Alloway hosts "Here to Help" Job Fair at Green Grove Gardens

More than 1,000 job-seekers descended on Green Grove Gardens Thursday for the "Here to Help" Job Fair that featured 65 vendors, including manufacturers, health care providers, banks and colleges.

Derrick Donnell, administrator for PA CareerLink's Franklin County office, said vendors registering for the job fair were told they must be hiring to participate.


"This job fair is the best I've seen in my 12 years," he said.

Organizers said job seekers were waiting in the parking lot more than an hour before the event's start time.

"I brought 150 applications with me, and within an hour and a half, they were gone," said Brian Wise of Alternate Heating, a boiler manufacturer.

Donnell said Franklin County's 8 percent unemployment rate means 6,300 people considered to be in the workforce are unemployed. That figure doesn't consider the underemployed.

Vendors and organizers said many of the job seekers were people now working part time and looking for full-time employment with benefits.

Beartown, Pa., area resident Richard Gladhill and his son, Richard Jr., attended the fair.

Richard Sr. said he works for himself a couple days a week, but wants to supplement that income with a forklift operator position.

Richard Gladhill Jr. said he was interested in forklift or welding opportunities.

"They can give you a good bit of information," Gladhill Jr. said of speaking with the vendors.

He said he was laid off two years ago from a welding position at Manitowoc and has submitted applications "everywhere" since then.

Crystal Williams of Chambersburg, Pa., said she moved to the area two years ago.

"I have different certifications, and I'm trying to learn how to use them to further my career. ... I want to go into nursing," she said.

State Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Franklin/Adams/York, hosted the job fair. He said he plans to make it an annual event.

"Everyone said it was very positive," he said.

Mike Breslin is general manager of Christian Companion Senior Care's new office in Franklin County. The for-profit, franchised company recently expanded from neighboring counties.

"We provide non-medical, in-home care from a Christian perspective," Breslin said.

The business hires part-time employees with a variety of skills "all the time" to provide companionship and personal care services, Breslin said.