Indiana Beach partners with agency to provide summer jobs
LOGANSPORT, Ind. (AP) - Adam Srotyr, of Logansport, is a man of few words. But give him a broom and a dirty walkway and he'll have it cleared in no time.
Srotyr is one of the clients at Peak Community Services based in Logansport and this summer, he's sweeping the streets of Indiana Beach as one of the amusement park's hundreds of temporary summer employees. This is Peak's first year partnering with Indiana Beach to provide work for seven of the agency's clients, and leaders at both organizations think the partnership has been successful.
"It's just been wonderful," said Peak's employment services director, Jennifer Roush. "A lot of the clients were excited, because it's Indiana Beach."
Logansport resident and Peak client Sherrie Cox, who makes several of the sweet treats at the Surfside Snacks churro and cotton candy stand opposite the park's water rides, called the experience "awesome."
She's among the agency's clients, all of whom have some sort of physical or mental disability. "Just being around people" was her favorite part of working at Indiana Beach, she said. She interacts with anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred people each day, she and supervisor Amy Barnes estimated, making and serving churros, pretzels, drinks and cotton candy.
Indiana Beach attracts visitors each summer from throughout the Indiana-Michigan-Illinois region. According to the park's director of marketing, the park employs about 800, mostly part-time seasonal workers, to keep the park humming - running rides, serving food and cleaning up. And it's not alone. Across the country, about 400 theme and amusement parks employ about 500,000 seasonal employees, according to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.
The industry association in 2011 surveyed about 200 people and found that of the Americans surveyed, more than a quarter would be interested in working for an amusement park company.
For the crew of about seven Peak clients, that interest has turned into reality. They ride transport provided by the agency to the park daily from Tuesday through Saturday, as long as the weather is fine. Peak supervisors hand-picked clients based on their skills and interests, then invited them to interview with Indiana Beach for positions.
"They went through the whole interview process like you would a normal job, and Indiana Beach is paying them," Roush said. "It's just like a quote, 'normal' job that they're doing for the season."
Peak coaches helped prepare their clients for the interviews, she said - "we told them, 'Hey you need to dress up for the interview,'" Roush offered as an example. "We were prepping them on the soft skills, what to say, what not to say during the interview."
All who applied were hired, she said, and are treated the same as any other temporary workers, with the exception that they have Barnes as an extra layer of supervision provided by Peak.
Employees hired through Peak have been reliable and eager to do their job, Don Hurd of Indiana Beach said. Most are assigned to park services tasks like sweeping the boardwalk and keeping trash cans emptied, while a few help out at some of the park's in-house food stands.
"They take a genuine concern with what they're doing," Hurd said. "They're very dedicated, loyal, and very hardworking."
Hurd, director of marketing at Indiana Beach, said the park has worked with clients of CDC Resources, a similar disability assistance agency based in Monticello, for the past three years. He added the park was happy to bring on Peak clients as well.
And the clients themselves say they've enjoyed the experience - though, they said, the hot sun sometimes makes them sweat more than they'd like.
"They really enjoy it," Roush said. "Some of them that we didn't think would come to work and be on time have been on time, eager to come to work."
One in particular has surprised Peak coaches, but in a good way, she said. "He's been getting upset when there isn't work."
"It's very rewarding to see them getting jobs," Roush said.
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Source: (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune, http://bit.ly/29KxsrE
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Information from: Pharos-Tribune, http://www.pharostribune.com