JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hancock Whitney Bank is investing $10,000 in Operation New Uniform, a Jacksonville nonprofit that helps service members and their families transition to civilian life and careers.
The donation will support in-person and online training designed to rebuild confidence, sharpen interview skills and help participants translate military experience into civilian job qualifications.
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When asked about the shock of leaving the service, a Navy veteran and program alumnus described how losing rank and uniform felt like losing identity.
“The hardest part about leaving the military and transitioning to the civilian community was losing your rank, your ribbons, your identity, taking off the uniform and kind of losing your purpose. After 25 years being associated with the navy, this was a huge shock,” the veteran said.
David Trenholm, who serves on Operation New Uniform’s board and is an alumnus of the program, said he joined the U.S. Navy after high school and spent two decades as a Naval Flight Officer. He said deployments to Iraq, Syria and Somalia and leading more than 95 sailors shaped his career.
When Trenholm left the Navy, he said, he had never experienced a corporate interview and struggled to present his military skills in civilian terms. He credits Operation New Uniform with helping him make the transition to banking and finance, where he has worked for six years.
“Operation New Uniform was the best program I ever went through for a couple reasons, Number one, it helped me realize my identity wasn’t just solely being in the military,” Trenholm said. “It let me know that I’m a father, that I’m loved, that I have purpose.”
Jay Lugg, executive assistant at Operation New Uniform, said the nonprofit provides resources, motivation and training to help participants “sell” the skills they acquired while serving.
“We provide the resources, the motivation and the tools and techniques that allow them too sell not only themselves but the skills that they acquire while serving in the military,” Lugg said.
Lugg said the Hancock Whitney contribution will let the group continue to offer training free of charge and reinvest donations back into the program.
“It allows us to provide the tools, techniques, and training completely free to them so any donation that we receive goes right back into our program,” he said. “We offer the program free of charge. and so through donations as received through Hancock Whitney, it allows us to continue to pay it forward the same way the servicemembers have paid it forward to us to allow that we have our freedoms and liberties here.”
Operation New Uniform was founded in Jacksonville in 2014 by Michelle McManamon, according to the organization. The nonprofit said it has helped about 800 veterans in the Jacksonville area and is ready to expand services with new funding.