The Memorial Day holiday is upon us! This holiday kicks off the unofficial start of summer with such happenings as the release of kids from school, the opening of many pools across the U.S., the running of the Indianapolis 500, and the race to find prime parking spots for all of those Memorial Day events.
And when we reflect on the origin of this holiday, we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in our country’s armed forces, marking the occasion, rightfully so, with ceremonies, services, parades and festivals.
While Memorial Day is not the same as Veterans Day, which falls on November 11th each year, we naturally turn to our Veterans on this holiday to help us remember those who have passed, what they fought for, and why we honor them.
In that spirit, for this Memorial Day blog, let’s look at the world of parking from the angle of our Veterans!
And what better place to start than the “Veterans Parking” group located in Oregon, and found online at http://veteransparking.org/ Their goal is to get at least one Veteran’s Parking Space at every public, private and commercial facility to honor and express gratitude to Veterans year round and every day. As stated on their website: “There isn't any reason why local governments and business communities can't say thank you every day with a visible parking sign and parking space that does that very well and at little cost. This type of public thank you across the nation could possibly save the lives of returning veterans from combat. They will know their fellow citizens and communities care every day.”
Well, New Jersey made a great leap in this direction! Their Motor Vehicle Commission recently made parking free at municipal parking meters for the state's disabled veterans and Purple Heart recipients. The MVC now provides placards for Veterans in the Garden State to take advantage of this program.
Several parking management firms have followed suit by offering complimentary or discounted parking to military Veterans or working hand in hand with respective clients to establish parking programs specific to Veterans at all sorts of facilities, with a message of appreciation and gratitude underscoring these efforts.
Other ways that Veterans are served in the parking world include employment programs for Vets that many Parking Operators have initiated at their companies. From top to bottom, our Veterans are being recruited to help lead parking companies as top-flight Executives, to sell their services and products with high energy as Biz Dev experts, and to park cars by hard-charging Valet Parkers. One good spot to advertise your company's open positions for this purpose is at https://hireveterans.com/
We would love to hear some stories from Parking Operators about how you honor the fallen on Memorial Day, how you make parking easier for our Veterans, or how you go the extra mile to employ Veterans at your company! Please post a LinkedIn comment or Tweet your story so we can get the good word out about your initiatives to assist Veterans and your activities to remember our great men and women who gave their lives for our country!
Happy Memorial Day from the Marlyn Group!
