CENTRALFLORIDAEPISCOPALIAN NEWS FOR THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
MORE NEWS INSIDE:
BISHOP’S COLUMN p.3
WWW.CFDIOCESE.ORG
THE CFE INTERVIEWS CANTERBURY, p. 14
VOLUME 116, No. 7 TESTIMONIALS, P 16
SEPTEMBER, 2014
SACRED SPACE, p. 20
Church opens doors to hospitality careers By Alexis Merritt
W
Todd Fisher
hile unemployment tops 17 percent in Orlando’s Washington Shores neighborhood, a few miles south, the region’s largest industry is crying for qualified workers. So the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Orlando, did something about it, partnering with several Central Florida hospitality agencies to offer free, four-day job-readiness coaching and a job fair. More than 60 people attended, and many of them landed jobs through the event. The program consisted of three days of workshops followed by a Hospitality Institute Job Fair on August 1. The Rev. Jabriel S. Ballentine, Rector of St. John the Baptist, said he was delighted to be able to offer this opportunity to Central Florida’s willing but jobless residents.
“Unemployment in Washington Shores is just about three times the National Average. People need jobs,” Fr. Ballentine said. “By God’s grace and through this project we find ourselves in a position to provide people with the jobs they need.” The church joined Hilton Hotels of Central Florida, the Orlando chapter of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and the International Hospitality Center at Miami-Date College to provide workshop sessions about interviewing, resume writing, and working in the hospitality industry. Todd Fisher, training manager with Hilton Hotels, stressed the importance of the job market the hospitality industry provides. “There is nothing in this planet that doesn’t touch hospitality, nothing. We need doctors, we need nurses, we need teachers, we need bus drivers, we need everybody,” he said. Cathy Williams, also of Hilton Hotels, agreed. “People don’t realize the footprint hospitality has in Orlando,” Williams said. “They don’t know that there’s all these different niches that work together.” According to Williams, the primary goal of the program was for participants to leave with a job in the hospitality industry, a career move that Fisher agreed was one of the smartest things to do in today’s economy. “The analogy I always use is if you go to work for a bank and you decide that’s not for you and you want to do something different, you have to start all over,” Fisher said. “With a hotel, if you go to the front desk and you decide that’s not for you, you
The Rev. Jabriel S. Ballentine and Bishop Gregory Brewer
keep your seniority and you transfer to another department, because we have everything.” Carita Wilson, who heard about the program through a shelter, is now being granted opportunities she thought she’d missed out on long ago. “Hospitality was a dream of mine years ago, but I had twin sons that I was raising as a single mom,” Wilson told television station WOFL Fox 35 Orlando. She said the program gave her the ability to see a future career for herself for the first time. “I have tears in my eyes,” said Wilson. “I’d like to start in the lobby area and meet people as they’re coming through.” Ideally, the organizers would like to hold the event two to four times a year. Bishop Gregory Brewer expressed his pride in the church’s ability to provide such an incredible opportunity to participants in the area. “This is an example of how a parish really becomes a focal point and leader for its community,” he said.■