Local thrift store offers program for life skills
Several bins of donated items sit in the back room of the Hope Center, waiting to be sorted by the center’s employees.
One man in particular is hard at work sorting through both the thrift store’s donations and his personal life.
James Demars is an employee at the Hope Center and a member of its employment training program.
Jake Smith | Argonaut
Moscow resident James Demars works in the back of the Hope Center. Demars will soon graduate from the Hope at Work program, an employment training program aimed at helping struggling community members re-enter into the work force.
The Hope Center, a local thrift store in Moscow, offers employment and support counseling for those who cannot secure or maintain long-term employment. Deemed the Hope at Work program, it helps community members regardless of circumstance, including those dealing with a felony on their record, homelessness or substance abuse.
Demars said the Hope at Work program gives people a second chance and helps them get back on their feet, no matter where they’re at in their lives.
“Work’s not our priority all the time — it’s people,” Demars said. “That’s what’s different.”
Before Hope at Work, Demars said his life was a rollercoaster ride of jail time and living on the streets. Since joining Hope at Work, he said his life has taken a 180-degree turn.
DeDe McReynolds, service coordinator at the Hope Center, said because Hope at Work is an employment training program, employees do not stay at the Hope Center long-term, but rather build up personal skills and experience to attain long-term employment elsewhere.
The program recruits individuals faced with a barrier for getting or maintaining employment, McReynolds said.
She said potential employees have to agree to comply with budget coaching, support coaching, drug and alcohol testing, employment training, GED tutoring and attendance at Celebrate Recovery, a faith-based 12-step recovery program to help people overcome hardships.
McReynolds said despite any existing or scheduled drug programs outside Hope at Work, employees are expected to be members of Celebrate Recovery. She said the program stems from a national, interdenominational ministry and the steps are essentially the same as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous — except a bible verse is paired with each step.
“The other way that it’s very different from Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is that while it addresses alcohol and drug dependence, it also addresses other hurts, habits and hang ups,” McReynolds said.
Demars said he had issues with substance abuse in his past, which led him to seek help at the Hope Center. After attempting to turn his life around previously, he said Celebrate Recovery is the only recovery program that has worked for him.
McReynolds said Celebrate Recovery also address the struggles and issues any normal human being can encounter, such as anger, anxiety, finances, relationships, family disfunction and sexual abuse.
At Celebrate Recovery, McReynolds said there is a large group component on worship time, lessons and small group meetings. There are four groups separated by gender for two topics: mixed issues and substance abuse issues.
In groups, members seek personal answers to their problems by addressing emotions and issues without cross-talk or interruptions, she said.
“You can throw as much advice on someone as you want to, but if their own mental belief system doesn’t change, then it’s not going to do anything for them,” McReynolds said. “If they can verbalize and realize and accept what their situation is and see their belief system … then that is going to bring a change into their own mind.”
Demars said the Hope Center gives him a safe place and the support he needs to take care of various necessities, such as getting a vehicle, driver’s license and a place to call home.
Support coaches, all of whom are voluntary, meet one-on-one to mentor and counsel members of Hope at Work. The support coaches offer an outlet for dialogue about life problems, goals and advice, McReynolds said.
Hope at Work program employees are provided 36-38 hours of employment each week where they answer to employment managers, McReynolds said.
She said employment managers first address the basics of employment, including attitude, speaking with customers, coworkers and hygiene. Employment managers then move toward self-direction and initiative, critical thinking and supervising others.
Hope at Work also provides budget coaches and match employees’ savings toward stability-oriented goals, McReynolds said.
The Hope at Work program started more than 10 years ago as a benevolence ministry through the Nazarene Church, McReynolds said. The benevolence ministry was a food bank and clothing closet, and also provided financial aid to struggling community members.
The Hope at Work program opened in the Hope Center approximately four years ago, she said. She also said the program offers a new social, financial and life community for members of the program to build.
McReynolds said “hope” is an acronym for “helping others pursue excellence.”
Jake Smith can be reached at [email protected]