VA job fair brings veterans together with community – Butler Eagle

BUTLER TWP – For Shawn Ayres, a former U.S. Marine, attending VA Butler Healthcare’s second annual job fair on Friday, Aug. 16, was an opportunity to both look for work and network with the local community after moving from Ohio.

Among the dozens who attended the event were Ayres, a homeless veteran, and Larry Dunlap, who served as an active-duty military policeman in the U.S. Air Force and is a single father.

“I'm so glad I came,” Dunlap said. “I've never been to a job fair before.”

Dunlap, of Butler Township, said he plans to stay until the end of the fair to talk to as many people as possible.

“There are some difficult situations here,” Dunlap said. “I'm a single father of an 11-year-old daughter. She'll be 12 in a few days. I have to work constantly. Maybe I can take a break here and there, but not often.”

Harry Smith, a community-based employment specialist with the VA, greeted the veterans and helped them register. Dunlap considers him a mentor, he says.

Smith helped plan the event along with Danelle Perkins, a community employment coordinator, along with Norm Magliocca of CareerLink and Josh Seybert, outreach coordinator.

Smith's role is to take care of veterans in the community. Perkins' job is to connect with employers. On Friday afternoon, 30 employers met to talk to veterans. In the coming years, she said, she hopes to attract employers from outside Butler County, including from Armstrong, Clarion, Lawrence and Mercer counties, which are served by the VA Butler Healthcare System.

“I would say we try to run the gamut, so we have manufacturing jobs here, entry-level employers, UPMC, healthcare jobs,” Perkins said. “We try to make it diverse so we can reach virtually every veteran.”

The job fair also encourages veterans who are not enrolled with the VA to register, said Paula McCarl, press secretary.

“That's how our budget is based,” McCarl said. “We want veterans to use our services – so that future veterans can do the same.”

Perkins said the VA also offers a job club for homeless veterans in partnership with CareerLink. Homeless veterans may have trouble getting around, she said, which is why the VA also offers a rideshare program.

Ayres lives at the VA Butler Healthcare Medical Center, a homeless shelter for at-risk veterans. He was able to attend the job fair on a shuttle provided by the VA.

He moved in May after his public housing contract expired. Before the move, he had enrolled in an inpatient program for a substance use disorder.

Ayres said he didn't want to relapse. Since he was unemployed, the next logical step was to contact the local outpatient clinic. He was referred to Butler County for treatment for his substance use disorder.

Ayres was on active duty from 1997 to 2001 and worked as a financial technician before serving in the color guard and representing the U.S. Marine Corps “with the highest honors,” he said.

In three years, Ayres said, his vision is to “become an upstanding citizen” and integrate into the local community. Looking to the future, he is also considering moving to a larger city.

For Ayres, things are moving forward step by step.

“It's a welcome change,” he said of moving to Butler County. “It's been an eye-opening, mind-expanding, enlightening experience. It's welcome because Butler is a slower-paced community compared to a city where things move faster.”

Shawn Ayres, a former U.S. Marine, attended VA Butler Healthcare's second annual job fair on Friday, Aug. 16, and described it as an opportunity to better integrate into the local community. Ayres, a homeless veteran, moved here from Ohio in May. Irina Bucur/Butler Eagle