SECONDFRONT
The
SALISBURY POST
Preparing for the future Goodwill expands Career Connections Center B Y K ARISSA M INN kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Thanks to an expansion completed last month, the Goodwill Career Connections Center is now able to help more people find work and will soon offer more classes. The center, located at 1923 South Main St. in Salisbury, will have an open house with refreshments from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday to show the community how it has changed. Nancy Rominger, Career Connections coordinator for Goodwill, said the expansion will help the center serve more people with the free job searching tools it offers. These include computers with Internet access, a telephone, a fax machine, a copy machine, job listings and informational pamphlets. Job seekers also can get free oneon-one help with resume writing, interviewing and computer skills. “A lot of the people we see — especially people coming off manufacturing jobs — don’t have to use computers a lot,” Rominger said. “They need help with typing, how to handle online applications and how to actually prepare a resume. Some of the people coming in have worked at the same job for 20 or 30 years, and they haven’t had to do a resumé before.” At the open house Thursday, representatives from Aerotek Staffing Agency and StaffMasters will be available to talk to people about finding jobs through a placement company. The center itself does not place people in positions, Rominger said. Instead, it helps them develop the skills they need to find employment and communicate those skills to hiring businesses. More training opportunities also will be available soon. The Goodwill center, which is funded by local Goodwill stores, had been limited to one classroom with computers and a lobby area with job search resources. The expansion adds two more classrooms, including one with computers and an interactive white board. The center now can offer more classes in partnership with Rowan-Cabarrus Com-
karissa minn/sALIsBUrY PosT
Carol Allen, director of career readiness certification at rowan-Cabarrus Community College, demonstrates the new interactive white board at the Goodwill Career Connections Center. munity College (RCCC). The college now offers an employability lab from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, extending to 4 p.m. starting in June. In this lab — also available on the college’s two campuses — job seekers learn how to write an effective resumé, practice interviewing skills, search for jobs online and fill out electronic applications. The college also sponsors a career readiness certificate program and is expected to bring more classes to the center in the fall. Carol Allen, director of career readiness certification at RCCC, said the there wasn’t enough space when the college previously tried to hold classes at the Career Connections Center. “We’re glad to be back,” Allen said. “It’s really convenient for individuals who go to the JobLink Career Center across the street.” Allen said instructors can use the new interactive white board to easily highlight different parts of a resume, for example, or show a whole classroom at once how to navigate a job search website. Rominger said records show about 400 people who came to the center last year found jobs, but it’s been hard to keep track.
Cassandra Barrier, instructor at the Goodwill Career Connections Center, shows job seekers a website where they can find and apply for jobs. This classroom is one of two added to the center in this spring’s expansion, making a total of three.
“After 14 years, you lose who you are, and you kind of become your job. They helped me find again what I’m capable of doing.” MELANIE TYSINGER seeking job after being with employer for 14 years
“Since I’ve got more people now, we’re going to start contacting people and see... if they’ve actually found work and how they’re doing,” she said. “If they haven’t, we’ll see if there’s something we can do to help.”
James Martin, of Kannapolis, said he has learned from the Career Connections Center how to put his resume online and widen his job search. He said it’s been a while since
See FUTURE, 6A
Getting by with a little help from their friends BY JOANIE MORRIS For the Salisbury Post
KANNAPOLIS – The Club at Irish Creek was mostly quiet. Forks clinked on plates, and low voices were scored with laughter. The reserved mood was quickly put to rest though. Tamar Meyer, author of 38 books currently living in Charlotte, brought her own brand of comedic stand-up to the Friends of the Cabarrus-Kannapolis Library’s annual meeting. “I was born and raised with a tribe of headhunters in Africa,” said Meyer prior to her speaking engagement with the group. She moved to the United States when she was 16 and began writing in college. Her first novel wasn’t published until 23 years later. “The message there is don’t ever give up,” said Meyer. “If you’ve got a passion, a dream, you’ve got to really work at it.”
Meyer called it a “fire in your belly” feeling that helped her see her dream through. All 38 of her novels — mostly mystery — have been on the mystery bestseller list. The author’s speech was donated to the Friends of the Library — one of many donations the group relies on to bring quality programming to the area. Robin Pope, secretary of the group, said the group raises funds and utilizes grants to bring programs to the library. Everything from author events like the event with Meyer to summer reading programs, Stories Under the Stars, book giveaways and even patio furniture are paid for with funds from the Friends. “We pay for an awful lot of events that might have been cut from the budget,” said Pope. “It’s my goal for that to continue.” Pope remembers visiting the library in Salisbury and watching Jackie Torrance
joanie morris/For The sALIsBUrY PosT
Author Tamar Meyer stopped by the Club at Irish Creek for the Friends of the Cabarrus Kannapolis Library meeting. telling stories. “A child needs to start in the library,” said Pope. Meyer said her speaking engagements normally net $1,800 but she was in a giving mood. “When (Terry Prather) emailed me, Terry said she’d
always really wanted me to come up,” said Meyer. “I was feeling good that day.” She said libraries are a very important part of every community and admits to visiting
See FRIENDS, 6A
WEDNESDAY May 18, 2011
3A
www.salisburypost.com
Thousands rally to back NC gay marriage ban amendment RALEIGH (AP) — The chatter over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in North Carolina rose Tuesday as thousands of conservative Christians rallied to urge the Legislature to vote on it now that its Republican leaders are open to the idea after Democrats blocked it for years. State Capitol Police estimated about 3,500 people participated in the marriage amendment rally behind the Legislative Building and organized by the Forsyth County-based Return America group. Visitors carried placards, American and Christian flags and listened to local ministers and nationally known speakers in conservative Christian circles argue voters are restless and want to cast votes on the amendment. North Carolina is the only Southeastern state that hasn’t approved an amendment restricting marriage to one man and one woman. Thirty states have voted to allow that restriction in their state constitutions. “It’s time. It’s time, North Carolina, it’s time,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told a cheering crowd on the Halifax Mall. “It’s time to protect from those in Washington and those activist judges who are willing to aid those who want to redefine and ultimate destroy marriage.” Earlier Tuesday, several ministers and a rabbi explained their opposition to the amendment in a separate news conference. They said passing the amendment would make gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people second-class citizens by siding with the religious views of what they call a minority and deny them the ability to love whom they choose. “This extreme legislation will only cause needless pain and suffering,” said the Rev. T. Anthony Spearman of Clinton Tabernacle AME Zion Church in Hickory. “At a time when legislators should be chopping away at unemployment rates and searching for ways to build a budget that would befriend the poor and marginalized, legislators are choosing to advance this divisive social agenda.” North Carolina state law already identifies a valid marriage as one “created by the consent of a male and female person.” However, supporters of the ban contend an amendment would better protect traditional marriage from court challenges by same-sex couples married legally in five states and the District of Columbia. About a dozen lawmakers were introduced at the rally, including two key House Republicans who said the question would be heard in the Legislature in 2011. “It will get done this year,” House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, told the crowd. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said later it was likely the amendment also would be considered in his chamber this year, either in the cur-
See BAN, 6A
150th anniversary of state’s secession from Union Friday Friday marks the 150th anniversary of North Carolina’s vote to secede from the Union to join the Confederate States of America, beginning the state’s involvement in the American Civil War. This weekend the N.C. Museum of History and the State Capitol in Raleigh will commemorate the 150th anniversary of North Carolina’s secession vote. On Friday, the Museum of History will open the small exhibit “North Carolina and the Civil War: The Breaking Storm, 1861-1862,” which is located within the museum’s military history gallery A Call to Arms. On Saturday, the State Capitol will present “North Carolina Secedes,” a living history program that includes a re-enactment, period music, a drill and dress parade, lectures and more. Details about the exhibit and the program follow. Both are free and open to the public. • North Carolina and the Civil War: The Breaking Storm, 1861-1862 highlights the events leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War and the early battles. On view from Friday to Oct. 29, the exhibit features artifacts related to the state’s role in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the nation’s western expansion, and the Civil War. Civil War artifacts include the Confederate first national flag of the 33rd Regiment N.C. Volunteers, 1861-1862; and an M1833 dragoon saber and scabbard (1861-1862) used by Zebulon B. Vance, colonel of the 26th Regiment N.C. Troops and later the state’s wartime governor. A bugle, snare drum, banjo and flugelhorn are among the musical instruments on exhibit. It is the first exhibit in a three-part series that explores the four-year conflict that changed the state and nation. The exhibit series, titled North Carolina and the Civil War: 1861-1865, tells the story of North Carolinians who lived, served and sacrificed during the nation’s bloodiest conflict. The series’ second exhibit, debuting in 2013, will focus on the year 1863. The final installation, opening in 2014, highlights the last engagements of 18641865 and postwar consequences.
See SECESSION, 6A
Rowan wan IIss O Onn My My TTeam eam ea m See Zack’s St Story tory At www.row www.rowan.org/stories wan.org/stories
S50261