November 2012
Past Issues | Advertise

Your Turn to Serve

Print this Article | Send to Colleague

Their workplace is unimaginable.

Choking desert heat, deep mountain cold. A warren of mud-walled streets or rock-strewn terrain, where any shift in the landscape, shadowed corner or flowing robe can mean explosive death. US troops return to these forbidding places for three, four or even more tours of duty to serve our nation. And when they serve America, they serve every one of us.

Now it’s your turn to serve those who help keep us free, and BOMA/NY is working to help make that possible.

We took the first steps at the Silent Auction of our Annual Dinner Dance, which was held last Friday and raised approximately $4,500 for the cause. The funds will be donated directly to Hope for the Warriors, a national veterans’ group devoted to providing the wounded with services as basic as driving them to doctor visits to helping them find employment.

We’re also trying to help exchange those unimaginable workplaces for careers in a business that cannot be outsourced, off-shored and will keep them very close to home. BOMA/NY is in the early stages of an awareness campaign on the benefits of hiring vets, whose record of discipline, and rigorous training in technology, communications and teamwork make them ideal candidates for property management, say BOMA/NY officials. 

Last year, the government has also made the hiring of vets more financially advantageous through The Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which expands education and training opportunities for veterans while providing tax credits for employers who hire veterans with service-connected disabilities. Additional tax credits and other incentives are offered for hiring and training veterans who are unemployed or have service-connected disabilities are available.

Today the veterans’ unemployment rate hovers 3 percent above the national average, but BOMA/NY is hoping its initiatives will make a difference and prompt real estate professionals to focus on the possibilities veterans offer. If your building has hired a vet recently, contact the BOMA/NY office and share your story.