Expanding the KISS Army with Military Roadies for a Day
This summer, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative has teamed up with the legendary rock music band KISS to hire military veterans across the country and carry the program’s message of military hiring to concertgoers in towns across America.
Throughout the band’s nationwide “Freedom to Rock” tour, KISS is working with Hiring Our Heroes to hire a military veteran, service member, or Reserve/National Guard member at each of the U.S. tour stops to serve as “Roadie for a Day.”
Across the country, Hiring Our Heroes is activating its network of relationships within the military community to help in identifying the veteran roadies, and attaching that individual as an actual “embed” to the KISS concert crew. The lucky recipients of these very unique duties help in staffing the VIP events that run in conjunction with the concert, and assist with miscellaneous crew requests throughout the day.
The tour kicked off on July 4, 2016, at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona, with U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Mellyora Crawford.
“It was an awesome experience for me,” Crawford said. “The excitement was contagious and I would recommend to anyone to be a roadie if afforded the opportunity.”
Additionally, the KISS team is donating $150,000 to the HOH program, continuing its support of the Foundation’s initiative which goes back several years, and their overall support of the military community which dates back nearly two decades. For this donation, an actual check presentation is happening at every U.S. concert location on stage with the veteran roadie and often members of local color guards or other military personnel.
Another key partner on this effort is the Veteran Tickets Foundation, or VetTix, an organization that provides tickets to high-profile events across the nation at a discount to veterans who have have verification of their service. At each of these concert locations, VetTix is donating a number of free tickets to veterans.
The “Freedom To Rock” tour continues well into September of this year and word of this initiative has been spreading across country like wildfire. Hiring Our Heroes looks forward to more engagement every week as the tour grows bigger, and definitely louder, throughout the rest of the summer.
