CAA fair in Patterson matches workers with work

PATTERSON — St. Mary Parish unemployment is over 8%. “Help wanted” signs are as common at local restaurants as free refills on coffee.
So it was time for a job fair.
The Vermilion/St. Mary Community Action Agency ran the fair Thursday at the Patterson Area Civic Center.
The event was light on business participants, but it also offered registration for this year’s Head Start programs, information on nutrition and other life skills, information on community college and connections with social service agencies. The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office offered tips on fraud prevention.
It all happened to a beat provided by Dj Fab.
By noon Thursday, about halfway through the four-hour event, 65 people had signed in along with dozens of staffers.
“People are anxious to get good-quality workers at their place of business,” said Almetra Franklin, CEO of Community Action Agency.
At the Walgreens table, certified store man-agers Tori M. Bonin and Dominique Geeson were set up to talk about employment opportunities.
The pharmacy chain shares the widely reported difficulties in attracting new employees, Geeson said. “We heard about this [job fair] at the last second, and we hopped on it.”
Geeson and Bonin chatted briefly with April Young, who took a break from staffing the Bayou Land Families Helping Families table.
Bayou Land, based in Thibodaux, coordinates a network of 10 social service agencies from St. Mary to the east. Bayou Land connects families with members who have special needs.
Bayou Land staffers, Young said, know the demands those needs can place on families because they are in such families themselves. Young has a 14-year-old with spina bifida.
Tammie Moore, the campus director at the South Louisiana Com-munity College system’s Young Memorial and Franklin campuses, was at the SLCC table.
“We’re here to support the CAA and make sure people know about training opportunities in St. Mary Parish,” Moore said.
Fair-goers seemed to get the message.
“We ran out of swag — that’s what we call our promotional materials — in 20 minutes,” Moore said.
CEO Franklin thanked the Patterson Area Civic Center staff for hosting the job fair.
The sponsors for the event were D-Hard Trucking, Assessor Jarrod Longman, Pitts & Matte accountants, Good Hope Baptist Church and Clyde’s Quality Lawn Care.