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Veteran job fair a success

The Laurinburg Exchange - 8/20/2021

Aug. 20—LAURINBURG — NC Works Career Center partnered with Scotland County Veteran Services to host what will now be an annual event for veterans.

The Scotland County "Stand Down" Job Fair was held on Friday morning and before 10 a.m. the event had already seen 50 veterans come through. In the past, according to Regina Smalls with the NC Department of Commerce DWS, the event was held semi-annually, however, the plan is now to host it every year.

"It is a two-fold event," said NC Works Representative Jamile Dingle. "We try to focus on helping our veterans with significant barriers for employment, we help them with resumes, we help those who are homeless find shelter and we also help them obtain meal and gas cards."

Dingle said they were hoping to see at least 100 veterans come through the door before the day was over.

"We really worked hard to make this a success," said Dingle. "Pretty much every day I was sending out emails to veterans I had contact with. We also went out old school to businesses and put out flyers.

"If we were out and about and saw someone wearing a hat or a shirt with a military emblem, we stopped them gave them a flyer and told them about the job fair," Dingle added.

The other side of the two-fold event is Michael McNey, who was representing Scotland County Veterans Services. He said the pair works hand in hand to bring the event together and bring more opportunities for veterans.

"We want to bring in more agencies that our veterans may not be aware of," said McNey. "We offer different programs such as COVID vaccine opportunities of course job opportunities and much more."

There were approximately 20 vendors onsite offering information on job opportunities, health care, as well as other opportunities. The event also gave those in attendance the chance to take home food boxes.

"We brought in the boxes of food around 11 a.m.," said McNey. "The boxes have different types of non-perishable foods for them to take home and help stock their shelves. We also provided them with muffins, subs and water while they were there."

Along with information and food, the veterans also had a chance to look through clothing, reading glasses and other items to help them along the way.

"Everything we provided was free," said McNey. "We look forward to hosting this again next year and hope the efforts continue to grow."

JJ Melton can be reached at [email protected]

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