Carpenters outsourcing picket duty - By Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus Dispatch, OH
Homeless, others happy to get $8 an hour
"They’re giving people who are underemployed, unemployed or simply unemployable because of an addiction, disability, mental illness or other problem … a leg up," said Kent Beittel, executive director of the Open Shelter. "At the very least, our clients are making enough money for basic needs such as food. At the most, they’re saving enough money to move into apartments or getting enough experience to move to better jobs."
The carpenters council approached the Open Shelter and several other homeless groups last fall. They took applications at the shelter office at Trinity Lutheran Church on Broad Street twice a week for eight weeks in the winter, hiring more than 100 people.