Helping Our Local Homeless People with Jobs
BYLINE: Barbara Marinacci, PPTFH Communications Committee
Not all homeless people are panhandlers seeking cash that quickly goes for liquor or drugs. Some want paying work and hold up signs saying so. Others—famished, exhausted, discouraged—don’t carry them.
A certain look in someone’s eyes or face may spark a passerby’s concerned interest. Asked for their names and where they came from, such persons may tell of sorry situations that uprooted them. Good Samaritans take chances when helping the unsheltered indigent, so caution is always needed when offering direct assistance. Fortunately, PPTFH’s small cards given to homeless persons supply contact information for receiving aid.
Some Palisades residents and businesses have helped homeless persons get jobs. Here are a few of these success stories.
Bert hung out in the Village, and his demeanor impressed some community leaders, who launched efforts to help him, which included replacing his stolen bike. After Caruso Affiliated arranged for Chrysalis training, Bert got a mall-maintaining job, then an apartment and a car.
Andy did outdoor work dependably and well, so when people vouched for his reliability and skills he landed a job at Vons market on Sunset and has just received a raise (the photo shows Andy helping a customer load groceries). Vons also employs a young woman who lives in her mother’s car while attending a local school. And Patrick’s Roadhouse has given paying work to several people once numbered among the Palisades homeless population.
If you manage a business or have friends who do and are willing to consider offering a job to a homeless person, please ask our outreach workers, Glanda and Maureen, about reliable clients in urgent need of employment. In future reports, we will tell you what managers of various businesses say about their experiences employing homeless people.
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