Profile in Community Courage: IL Town Faces Downturn With Grit
- Posted on September 21, 2010 at 7:41am by
Meredith Jessup
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On his radio and television programs, Glenn Beck talks a lot about the importance of Faith, Hope and Charity and their strong influence on our nation’s history. Though some may have strayed from these principles, they are still engrained in many small towns across the country. One such town today is Herrin, Illinois. USA Today highlighted this community’s determination today:
Mayor Vic Ritter learned on a rainy morning in May 2006 that the Maytag plant here was going to close, eliminating almost 1,000 jobs. “It was like somebody had hit me in the stomach as hard as they could,” he recalls. “I thought we were done. Herrin’s done.”
He imagined people moving away, a dwindling tax base and declining school enrollment in this southern Illinois town of 12,450 with a bustling downtown, a coal-mining history and a close-knit population of European immigrants’ descendants.
After news broke that the town would lose its single biggest employer, city leaders, area colleges and Man-Tra-Con Corp., a nonprofit group that administers state and federal job-search career-development programs set to work in helping people find work. The Maytag employees received tutoring help and internships and Man-Tra-Con — a shortened version of “management, training and consulting” — helped them enroll in school and apply for jobs.
The response “had to be more than just retraining,” Man-Tra-Con CEO Kathy Lively said. ”We knew that if we didn’t do more, we could lose our town.”
This devastating thought threw the whole community into action:
Displaced workers got free tax preparation, insurance help and counseling. Private donations were used to buy emergency gift cards for groceries and gas. Volunteers gave rides to classes and job interviews. Small businesses hired people they didn‘t really need and stores wrote off workers’ debts. Man-Tra-Con gave police cards with staffers’ phone numbers to call if Maytag workers got in trouble or seemed suicidal.
There were weekly “job club” sessions in which workers could compare notes and get advice, a health fair and investment planning sessions. Workers got lessons in using computers, writing résumés and study skills. John A. Logan College, a two-year school, set up a lounge and computer lab where Maytag workers could work and relax between classes. People who were headed to job interviews got haircuts and manicures. Those who went back to school got supplies. Everything was free.
Giant silver ribbons were hung on trees and the doors of homes and stores, and lapel-size silver-ribbon pins were distributed around town. The message: “Every cloud has a silver lining.”
Stephen Turner, 44, put in eight years at the Maytag plant, working his way up from the maintenance crew to the assembly line. On the day the plant announced it was closing, Turner went to Man-Tra-Con. He applied for retraining assistance and later enrolled in a tool-and-die-making course. After completing his associate’s degree and looking for work, he was hired in July by a local VA hospital.
He credits his faith and the community’s support for helping him get through tough times. “Everybody was very sympathetic,” he said.
Angela Wagner, 43, said the community helped her “make a bad situation into good.” Wagner had worked at Maytag for 18 years and her husband, Scott, 38, had worked there for seven. After they lost their jobs, both went back to school with the community’s support. Wagner now works as a massage therapist in a chiropractor’s office and her husband found work in another local plant.
“Herrin seems to stick together,” Wagner said. “We got everything we needed to help us get through the transition.”
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chuckc
Posted on September 22, 2010 at 8:31amrecieved education as tool and die maker, then found a government job.
Report Post »Duckhunter
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:42pmGood story about people sticking together. They need to look to their creator for help also.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:39pmHow is evolution going to help?
Report Post »Clownfish Von Braunstein
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:32pmMaytag….Obama gave a speech at one of them at a campaign. The owners are big backers.
International Machinist union on his 121,000 dollar campaign donation on an earlier plant closing elsewhere in Illinois and this one, “He never lifted a finger to help those Galesburg Machinists
nor those in Herrin, Illinois either. His inaction defines his loyalty and his debt to the Crowns.”
The Crown family gave even more money than this while being dupped into thinking the President is pro-Israel.
Per one source found online, his daughter got Barack his good deal on the mortgage near Rezko’s. Supposedly she sits on the board of a bank that the convicted Iraqi friend was at.
Now I didn’t fact check this whole entire thing, but this story caused me to sign up as I remember this crooked story and this plant, so I hurried to grab one source I could find that confirmed if it was the exact same towns. It is a very funny coincidence.
Report Post »roninshaman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 6:28pmI love that all the leftists ignore things like private donations and volunteers. It was a community effort that helped this town and most charitable work is done by non-profit groups who get their money from private donations. Stop the spinning. I’m getting sick.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:16pmI’m not spinning–this is the reality of this particular story. Volunteering and donations are always important, and no one is ignoring them, but many many nonprofit organizations benefit from state and federal funding or take advantage of government programs. This is just a fact.
My point is simply that this town’s recovery is not a story about private virtue vs. public failure, as some have suggested. That view is based on a misreading of the article and a lack of background information.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 2:58pmSeaYaLater,
Take a look at Man-Tra-Con’s website. Man-Tra-Con helps out of work people in Illinois take advantage of the “Put Illinois to Work Program”:
“The Put Illinois to Work program is an initiative of Governor Pat Quinn to create jobs throughout Illinois and provide employment experience to those hardest hit by the recession. Put Illinois to Work is funded by the State of Illinois and federal funding made available in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”
It also helps the unemployed take advantage of the federally funded TAA (Trade Adjustment Assitance) Program. These programs would not exist if you folks had your way. If you want more info, just take a look at their mission statement on their website
“Man-Tra-Con Corporation is a private, not-for-profit organization. We administer community-based programs and services within Local Worker Area #25 through funding provided by the [State] Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the [Federal] Workforce Investment Act, with oversight and guidance from our Chief Local Elected Officials and the Southern Illinois Workforce Investment Board.”
http://www.mantracon.org/pdf_files/MTC%20Brochure_1005.pdf
I find this revelation common with you rabid anti-government spending folks–oftentime you don’t realize what government funding actually does and who it helps. This turn-around would not be possible without this federally funded and state funded organization. What do you say to that?
Report Post »NEVER.GIVE.IN
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 4:30pmPub: I am sincerely glad this one town has hope of maintaining itself. I am delighted some individual people decided to fight for self improvement (do the hard things) and hold their ground (a capitalist theme). But I do see it as an insidious wrong that government funding is expected, leveraged, difficult to avoid in every circumstance. Growing up, I had only one neighbor who never signed up for the federal farm subsidies. In looking at them, I learned deep lessons about independance, self-esteem and respect for others. I desperately want neighbors like that. I want to be a neighbor like that.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:17pmIndependence is great, and I’m glad you have your role model. However, for some people “Independence” seems to mean denying assistance to everyone else–denying government aid to people who might actually need it. I don’t need crutches, but that does not mean I would deny them to someone with a broken leg.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:03pmFinally, community organizers get the respect from the Right that they deserve!
Report Post »seayalater73
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:23pmFirst off, your not getting the point. There is no “spin” here. The reality is that with whatever means they had Herrin residents are helping each other through this rather than scattering to the breeze. They are going directly at solutions that get them employed NOW, not after 999 days of unemployment. A half billion dollors isn’t being spent to get them temporary work re-cualking the windows at city hall. And to put these people down on the same level as ACORN? Really guy? They aren‘t acting like they’re waiting for the federal government to bail them out. Thats what we’re up against: the tax-consumers in this country who always wait for the free ride, the politicians who promise them it’s on the way, and the media that ignores it when the whole thing crashes in a flaming wreck.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 1:31pm@seyalater. I think you need to re-read the article it’s about government programs being used to re-train with community help.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 3:48pmYou do understand community organizer is communist code speak for terrorists? Agitators, may work well for cleaning clothes, but they do nothing but cause trouble when trying to stir up violence in communities.
Report Post »v.o.t.e.
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 11:26amsomebody send this to obama,reid and pelosi
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:02pmYeah. Because a former community organizer knows nothing about bringing a community together to solve a problem….
Report Post »A1955Rosie
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 10:17amAs an Il. resident…much is corrupt but here is a perfect example of goodness that refuses to succumb! Please, I implore you to educate yourself on this upcomming vote. Remember the convictions of this state….and where potus is from. VOTE WITH KNOWLEDGE AND DILIGENCE.
Report Post »Honest Abe
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:40amThis is exactly what our founders and Glenn Beck are talking about, people need to help each other, not the government. If we do the hard work of providing charity we can put the government out of business. America was very prosperous without social programs, and small government. How about we return to those days.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:05pmHave you ever seen the episode of South Park with the Underpants Gnomes? I think you follow a similar kind of logic:
Step 1: Organize the Community
Report Post »Step 2: …
Step 3: Put the Government out of Business!
Honest Abe
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 6:02pmI think the underpants gnomes had a better business model than the dems. At least they had a business. And a plan.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:26amIt’s always heartening to see people come together, but as Chris points out the re-training/job placement help was State/Federal $$. Haircuts are nice, but they don’t help you get a job you are not qualified for.
Report Post »Waiting4George
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:02amLeadership. Nobody voted present when the call came. I think Glenn should get their blueprint to share with every mayor in the country.
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:43amThis is the way it should be and the way it was when I was young. All that has to happen is for government to get out of our way.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 12:01pmI think the headline should read: “One Illinois Town Helped; Tens of Thousands More Still Waiting for Private Sector Charity.”
Report Post »seayalater73
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:08amIs it that there isn‘t enough Mayor Vic Ritter’s in DC, or not enough Herrin, IL in America? No one in power in DC seems to think there are any Herrin’s out there. So lets replace them all with small town mayors. The American Experiment needs a new control group.
Report Post »cpalmer60
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:02amWow – what a great story about what can be accomplished when people come together for a common and noble purpose. Keep these positive stories coming – we need to be reminded of what we can do (by ourselves – without relying on the government) when we “walk the walk” and not simply “talk the talk”.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:22amI think you overlooked the fact that the re-training money was “government money”
“Man-Tra-Con Corp., a nonprofit group that administers state and federal job-search career-development programs set to work in helping people find work.”
Report Post »obfuscatenot
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 8:01amThis is AMERICA…..We The People ARE volunteers and donate money to those who need a hand up. Notice the State this little town is in, Illinois…..makes you weep for the average joe. We are being de-industrialized- this is a first example of that….unions are climbing into bed with China and other countries, who’s wages are going to go up, and whose are going to go down, hmmmm? Rank and file? Do you know your being sold out, all the while they are taking your dues?
Report Post »anthony0713
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 7:59amStories like this give me hope. A community coming together to help displaced workers had a greater impact than extending hand-outs. Imagine that!
I wonder why Maytag didn’t get a bailout? I guess they’re not big enough contributors to the DNC!
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 6:48pmHerrin IS a lovely little place, very beautiful. been there, loved it.
Report Post »faktchekr
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 7:58amGood for Herrin, hopefully some folks with real life business/economic experience will get voted in to replace the ivy league activists that are currently doing all they can to ruin the country. Then towns like Herrin won’t have to go through this again any time soon.
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 11:59amHold on. Did you read the article? It seems to me that it is “activists” that are saving the town.
Report Post »BQI
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 7:50amMr. President, the answer is always THE PRIVATE SECTOR. PERIOD.Stop the spending and de-development of America.
Black Conservative Blog http://www.blackquillandink.com
Report Post »Chris G
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 9:06amI agree w/ you 110%, but the Progressives are going to pay attn to this section & say that if it wasn‘t for gov’t intervention, things would have gotten nowhere:
“Man-Tra-Con Corp., a nonprofit group that administers state and federal job-search career-development programs set to work in helping people find work.”
Report Post »PubliusPencilman
Posted on September 21, 2010 at 10:58amYeah Chris G. Those Progressives will look really silly when they actually READ THE ARTICLE! It looks to me like what is happening here is that “city leaders,“ ”local colleges” (always the darlings of Conservatives), and a non-profit are helping workers that just got screwed by a private sector that suddenly left them with no means to support themselves.
I also think it’s interesting that while none of these organizations are “faith-based,” the article nevertheless uses the word twice for no apparent reason. Even the college mentioned is non-denominational, and “faith” appears nowhere in their mission statement.
I think The Blaze screwed up on this one–there does not seem to be a good way to spin this to make the “Progressives” the bad guys.
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