Sarah White is the Works! Center Director at Rockford Rescue Mission. We spoke with her about one of our Life Recovery residents, Noah, and the opportunity he has through the Works! Center and its connection with a local corporation.
How does the Works! Center help the Mission’s residents in finding jobs?
We help people explore what careers are out there. And then we have classroom-based training opportunities through online adult-learning platforms. The hope is, as they get nearer to finishing the Life Recovery Program, they’ve narrowed down what their interests are and what they might be going into career-wise once they finish up.
How did this work in Noah’s case?
What we found with Noah is that he has a lot of different talents. He has a lot of different skill sets, and he has a lot of different interests. So as he finished his classes we were trying to decide, Does he want to go the fitness route because he’s very active, very health conscious and we know he’s a really hands on guy? So we were looking a couple different directions.
And then, Hennig Inc. and the Goellner family are longtime supporters of the Mission and very involved. They had reached out and said, “We have this program. We want to connect with you guys. Is there anyone you have in mind who would be good for this?”
Immediately everyone’s mind went to Noah and how he would be an excellent fit for this. He’s got a very go-getter kind of mindset. He’s such an active and willing participant and willing to step up and do things.
The timing was just beautiful. And this was something Noah was talking about—”Maybe I want to go into the trades, but I don’t know exactly what I want to do.”
So it really just felt like God drew this beautiful story and connected all of the dots together.
It must have been fun for the Mission staff to help that process along.
It was sort of a conversation taking place behind the scenes. (Mission CEO) Sherry Pitney had a lot to do with it. Pam Tomita, who does the Transition program, was really involved. She was the one who really was able to introduce them to one another. So it’s not just one of us sitting here making decisions and trying to steer things. It’s definitely a team effort across departments and throughout the Mission. We’re all sort of working together to say, OK, where can we help people next, and support one another in that forward movement?
And then especially with Hennig and with the Goellners, it was very much a conversation of, “OK, what’s the next step?” How do we make this happen? Nick Goellner (Hennig VP of Sales & Marketing) reached out to me and said, “I want to get someone in here. I really want this. I have a heart for the people of the Mission and the Life Recovery Program, and I really want us to be involved. How can we do that?”
When Nick spearheaded that, it gave us the opportunity to say, “Hey, we’ve got someone who really wants to make this connection happen.” And then it’s sort of just, “OK, God, do your thing. We’ll follow along.”
So how is this working with Hennig?
They have a couple of different trades available. They have a great program that they’ve designed to get people in the door, but then also to get them that training. Noah is going to be training in welding, but he’s also working for them. So he’s getting this well-rounded experience. And what Nick Goellner had said to me was, “It would be wonderful if he comes and works for us. But that isn’t my end game. My goal is to give him this opportunity.”
I thought that was just so beautiful and authentic on Nick’s part. He’s been such a great mentor to Noah.
What are some of the unique challenges you face with this kind of ministry?
At the Works! Center, our focus is really, “What is your plan going to be once you’re finished here?” We try to provide a safe space for adults to explore careers. Sometimes people come in here with careers already. They’re adults. They’ve been working. But they can’t necessarily return to what they had been doing. Either they’ve lost opportunities because of addiction or whatever, or they just recognize that “That’s not really a healthy career path for me if I return to what I was doing before.”
So you really do help them sort out what their lives are going to look like.
A lot of times, people out there in careers are saying, “I wish I could go back to school. I wish I could learn new things, but I’m just so busy.” They just don’t have time. And that’s one of the gifts of the Life Recovery Program. You have time. You’re in class Monday through Thursday for two hours a day. In a guided setting, you have the opportunity to sit down and say, “OK, who did God design me to be?” And then we talk about being a good steward and really focusing on the skill sets that God has given you: “You have these strengths. Let’s look at how these look in the career setting.”
It must be so rewarding for you to be able to offer that kind of help to people.
It’s really interesting, because I’m a mom to multiple teenagers who are all at this point in life. They’re juniors in high school, and they’re trying to figure out—“What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” And then I come to work, and my career is helping people figure out, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”
There may be business owners or managers reading this and saying, “Hey, I wonder if we could do something like this?” If they were interested, what should they do?
Reach out to the Rescue Mission and say that you want to connect to the Works! Center. That’s one of the things that we’re really focused on right now is trying to increase our business connections. We’re aiming to build essentially a strong local workforce for Rockford, so that we can have businesses turn to us and say, “Hey, we’ve got these opportunities. We need people.”
We’ve got people. That’s one thing that the Rescue Mission has. And so we are making sure that we’re connecting with businesses, but we’re also focusing a lot of our classes and other things we do on soft-skill development. We’re not just saying to employers, “Please give them a job.” We’re actually giving them the skills that employers are saying, “This is what we’re really seeing as deficits in the workforce right now and what we really need.” Well, that’s our goal, to give them people who they can really use and appreciate having.
This idea has so much potential for our community.
It’s it feels like the beginning of something grand. Honestly.
I’m so excited for Noah. I’m so appreciative of the Goellner family. And Hennig—I have become such a cheerleader for them. So I’m really excited about all the opportunities that I see awaiting.
