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Facing challenge with optimism
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| Former Fruit of the Loom employee Georgie Menge, front, works on a word processing homework assignment as members of her family watch. The children, from left, are: Shaw McCall, 13, Menge's nephew; Amberly Menge, 18, daughter; Trey Welch, 18, nephew; Allie Menge, 14, daughter; and Dakota Sherburn, 5, niece. Menge said the children often helped with her assignments. Sherburn and Allie Menge are holding a photograph of Georgie Menge's other daughter, Ashley, 16. |
By Jeremy Styron News Editor
When Fruit of the Loom announced in March 2006 that it was closing Rabun Apparel, many of its 930 employees were likely stricken with anxiety as they stepped into an uncertain future.
Some could retire, while others owned small businesses they could fall back on.
A handful, like Georgie Menge of Clayton and Randee Addis of Mount Airy, formerly of Tiger, left an all-but-secure job market to re-enter the halls of education.
New horizons
"I cried, to be honest," Menge said about learning that she would soon be jobless. "I cried on Cynthia Penley's shoulders. She's a friend up there at work, and she kept telling me it's gonna be OK."
Menge, who worked at Fruit for nearly 12 years, then evaluated her options.
"What I did was went home and just figured all my bills and all," she said. "I said, 'God has given me the opportunity to go back to school, and I'm gonna take it'."
Menge stayed true to her word. She began taking classes in business office technology in October at North Georgia Technical College.
Through the Workforce Investment Act, she receives allowances of $6 per day for meals and $6 per day for gas to travel to school. She is also on unemployment. Despite the government aid, money has come in much slower than when she worked for Fruit.
She said her fiance of four years and her three children - Allie, 14, Ashley, 16, and Amberly, 18 - have given her the support she needed to continue her studies.
"There's been times when money's got real tight,. I thought I was just gonna have to quit and find a new job, but they said, 'No, Mama'," Menge said about her children.
"I'm hanging in there," she added.
Going back to school has presented other challenges as well.
"You have to reschedule your life once you start going back to school because I had to learn to study all over again."
After graduating from high school, she entered Piedmont College on a scholarship. But because of a car accident, she lost her financial aid and was forced to enter the job market.
When she was faced with another major decision via the Fruit layoff, her unemployment and benefit options could have been made more lucid, Menge said.
"I just think that a lot of stuff they told us, they should have been clearer. ... I'm not the only person either. They didn't cover everything that we needed to know, but they did work with me.
"They were very helpful, but that was the only problem that I had."
Amberly Menge graduates from Rabun County High School this year and will join her mother at North Georgia in the fall 2007 semester.
Success in school
Like Menge, Addis had no choice but to leave school and hit the work force after a stint in college.
In 2000, Addis was on her way to a degree in business, but at 24 years old, she put her education on hold.
"I wanted to go back to school, but I never had the time or money either," she said.
Her last day at Fruit was April 14, 2006. When Fruit announced it was closing the plant, her drive to go back to school was rekindled.
She was "a little worried at first not having a job, of course, and then they told us that they were gonna help us go through school, so that kind of helped me."
With or without government help, she was determined to earn her degree, she said. "In my mind, I think even if they hadn't paid for school, I was going."
Addis, who is engaged and has no children, is currently studying business with a specialty in medical office assistance. Eventually, she aspires to be a medical laboratory technician.
For many former Fruit employees, college life provides a drastically different environment than the job market, she said. But most are handling the challenge.
"As far as I know, everybody's doing real well," she said.
"You know, we're all kind of there for mutual reasons. Most everybody I know is doing real well in their classes."
Some could retire, while others owned small businesses they could fall back on.
A handful, like Georgie Menge of Clayton and Randee Addis of Mount Airy, formerly of Tiger, left an all-but-secure job market to re-enter the halls of education.
New horizons
"I cried, to be honest," Menge said about learning that she would soon be jobless. "I cried on Cynthia Penley's shoulders. She's a friend up there at work, and she kept telling me it's gonna be OK."
Menge, who worked at Fruit for nearly 12 years, then evaluated her options.
"What I did was went home and just figured all my bills and all," she said. "I said, 'God has given me the opportunity to go back to school, and I'm gonna take it'."
Menge stayed true to her word. She began taking classes in business office technology in October at North Georgia Technical College.
Through the Workforce Investment Act, she receives allowances of $6 per day for meals and $6 per day for gas to travel to school. She is also on unemployment. Despite the government aid, money has come in much slower than when she worked for Fruit.
She said her fiance of four years and her three children - Allie, 14, Ashley, 16, and Amberly, 18 - have given her the support she needed to continue her studies.
"There's been times when money's got real tight,. I thought I was just gonna have to quit and find a new job, but they said, 'No, Mama'," Menge said about her children.
"I'm hanging in there," she added.
Going back to school has presented other challenges as well.
"You have to reschedule your life once you start going back to school because I had to learn to study all over again."
After graduating from high school, she entered Piedmont College on a scholarship. But because of a car accident, she lost her financial aid and was forced to enter the job market.
When she was faced with another major decision via the Fruit layoff, her unemployment and benefit options could have been made more lucid, Menge said.
"I just think that a lot of stuff they told us, they should have been clearer. ... I'm not the only person either. They didn't cover everything that we needed to know, but they did work with me.
"They were very helpful, but that was the only problem that I had."
Amberly Menge graduates from Rabun County High School this year and will join her mother at North Georgia in the fall 2007 semester.
Success in school
Like Menge, Addis had no choice but to leave school and hit the work force after a stint in college.
In 2000, Addis was on her way to a degree in business, but at 24 years old, she put her education on hold.
"I wanted to go back to school, but I never had the time or money either," she said.
Her last day at Fruit was April 14, 2006. When Fruit announced it was closing the plant, her drive to go back to school was rekindled.
She was "a little worried at first not having a job, of course, and then they told us that they were gonna help us go through school, so that kind of helped me."
With or without government help, she was determined to earn her degree, she said. "In my mind, I think even if they hadn't paid for school, I was going."
Addis, who is engaged and has no children, is currently studying business with a specialty in medical office assistance. Eventually, she aspires to be a medical laboratory technician.
For many former Fruit employees, college life provides a drastically different environment than the job market, she said. But most are handling the challenge.
"As far as I know, everybody's doing real well," she said.
"You know, we're all kind of there for mutual reasons. Most everybody I know is doing real well in their classes."
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