LAS VEGAS -- Goodwill Southern Nevada cut the ribbon on a new donation center Monday. However, It is not just a place for people to donate gently used clothing and household items. It is unique because it staffed by two previously unemployed veterans.
The program to employee those veterans and others came together with a $350,000 donation from the Nevada Women's Philanthropy.
Goodwill is using the funds to find jobs for veterans either within its organizations or at other companies. The charity says it has seen an increase in the number of unemployed veterans in the past few years.
"It is a huge need here in the community. One out of every seven vets is unemployed and when you think about that for a second, one out of ever seven, that is a huge amount of people," Kathy Topp spokesperson with Goodwill said.
Veterans say they face a wide range of issues when applying for a civilian job. It can be difficult to translate job experience from military language into terms a company can understand.
"It took a lot of work to convert my military language into civilian language, so that they could understand what my skills were and how to translate them," veteran Adrene McLaughlin said.
Still others struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder. An estimated 35,000 veterans in Clark County are without a job, Goodwill said.
The new donation center is at the city of Las Vegas' Veterans Memorial Leisure Services Center at 101 North Pavilion Center, which is near Pavilion Center and Alta Drive. It is one of 40 donation centers around the Las Vegas valley.
