Jodi’s Journal: From a small room in a shelter, a workforce win-win
Dec. 11, 2022
Eighty-four people.
That’s how many women and children were being sheltered two weeks before the scheduled move to the newly built Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety.
“It was the highest number we’d ever had,” said Michelle Lavallee, CEO of Children’s Home Society of South Dakota, which oversees the program.
They didn’t know why. Police didn’t know why.
All they knew was that their shelter was designed for 40, and demand was more than double that.
“Everybody moved out of offices,” Lavallee said. “We turned every living room into a bedroom.”
Things can change quickly at a shelter. You don’t always know why so many are showing up or why some leave. Two weeks later, there were 54 people who moved into the new shelter on the Empower Campus, which is designed for 96.
“We all moved the women in ourselves,” Lavallee said. “Each of us took a woman and her family and their possessions. It was wonderful to see the kids’ reactions because it was so big.”
I had a chance to visit multiple times before it opened, including this one when I sat down with Lavallee for a look back at her career and her focus for the organization that reaches families and children in need statewide:
And she’s right: The new shelter is big, welcoming, warm and forward-looking. Holidays often cause a spike in people seeking shelter from domestic violence, and this year was no exception.
“Usually, we get a big spike over Thanksgiving, and it came after Thanksgiving,” Lavallee said. “We’ll have a big spike of people coming in after Christmas.”
There is a lot of life-changing work that will happen inside the walls of this building. But one small room has stuck in my head ever since I toured because it has the potential to be transformational.
And you’d never guess it looking in from the door.
Two desks, a couple of chairs, a handful of monitors and, fittingly, a piece by Paul Schiller on the wall.
This is the smallest office of Five Star Call Centers. Every woman sheltered is offered the chance to work here.
“We are able to offer entry-level positions to those with no contact center experience, all the way to those with in-depth knowledge and even opportunities for those with experience in health care, technical support and staffing,” said Joel Sylvester, chief client officer at Five Star. “When you give somebody a job in this environment, it’s something they can be proud of. It’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Five Star’s roots go back to 1978 when it was Lawrence & Schiller TeleServices, founded by Paul Schiller and Craig Lawrence. When that entity acquired Midco Connections, it was renamed in 2017.
Guests of Children’s Inn have worked for Five Star in the past, but transportation could be a barrier.
“They had to drive or take the bus,” Sylvester said. “The new Children’s Inn space removes the transportation component.”
On the day I talked to him, Sylvester’s team — which is typically about 600 people and doubles during the holiday season — had handled 33,000 retail orders the previous day. That’s everything from fruit baskets and steaks to beauty products. Additionally, they have a busy telemedicine business and have been swamped with calls about all the respiratory illnesses going around.
They need staff, some of the guests at the shelter need jobs, and together they seem to have created a true workforce win-win.
Of course, it’s not always an easy win.
Lavallee has taught me that it takes, on average, seven to nine times of leaving an abuser before someone leaves the situation for good. But at some point in the cycle, a job opportunity like this is going to be invaluable.
“The people who are going to take these jobs are committed to getting out of the relationship and getting their own place and their own job,” Lavallee said.
“And this is a call center in a box. You can take it with you when you go.”
Not only that, Five Star does business across nearly two dozen states. Women who begin working in the shelter can be supplied with the necessary technology to take their work with them when they leave, or they can come into Five Star’s office in Sioux Falls or other states if they’re looking for that environment.
“We have someone who’s been here 17 years who came to us that way and is in a management role with a great salary, and it’s an awesome, awesome story,” Sylvester said, adding that those who work for Five Star from the shelter often are skilled at handing the complex, emotional problems callers bring with them.
“They love to be able to help people,” he said. “They are in a situation where they have not probably been able to help people for a long time.”
And now, this holiday season, I ask you to consider helping those living at the Children’s Home Shelter for Family Safety, which also now is open to male victims. A new facility and growing demand require community support, and it is incredibly easy to help.
I like to add the shelter to my Target shopping list — because they have their own. Just click here, select what you’d like to gift, and it will be shipped directly to Children’s Home.
There’s also a “boutique” inside the new shelter that is looking for donations of new winter coats and clothing for men, women and kids. Donations of new items are accepted by appointment by calling 605-338-0116.
It takes a community to lift people out of such difficult situations. Here’s hoping one day I can introduce you to a woman who changed her life with a step inside that small room and with an employer willing to support her along the way.
