Food Bank Hosts Warehouse Program

A bricklayer, Chris Harrison lost his job when he could no longer drive.

Like most people, the 29-year-old father of three couldn’t afford to be out of work long: “I needed to find something that paid competitive wages with what I used to do, without having to spend a lot of time in school.”

Harrison had been off the job for two months when he learned about a training program that promised to prepare him for a career in warehousing. He enrolled in the five-week program last September and three weeks after graduation had landed a job at Northwest Freight Handlers.

Harrison is one of the success stories of a program that combines the resources of the Spokane Food Bank, the Community Colleges of Spokane and the state’s WorkFirst welfare-reform program.

Since September, 55 students have attended warehousing classes held at the food bank’s headquarters on Front Street. About 60 percent of them have found work, said Terry Moore, instructor.

“The food bank is an ideal place to learn warehousing,” Moore said. “It’s not as high-stress an environment as some of the more production-oriented warehouses. It’s a safe learning environment and it’s supportive.”

Moore, who was program director at the food bank for 11 years, said executive director Al Brislain had long dreamed of teaching warehousing at the Food Bank and Work First made it possible.

“The Tech Center at Spokane Community Colleges wrote the grant and the program is funded by WorkFirst through the state association of community colleges.”

Anyone enrolled in the Work First program, or in the state’s Wage Progression program for low-income families, is eligible, Moore said. “We have accepted people through third-party contractors like Career Path, who are using WorkFirst money, and through the community college’s P.A.C.E. program.”

A lack of education is not a barrier: “Probably 50 to 60 percent of our students don’t have high school degrees and maybe 30 to 40 percent of them don’t have their GEDs.

“Basically, people have to have fifth-grade math and writing abilities, and they must be able to lift 50 pounds and have no back problems that would restrict them.”

Would-be students who lack the requisite academic skills can be plugged into remedial programs within the community college system, he said.

As a partner in the program and the host site, the food bank provides the warehouse and the equipment students learn on. The food bank is one of about 40 local businesses to commit to interviewing program graduates, assuming a position is available.

“It’s no guarantee of a job,” said Moore. “If people want a job, it’s up to them to find it.”

However, as Chris Harrison learned, Dan Rudell at SCC’s Tech Center is a big help when it comes time to look.

“Dan Rudell does a great job helping with resumes and the job search. He really bends over backwards to help you.”

Rudell also acts as a “post-training job coach,” Moore said, helping grads adjust to the demands of the work place.

Moore said students spend the first two weeks of the program in the classroom, learning the basic concepts of warehousing. The curriculum includes shipping and receiving, inventory control, product handling, team-work and customer service.

“We teach them how what they do impacts customers.”

Moving onto the warehouse floor for the final three weeks, students work with Food Bank staff “doing what they have learned to do,” Moore said.

The program includes visits to local facilities to see first-hand how warehouses operate. “We try to teach them how to work in both high-tech and low-tech operations, and in union and non-union shops. We provide them the tools that will allow them to go into any warehouse and figure out how to get around, just by asking the right questions.”

The program does not include certification to operate power equipment, he said, but graduates “have enough training to pass, assuming they have the propensity.”

For insurance reasons, many employers have their own certification programs, but if a graduate lands a job that requires certification the program will pay for it.

“Our goal is to get people back to work,” Moore said.

Students - some of whom have never held down a job - band together in the effort.

One man inspired the others by missing only one day of class while going through painful dental surgery. Another student, a young man on the periphery of gang activities, got a boost from his classmates, who goaded him into sticking with the program.

“We take this mix of people,” Moore said, “and put them together and everyone ends up picking each other up, they keep each other going.”

The program is the only one of its kind in the nation, but other food banks are beginning to experiment with similar programs.

It has impressed the owners of Northwest Freight Handlers,” Harrison said.

“Since I went to the program, Northwest Freight Handlers are going to start participating in food drives. It was a very helpful program,” he added. “I learned a great deal out of it.”