ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9602050095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA (AP)
SOURCE: MARYLOU TOUSIGNANT THE WASHINGTON POST
SNOW DIDN'T DETER 114 job applicants who came seeking a chance to regain their income and self-esteem.
Beverly O'Brien came to the Ramada Plaza with a neatly typed resume in her hand and a burning desire in her heart. The 32-year-old mother of three has been out of work since 1992 and, for the last 2 1/2 months, she and her children, who range in age from 8 months to 8 years, have been living in a Fairfax County homeless shelter.
She hoped to change both conditions by coming to the Old Town hotel Friday to attend a job fair for the homeless. The fair was sponsored by the Junior League of Northern Virginia, a volunteer service agency.
``I'm trying to get off welfare, and this is a chance to do it,'' said O'Brien. ``I came with a positive attitude.''
So did 114 other applicants, who walked, rode buses and hitched rides through the early morning snowfall, some with tiny children in tow, some with solid resumes who never expected to be in a shelter, all with the hope the job fair would pave a smooth turnaround in their previously bumpy lives.
The weather cut the number of employers who were to attend, but 14 managed to make it - among them United Airlines, Marymount University and Mr. Wash Carwash - with openings for jobs as varied as clerical help, drivers and sales positions.
Jerry Stallings worked his way from one table to the next in the large conference room, filling out several applications because, well, you just never know.
Stallings, 28, lost his job with a Maryland moving company when business cooled a few months ago.
``When they laid me off, I was, like, stuck. I lost my apartment and I got in with the wrong crowd and started drinking again,'' he said.
Stallings wound up at the Alexandria Community Shelter, which ``is the best thing I got going because it's helping me back on my feet,'' he said.
He's been sober for a month, and he told potential employers that if they would give him a chance, he would give them 100 percent. ``Everybody has their downfalls,'' he said. ``Employers said they understood.''
``We want good, hard workers,'' said Christopher Fabiszak, of Duron Paints & Wallcoverings. ``These people want to get back on their feet, and we want to help them do that.''
Ulysses White, representing the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said a ``one-time blip or mistake'' in an applicant's past wouldn't doom his or her chances.
That was comforting to many.
Risa Coleman said that just because a person ends up in a shelter at some point - as she has - it shouldn't be seen as a black mark.
Coleman had a steady income marketing residential mortgages until the financial world started shaking a few years ago, taking her with it. She was put on commission.
``I thought I could overcome it with more sales, more sales, more sales,'' she said. She was wrong.
``A year ago, you couldn't have told me I wouldn't be working, that I'd be living in a shelter,'' said Coleman, 41, as she fished in her briefcase for a job history to hand out.
Organizers of the job fair, now in its fourth year, haven't tracked how many employment offers it has produced. But the league is starting a year-round job-assistance program at Shelter House in Falls Church.
``The homeless in the District [of Columbia] are more visible because they're sleeping on grates and begging,'' said league President Elizabeth Wash. ``But in Northern Virginia, the numbers are staggering, too.''
In 1994, Virginia logged a record 94,000 requests for shelter, and 40,000 were turned down for lack of space, according to the Virginia Coalition for the Homeless. In Northern Virginia, there were 13,000 requests, 10,000 of which were fulfilled.
``We have watched homelessness grow and grow,'' said Sue M. Capers, who founded the coalition in 1987.
In Northern Virginia, Capers said, 38 percent of those entering shelters in 1994 already had jobs, the majority of them full-time, but still were unable to make it.
``A $5-an-hour job doesn't make sense in an area where the average rent is $600 to $700,'' Wash said.
Brenda Robertson knows that firsthand. Her job at a Springfield office supply store pays $6 an hour. She's grateful for the work but says, ``I couldn't live on that.''
On Friday, her eyes lit up when she saw the names of would-be employers attending the job fair. ``Federal Express. Amtrak. United Airlines. People retire from places like that,'' she said with a measure of awe in her voice.
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB