Caption by Ashmar Mandou

Early Monday morning, Amazon held a grand opening celebration to unveil its newest corporate location in the Loop community employing more than 200 employees. The grand opening occurred prior to Amazon Prime Day where the company offers a day of deals on products worldwide. During the event, Amazon made a $10,000 donation to Code Platoon. The non-profit helps veterans transition into the civilian workforce by providing technical training and career placement. After completing the 14-week program, veterans are eligible for an internship. Since launching in Illinois in 2015, Amazon has hired thousands of full-time employees and is creating even more jobs for a total of 8,000 new full-time jobs in the state by 2018.