Legion job fair partner honored
The American Legion and Hiring Our Heroes have conducted more than 100 hiring fairs for veterans, servicemembers and their families. (Photo by Eldon Lindsay/American Legion)

Legion job fair partner honored

On the night of Nov. 14, representatives of TV broadcasters Comcast and NBCUniversal were presented with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Lee Anderson Veteran and Military Spouse Employment Award. The award recognized, among other things, the companies’ hand in sponsoring and publicizing the ongoing series of “Hiring Our Heroes” veterans job fairs in conjunction with the Chamber and The American Legion. NBC News Vice President Val Nicholas, an American Legion post service officer and one of the guiding lights of the hiring initiative, expressed delight with the honor and, in an email to friends and colleagues – including those at Legion headquarters – made the announcement on behalf of his workmates. His message read, in part:

“On Wednesday night (we were) awarded the highest honor the Chamber gives for our continuing efforts on getting veterans jobs through our “Hiring Our Heroes” job fairs… The event was in Washington and attended by members of the Joint Chiefs, VA, The Dept. Labor, the Dept. Defense, Medal of Honor recipients and the White House, as well as most of the best in class public service groups in the country.

“To date, NBC News  – working hand in hand with our local affiliates – (has) done over 300 job fairs in every state in the union. We are approaching 200,000 veterans attending with thousands of companies from Wal-Mart to Wall Street. And as of this week, over 14,100 veterans now have full time jobs to feed, house and educate themselves and their families. We are slated to do 400 more over the next two years. I also hooked “Hiring Our Heroes” up with The American Legion ( I’m a Legion Service Officer) and now we are doing an additional 200 smaller fairs in small town America in Legion posts across the country.”

Nicholas, a seven-time Emmy Award winner, has worked closely with Legion leadership to facilitate the job fair series. In February 2012, he spoke before a gathering of Economic Commission members during the Legion’s Washington Conference. Economic Division Director Joe Sharpe offered Nicholas “hearty congratulations and thank you for all you and your team have done and are doing for the Legion and our veterans’ community.”