'I had a heart for helping:' Veteran helps provide job training and more in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – As we celebrated those who have served this past Friday on Veterans Day, a local center that opened during the pandemic with the aim of helping veterans learn new work skills.
The hope is that the center has an impact not just on veterans but the entire community.
Inside Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Hill District sits the CVS Workforce Innovation Talent Center, which is managed by veteran Sean Ware.
"The men in my family, they all went into the military," Ware said. "Before I even went into the service, I had a heart for helping. Going into the military just gave me those tools."
Ware now uses those tools to help teach more than 11,000 people job training skills for work in things such as retail, pharmacy, audio-visual production, culinary arts, and digital literacy.
"Some of the military positions when you're in the army don't translate into anything into the civilian life," he explained. "So, what we do here we give them a new set of skills so they can become productive citizens."
Ware knows helping veterans and other residents create a better life is the foundation of what he does but he also sees his work as something even greater.
"It's great to do job workforce training but I think my highlight of this position is the community interaction," Ware said.
He wants residents and veterans alike to know the center is here for more than just job skills.
"Just like we want to remove the barriers of child care, food assistance, and transportation for this community, we also want to remove those barriers for military personnel, as well," he said. "Their set of barriers might be different but we're still here to help them hurdle over those."
The current class from the CVS Workforce Talent Center is set to graduate on December 2.
If you or a veteran in your life want to get involved, you can find more at this link.
