My wife and I are the founders of Patriotic Hearts, a U.S. veteran non-profit. — We began 2004 as HireMarines.com to serve the 75,000 Marines on Camp Pendleton, in Oceanside, CA. It was a unique site that posted daily jobs for active duty Marines to take when they are off-duty. Residents post these jobs when they need help around their homes and yards. (See Here.) Soon, that day-by-day job board was getting 40,000 visitors a month! Homeowners and residents, especially Seniors and Retired Military, loved having these young men and women over to help with chores. We became a local media sensation. Then the Admiral at the San Diego Naval Base called. He wanted to know if his sailors could use the site too. I said “Yes.” Then he told me that we had to change the name. — I changed it to HirePatriots.com so that we could serve all branches of the military, and veterans too, all across America. We have been doing so for 15 years.
During that time, we have received two medals from two US Presidents for want we do. Congress and the Pentagon have also awarded us. Too, we have been on many dozens of national TV and radio interviews. Here is a sampling: In the News. — People Magazine also wrote an article about us and published it as America’s Heroes Among Us. Read article Here.
To pay for our mounting expenses we started a non-profit, Patriotic Hearts. As soon as we did, the San Diego Supervisors gave us $100,000. With that money we expanded our outreach to include military job fairs. We hold multiple job fairs for US veterans with a standard attendance of 100 companies and 2000 veterans. — Much of our operating expenses are also paid by our Car Donation to Veterans program: https://www.cardonation2veterans.com/.
Patriotic Hearts also hosts Military Marriage Retreats. We started this program during the Iraq War when the 250,000 active duty military on our local bases were experiencing a huge divorce rate. The wives on bases called it the “Plague.” (Unfortunately, this is common for young marriages who experience multiple deployments to combat areas.) We host these 3-day and night retreats at the 4 Star Marina Inn Suites in Oceanside Harbor. All expenses are paid by Patriotic Hearts. These are fantastic, heart-warming events that save marriages and families!
Patriotic Hearts’ primary goal is to put US veterans into good, secure jobs ASAP after their transition back into the civilian world. To accommodate this, we lease a top-of-the-line Careers job board. It has thousands of jobs posted exclusively for US veterans. See Here.
Too accelerate the time it takes for veterans to find a job that fits we also create businesses for them to own, and to employ other veterans at good wages. We have 80 US Military Maintenance business owners across America so far. They are employing hundreds of veterans at excellent wages. – We also create additional businesses for veterans to own. And we assist them in successfully launching their own business ideas.
My wife and I have become experts in getting national and local media attention. We use this skill to promote our sponsor businesses, and to promote the veterans we put into business. — It is helpful for our corporate sponsors and government contractors to choose Patriotic Hearts as their corporate charity. Our reputation is stellar and few if any veteran non-profits have received the awards and media that we have garnered. We have a database of many thousands of companies that know us and use our job boards to hire veterans. We are also very well connected on the social networks. Currently, we are beginning work on creating a self-sustaining entrepreneurial veteran village on 360 acres in upstate New York.
Mark and Tori Baird
760-730-3734
Authors: An American Crisis: Veteran Unemployment
Authors: The Patriotic Business Plan: Strategies for Sensational Success
