Goodwill® To Announce New Initiative To Serve Women Veterans

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Goodwill will announce a new initiative to significantly augment its support of military veterans at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference on Thursday, June 20. To address the challenges women veterans experience as they return home, Goodwill will help 3,000 women veterans find jobs in the next two years.

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Announcing the new initiative and discussing the unique challenges facing women veterans seeking employment will be:

• Jim Gibbons, president and CEO, Goodwill Industries International
• Assistant Secretary Keith Kelly, Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), U.S. Department of Labor
• Toni Meador, executive assistant, Avondale Ship Yards, Houston, Texas, a Navy veteran who was able to become self-sufficient in the civilian world with assistance from Goodwill.

Ms. Meador joined the Navy in 2010, continuing a family tradition of military service that started with her grandmother's Army career. A single mother, she experienced sexual trauma during her service. Her dreams of a successful military career were shattered when another person's error forced her to jump off a carrier deck into the sea at a height equivalent to a 10-story building. Her injuries were substantial and her transition into civilian life overwhelming as she struggled with the effects of the sexual trauma, her injuries, homelessness and PTSD. At Goodwill, Ms. Meador was assisted with housing, resume preparation, financial education, vocational guidance and job search and placement services.

Women make up an increasingly large part of our armed forces – and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that one in 10 veterans is a woman. Many women returning from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are struggling to transition to civilian life, with factors such as homelessness, childcare, disability, lack of licensing or credentialing and other challenges impeding their and their family's path to economic self-sufficiency.

Two years ago, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden called on Goodwill and others to support military veterans by participating in the Joining Forces campaign. To date, Goodwill has hired nearly 1,800 men and women veterans and military family members and has served nearly 100,000 more with job training and placement services.

This National Press Club Newsmakers news conference is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Thursday, June 20, 2013 in the Club's Murrow Room on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building, 529 14th St, NW, Washington, DC, 20045.

The news conference will be webcast live. The webcast can be accessed at www.visualwebcaster.com/Goodwill4Vets.org.

CONTACT:
Herb Perone, NPC Newsmaker Event Host
301-512-7636, [email protected]

SOURCE National Press Club