THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407200105
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 1B EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
SHE'S 67 AND HAS TO WORK to make ends meet.
Ruth Giddings never thought she would be working past retirement age but circumstances dictated otherwise. The New York retail store she had worked in for 20 years went under, two years before Giddings would have received a full retirement package.
And after moving to Virginia Beach two years ago to be with her daughter, Giddings quickly realized that monthly Social Security checks only go so far.
Last February, however, Green Thumb Inc. came to her rescue. Green Thumb is a national nonprofit organization that uses federal funds from the Department of Labor for training and employment programs for citizens 55 and over. Seniors who meet income guidelines are eligible to participate in these programs, which pay minimum wage ($4.25 an hour) for a maximum of 20 hours a week.
Giddings is now working at the Seatack Community Center as a clerical assistant for the Parks and Recreation Department. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. everyday, Giddings answers the phone, files paperwork and uses the computer to type letters and other departmental correspondence. Green Thumb trained Giddings on the computer, something she had not used in other jobs.
``Before this I wasn't working,'' said Giddings. ``I was looking for something to do - I felt like I was going to dry up. I wasn't moving enough for me.
``I just wanted a few hours a day,'' she added. ``I've worked all of my life - I don't want to work full time anymore.''
Green Thumb began in 1965 with Lady Bird Johnson. President Lyndon Johnson's wife wanted to find a way to use the ``green thumbs'' of low-income, rural seniors to beautify the highways and parks, as part of the President's ``War on Poverty.''
It proved so successful after a few years that Green Thumb decided to include all kinds of jobs in its training and employment programs. Now seniors can train and work in child-care centers, offices (clerical, secretarial and bookkeeping), nursing homes and hospitals (food service and nursing aides), state parks and many other places. More than 17,000 seniors in 44 states and Puerto Rico participate in Green Thumb programs.
According to Green Thumb state director Paula Granger, Green Thumb supervisors meet with eligible seniors and perform a full assessment to determine their skills and interests, then find a suitable host agency for the workers. The host agency is either private and nonprofit or a public agency in the local government.
``Green Thumb workers provide an essential community service,'' said Granger. ``A lot of the host agencies have budgetary constraints and don't have the manpower they need. The goal of Green Thumb is both to provide training and provide job skills to find unsubsidized employment.''
Five positions are available in Virginia Beach, Granger added, but they haven't been developed into jobs yet. That happens after Green Thumb meets with the person and creates the position. And after that participant works for a number of months at that job, he or she is expected to look for other work elsewhere. Green Thumb is not meant to be a lifelong program, just a transitional one.
That worries Ruth Giddings a bit, since neither she nor her daughter drives,and she has no means of transportation.
``This is just a temporary thing for me, I know,'' said Giddings, a Seatack resident. ``But I don't have any way of getting to another job. Someone here at the center picks me up and takes me home everyday. Virginia Beach needs a transportation system real bad.''
Granger said that Giddings shouldn't worry about being put out of a job, but she does need to prove that she is looking for another job regularly.
``Part of the worker's responsibility is to look for another job,'' said Granger. ``We are a stepping stone - we do require them to do a job search and follow up. We do have some people that have been on the program for quite a while, but they live in rural areas and are unable to find something else.''
Ninety-two seniors participate in 10 North Carolina counties and five counties in Virginia. Virginia Beach, in fact, is the only city authorized in South Hampton Roads to have Green Thumb workers because Green Thumb operates under the Senior Community Service Employment Program. Hampton and Newport News are the other cities that operate Green Thumb programs. SEVAMP, the area agency on aging in Norfolk, also runs those kinds of programs and the two agencies do not want to overlap, said Granger.
``We are not a government agency, but we are funded under a federal grant,'' she said, declining to state a figure on the amount of the grant. ``As other people move onto other jobs we can help more people. We are emphasizing, more and more, job training and employment.'' MEMO: Alaine Chase is the area supervisor for Virginia and North Carolina.
You can call her at (919) 338-1335 for more information on Green Thumb
programs. Paula Granger can be reached at (703) 334-3833. They are
long distance calls, Granger said, but added that if you quickly leave
your name and number they will call you back. Or write to Green Thumb
Inc. at 1114 Harris Drive, Elizabeth City, N.C., 27909.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
The Green Thumb program provided computer training for Ruth
Giddings, 67, which helped her get a clerical job.
by CNB