WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark Corp. is launching its effort to hire military veterans and spouses with an event at the company’s Vero Beach, Fla., distribution center.
The company said Thursday the event at the Vero Beach facility will include remarks from chief diversity officer David Casey and other CVS representatives, the presentation of colors and the singing of the national anthem.
Each of the center’s veterans also will be presented with a letter of appreciation signed by CVS Caremark president and chief executive officer Larry Merlo as well as a Military Challenge Coin that CVS gives to colleagues and other veterans as a token of appreciation for their military service.
Thirty-two of the Vero Beach distribution center’s 275 employees are veterans. Of those, 22 were hired within the past year. Overall, 25% of the facility’s management staff are veterans.
"CVS Caremark understands and appreciates the values, skills and experiences that veterans and military spouses bring to the job," Casey said in a statement. "We recognize the sacrifices that veterans and military spouses have made for our country and are honored to provide qualified candidates with meaningful employment opportunities at CVS Caremark. We are proud of our team’s effort to make hiring veterans and their spouses a priority here in Vero Beach and at our locations across the country."
In April, CVS joined the Joining Forces initiative, a White House program aimed at hiring and training 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years. As part of Joining Forces, the company has committed to hiring veterans and military spouses for 25% of its new hires in logistics and distribution centers nationwide, accounting for about 1,000 jobs over the next four years.
CVS said there are more than 5,000 unemployed veterans in the Vero Beach area, and the distribution center has made it a priority to hire veterans. Later this year, the facility plans to invite local veterans to learn about career opportunities at CVS Caremark locations nationwide.
"With 1 million service members transitioning out of the military over the next several years, our company is poised and ready to add more of these talented individuals to our workforce," stated Ron Link, senior vice president of logistics at CVS Caremark. "Our Vero Beach distribution center has been making a concerted effort to hire veterans and military spouses for months, and our team of colleagues has been enhanced because of it."
CVS recently was recognized by DiversityInc as one of the Top 10 Companies for Veterans. And last week, CVS/pharmacy and Veterans Advantage Inc. unveiled a new in-store savings program for Veterans Advantage’s VetRewards Card members. The program provides military veterans and their families with discounts on thousands of store brand products at the drug chain’s 7,400 stores across the country.
