Oceanside Retirees Launch Online Job Service for Veterans

An online resource that connects willing veterans with day-long work opportunities, launched by an Oceanside couple in 2005, is gaining national attention.

NBC Nightly News recently profiled, Mark and Tori Baird, who for more than a decade worked on starting Hire Patriots, after a Marine looking for work knocked on their door one day years ago.

"He said, 'I need to earn $100 today to feed my family and keep the lights on'," Mark Baird told NBC Nightly News. "And he asked if there was any work he could do for us."

Baird let the man do a few odd jobs around his house, including cleaning out his garage and fixing a broken chair. From that first chance encounter, the Bairds thought that there may be more veterans just like that man, those who need to make extra money in a pinch. 

Hire Patriots is essentially a job board designed to hire veterans, which allows users to post odd jobs and allows veterans to sign up to do them. Since its launch dozens of organizations have become members of the site. Baird estimates that about 50,000 work opportunities have been posted on the site, giving thousands of veterans transitioning from deployment a chance to work – if even for a day. 

According to the website, for their efforts, HirePatriots has received the one of the highest civilian honors a U.S. President can bestow from both President Bush and President Obama: The Congressional Medal of Merit, and the Presidents Volunteer Service Medal. 

The money that these veterans have earned from odd jobs, though not life changing, has allowed them to pay for necessities: car payments, groceries, diapers, repairs, etc. Baird sees his site as a bridge that helps vets who have not been able to find full-time work after coming back from deployment. 

"The average veteran is going to take five years before he's able to sustainably employ himself and take care of his family," Baird told NBC Nightly News. "They volunteered to use their bodies as weapons of war and they've suffered tremendously from doing so. It only seems right that we return the favor."