by Kyle Galvin
HARTFORD, CT — A bipartisan group of state legislators from the Committee on Veterans’ and Military Affairs promoted the annual “Save A Suit” drive Thursday at a news conference outside the Capitol.
Save A Suit, a nonprofit organization, provides veterans and transitioning service members with professional attire, including business suits and other clothing resources aimed at helping them achieve job security, according to the organization’s website. Save A Suit runs the drive together with the Committee on Veterans’ and Military Affairs and the Max Cares Foundation.
Sen. Paul Honig, D-Harwinton, and the co-chair of the Committee, hailed Save A Suit’s work as “really important,” given that many service members who transition back to civilian life face financial hardship, he said.
“A suit can make a great first impression at a job interview, and it can open up opportunities for these veterans for financial security,” Honig said. “This is not just about clothing. This is about respect and showing our support for veterans.”
Numerous tables and garment racks with hundreds of business suits and other professional attire items were set up near the conference, and volunteers helped collect donated items until around 4 p.m.
Robert Silverburg, managing partner at Morris London, provides advocacy for the event. He said the Save A Suit drive has raised $15,000 and collected 15,000 articles of professional clothing since its inception.
“It occurred to me: I work in a building full of a thousand people who wear suits every day. There’s got to be some that are available to be donated,” Silverburg said. “So we reached out to the Max Cares Foundation and the Save A Suit people … and here we are, seven years later, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger every year.”
Rep. Jamie Foster, D-Ellington, touted the legislative achievements of the Committee on Veterans’ and Military Affairs, including the creation of a revolving loan fund for disabled veterans looking to start or grow their own small businesses.
“This committee is really interested in making sure that we can address all the barriers to veterans employability,” Foster said, “and if you’re dressing for success as part of those barriers, we’re happy to be a part of that solution.”
Foster said that the committee hears from and supports two types of veterans in Connecticut: those who are not seeking jobs because they are either retired or fully disabled, and young, middle-aged vets who are looking for their next career opportunity. This second group, Foster said, runs into struggles as they pursue what comes next.
“Part of it is dressing for the job that they have. They’ve come off from a job where their uniform is determined for them,” Foster said. “But some of it is also just translating military service to civilian service. And we just hear from veterans – a lot – that that’s a challenging process.”
Connecticut was home to 131,603 veterans in 2022, the 35th largest population of veterans in the country, according to USAFacts.
Rep. Hubert Delaney, D-Stamford, noted that while he remembered not feeling confident nor comfortable returning to his community from active duty, community-led veterans programs made all the difference to him. He said for him, it’s not so much about overwhelmingly important pieces of legislation for veterans, but “seemingly small moments that can have such a big impact on people’s lives.”
“That’s really what today is about – having people’s back, not just on the big bills, but on the things that affect them every day,” Delaney said, “about getting a job, and about knowing that we’re here for them.”