LARGO, Fla. -- The convenience store industry has offered more than 2,500 paying jobs to those who have been put out of work as a result of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding in the Gulf Coast region last week.
Employee-placement firm The National Executive Personnel & Marketing Group (NEP), in cooperation with CSP Information Group, this week announced it would offer free job-placement and related services to help displaced workers from the region find jobs in the c-store industry. According to company officials, the outpouring of support [image-nocss] has been overwhelming.
NEP, with the assistance of CSP, launched the Careers After Katrina job initiative Wednesday to provide the c-store industry with an opportunity to provide tangible benefits to those affected by the disaster. According to published reports, nearly a half million jobs were lost as a result of the storm and flooding that has decimated the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast region. As reported in CSP Daily News Friday, Circle K has reported employees missing and as many as 30 stores damagedwith many completely destroyed.
As an industry, the total of permanently displacedand now unemployed evacuees is probably 1% of that figure or 5,000 individuals, NEP President Dick Wood estimated. So we have a long way to go before making a lasting impact on the situation.
Still, Wood added he was pleasantly overwhelmed by the industry's quick response. Within minutes of the report in yesterday's CSP Daily News, emails and phone calls were received from c-stores, petroleum and supplier groups pledging job after job.
According to Wood, retailers offers jobs ranged from small chains to the industry's largest companies. One retailer with several stores has offered five jobs, while another national chain has offered to provide jobs for as many hurricane victims NEP sends them. For more information, click here.
CSP Daily News will continue to provide updates on the industry job-placement efforts in the coming days as well as compile information on the efforts of other industry members on their efforts to help. In addition, CSP has kicked off its new online industry Discussion Board, which features a forum dedicated to the Katrina Disaster. Industry members are urged to make use of the board to share their personal accounts of the hurricane and its impact on them, as well as to post information on any offers of support to the industry.
CSP Information Group is also is making available free advertising opportunities for companies to communicate their disaster-relief activities and attract participation as needed. For more information, contact Jim Bursch at (630) 574-5075.
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