Contracts Staff Ponders How to Jumpstart Division
Gulfport,
MS — When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, many
business and non-essential government operations in the affected areas
ground to a halt. But in the case of manning the switchboard at Keesler
Air Force Base – which Goodwill Industries of South Mississippi
provides through a NISH contract – the job never stopped throughout the
storm and beyond.
“[The volume of calls] doubled during the
hurricane and thereafter,” said Lou Colinet, the Goodwill’s Contracts
Director. “[The clients] were working 24 hours a day, some with no
sleep.”
In the wake of the storm, the Gulfport Goodwill’s
contracts division stands to be impacted in many serious ways. On one
hand, Colinet estimates the Goodwill’s contract revenue will be down by
80 percent this month, since many of the jobs Goodwill clients perform
– custodial, shelf stocking and commissary work – are on hold at
damaged facilities.
At the same time that work is dropping at
some contract sites, it’s increasing at others where the presence of
federal emergency staff and National Guardsmen is driving increased
demands for service. A changed job market, where hurricane
recovery-related jobs are advertising hourly wages of $8-12, is also
squeezing the already tight pool for talent.
Add
the fact that the Goodwill only has a third of its regular contracts
workforce – 60-70 people, versus a full staff of 200 – and you have a
potential problem.
“The majority of my people lost everything and they’ve been displaced,” Colinet said. “That’s the sad part.”
Goodwill
Industries of South Mississippi holds a number of lucrative federal and
state contracts, including four separate agreements at Keesler Air
Force. These contracts include manning the switchboard, providing
custodial work, sorting and delivering interoffice correspondences,
segregating and delivering mail, and running the commissary.
Although the switchboard contract has grown in volume, the others are not operating at full blast.
There
has been help. NISH has given the Goodwill about $440,000 total to
purchase new equipment that was lost in the storm, to pay employees and
buy food for them. But that financial gift will only stretch so far.
One
of the busiest contract sites is now the Combat Readiness Training
Center at the Mississippi Air National Guard base. A team of 35
Goodwill clients works there, some doing housekeeping work, some
custodial and some food service.
Three clients on the
Goodwill’s housekeeping team said they have indeed been working harder
for more hours since the National Guardsmen and emergency officials
arrived at the Combat Readiness Training Center.
“We do the most
down-and-dirty work,” said 48-year-old Kim Patton. “I don’t mind doing
it, because it’s my job. [People are] constantly in and out.”
Even
though she could make more money elsewhere, Patton said she plans to
stick with the job and with her supervisor, Sue Rye, the Goodwill’s
Assistant Director of Contracts.
“I like this job,” Patton said.
“I’m helping people, first of all, and it makes me feel good that I’m
helping people. And it’s an exciting job.”
Despite having many
good workers, Colinet is quite cognizant that he needs to hire more
people. Because of the proliferation of jobs out there, Colinet has
started speaking to prospective employees one-on-one and seeing whether
they have any interest in working for Goodwill.
“The first thing
we have to do is build up our employee base,” Colinet said. “If we
don’t meet the demands of government contracts, then they’ll go to
another contractor who can.”
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