Featured business person: Jen McGill

Jen McGill, Veterans outreach specialist, Catholic Charities

McGill sums up her new motto as “have van, will travel.”

That’s because she’s taken a newly created job designed to find U.S. military veterans and their families who need help with housing in 25 Kansas counties.

“The things that we take for granted, like transportation, can make it very difficult for a veteran to come to me,” McGill said. “They can come to me or I will go to them.”

McGill grew up in Wichita and graduated from West High School. She worked nearly 20 years for the Kansas Humane Society, most recently as operations director and rescue coordinator.

“I very much enjoyed the nonprofit sector and the fact that you get to go to work every day feeling like you’re making a difference in the community,” she said. “One of the things that kept me there was there were a lot of different positions I could fill, a lot of variety. I had reached the point where there weren’t a lot of directions for me to go.”

For Catholic Charities, McGill will try to find veterans and their families who are homeless or in danger of becoming so. One way is by going to the staffs at homeless shelters, hospitals, soup kitchens and food pantries and asking them. After screening for eligibility, McGill puts them in touch with case workers who can provide temporary financial aid, landlord-tenant mediation and other services. McGill said her position is funded by Veterans Affairs.

“These veterans have done so much for us,” she said. “I’m excited that now I get to do something for them.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Featured business person: Jen McGill."