State Rep. Diana DiZoglio.
Career Resources Corp. CEO Bradley Howell.
As Veterans Day approaches, a $125,000 state budget appropriation will help a Haverhill-based nonprofit form a public-private partnership with the Methuen Home Depot to provide jobs for disabled veterans in the Merrimack Valley.
Career Resources Corporation (CRC), an organization to “empower individuals with disabilities and other barriers to be successful and self-sufficient,” will work with the Methuen Home Depot to “identify disabled area veterans in need of employment and potentially hire them for Home Depot jobs,” according to a statement Monday from Rep. Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen).
“As we approach Veterans Day, it is so important that we work together to address unemployment among our veterans, which remains high comparative to the overall population,” DiZoglio said. “These are men and women who have put their lives on the line for us and we need to do all we can to help them transition back into the community. I am grateful to CRC and the Methuen Home Depot for their commitment to joining forces in helping to put our unemployed disabled veterans back to work.”
DiZoglio, who secured the state funding in the current fiscal year, facilitated a recent meeting between CRC and Methuen Home Depot that led to the partnership. In the past, CRC has partnered with Valley Works Career Center, the Haverhill-based Veterans Northeast Outreach Center and the City of Haverhill Veterans’ Services department to help area veterans “seek and maintain employment.”
“We are very excited to partner with the Methuen Home Depot to assist more veterans with disabilities in becoming employed,” said Brad Howell, chief executive officer at CRC. “Home Depot is a great example of a company that is willing to commit to making a difference in the lives of veterans. We are very appreciate of Representative DiZoglio who has supported CRC’s veteran’s program right from the beginning and continues to keep the needs of veterans foremost in her legislative and community work. ”
“Giving back is personal to The Home Depot,” said Carmen A. Fulchini, store manager of the Methuen Home Depot. “It is a part of our core values. More than 35,000 associates at The Home Depot have served or are currently serving in the military. Partnering with CRC allows us to give to those who have made the sacrifice for our country and also to let them be part of a productive and fun environment and to continue to have that feeling of contributing to make a difference. I want to thank Diana and the CRC for being dedicated to this and for allowing us to be a part of something that can help those in need.”