Managing Editor
Katrina evacuee took refuge in Jacksonville
It will soon be five years since Kendal McCoy’s life changed overnight when he fled his native New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city.
Missing the opportunity to leave before the storm hit Aug. 29, 2005, he rode it out and then packed his car and left.
Unable to reach relatives who went to to Nashville, he reached contacts in Jacksonville and landed here.
And here he remains.
“I’m still hanging tough,” said McCoy, who turns 36 tomorrow.
McCoy’s story has been reported, but it bears repeating - and will be repeated yet again this fall when he will be one of the three annual “Achievers of the Year” at Goodwill’s “Strive to Achieve” luncheon Oct. 7.
McCoy has been a Goodwill Industries of North Florida employee since he arrived in Jacksonville. Whether by luck or fate, when McCoy got here, he headed to the Mandarin Goodwill thrift store to buy job-hunting clothes.
While shopping, the store manager heard his story and referred him to Job Junction. Discovering he had a degree in social work, Job Junction referred him to a position within the organization, where he was put to work as an employment specialist.
Five years later, he remains an employment specialist at the Downtown Job Junction and leads its RISE - Reaching Individuals Seeking Employment - workshops. All the services are free.
McCoy teaches job-seeking skills, including a heavy dose of attitude adjustment.
He knows about that. “When have you ever had to come out of a comfort zone and it was easy?”
His students range from those whose jobs were displaced by the recession to those who are homeless, ex-offenders or new to the city. He’s teaching himself Spanish and sign language to help better communicate with more clients.
He tells them that a good attitude and a lot of patience are necessary to find a job, which isn’t easy in a struggling economy with a 10 percent unemployment rate.
“A lot of opportunity lies in the optimism,” said McCoy. “It’s a game of numbers. It’s a game of persistence.”
He tells the clients that finding a job isn’t easy, but it is possible with hard work.
As for the employment search itself, “It’s the worst and hardest job you’ll ever have,” said McCoy.
Plus, he said, a jobseeker must be creative. “It takes a lot of creativity to work with the resources you are blessed to have.”
It’s that attitude that Goodwill Industries of North Florida President Bob Thayer values.
“Almost all of the folks who go through his program love the way he presents the program,” said Thayer. “He is good at working with our clients about what it takes to find a job and keep a job and what employers are looking for. He tells his story and he talks to them about their attitude. He relates very well to our customers.”
Those customers relate to McCoy, too. “It’s amazing, that joy you get when somebody comes back and says, ‘I got a job,’” said McCoy.
McCoy said the Downtown Job Junction is serving at least 200 people a day now, double the number when he joined.
Goodwill is self-funded by its network of retail stores and turns the proceeds into job training, especially for people with disabilities and special needs.
Goodwill operates nine thrift stores in Jacksonville and 10 more in nearby counties. It offers six Job Junctions, which are walk-in centers that offer employment services, to anyone seeking employment.
In addition to the 333 E. Monroe St. office Downtown, Job Junctions are in Jacksonville Beach, Southside at Bowden Corners, Westside along Blanding Boulevard, St. Augustine and Gainesville.
The Downtown office has just four computers and McCoy wants to find more.
The computers are needed because jobs are primarily posted online now. Not only are the Job Junction clients limited to an hour at a time on a computer, many need computer training to even start the process.
While the office formerly was able to handle such training in-house, the increased number of jobseekers and the increased need for computer training led to a need for help.
McCoy said he refers people to computer-training classes at the Main Library and at the Jacksonville Urban League.
He said he also is seeing more clients with housing, transportation and other basic needs and issues, meaning that Goodwill works more closely with other agencies and services.
“Job Junction does the employment part, but you have people who need everything else,” said McCoy.
“A lot of things are tied for first place.”
McCoy invites not only computer donations, but also asks companies and staffing agencies to post their job openings with the Job Junction and also allow the Job Junction to prescreen employees.
He said up to 175 jobseekers turned out recently for a job screening for Family Dollar.
McCoy tells those new to the job-hunting market to stay focused. “The first 30 days is what you make of it.”
He knows about such pressure.
McCoy held a degree, but tourism-dominated New Orleans offered few opportunities to use it. Instead, he worked three jobs as a cab driver, security guard and skycap, where he missed the last flight out of New Orleans as Katrina approached.
While New Orleans will always be “home,” Jacksonville now “feels like it.”
He has visited New Orleans, where family returned and rebuilt, but found the cost of living has doubled or tripled. In Jacksonville, he lives in his Arlington apartment, which is a quick commute Downtown. He’s exploring the city more and enjoying what it has to offer, including Jacksonville Jaguars games.
He still shops Goodwill frequently, furnishing his place with a sofa, dresser, end tables, bookcases, lamps, paintings, appliances and books.
And he still buys much of his wardrobe there, recently sporting a blazer, slacks, shirt, tie and shoes from the racks. Just like the $300 suit he bought during that first visit five years ago for $15, he continues to patronize his employer.
For Katrina’s anniversary, he intends to visit family in New Orleans, which now is dealing with the effect of the BP oil spill.
“I will commemorate the fact I am still going strong,” he said. “Tragedy can strike at any time. You have to make split-second decisions.”
He will relax and appreciate “being alive.”
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