Pathstone's Senior Community Service & Employment Program Workers
Three workers at the Kane Area Community Center ( KACC), Linda Eschrich, Cheryl Bedford, and Mary Detrick are workers who found employment at KACC through Pathstone's Senior Community Service and Employment Program.
Detrick said she crossed paths with Pathstone employee at the Heartstrings gift shop at the Bradford Hospital. After receiving information as to what Pathstone will do for seniors to get them training and work, she signed up with Pathstone in the Bradford office.
One of the first things she learned from PathStone was to be more detailed with details when filling out employment dates and to have an updated resume for future employers.
She is mostly interested in child care or bookkeeping but has been with the KACC for approximately 2 years. She loves the summer program hanging out with the kids and doing programs with them.
As a Pathstone participant, she is paid by Pathstone for her employment at the KACC.
Bedford has been at the KACC for a year through Pathstone's training.
"I started out volunteering here because I like everything that the KACC does. It turned out that there was an available position and I pursued it," Bedford said. "I'm loving every minute of it!"
Pathstone was able to put her back to work in her community after 8 1/2 years of not being employed and becoming her first step back into employment after becoming disabled.
"I'm very happy here and I'm glad to help the community, help the youth, be a part of the summer camps, and be a good example."
She said she likes to go to the kids' extra activities such as plays, concerts, and sporting events.
Eschrich is a former
Pathstone participant of 4 years who was hired as Assistant Executive Director at the KACC a year and a half ago.
After signing up with Pathstone, she was sent to the KACC and Palmer trained her on the computer, dog license registration, registration for the fitness center, filing, filling out thank you notes, sending out applications for craft shows, putting memberships into the computer for the workout center in the KACC, and more.
She said Pathstone is a good program if people use it and learn from it.
She explained that she could survive on her Social Security but the extra money she makes helps and she can do things she likes to do. She needed a new car and was able to save money for the down payment. She excitedly said she can make the payment and put gas in the vehicle.
"I like my job!" Palmer has been with the KACC for 17 years and has had Pathstone's Program Participants back when the original Pathstone was called SCSEP (Senior Community Service Employment Program).
She said she has had six Pathstone participants at one time who are either janitors or assistants.
She explained that she hired two people from the Pathstone program. Dacie Youd was one of them but moved to Florida. She was the Assistant Executive Director before Eschrich came to KACC and took the position.
She said they have had other participants but timed out of their time with Pathstone and did not find a job or did not want to find a job. She also let go of some participants that did not work out
"The program is not a guarantee. It has to be a good fit." She explained that they were either removed from the program or shifted elsewhere.
The KACC cannot survive without the essential Pathstone participants, she explained. There is not enough funding to hire more than a part-time assistant.
"Without them, we couldn't function," she added.