Rags of Honor provides jobs, services for veterans

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Rags of Honor, a veteran-owned and operated screen printing shop, provides jobs and services for veterans in need.

"This place is a reset button," said Navy Veteran Dion West on Friday. "This place is a place you can come to get that second jumpstart in life that you probably wouldn't have gotten somewhere else."

Helping veterans like West is exactly what Rags of Honor sets out to do.

"I went from not having a place of my own to live, to having a stable bank account with savings, to having my own place. My bills are on time, I get to buy little toys that I want. It's pretty much for me personally, financial stability," said West.

Mark Doyle started the business after learning of countless accounts of veterans in need.

"Frankly I got tired of reading stories and hearing news accounts of men and women living in shelters," said Doyle. "So I just went to a shelter, hired four and went to work."

Doyle had a very specific plan of teaching a technical skill and focusing on a specific portion of the veteran population.

"There are a lot of people hiring veterans, but our mission is to try to find the ones that have really fallen through the cracks and build a business on their back," he said.

The company also teaches employees business skills along the way.

"This is a place for people to come when they are in a jam and they want to get back on their feet and if you want to stay with us we're going to teach you how to get your resume better. We're going to teach you how to use QuickBooks, we're going to teach you how to do graphic arts, how to ship, how to do logistics," Doyle said.

Doyle hopes to expand from 15 veterans on staff to 30 by spring.

He is also launching a sister company this month called Veteran Roasters Cup of Joe with proceeds going to help homeless veterans.