St. Mary=?ISO-8859-1?B?uQ==?=s Partners with Indiana Workforce Development Offering Additional Site for Individuals to File Unemployment Claims

St. Mary’s Partners with Indiana Workforce Development Offering Additional Site for Individuals to File Unemployment Claims

The Community Center at St. Mary the Protectress Orthodox Church, 1000 South Michigan Street, Plymouth, Indiana, is one of the Indiana faith-based organizations, cooperating with Indiana Department of Workforce Development and the Indiana Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to provide additional locations for Hoosiers to file their unemployment claims and weekly vouches. According to Workforce Development the only community organizations in Marshall and Starke Counties beside the public libraries providing this service is the community center of St. Mary’s.

Volunteers from the church attended a training session conducted by Department of Workforce Development instructing them how to assist individuals file their initial unemployment claims and their weekly vouches.   Workforce Development has supplied the community center several computers for individuals to use with their claims.

All initial unemployment claims and weekly vouches can only be filed online. Increasing the number of computers and locations available for individuals along with the training given to the volunteers will reduce the number of errors in the initial application and speed up the delivery of benefits, according to Department of Workforce Development. Indiana officials hope this new initiative will help reduce the long lines at unemployment offices across the state and cut down on the number of mistakes made by people applying online for benefits. Indiana residents will be able to uses the computers at the church, and receive extra help in completing their claims.  The state’s stated goal is to give workers more convenient options.

The employment program and computer use will be available starting Sunday, March 8th. The hours of the church’s employment program are Sundays 12 noon until 4 pm; Monday 10 am until 4 pm; Tuesday 10 am until 6 pm; Wednesday 10 am until 6 pm; and Thursday 10 am until 4 pm.

Volunteers are available to help individuals with the computers.  There is also help with job searches, networking with other job seekers, resume preparation and practicing interview skills.

St. Mary’s is located on the corner of Oak Hill Avenue and Michigan Street across from Webster Elementary School.

For more information about the program at St. Mary’s, please call Father Theodosius Walker at 574-540-2048, or email the church at monastery@synesius.com.

The church is under an allegiance to the Syriac Jacobite Orthodox Church under His Holiness Ignatius Zakka I Iwas. St. Mary the Protectress Orthodox Church is located at 1000 South Michigan Street, Plymouth, Indiana.