Dear IES Supporters

Here's the email we just sent out to a list of supporters. Donations are at just under $10,000. If you're interested in joining the cause, please mail a donation to:

In Every Story

64 Norview Drive

Charleston, SC

29407

Dear In Every Story supporters:

I am pleased to announce that we officially worked our first job as a maintenance crew at the Coastal Carolina Fair. The job brought success and opportunities to make adjustments. In addition to what our workers would have earned working at a for-profit agency, one earned an additional $55 towards his water bill and another $45 towards his electric payment. At the same time, we are taking a step back to consider what we can do to create a culture that retains and supports our clients as well as to enhance our product so that it is truly a notch above our competitors. We are also raising money for the bare minimum to compete with for-profit agencies. Since we have had early success and our business plan is on track and its execution under budget, please think about rewarding us with your contribution.

Over the past month, $8,500 has been donated to IES. Our goal is $12,000. This money will be used to purchase a used van, create a professional website and hire an additional staff member who will deal with inside issues while I pursue business. As you may recall, one of our goals is to be self-sustaining. However, we need necessities before we can pursue larger contracts.
The future is bright. There is potential for contracts with the City of Charleston and Charleston County. Most important, our workers are excited. Please consider making a tax deductible securities or cash donation to help this business and social enterprise continue to succeed.

Sincerely,

Derek Snook
President

In Every Story

A Fair Summary

The fair was absolutely crazy. It called for 3 workers a night, myself being one of them, and over the course of 10 days IES ran through 11 different workers. We were plagued with issues my guys promise “will never happen again.” Some came one day and not the next, others late and a few more not at all. One had to take care of his sick ‘old lady,’ another had to babysit his 16 and 12 year old sister and brother, and later had a church revival he promised his pastor he would attend. One fussed at me for being a minute late to pick him up, and then, once at the fair, sat on the toilet for over half an hour. One never became a worker because he got arrested on his way, and another was arrested today—payday—for first degree burglary, and his girlfriend lied to me, picking up his check without permission.

These are only my thoughts, but I think it will be healthy if I can grieve seemingly bad decisions without becoming attached to them. Otherwise, I’ll get discouraged and quit. Or, my arrogance won’t stand it, because nobody should bypass something this good for them. But the truth is I don’t know whether this is good for them or not. It may be for some and not others, or maybe not anyone. People are complicated, and I learned while living at the Star Gospel to at least try not to be presumptuous about someone else’s needs. Because when I was, I got them all wrong.

Christ knew what people needed, but it’s possible the very legs that once were lame later helped them steal a diamond necklace and run. It seems that Christ loved without condition. He could have healed only those who wouldn’t fudge his blessings, but I don’t think that’s what he did, at least not with me. I try to invest without having to control, try to give without conditions, but it seems impossible and sometimes stupid. I don't know the answers.

Other things, though, have genuinely gone well. There’s been excitement amongst the guys. The idea of the Hope Fund has been successful. One worked 55 hours and earned—in addition to the wage he would have received from a for profit agency—another $55 applied to his water bill. Another worked 45 hours and earned the same amount towards his electric bill. We didn’t get fired, and I handed out at least a few business cards. I’m taking some time to try to reflect on what went well and what didn’t, and to raise some money for what I believe are the bare essentials to give us a chance for success. Hopefully there will be more on that to come.

A Friendly Tribute

For those of you who didn’t know, IES began with one officer, grew to two, and now has one again, and if we’re honest with ourselves there were times when both officers didn't much like the other.

Pete and I have known each other since our freshman year in college. He slept on the bunk above me. Once at 5:45 am Pete tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up for my basketball practice at 6 am, and since then I’ve been convinced of his guardian angelship. Pete moved from Pennsylvania to Charleston to help start IES, and I first submitted our articles of incorporation in hopes that he would do exactly that. We wouldn’t have made it this far without him. But, even so, ever since he stepped into the mission we’ve done nothing but lock antlers like two wild bucks.

“It’s a messy story,” Pete said retrospectively last Friday.

Pete and I have had some tense moments. Like when I was driving Pete’s car and his transmission blew in Adrienne, Texas, and the following day I told him that we couldn’t take a bus home but instead had to keep going. It became tenser when—again while I was driving—I turned off Pete’s newly bought Ford Focus in the Grand Canyon welcome center and his key wouldn’t come out of his ignition. It stayed there for the next few days as we hiked and Pete must have contemplated the consequences of pushing me into the canyon. And even though I'd been causing all the problems, as the trip progressed it became all I could do in our tent at night to keep from kicking him.

That tension grew when, after returning home, I told him I didn’t want to sign a lease together, and continued even after a few weeks later Pete officially moved on and away from IES. There is conflict In Every Story, and every friendship too.

So for a while Pete stopped calling and I avoided him. I tried explaining to others that he was no longer with the organization without letting hints of bitterness escape me. I prayed (some) that I would stop imagining scenarios of failure for Pete. It seemed possible that our friendship was never made of anything more than a few commonalities close to falling off their hinges.

But In Every Story there are also examples of God’s love, hope, and redemption.

Last Friday Pete became a last minute replacement for our job at the fair, and it was a chance for both of us to heal and forget—a nice cap to a story that started a little more than a year ago when Pete and I took a picture of our fellow resident Errol working at the fair as a day labor. “I’m not sure if it’s a step forward or not,” Pete noted, “that last year we were taking pictures of day laborers and now we are the day laborers.” I thought that was a good point. But, as Pete’s already noted, good stories are just messy like that.

Things have settled between us, and I think we’ve both learned a lot. Our faith has grown too. I’ve decided that so long as I’m still invited I’m going to attend his wedding next summer, and his name is still in the running for my first born child or at least a beloved pet. I did some thinking the other night while we swept about what a lucky guy Pete is: He’ll be in law school soon, his fiance will be home, and there are a lot of things going for him. And in all honesty, I'm proud of Pete...I think this will forever be a defining time for both of our lives, to learn and take risks, but ultimately it will be time for both of us to accept the plans God has for ourselves and each other, and for Pete that means moving on. I’m just glad that we’ve become cheerleaders again. That’s what friends do.

The First Job: A Start

After our first day we had somebody Quit. Finally, after more than a year, we have our first job—and then somebody who I had assumed needed work—apparently didn’t. I know that these things will happen. The faster we learn to deal with them the more successful we’ll be.

So I made some calls looking for a replacement. Candidate #1 wanted to work Tuesday but not Monday. Candidate #2’s “old lady” said he would have loved to work if he hadn’t been arrested for not paying child support. Candidate #3 didn’t pick up but #4 claimed he would meet me at the Dream Center at 7:30 sharp. The next morning he didn’t pick up his phone and by 7:28 Albert was saying, “You better call somebody else, ‘cause that boy aint coming.” We picked up candidate #5, Shelton, at 7:36 and barely made it to the Exchange Park on time.

I’ve been learning a lot:

People are undependable. They are mortal and die, and won’t show up on time or at all. I think that God lets these sorts of things happen to bring awareness of Him. God is on time. He’s dependable. He uses these inconvenient moments to teach me. Either I will learn to trust Him or be miserable.

The homeless and near-homeless create perspective for my own life. Sometimes you think you know what somebody needs, but you don’t, and they don’t want it. God knows what I need, and I still don’t want it. He weaves opportunity after opportunity for me to say, “Ah, I think I’ll pass,” and I’m sure he’d like to whap me a good one. But He doesn’t. He keeps weaving.

I’m learning by attempt and sometimes failure how to do a lot of other things; how to deal with customers, how to pay the guys, how to avoid unneeded confrontations and company mutinies, and how to not paint yourself into a corner (Albert was helpful with that one). Our customer says we’re doing “Okay.” He says he’ll be bringing us back in a week to work for 10 nights as janitors at the Coastal Carolina Fair. I’m hoping some of you will come and see.

It’s exciting to be here. Praise the Lord! And it’s exciting to know that if it’s God’s will then He must be moving. I only have one seat left in my car, capping our current capacity for growth. And as long as I’m on the job sites working (which has been a good learning experience), we can’t compete with other for profit agencies to secure future contracts. And we need to compete with for profit agencies. It’s probable I’ll need a little help from other people. And they'll come. But until then, and after, I’ll be counting on God.

Intakes at the Dream Center

The big success of the past month is that we’re now working out of the Dream Center in North Charleston. This gives us a physical location, credibility, and a place to meet employees face to face. So far I’ve conducted close to fifty interviews.

It has been encouraging and energizing to meet the people we want to employ—encouraging because I had my doubts that there actually existed good, honest day laborers who want better, and energizing because I’ve wondered whether or not this could help anybody. But both of these are lies. Just today I talked with a man who, for the past five years has biked more than five miles every morning to a temp agency looking for work. A few weeks back another man came to the Dream Center and explained how a local temp agency took money off the top of everybody’s checks. “What are we supposed to do?” he protested, “Not take it?”

Still, as success whispers the lies grow in both numbers and strength. They pound on the door and yell. It’s almost thrown me off track. The lies consist of: This isn’t working, I should be doing other things, this is taking too long, it’s just a temp agency, I am stupid and inadequate, and I won’t have enough time or money. I feel guilty because we’re conducting interviews but we aren’t even operating. The lies have made me bitter and depressed and inwardly focused, and some nights I go to bed at 9. I wake up not knowing what I should be doing and pass the day hoping I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Even at this very moment I believe some of these lies. They can be difficult to shake.

Still, I know there is nowhere else that I should be.

There have been a few key people who’ve stepped up and said, “This is going to happen, it’s just a matter of time.” And those people are right. We now have a place. We have interested businesses. We have potential employees. We even have an agency that will front our payroll. We need insurance, and a little help from God. And that’s it.

Christ tells us there will be lies and opposition, but that if we stick with it there will be a harvest. The good news is that the more opposition we face, the more lies we hear, the more people say no, the more we know something can really help some people.

Waiting Rooms Change in an Instant

Waiting rooms change in an instant. And that’s about the best thing I can say about them. Let me tell you about mine.

Since September 23, when IES first began, my life has become a waiting room. Excitement turned to anticipation, and anticipation turned to waiting, and now waiting is all I do. Lately, waiting has turned to negative things. I’ve started questioning. I’ve struggled to believe. It’s been like watching a ship go down with a leak you knew would start; because it’s supposed to seem unlikely, people are supposed to ask when it’s time to—you know—and it’s supposed to look darkest before the clear. These are how good stories go. But I wasn’t supposed to hop on the debbie downer bandwagon.

There was a fantastic Seacoast sermon about waiting rooms several months ago, but I can’t remember what they said you should do. I remember what they said you shouldn’t do, and that is to complain, because I’ve been doing a lot of it. It makes everything a problem. Good things become bad and bad things become worse. I’ve also become fantastic at blaming, being pessimistic, ignoring the positive to focus on the negative, and concentrating on my problems to become more miserable. These are horrible parts of me that surface when I’m waiting.

But they can also only change through more waiting.

Faith, it turns out, is best cultivated while waiting. So is strength, hope, and appreciation for what God’s given you and what lies ahead. Waiting is when you get things done. Becoming more like Him takes time and a lot of waiting. Besides, it does no good to have IES running if part of running it well requires patience.

Today, like almost every other day for the past several months, I called Joe Riley’s assistant to find out if there was any news, and this time the news was surprisingly good. Our case is finally making it to the front lines.

Meaning we could start. Meaning things could change in an instant.

In the meantime, I want to make the most of this waiting room—forgetting the parts I’ve botched—and becoming an encouragement to you. Waiting rooms take many different forms and we all endure and sit in them in one way or another. Make the most of the opportunity. If you’ve REALLY done all you CAN do, don’t stress about doing more. Take heart, and have faith, because (insert as many expletives here as you’d like) waiting rooms change in an instant.

What we learned on our summer vacation

One of the primary motivations for taking our recent 8,000 mile odyssey was to visit some of the nation’s leading alternative staffing organizations. Thanks to the hospitality of a number of already very busy people, we received up-close looks at the operations of three top-notch social enterprises: CASS-TES in Phoenix, Chrysalis Enterprises in Los Angeles, and Harborquest in Chicago. Here’s a sampling of what we learned.

Central Arizona Shelter Services – Temporary Employment Service operates out of the largest emergency shelter in downtown Phoenix. The sprawling complex with neatly manicured lawns accommodates several hundred guests and many on-site social services. The dental clinic in particular caught our eye. A fleet of volunteers bustled around rooms full of shimmering new equipment. The director had convinced dental supply companies to use the clinic as an opportunity to showcase their state-of-the-art equipment to the dental professionals who come from all around the country to donate their time there. CASS-TES buses about eight employees to worksites each day. Since it operates under the umbrella of the shelter, it has direct access to its client base (if someone doesn’t show up for work, you know where they sleep), and it benefits from the administrative infrastructure of the shelter. The folks at TES reminded us that the day labor market is extremely competitive, that residential construction is down, and that finding work-ready clients can be challenging.


Chrysalis seeks to empower economically disadvantaged people through employment. It is not a shelter, but rather a hub for employment services to the homeless and others in need. Their offices sit right off Skid Row in downtown LA. We were immediately struck by the welcoming atmosphere of their reception area. Clients fixed themselves coffee, checked their voicemail at a bank of phones, and hunted for jobs at the computer terminals. We attended orientation and budgeting classes, both run by enthusiastic volunteers. Chrysalis obviously knows how to utilize its volunteers effectively; many have been coming there for years. Chrysalis Enterprises is a transitional employment program offered to clients who need supported work experience before entering the job market. CE operates a booming street cleaning business, having secured the majority of the street cleaning contracts with the city’s Business Improvement Districts. CE uses former clients as foremen on its street cleaning crews, which offers current clients additional incentive to work hard. CE is in the process of cutting back its clients’ hours from 40 hours per week to 32 hours. This change is designed to give clients time to conduct job searches.

We had two additional treats at Chrysalis. Joe Parente, who oversees the operations of the street cleaning business, treated us to lunch at the Nickel Diner including a desert of maple glazed bacon donuts. Trevor Kale, who directs CE, gave us a fascinating tour of Skid Row.

In Chicago, we met with Bill Schwartz of Harborquest, the first alternative staffing organization in the country. Harborquest started in the 1970s with the aim of paying higher wages to day laborers. By the mid-1980s, they were sending out over 700 workers every day. But they felt like they weren’t helping people escape poverty. So they changed directions. They scaled back the staffing business and started transporting inner city residents to the industrial jobs springing up in the suburbs. Eventually, they convinced Chicago public transit to pick up the routes of these reverse commutes. Presently, they’re planning to jumpstart the staffing business once more. They already send out a few hundred workers each day. Bill encouraged us to be more than a temp agency, to provide the extra support that helps people help themselves. We also discussed top-down marketing for business expansion, which means pitching to the people in charge of a company rather than site supervisors because the former will be more receptive to the social benefits of our business. Additionally, by sitting in Harborquest’s call center for an hour we were able to observe well-honed account and client management procedures.

Bill also took us out for Thai food, which was slightly more delicious than the peanut butter sandwiches and granola bars upon which we sustained ourselves for most of the trip.

Overall, the words of encouragement and counsel that we received during our visits with these organizations left us more informed and more confident. We are grateful for their generosity and looking forward to thanking them further by putting their advice and example into practice.

Adrian

If you’re starting a nonprofit temp agency, Adrian, Texas has a lot to teach you.

Derek and I left Charleston on May 17 on a cross-country road trip. The plan was to visit three other nonprofit temp agencies, see the country, and build up the momentum to propel IES from concept to reality. I had initially refused to go, denouncing the whole endeavor as financially reckless. Derek convinced me, though. The day before we left he preached a sermon at the storied St. Michael’s Episcopal of downtown Charleston. Watch the video. It’s a great message and gives you a sense of how persuasive he can be when he starts talking about embracing risk. (As a side-note, if you listen carefully to the video, you’ll hear him say that we’re going to get into “our car,” and I whisper “my car.”)



Two days later we were cruising across the Texas Panhandle. Amarillo, the Cadillac Ranch, and signs for FREE 72 OZ STEAKS came and went, and the hamlet of Adrian would have come and gone as well if the speedometer hadn’t stopped working. We pulled over. Smoke rolled out from under the hood. It looked as if someone had spilled coffee on my transmission.

I had the car towed back to Amarillo. The next day Tom the mechanic rather insensitively proclaimed the death of my 1999 Mazda 626. (“Smell that? That’s the smell of death.” He would charge me $70 for that piece of nasal wizardry.) I began to wish that I had not replaced the exhaust system just prior to leaving on this trip. I began to wish that I had not swooned over Derek’s riskophilia and come half way across the country to lose the most valuable piece of property that I owned. Amarillo was an ugly town.

I purchased a used Ford Focus that afternoon. The next day we drove to Phoenix, and many gifts were given unto us during the rest of the trip.

There’s an obvious moral to the story, a restatement of what Derek talks about in his sermon: risk sometimes incurs loss, but better to lose in boldness - and still reap some of the fruits of boldness - than never to play out of fear. That’s an important moral, especially in light of the difficult steps that we will need to take to get IES off the ground in the next few weeks. But quite honestly, that was a lesson I had learned prior to the demise of my vehicle.

Still, part of me needed that car to break down. Part of me needed the rotten parts of the trip if only to force me to appreciate the real value of the journey. My favorite scene in TH White’s The Once and Future King features Lancelot, the greatest knight ever known, relating the story of his unthinkable defeat during a quest in which Lancelot had made great sacrifices to maintain spiritual purity. When Guinevere asks what his reaction was, he replies, “I knelt down in the water of Mortoise, Jenny, where he had knocked me – and I thanked God for the adventure.”

I’m no Lancelot, and I need to do a better job of being grateful for the adventure.

A Visionary Thank You

We wanted to say thank you to everyone who came to our fundraiser last Thursday, particularly Paul Meeks who sponsored the event and Joe Spector who generously offered the use of the Old South Barber Spa free of charge. It was a great time, almost dream like, the realization that what we’ve been advocating for sometime is going to—as it seems—have the opportunity to get off the ground.

All there is to say now is that there is an incredibly long way to go. With every step we take forward, we realize there are at least ten more steps than we thought there were. But this is the way the world works; if we could see all the steps at once we probably wouldn’t move; and, we are moving.

Thank you for your encouragement. It says this is a worthwhile vision. Thank you for your prayers, and excitement, and generosity. The journey will be long, and we’ve yet to find out if this is an idea that really works, but from these uncertainties comes the faith all of you demonstrated by attending and giving on Thursday, and that made the night.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support. Thanks to God, who’s will is all that matters. Our biggest “ASK” is that he would use us in some small way.

A Big Success, Small Step

Back in February I was on a wild goose chase searching for where our clients would work when I stumbled upon the state contract the city of Charleston abides by. The state contract mandates that all blue collar temporary workers should be paid $9.10 an hour. I shared this information with Pete, who didn’t believe me when I expressed in a frenzied flurry that I was certain blue collar temp workers working for the city—who are homeless and near-homeless—get paid the same as all other blue collar temp workers, $7.25.

Later that afternoon we talked with several of the guys from the Star Gospel Mission, who had worked for the city before, through Trojan Labor, a local labor agency. All of them confirmed our suspicions, that blue collar temp workers were being paid $7.25 even though the state contract mandates that these workers be paid $9.10. Within a week or two we had taken pictures of one of our friends who was working for the city and even had his pay stubs dating back to February 25th, each showing $7.25 an hour.

In the meantime we had also contracted the state procurement officer in Columbia, who said the state had the right to investigate if they suspected any fraud, and another state procurement officer who said we should solve things at the city level. We had begun that process too. We had started with a very kind lady at human resources, Susan, who had been calling and checking on the pay rates, and even eventually spoke with Mayor Riley.

On March 9th, when we were sure that Trojan Labor was in fact violating the state contract, we approached them with the document. They said they would look into it. When we approached Trojan Labor again on the March 31st, they said they were checking with corporate.

Then today, April 8th, one of our friends who works for the city through Trojan Labor (and also volunteers at and attends Seacoast Church with me) called us to say thank you, that his wage had been raised.

He said thank you, that this would make a difference in his life.

He said one of the other 12 coworkers who work for the city through Trojan Labor came up to tell him thank you as well, that he would be getting paid $9.10 an hour now.

So for IES, this is a huge success. We’re excited to see our friend and these other laborers make a higher wage.

But it’s a small step:

It’s a demonstration of some of the larger issues with for profit day labor. Both Susan and Damon claimed that they never would have known—in Susan’s case—that the state contract was being violated, and—in Damon’s case—that there was a state contract at all. There is no accountability. No transparency. There will also be no repay. By my calculations $11,544 since January should be in the pockets of the homeless and the near-homeless instead of a for profit labor agency. The problem of for profit day labor, when it comes to dealing with the homeless and near-homeless, is the problem of an entire system and not just one violation of a state contract.

For the homeless and near-homeless day laborer, this is a huge success too. It means hope. It means courage. On April 2nd, our friend who works through Trojan Labor for the city went and spoke with the manager of Trojan Labor, telling him that he knew about the state contract. He told him there was an organization that could prove he wasn’t being paid the right amount, and audaciously claimed that a state representative was planning to shake the tree.

But it too is a small step:

At a presentation at Charleston Southern University today, near the end I told them that In Every Story is about the conflict that is in every story, and then I began to cry. I tried to tell them that in every story there are examples of God’s love, hope, and redemption, but I couldn’t. Instead I cried. Pete had to finish. Because I realized that fairly paid temporary labor is still a small step for the homeless and near-homeless in the grandest scheme of things.

Thanks for your support.

And thank you God, for moving in a bigger way than we could have on our own.

IES on the front page of Charleston Mercury

Fellow tour guide and friend Paul Meeks writes a financial column for the Charleston Mercury, a paper with a distribution of 50,000. He just penned a great article about IES that appeared on the front page of the Mercury. The text of the article is below. Paul's also provided the venue and food and drinks for an IES fund raiser on April 29. It's at the Old South Barber Spa on 10 State Street in Charleston at 6PM. More info to follow.



The Best Investment That You’ll Ever Make!
By Paul Meeks
Special Financial Correspondent

In this column, I discuss ways to save or make money most often by investing in the publicly-traded shares of companies. In this essay, however, I propose joining an endeavor that’s much more admirable and enlightened than accumulating material wealth. I’ll make the case as to how the following local organization is revolutionizing a niche in community service and why it deserves your support particularly in these dire economic times.

First, let’s set the stage. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 3.5 million Americans meet their sad criteria. Our local Crisis Ministries estimate that 3,000 folks are homeless on any given night in the tri-counties. That figure increased 19 percent in 2008; and that year was only the beginning of the global financial meltdown. Obviously, the numbers of local destitute have significantly increased since then with few, if any, signs of relief.

I know, you picture a dirty, homeless man wandering the streets talking to himself. He’s a burden to society. There’s no way that he could ever become a productive, self-sufficient person. Of course, there’s no way that this fellow could be a dependable, constructive worker; but that’s not true. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, 13 percent of American homeless single (and 17 percent in families) adults are employed. They mostly serve the day labor market. Unfortunately, they’re often abused by the for-profit temporary labor agencies that are supposed to be their advocates.

I’m supporting with my donation, by writing this article, by shepherding their business plan and, generally, with a long-term commitment to do anything that my boundless energy but meager talent allow, Charleston’s sole non-profit temporary labor agency geared to helping homeless work immediately, and, more important, to take them down a dignified and quick path to self-sufficiency.

This group is In Every Story (IES). It was founded by two 2008 Furman graduates with business acumen and hearts of gold, President Derek Snook and Vice President Peter DeMarco. “President” and “Vice President” are exaggerated titles, and not their idea, for this humble, two-person team. I met Derek at Palmetto Carriage where we are both tour guides. Derek and Peter have immersed themselves into assisting Charleston’s homeless who wish to work. These leaders even live in the Star Gospel Mission on Meeting Street with homeless people. Thus, they aren’t limousine liberals. No one walks the walk and talks the talk like these guys. Derek has even done weeks of covert temporary labor with his homeless friends to experience first hand how the for-profit agencies take advantage of the homeless to pad their pockets.

IES will go toe-to-toe with the for-profit day labor agencies to offer a better product for the homeless and for the groups for whom they work. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, they’ll do it at a competitive price for the employer and direct a higher proportion of the proceeds to the homeless.

Allow me to describe the day labor market, so you better understand its dynamics and severe flaws. Nationally, about 80 percent of these workers are hired on street corners and in the parking lots of home improvement stores. The balance use -- or are often used by -- for-profit temporary help agencies. Businesses pay the sponsors an hourly wage for workers a portion of which is forwarded to the employees. The sum to and from the agencies is supposed to increase with job complexity. As you might expect, construction employs almost half of these laborers who are mostly urban men of all races.

How are the homeless mistreated by the day labor staffers? Of course, the latter don’t attempt to groom them for steady work. They often pay out less to the workers than promised.
Believe it or not, they may even forward less of the proceeds than their contracts with companies and government organizations stipulate. For example, we’ve found a day labor agency that appears to be ripping off not only the homeless but also the City of Charleston. (Rest assured if you lead that agency and are reading this, you can expect me to expose you when I’ve all the evidence.) Often, the laborers have no insurance despite doing dangerous work. They face gender and racial discrimination. There are no benefits. Overall, agencies may target the homeless with their predatory employment practices because they know that this segment of the workforce is vulnerable, desperate and uninformed.

What IES offers is a better product for the laborers and their employers. Why is it great for the homeless workers? The group connects its clients -- it sees them as “clients” and not as subservient laborers -- with steadier (i.e., 40 hours per week), more visible employment. IES makes sure that its clients get paid at least the minimum promised under regulations. Furthermore, under its Hope Fund program, a portion of the income is segregated for forced saving. Remember, the organization’s goal is to help these folks become self-sufficient, which means at least the ability to care for oneself in his apartment and often with his transportation. The group will also purchase workers’ compensation and general liability insurance for its clients. Furthermore, clients will be provided with safety gear when necessary and rides to and from work.

The Hope Fund is a particularly interesting and powerful concept. Here’s how it works. The typical wage for a day laborer in Charleston is $12 per hour of which $9.75 is to go to the employee. Of course, as I wrote above, some for-profit agencies unethically and perhaps illegally discount the payout to boost their profits. IES will be sure to forward the $9.75 but set aside $2.50 of it for The Hope Fund for that client so that he has a forced savings program in order to accumulate assets more quickly so that he can rent an apartment and buy a used car.

How does the hiring organization benefit? Workers that have steady employment are more motivated. Beyond that, when they’re motivated they show up for work promptly and arrive sober. With feedback from the employer, IES grades its clients on their job performance. The data is shared with prospective employers. Also, the group randomly tests for drugs and alcohol. The for-profit day labor agencies don’t vet employees because they don’t care if they show up tomorrow. For the same price, IES provides higher quality, more dependable, longer tenured clients who do better work and who -- for the first time in too long -- respect themselves.

As you can see, this is a better and more cost effective way to help Charleston’s homeless work and attain self-sufficiency. Leaders Derek Snook and Peter DeMarco are raising $100,000 to launch their program to help 20 clients in the first year and then 40 in each of the next two years. Clients are expected to be self-sufficient and out of the program by the end of their first year. To manage the organization, Derek and Peter will pay themselves no more than what their clients get paid net, or $9.75 an hour. These two also live in the Start Gospel Mission with their homeless clients and friends. The Mission will serve as their “office” for at least three years.

Bottom line: Essentially every penny of one’s “investment” goes to putting Charleston’s homeless to work and to self-sufficiency within twelve months. Please ask me, Derek or Peter -- both at ineverystory@gmail.com -- for a copy of their business plan, which I endorse, and their introductory PowerPoint presentation.

Here’s how I’m helping in the near term in addition to sharing this story with you. I’m making a tax-deductible donation to this registered entity. I’m also hosting an event on Thursday, April 29 for IES at The Old South Barber Spa at 10 State Street beginning at 6PM. If you’ve never been to the Spa, which was just voted 2010 “Best Barber” by the Charleston City Paper, you must check it out. It’s a cool, tastefully redone downtown historical building. I’m buying the food and drinks. Derek and Peter and other supporters will be there to share their vision. Please RSVP to me or to ineverystory@gmail.com. You’ll have a great time at a terrific venue and while you’re there you may decide to support IES as it gets its first 100 homeless men self-sufficient within three years with essentially every penny going to their benefit.

Paul has been an equity analyst, portfolio manager or strategist since 1987. He’s at 843-693-5845 or at paul@winsorsouth.com

Derek Snook is IES’s contact. He’s at 843-327-8456. The organization’s e-mail address and blog link are ineverystory@gmail.com and http://ineverystory.blogspot.com, respectively.

Bridge from Columbus St.

This is a view of the Cooper River Bridge, from our neighborhood - The East End.

Temp Hires on the Rise

According to the American Staffing Association, the industry employed a daily average of about 2.5 million contract and temporary employees in the fourth quarter of 2008. That represented a drop of almost 20% from the fourth quarter of 2007. The staffing industry is hypercyclical; temp employees are the first to be let go and the first to be re-hired. For this reason, economists sometimes point to the staffing industry as a bellwether for the economy as a whole.

But with signs that the economy might be stirring, temp employment is on the rise. The Post and Courier recently published this piece on area white collar temporary employment agencies doing brisk business of late. (The NYTs put out a similar article a few months ago.) The workers are often new to temp work. They are individuals who have skills and experience but have been laid off from full-time jobs and are willing to take significant pay cuts because jobs are so scarce. The January unemployment figures indicate that at 12.6% South Carolina has the fourth highest unemployment rate in the nation. Those interviewed for the article attribute the rising demand for temporary office staff like receptionists to the fact that businesses are swinging back into gear but remain hesitant to (re)hire full-time employees.

The industry pros interviewed for the article insist that this isn’t a case where businesses are making permanent use of temp employees to keep them off the payroll and avoid paying for insurance and benefits. Whether that’s true or not for white collar temp positions, the practice is not uncommon among businesses using unskilled day laborers. We’ve seen instances where a day laborer has worked for nearly a year on the same jobsite, always as a temporary employee. He never received a raise, and, when the job finished, he was let go with little notice. This is what we mean when we say that day laborers have no job security.

The Elevator Pitch

We just sent out 41 letters to local politicians, businesses, and philanthropists asking if they'd be willing to support In Every Story. In writing the letter, we imagined that we'd just stepped onto an elevator with our reader and only had a few floors to get across our message and why we needed him or her on board. Here it is. After you read it, leave us a comment to let us know how we did. We're going to send out more so you're feedback will be a huge help.


We’d like to tell you about In Every Story, an innovative social enterprise that helps homeless workers help themselves. In Every Story began when Charleston native and Furman graduate (’08) Derek Snook chose to move into the Star Gospel Mission, a transitional housing facility for formerly homeless men in downtown Charleston. Derek did this as an act of faith and in the hope of better understanding the perspective of the homeless.

Derek discovered that of the 3,000 members of this community who will go to bed tonight without a home, many already have jobs. They work as day laborers. Each morning, they rise before dawn and make their way to day labor agencies hoping to get the chance to support themselves. But low wages, agency fees, and severe job instability make it nearly impossible to become self-sufficient. No matter how hard they work, day labor does not break the cycle of homelessness.

From this conflict emerged In Every Story, a nonprofit temporary labor agency that demonstrates Christ-like initiative as it partners with the homeless and near-homeless on their paths towards self-sufficiency.

We offer consistent temporary employment, higher wages, savings programs, safety training, permanent employment services, and spiritual reinforcement. By investing into our employees as well as conducting extensive vetting and drug tests, we provide a quality of labor unmatched by for-profit day labor agencies.

Crisis Ministries spends $24,000 a year to house each of its homeless guests. By contrast, with $100,000 in start up funding, we can help twenty homeless workers attain self-sufficiency in our first year alone. And, because In Every Story will be fully self-sustaining, we will be able to serve countless workers in the years to come without any additional funding. It is too expensive not to invest in this endeavor.

Please contact Derek Snook and Peter DeMarco at (843) 327-8456 or ineverystory@gmail.com to discuss how you can partner with, support, and donate to this effort.

The Latest Jazz

The latest jazz is that Chris has turned into the snoring police. He says that every night Elliot doesn’t sleep on his side he’s going to kick him in the stomach. He vocalizes this, loudly, from behind a huge moustache, while on the other side of the dorm Mark II is interrogating me, asking if I’ve researched opiates, if my truck has rear wheel drive, if I’ve seen the big metal door in the parking garage at the library; if my information is censored the way his is, if I want to go out west with him, if I want to borrow his skis, if I’ve ever seen a bear tracking device. Meanwhile, Errol’s doing laundry, John is making lunch, Mark I is trying to sleep but Ed is playing the mandolin, which doesn’t really matter because of Chris and Eliot’s yelling, and I’m sitting on my bunk bed, bobbing along, trying to type. It’s a mess, to be honest, but one I wouldn’t trade for the world.

I moved into the Star Gospel Mission almost 8 months ago now, and I honestly still couldn’t give you a complete answer why, but through it all I’ve kept coming back to a few ideas:

1) Thoreau says, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.” And again, “That if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

2) Donald Miller talks about conflict in our stories, how we have to have it, and how without it our lives don’t make sense. He says that nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who spends his whole life saving his money to drive off the lot in his brand new Volvo, testing his windshield wipers with a tear in his eye. Then he wonders aloud why, if nobody would care at the end of a movie like this, we keep insisting on living our lives this way.

3) St. Irenaeus says, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

4) Christ, above all, tells us that “He comes to give us life, that we may have it to the full.”

Like I said, I honestly can’t tell you why I (or Pete) moved into the Mission. Even with In Every Story, even with the people I’ve met and grown to love, I waver between what God’s purposes are to what they could be to if I was ever concerned with his purposes at all. I sometimes think it’s some elaborate scheme, or that I’m learning some small lesson I need to know, or that none of it matters at all, that I just ate “bad burritos.” Other times, Pete and I both get the sense that at the ends of our lives we’ll look back on these moments now and realize that all the decisions we’ve ever made were directly affected by the ones we make now (This is partly because as time has passed, I believe we’ve both convinced ourselves that if we stick with it long enough In Every Story will work. It will, meaning it’s more up to whether we have what it takes to hold on or not than whether it is actually a good idea.).

When I think of life at the Mission in terms of goals and accomplishments, why I came here and maybe where I should be instead, I’m just not sure. I have these doubts. I wish I was in graduate school. Or that I had a real job. I compare myself to everybody else, and it makes me anxious and insecure.

But when, in the midst of it all, I keep coming back to these few ideas, I find faith, and the goals and reasons why I’m doing something or not doing something seem not to matter so much. Life, I believe with all my heart, is meant to be lived more like this. When it is, the restlessness I feel from a life of quiet desperation feels alleviated just a bit. When I do, I find when brushing my teeth, or talking to the guys, or climbing in bed, success in the most common of hours. When I take risks and add conflict to my life, I reap the rewards, and as St. Irenaeus said I would, I feel alive. Above all, as Christ promises, I yearn for a life to the fullest that he can give, and in turn I feel filled with faith, and hope, and purpose, and I get the sense that in spite of all that I’ve learned and all that’s happened and yet to come, the reason I can’t tell you why I moved into the Mission is that it still isn’t finished.

And that’s something I wouldn’t trade for the world.

The Star Gospel Mission

One night, sitting out front of the mission, a bare-chested man came up and pointed to the banner above us. “Christian! Christian! Christian!” he yelled. He moved to the right, and yelled, “1904! 1904! 1904!” He repeated this process once more and then left. Those of us out front looked at each other and smiled, wondering what in the world he was talking about, but, in actuality, he pretty much summed it up.

The Star Gospel Mission has been serving the homeless and near-homeless of the city since 1904, making it the oldest Christian welfare organization in the city. It was founded by Obadiah Dugan, whose family operated the mission for three generations, 84 years, until 1986. Today, the mission is operated by only its fifth director, the Rev. William K. Christian III. The mission has survived its fair share of triumphs and struggles, the most damaging being hurricane Hugo in 1989, that destroyed the original building at 474 Meeting Street and the beach cottage and summer camp located on Sullivan’s Island. It was saved only when funds from a variety of sources began to pour in, and when the frontage property—that now sits directly on Meeting Street—was sold to pay for the new building, tucked behind the Sherwin Williams with a view of the Post and Courier building.


Today, if you showed up at the Star Gospel Mission looking for a place to stay, the first person you’d likely meet is Matthew, our cook, who would ask, “Can I help you?” and then direct you towards the Rev. The Rev, Pastor Christian, would shake your hand, look you in the eyes, and ask you to sit down. He’d ask who you are, where you came from, what your criminal record and background is. The Rev can size you up in just a few sentences. He’d explain the rules. Monday through Friday, you have to be out at 7:30 am and can’t come back until 4 pm. You have to be working. You have to be at the mandatory church service at 8 am Sunday mornings, and you can’t do drugs or drink. You have a weekly chore and have to take turns cleaning the kitchen and the dining room. It costs $90 a week—that covers your rent, your utilities, your dinners and coffee and a bagel in the morning.

Afterwards, Matthew will take you to the back, where there are 22 beds in 9 different cubicles, and give you the sheets to your bed. He’ll show you your locker, and tell you to keep your shoes in order. He’ll show you the showers, and tell you to wear flip flops, and as you walk out he’ll tell you to make sure you turn out the light. That’s pretty much it.

Of course, the richness of the experience is in the lives around you, in the conversations and idiosyncrasies of the men, in the struggles they experience and the stories they tell. Otherwise, it’s just a set of walls with some beds and chairs and a T.V., a kitchen and a bathroom, like where anybody else lives. But this is the Star Gospel Mission, where I live, a place that in the words of The Rev “gives guys a second lease on life,” “a hand up and not a hand out,” and “transforms hearts and lives for Jesus Christ.”

So that’s pretty much it, and has been since 1904.

Where we’re at

Psalm 140: 12—“I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy.”

In Every Story is an officially sanctioned nonprofit in the state of South Carolina. We have been since September. The past few months have been spent researching, planning, and thinking. We’ve been determining costs, meeting with insurance agents, meeting with contractors, and meeting with businessmen who believe this is a plausible idea and who can guide us in the right direction. We’ve been talking with the guys at the Star Gospel Mission too, in the meantime helping with resumes and the things that we can do here and now, and making sure that In Every Story would be useful and beneficial to them.

At the end of November Pete went home for Thanksgiving and came down with malaria, which raised serious concern among the men at the mission who didn’t know Pete had spent the previous year in Africa and otherwise assumed he’d gotten it there, and then in December as Pete was spending time with his new fiancé home from the Peace Corps my grandfather was finally ending a long battle with an array of sicknesses that ended just before Christmas. So that’s that and now it’s the New Year.

Right now we’re in the stages of making a business plan to raise money from investors, and submitting our 501 (c) (3) so that our business will be tax exempt. It’s more or less the sink or swim part of what we’re trying to do, but once we do these things we should begin to know one way or the other, probably by the summer. I keep hearing that life is like this and life is like that, and a lot of these images are about not giving up, that if you’re in the middle of something and you don’t know where, and it’s dark, and you’re not even positive you’re going in the right direction, you’re best, really only option, is forwards, and if you insist on going forwards you’ll suddenly make it to the other side. It’s an idea I’m keen on holding on to for all of my life. So pray for us as we take these steps, begin to raise money, and then solicit business from contractors in the area. Pray that if it’s something that would help people who are homeless and near homeless and that would be beneficial to those who honestly are trying, that God makes it happen for those people.

At the Fair

About two months ago, Derek and I visited a friend working day labor at the Coastal Carolina Fair. We put together this reflection.

Errol is 50 years old with a salt-and-pepper beard and calloused hands. Spasms in his hip and pains in his chest cause him to walk with a delicacy that belies an athletic wit. At dawn this morning he went to a day labor agency in the downtown and requested work. Tonight, he is at the Coastal Carolina Fair working on contract with that day labor agency. In a bright orange vest, he weaves his way between kids and couples and colored lights, sweeping up $4 lemonades and grease-stained napkins, the remnants of other people’s pleasant evenings.

His hip has gone numb. He is tired. But he wishes he could work longer. He arrived at the day labor agency at 6 AM and won’t return from the fair until midnight, but only five of those hours were on the clock. Five hours at minimum wage minus the standard $5.50 transportation fee won’t leave him with much to show for his day’s effort. Certainly not enough to treat himself to a lemonade. Certainly not enough to put even a little into savings. He’s trying, and he’s tired, but he’s no closer to escaping homelessness. He will go back to the day labor agency tomorrow. He may get work. He may get turned away.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition calculates that a full-time worker must earn $15.13 per hour in order to be able to afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom Charleston apartment. A worker earning minimum wage would have to put in 92 hours per week every week of the year in order to afford that apartment.

Errol doesn’t want a two-bedroom apartment. He just wants a place of his own to lay his head, a place to continue his misguided devotion to the Yankees. And he wants to be paid fairly for what he does.

A local news station recently reported that over the past two years a day labor agency in this community has seen a 30% increase in the number of men coming to it in search of work. The men who find it there are almost always paid minimum wage.
What would a day labor agency look like if it were created from the perspective of homeless workers rather than profit margins? In Every Story, whose founders both voluntarily reside at Star Gospel Mission, is answering that question while helping homeless and near-homeless workers like Errol on their paths to self-sufficiency.

The fairgrounds look exceptionally clean tonight. Did you notice?