HANCOCK - About five years ago, Violette Richards had to give up her job in the bakery of a local supermarket due to physical reasons, but although she was 63 years old at the time, she still needed some sort of income.
To compensate for the loss of income, Richards connected with an organization called Experience Works, which places people 55 years old and older with local nonprofit organizations, and as a result she got a job with the Hancock office of the American Red Cross.
Richards said at the time, she was volunteering at Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, and LBFE Executive Director Mike Aten told her about Experience Works, and she decided to look into the organization because although she retired from full-time work, she still had expenses.
"Since I'm retired, I really needed to have a job," she said.
Richards' part-time job at Red Cross includes office work and helping families displaced by fire, but when she started, she found out she would have to work with computers, which presented her with a problem.
"I didn't know (anything) about them," she said.
Richards said she learned about computers on the job, and had fun doing it.
"It was kind of exciting," she said.
Determining exactly what kinds of jobs Experience Works participants can do is part of the entry process, according to Paul Trautman, employment and training coordinator for Baraga, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties.
"They do skill-level testing," he said.
If the employees aren't especially proficient in any particular part of the job, that's taken care of.
"They are trained by the host agency in various duties," Trautman said.
One of the goals of the program, Trautman said, is to give participants new skills they can use at other employment once they leave Experience Works.
Originally called the Green Thumb project, Trautman said Experience Works came into existence as a federal program in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his War on Poverty. The name was changed in 2002 to be more descriptive of the program's purpose.
Besides the Red Cross, Trautman said Experience Works provides workers to Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, Meals On Wheels at Portage Health, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Ojibwa Cultural Center, the Calumet Theatre and the Keweenaw National Historical Park's archives. Participants do office, yard and maintenance work.
How long an Experience Works participant stays at one job depends on what the employing agency needs from the participants, Trautman said.
"They're basically there a year," he said. "Then we have to move them on or come up with a different set of goals. The host agency certainly has the opportunity to hire the person."
Although Richards has been at the Red Cross office five years, Trautman said a recently initiated Experience Works policy states workers shouldn't stay at one job more than four years.
Annette Butina, director of disaster services in the Hancock office of the Central Upper Peninsula Chapter, said Richards' help has been extremely important to her, and the day she started in the office five years ago, her help was particularly needed.
"I was so busy I didn't know what to do with myself," she said.
Butina said Richards' duties at the office include answering the telephone, and preparing classrooms for the first aid classes Butina gives, which is no small task.
"There's a list this long for setting up the class," she said holding her hands about two feet apart.
After fires, families often come to the Red Cross office in the E.L. Wright building on North Lincoln Drive in Hancock, and Butina said Richards' help at those times is very important.
"It's absolutely chaotic here," she said. "We simply could not do it without Experience Works."
Butina said even on days that aren't chaotic, Richards' presence in the office is important.
"She comes in every day with a smile on her face," she said.
Richards said she works at Red Cross 21 hours per week, which is fine with her.
"I wouldn't want full time," she said.
Besides providing her with additional income and giving her skills she didn't have before she started, Richards said having the job is good psychologically.
"You're not at home looking at four walls feeling sorry for yourself," she said.
For more information about Experience Works, call 866-976-5939, or go online to experienceworks.org.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie @mininggazette.com.
