COLUMBIANA Finding a job at The Way Station

Giving people a chance to work is as important as training them to work, the center's director said.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- When The Way Station first opened on Park Avenue in 1989, David Durk was a Columbiana teenager looking for a place to hang out.
"I was about the first one through the door," Durk said of The Way Station's storefront recreation center.
Now the 30-year-old Durk is the production manager for River Rock Candles and TWS Custom Clubs, The Way Station's newest business ventures at 42131 state Route 14, where the ministry moved last year.
When Susan Noling, 37, of New Waterford went to The Way Station for job training, she had worked only minimum-wage jobs and hadn't worked at all since the birth of her daughter six years before.
Now she is one of two women who create floral arrangements and operate The Shop Along The Way, The Way Station's gift shop.
For Noling, job training and employment through The Way Station has given a boost not only to her income, but, more important, to her self-esteem.
Melinda Holsopple, The Way Station's executive director, said that though the ministry may be best known for its food, clothing and education programs, it also provides work experience.
A chance to work
Giving people a chance to work -- a place for people to hone job skills and the qualities employers want -- is as important as teaching them to work, she said.
Participants who work at The Way Station are evaluated regularly, then staff can recommend them for other employment, she said.
For people with little education, no jobs skills and no transportation, life is one big "Catch-22," she said.
"They can't get a job without experience," she said. "They can't go to and from work without a car, and they can't buy a car without a job."
The goal of The Way Station's Shop Along The Way, River Rock Candles and TWS Custom Clubs, is to provide participants with a place to gain experience, she said.
Holsopple said as they prepare to take River Rock Candles to a trade show in Chicago next month, for example, there is much to learn about the process of producing and marketing products, filling orders and shipping.
"We had to consult a packaging engineer," she said. "I didn't know there were packaging engineers."
Holsopple said TWS Custom Clubs is The Way Station's newest business venture.
Donated business
A local man in his 70s decided to donate his business to The Way Station. He is also donating his time to show The Way Station staff how to operate the equipment to create custom golf clubs and regrip and balance other clubs.
Durk just laughed and shook his head at the thought of learning to make golf clubs -- a skill he never imagined he'd learn. But for the Durks, The Way Station's job training and employment programs are the vehicle to a better life.
Durk's wife, Laurie, works at The Way Station as a marketing assistant. The couple has five children ranging in age from 4 to 9.
Although Durk was employed before he started The Way Station programs, the family still qualified for public assistance.
Now he is earning a better wage and gaining more job experience. Durk also started trade school classes in May to learn heating, air conditioning and refrigeration.
"People ask me how I can do it all, but it's a matter of priority," he said. "You can make time for the things that are important."
Welfare to Work
Holsopple said The Way Station operates its Welfare to Work program in partnership with Meridian Services of Youngstown.
Through the Welfare to Work program, the Department of Labor pays competitive wages for six months, Holsopple said. The goal of the program participants is to find full-time, unsubsidized employment with benefits.
Holsopple said so far, participants have an 80 percent success rate. She said 31 of 38 people who have completed the employment training programs are working, most at jobs secured through The Way Station's partnership with the Mahoning Columbiana Training Association.
Another group of 12 just finished The Way Station's program, she said.