Published: October 05, 2009 03:39 pm      

Job Center workers get experience while helping spruce up Bennett Center

Ten young men from the Pine Knot Job Center, a program for low-income students in McCreary County, will be at The Bennett Center cutting down dead trees and limbs for the next month or two.

The students, supervised by Todd Kidd and John Ashment, will cut down about 20 dead trees and cut off dead branches from a few others at the campus at no charge. The students range from 16 to 24 years old.

The nature sanctuary in back of The Bennett Center will not be affected, according to caretaker Earl Hays. Some of the trees on the campus are 180 years old, he said.

“We had several trees we wanted cut down or trimmed to prevent any hazards,” said Kathryn Hardman, a Bennett Center board member. “I knew the Job Center has a training program in Urban Forestry, so I thought it was a good opportunity for their students to put their skills to work and it was a good opportunity for us to get some needed work done.”

The Job Center is a program that teaches youth a trade, finishes up their education and gets them to work.

“We work for non-profit organizations, counties, states, cities and other non-profits,” Ashment said. “We can’t work for folks in the community. We would take that work away from the folks who do that for a living as well. We can work for these organizations who don’t have the money in their budget to do it.”

Staff writer Carol Mills can be reached by e-mail at tcmills@sentinel-echo.com.