Reprinted from 

By Megan Mosher

Photo by Megan Mosher 

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 10:46 AM CST

Children’s laughter floated from the back of the Restoration Pregancy Resource Center as receptionist Magdeline Blanco answers the phone.

“I’m blessed. How are you?” she cheerily responded to the caller.

Sixty-seven-year-old Blanco will tell anyone that God has greatly blessed her, even as she relates how her eldest son passed away and she lost her home in Hurricane Katrina. One of those many blessings, she said, has been the Senior Employment program, sponsored by Catholic Charities, which allows her to work with the pregnancy center.

After her home was destroyed in Katrina, Blanco and her youngest son Angel lived out of their Volkswagon in Shreveport. They were still having trouble making ends meet once they moved to Hammond, and Blanco sought out the Our Daily Bread office because they needed food.

While there, director Myrna Jordan learned her story and informed her of the Senior Employment program. Jordan called Conrad Metz, head of the Hammond Catholic Charities office, who visited Blanco’s apartment to tell her more about the program and to see if she was interested.

“How many people get a job to come to their house?” Blanco questioned. “That’s how God did it. He always has somebody there to help me.”

The Senior Employment, or Title 5 program, allows senior citizens to work part time with governmental and non-profit agencies, earning minimum wage and learning workforce skills which will help them gain employment after they complete the two-year program.

“If you’re a low income senior citizen, the job market is a very inhospitable place,” said Catholic Charities deputy director Todd Hamilton. “The program provides additional skills and work experience for the older worker so they can be come more competitive in the job force.”

The program is nicknamed “Title 5” because of the fifth title of the Older American’s Act, federal legislation which provided senior citizens with services such as recreation programs and congregate meal sites.

In Tangipahoa Parish, there are about 15 seniors involved in the employment program. They are employed at a variety of agencies, including Child Advocacy Services, Hammond Eastside Primary, TARC, St. Andrew Mission Thrift Store, the African American Heritage Museum and five of the Tangipahoa Council on Voluntary Aging meal sites.

Like Blanco, seniors in the program work mostly in clerical positions, but some also work with children, people with specialized needs or in cafeterias and libraries.

Carol Spruell, the communications coordinator for Catholic Charities, said seniors involved in the program are typically older

women who have become divorced or widowed, retired seniors who can’t make ends meet or grandparents who find themselves raising their grandchildren.

“This is a perfect option for people like that,” Spruell said.

The minimum age for program participants is 55, but Hamilton said they have frequently had partcipants in their 80s and 90s.

Mertz said the program results in both tangible and intangible benefits, providing skills as well as confidence for seniors who may not have been in the workforce for a while. He said about 20 percent of the seniors involved in the program go on to find better paying jobs, sometimes due to the skills they acquired while in the program.

Spruell noted it is sometimes difficult for seniors to overcome the stigma that they can’t learn the computer systems and they will not be dependable workers, when in fact the opposite is true.

“Studies actually show that older workers are going to be on time, they’re going to have a better attendance rate,” she said. “That’s one of the big stumbling blocks that we fight constantly to overcome.”

But the seniors are not the only beneficiaries of the program, Mertz pointed out; the agencies which employ them also benefit.

“Overall it’s a win-win situation for everybody involved,” Mertz said.

The seniors are employed at no cost to the host agency because they are paid by Catholic Charities through a grant from the Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs.

“It is essentially free volunteer service,” Hamilton noted.

During tough economic times, local governmental and non-profit agencies are glad for the opportunity to fill necessary positions without going over budget. Both Charlotte Banks with the Hammond Chamber of Commerce and Beverly Brazil with the Hammond Senior Center said the employment program has helped their agencies when they received budget cuts.

“We’ve been able to utilize the employment program to staff our agency,” Brazil said.

Banks said the program has been an excellent resource for her, and she is sure it will be a benefit to other businesses.

“It helped me at a time when we did not have the budget for a part-time staff,” Banks said. “It is a great program.”

Restoration Pregnancy Resource Center director Jim Grega said his organization is very blessed to be involved with the employment program and to have Blanco as their receptionist.

“We’d have to have a volunteer for her position,” Grega said. “Ms. Magdeline is perfect.”

Blanco said the pregnancy center is the perfect place for her and she believes God placed her there for a purpose. She is truly passionate about the work she does, offering advice and hugs to the girls who come to the center looking for help.

“Everybody here is precious to me,” she said.

Blanco worked as an upholsterer for 38 years in Slidell and still owns the land where her home once stood. She and her son now live in an apartment in Hammond.

Blanco said she is not sure what she will do once her contract with the program expires in March. Times will be tough, she said, but she will continue to trust the Lord as she has always done.

“I know God has a plan already,” Blanco said.

Hamilton said there is a short waiting list for the Title 5 program, but seniors could contact the Catholic Charities get started and to see if they are eligible.

The Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge can be reached at 225-336-8770 or online at www.ccdiobr.org.

How to get involved:  The Senior Employment, or Title 5 program, is a work training program which allows senior citizens to work part time while learning workforce skills to help them compete in the workforce. The seniors are paid minimum wage, about $7.25 per hour, by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge through a grant from the Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs. The minimum age for participants is 55. Interested seniors should contact the Catholic Charities at 225-336-8770 or online at www.ccdiobr.org. to get started and see if they are eligible.