Bike ride held to bring job opportunities to veterans

BOLIVAR, Tenn. — A bike ride stretching across the state of Tennessee is being done in hopes of bringing job opportunities to veterans.

Eric Horton with Tennessee Veteran Services is partnering with the American Job Center to help veterans through that transition from the military to a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job.

“Everybody across the state is needing a workforce. There is nobody better to fill some of those positions than transitioning military and veterans. Highly skilled, resilient, dedicated to the missions. That was the main reason behind it,” Horton said.

Horton says they will be riding 30 miles per day for a total of 577 miles from Memphis to Kingsport in East Tennessee.

And at each stop there is a job fair.

“What if we did a bike ride all the way from West Tennessee to East Tennessee and hit all the American Job Centers on the way. That way we can tell other veterans that there are other communities, there are other job opportunities,” Horton said.

Ariel McGahey, with Tennessee Job Center, says this is a great way to make sure veterans have the tools they need to get a job.

“A lot of times we see that veterans, when they finish serving their country and dedicated so much of their lives, sometimes the transition for them can be a little difficult and so we want to make sure that we are here to help them re-acclimate to society,” McGahey said.

McGahey says if you missed the job fair in Bolivar on Tuesday, there are more opportunities to stop by.

“Tomorrow we will have a stop in Jackson, Tennessee. We will have an event there at our Jackson agency. On Thursday, we will have an event in Lexington at Beech Lake. We will have a job fair there as well,” McGahey said.

Horton says the unemployment among the veteran population has gone from double digits to 2.9%.

But he says they can do better.

“If there are 200,000 veterans across the United States transitioning out, it is nice to get the word out that Tennessee could be a safe stop for you to land after you leave service. Maybe we can get a little more veterans in the workforce than 2.9%,” Horton said.

If you would like to join the bike ride, Horton will be leaving from Bolivar at 8 a.m. to head to Jackson.

For a full list of job fair locations, click here.