uniform or not.

A Member of Our Board of Directors: Christopher Croft

This week’s Monday Spotlight is on Christopher Croft, Colonel U.S. Army.

Christopher Croft is a member of the board of directors for the Army Week Association.

 

           Croft always dreamed of going to college, but being raised by a single, working mother, he knew he could never afford it.   Based on his academic and leadership potential, the Army awarded him a three year scholarship that allowed him to attend college. Croft joined the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Florida in 1983. At graduation, he had no intention of staying in the Army for more than four years. He says, “The reason I stayed was the sense of purpose I gained from the Soldiers and leaders I served alongside.  I saw in them a camaraderie and selflessness that I wanted to be around.”  

 

In the span of 25 years, he has served in 12 different locations around the world and moved a total of 14 times. With the support of his wife, Connie, daughter (28), and son (23), the moves were made more bearable. His wife, Connie, gave up her professional career to take care of the children and keep their home while always helping him in every way she could.

 

Croft has served in Iraq twice, once with the 4^th Infantry Division (Mechanized) 2003-2004 and once with the 106^th Transportation Battalion, 101^st Airborne Division in 2007-2008. Being a husband and a father made deployments especially difficult. He missed both of his children’s senior year of high school. While on one deployment, his daughter moved away to college. On another, his son quarterbacked his team to a state football championship. While home, Croft tried to make the most of his time.  He says, “As I got older, I realized that balance in life is so important. I became more adept at determining what was critical to solve immediately versus what could wait until tomorrow.” When asked about the best part of a deployment, Croft said, “the opportunity to see the incredible professionalism and resiliency of Soldiers in the most difficult of situations”.

Croft participates in numerous organizations promoting veterans’ causes, including the National Defense Transportation Association, the Association of the United States Army, Military Association of America, Veteran of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion. 

In 2013, Croft was assigned to Columbia University as an Army War College Fellow. During his time at Columbia, Croft attended classes while being a voice for the Army in New York City. In New York, Croft started working with the Army Public Affairs team in Manhattan. Through them, Croft met Christopher Page, the founder and CEO of Army Week, and Jen Wilson, the COO of Army Week. Between the three of them, the concept of Army Week Association arose. Both Col Croft and his wife Connie are integral players and Board Members of Army Week Association.  Croft’s duties include helping develop the vision for AWA and guiding the organization to meet its goals.

Christopher Croft is currently serving at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as the Director of the Center for Army Leadership. The Center for Army Leadership is the Army’s lead for leadership and leader development research, studies, analysis, assessment and evaluation; provides the Army leadership and leader development doctrine, products and services; develops and maintains the Army Leader Development Strategy and annexes; and manages the Army Leader Development Program.

 

Go and check out our social media websites:

Facebook: ARMY Week NOLA

Twitter: @ARMYWeekNOLA

Instagram: Armyweeknola