Honoring the spirit of Veterans Day year-round

This Veterans Day was an especially poignant one for us at Google. November 9 marked the fifth anniversary of the Google Veterans Network, our employee volunteer community that strives to make Google a great place to work for those who have served, their families and their friends. Our group has doubled in size every year, and we represent 34 offices in nine countries around the world.

Veterans Day 2012 doodle

This year, we’re honoring the spirit of Veterans Day with a week of activities from November 7-14. Googlers deployed with Team Rubicon to Rockaway Beach, N.Y. to help residents recover from Hurricane Sandy, cooked dinner for military families at VA Puget Sound Fisher House, hosted a Meals Ready-to-Eat luncheon in Atlanta, Ga., and ran a U.S. Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test in Mountain View, Calif.—just a few of the events underway around the United States.

Our commitment to supporting the military veteran community at large continues to strengthen, with a focus on helping veterans make a successful transition to civilian life. Here are some examples of how Google tools and employees have joined the fight against veteran unemployment, in particular:

• 20 resume workshops at Google offices for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the U.S. as well as the U.K. Many of these veterans belong to the Student Veterans of America.
• A scholarship program for veterans studying computer science and our inaugural Student Veterans Summit
• Our first-ever Google for Entrepreneurs Day for hundreds of veterans and military spouses who are aspiring business owners in San Diego, Calif.
• VetNet, a career services platform coming soon on Google+, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes Foundation, IVMF and Hire Heroes USA

We’ve also put our technology to work as sponsors of Veterans Week NYC, including:

• Google technology training for more than 100 wounded warriors and caregivers in NYC and a panel discussion, also broadcast on Google+, with advice for wounded warriors on transitioning to the civilian workplace.
• A live broadcast of the Bob Woodruff Foundation's annual Stand Up For Heroes concert on YouTube and Google+ to raise awareness and funds for wounded warriors.
• Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 14, a broadcast of the Big Apple Circus for military families around the country, hosted by the USO. You can join in the fun on Google+ where we’ll stream the performance live. 

Honoring wounded warriors with The Boss at Stand Up For Heroes on November 8. 

Photo by Stefan Radtke.

Please follow our new Google for Veterans & Families Google+ page to stay abreast of our support for the community all year long. Every day is Veterans Day here at Google.

Update Dec 7: You can now watch video from the November 14 Big Apple Circus on YouTube.

Posted by Carrie Laureno, Audience Evangelist and Founder, Google Veterans Network