Workers’ ‘one-stop’ help center closes
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 12:56 p.m., April 22, 2008
Updated 12:56 p.m., April 22, 2008
The Dislocated Worker Center at Mary Herbert Learning Center has closed; however, those who need help can continue to receive it at those participating agencies’ individual offices.
When it opened several weeks ago, it was serving 60 families each on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last week, the numbers of participants dwindled appreciably, and agencies no longer could justify the out-of-office time to serve only a handful of people.
“Because of the slowdown in the number of households coming in, it’s not an effective use of the agencies’ time to have people staffed there,” Duane Dreiling, executive director of the United Way of the Flint Hills, said of the closing. United Way coordinated the agencies’ efforts. “We want to really encourage (others) to go to those various agencies to access services. They can still get services, whether that be from the Salvation Army, mental health center, the health center” or other agencies.
The center had served hundreds of people in the last few weeks.
“It was steady 60 people every day, then last week, Monday, we only did 38. Then the following Wednesday we only did 27, 24, something like that,” said Capt. Jeremiah Burris of the Salvation Army, which has a major role in assisting the displaced workers, in addition to serving the daily needs of others in the community who need help. “So, we’ve all decided to go back to our own areas and do the referral thing. We’re going to continue to do what we do.”
Salvation Army will have a staff meeting on Thursday to decide where it will host the food distribution specified for Tyson workers. An announcement about the new system will be made at the end of the week.
“We’re going to try to do something a little different for the Tyson people,” Burris said. “We still have food to give out from the Tyson plant to the Tyson workers — then our daily operations, still maintain that, too.”
Burris said that Tyson had donated meats specifically for its former workers, in addition to the meats that it normally donated to the Salvation Army.
“We actually get meat from Tyson for the general operations, the daily operations,” he said. “... They were actually going to distribute it to their workers but since we were going to set up a center, they asked that we distribute it for them.”
Maps to the various agencies are available from the Salvation Army and other participating agencies.
Where to go for help
Workers who have been displaced from their jobs have access to several types of assistance, depending on their personal needs. The agencies who participated in the Displaced Workers Center project continue to provide help at their own offices, as listed below:
• Consumer Credit Counseling
625 Commercial St., #205
342-7788
• Flint Hills Community Health Center
420 W 15th Ave.
342-4864.
• Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services
1701 Wheeler St.
342-2505
• KansasWorks
512 Market St.
• Mental Health Center of East-Central Kansas
1000 Lincoln St.
343-2211
Toll-free (800) 279-3645
• Newman Regional Health
1201 W. 12th Ave.
343-6800
• SOS
701 Merchant St., lower level
342-1870
Toll-free (800) 825-1295
• The Salvation Army
327 Constitution St.
3432 3093