Starbucks Coffee Set To Give $30 Million Back To U.S. Troops; What Made The Company Do This?
Starbucks, the global coffee chain, is giving back $30 million to the US troops. Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz says we really need to help those who have served as the war winds down in Afghanistan.
It has been 11 years since the US forces entered into the Iraq war, at the start of a war that has lasted nine years. Schultz's $30 million gift is to help war veterans, and in fact go towards the rehabilitation and research of war veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Schultz, in an interview with CBS News, stated that we (Americans and Starbucks) need to fund the opportunity for research, medical practitioners, and science to understand the disease, and hopefully come up with a remedy.
An estimated 20 percent of US soldiers suffer from some form of PTSD or depression, and 50 percent of those diagnosed do not seek treatment. According to the Congressional Research Service, they have reported 152,985 cases of PTSD within the U.S. Army between 2000 and 2014. As of Jan. 10 2014, they have been 6,775 U.S. service members who have died in action since 2001, and 51,809 have been injured.
Schultz feels strongly that troops are coming back home to an America that does not understand them. He also criticized the U.S. government by stating they know how to send soldiers to war than they do bringing them back home.
What perhaps impacted Schultz's decision even more was after his visit to Walter Reed Hospital. Schultz says he was not "mentally or emotionally prepared." Schultz says he saw "a young 21-year-old warrior who had lost both of his legs, he was wheeled around on a wheelchair by his mother."
"I've seen things and I've heard things, and I've meet these people and their families, you can't just be a bystander," Schultz added.
In addition to Schultz's charitable gift, he intends to hire 10,000 veterans or their spouses over the next five years. Schultz referenced that these men and women are returning home with a set of skills that cannot be taught, and they have an exceptional value to any business, institution, and any enterprise.
Schultz was adamant that this is not about hiring baristas, the Daily Mail Online reported. They, Starbucks, are seeking individuals with experience in everything from leading teams to building and managing complex, and global supply chains. The veterans have skills in foreign language, and they offer international experience.