Seniors secure joyous fit in variety of workforce positions
Meritan’s Senior Employment and Job Training program combines community service and a regular paycheck to prepare low-income seniors for finding a next job.
Siblings Carol and Ann Jubert, and Nancy Matthews (middle) discovered the joy of acting & film working at a Downtown studio.
Two sisters and a third woman have become close friends after sharing a discovery of working in the world of acting. Siblings Carol and Ann Jubert, along with Nancy Matthews, help introduce the nuances of acting, such as vocal techniques, at the Lilyroze Studio, an all-in-one theater, TV, fashion, music and dance production center for adults and children in Downtown Memphis.
Meritan job seekers start out at host agencies with the hopes of becoming employees.
While the sisters started out as volunteers at the studio, helping manage tickets for performances and running the concession stands, they and later, Nancy, became part-time employees at the studio through Meritan’s Senior Employment and Job Training Program two years ago. It’s become their passion, particularly showing the craft to children.
“We love it. It’s exciting for us,” Carol said.
The women said they did not just discover the joy of acting; they have treasured learning about it for themselves all the while earning a salary.
For Nancy, the work has stretched her own communication skills. Before the studio films any movies, she helps identify suitable business locations around town, then reaches out to secure permission from property or business owners for filming onsite.
Said Ann: “We enjoy what we do and it’s fun to see the kids progress and ultimately perform on stage.”
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When Gail Glass was forced to go on disability, the regular payments from it were not enough for her to meet necessary bills.
She did not know what to do. But it was her doctor, she said, who told her about Meritan’s part-time Senior Employment program.
After a medical condition compelled Gail Glass to go on disability, she turned to Meritan to help find a part-time job. She found one that matched her professional experience.
She qualified, and at first was working at Mid-South Food Bank. A few months later, she transferred to another host site where she could continue to enhance her skills and experience.
It’s been eight months since Gail was hired to be an administrative assistant at the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery in Southeast Memphis.
“The work has helped me so much. I don’t know what I would have done,” she reflected.
Doing work that represents a special resting place is meaningful to her. She especially enjoys her coworkers, she said, and she appreciates the fact that many of her duties involve assisting the cemetery’s groundskeepers.
“I had lost my regular employment, and my expenses were the same. Meritian has really, really helped me,” she said.
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When many residents near the Bickford Senior Center in North Memphis see a blue Honda Civic pull up, they know who the driver is and what it means.
It signals that Sandra “Jean” Crawford is delivering store or pharmacy items that they need, and on her own time.
Jean Crawford handles many responsibilities at her job at a senior community center in North Memphis.
The 67-year-old woman is a constant figure at the center, where she was hired a few years ago through the Meritan Senior Employment program to help with a range of senior activities, and she, over time, now knows most everybody connected to it.
Her responsibilities include driving a bus for field trips, checking visitors’ identification, overseeing karaoke fun, ensuring that the regular meals delivered from MIFA are in order and everything in between.
“I’m a jack of all trade, as they say,” Sandra said.
She appreciates the hourly wage that Meritan provides for her training, which, she said, she “Loves 100 percent.”
She said the work keeps her busy – she never sits down, she insists on helping – and that has contributed to her overall good health.
“I like to keep rolling along,” she said.
The Program Director, Vera Kea, is passionate about the program’s multiple benefits. It provides job seekers the chance to contribute to their community while giving them a sense of purpose, a social support network, and an opportunity to maintain financial, social, physical, and mental well-being – all essential elements for older individuals to sustain their independence.