Larry Adakai was out of options.
He lost his welder job after taking too much time off to care for his ailing wife through numerous surgeries. The Navajo father had no savings and few places to turn.
That's when the Rev. Steve Keplinger and the good folks at St. David's Episcopal Church in Page, Ariz., part of the Utah diocese, stepped in.
They offered him handyman work around the church and prepared dinners for the family. They paid his union dues so he could be hired at a nearby site. They faxed his application to the new company, then gave him gas money to go there and take the necessary welder exams.
It took six months, but now Larry Adakai has the job, Mary Ann Adakai is fully recovered, and their 14-year-old son, Marcus, is feeling good about life.
Today's economic realities are prompting more and more workers like the Adakais to turn to their religious communities for encouragement, advice, contacts, training, financial aid, spiritual solace and, frankly, jobs.
More than 90,000 Utahns are out of work, up nearly 20 percent from a year ago, as the state's unemployment rate jumped to 6.8 percent in January. Executives, students, hairstylists, truck drivers, builders, Realtors, people in every profession and at every level face an unknown future, many for the first time.
"We used to place 300 people a month," says Ballard Veater, manager of LDS Employment Services, who has worked for the church since 1978. "Now it's half that many."
When a person loses work, it's like a death in the family where the one who died is you, Veater says. A job is at the core of who we are.
For many people of faith, helping the unemployed is more than a kindhearted gesture. It's a spiritual mandate.
"When I was scared, they talked to me," says Mary Ann Adakai of St. David's leaders. "When I lost all hope, they helped me with prayers."
Indeed, such assistance is the centerpiece of Keplinger's theology.
"Trying to help people get back on their feet is the most Christ-centered thing we can do," he says. "It is more important than worship."
The Mormon model » With typical pragmatism and organizational zeal, Mormons created a worldwide program to combat unemployment.
Every congregation in the nearly 14 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is expected to assign one of its members to serve as "employment specialist." The idea: Build networks in every field and match job seekers with potential employers.
"Here's how you go about getting a job," Val Markos, employment specialist for an Atlanta LDS stake, tells people. "It may take a long time, but it will work."
Markos, a retired executive with BellSouth, has a vast array of job contacts, professional relationships and Mormon experts he can tap. He has years of experience as a manager and in human resources and has had much success in aiding workers.
It's at least $2,000 worth of free advice, a recipient said recently.
"This is a very rewarding calling for me," Markos says. "It's amazing the number of good, qualified people who are looking for work. I see this [assignment] as very much tied to our role in helping our brother."
The LDS Church also has 330 employment centers across the globe, with more out of the United States than in it. About 95 percent of staffers are volunteers, many called on "missions" to serve this jobless population for 18 months to two years. The center at Salt Lake City's Welfare Square has 32 employees; only two are paid.
The system is free and open to everyone, not just Mormons.
It begins with an assessment of background, skills, education and employment history. Volunteers ask what jobs the client wants and then suggest steps for getting there. The client can access jobs in the church's massive database and use the center's phone, fax machine and Internet. Centers also offer career workshops, résumé tips and interviewing skills. Many find openings at LDS-owned Deseret Industries, where they can work while being trained for other types of trades. Others go straight to more experienced or management positions.
Nico Pratt thought she would work forever as an enamel painter at O.C. Tanner, so it was devastating when she was laid off in 2005 after 14 years. The South Salt Lake designer then worked at the LDS Church's clothing manufacturer, Beehive Clothing, until an injury made it impossible. When she heard about DI's vocational program, she jumped at the chance. She now works as a cashier at the thrift store while completing classes in electronic mechanicals -- learning how to assemble circuit boards, for example.
"I have been self-reliant all my life," Pratt says. "When I lost my job, I never had to scream so loud for help. I really had to humble myself, but it's helped me grow and become a better person."
Jennifer Zavala, of West Jordan, went to Welfare Square the day after she lost her job with a construction company .
"I was still in tears," says Zavala, a mother of two. "They showed me how to register on the new [Web] site and how to make a power statement about myself in 30 seconds."
Every Monday morning thereafter, Zavala went to a networking meeting at LDS Business College in downtown Salt Lake City, where she met other, mostly professional job seekers, learned interviewing skills and heard from employers.
Three months later, she had a job at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, one of the world's largest industrial auctioneers, setting up a permanent sales site in Utah.
"I tried to do everything they teach in the workshops," Zavala says, "then relied on the Lord."
Bob Ycmat, of North Salt Lake, an expert in health-care data, had a similar experience at the Monday meetings.
"The first thing that really struck me was how many out-of-work professionals there were -- attorneys, accountants, businessmen," Ycmat says. "I felt at home, knowing I was not alone in this."
Coming from a small and specialized field, Ycmat was skeptical that he would find a job through LDS Employment, but he did. His new position at Equation Consulting, a health-care consulting firm, he says, came as a direct result of the networking, tools and techniques he learned, particularly the suggestion to create a portfolio of his work in addition to a résumé.
"At the end of the day, we each have to make our own path," he says. The LDS Employment personnel "seemed focused on helping me find and follow that path."
Joining religious forces » Sunday was hardly a sabbath, an unemployed Presbyterian woman told Anne Gardner last fall, because of the stress of not knowing what Monday would bring.
That comment prompted Gardner, a business executive, to launch the Park City Career Network, with a handful of faith leaders.
Gardner, a Catholic, invited Ellen Silver, the director of Jewish Family Services; Bill Humbert, an executive recruiter and a member of St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Parish; and Dale M. Matthews, a career coach and Greek Orthodox, to join her in a weekly workshop at Temple Har Shalom in Park City. Among other benefits, the effort helps job-hungry seekers define "The Brand Called You."
The group offers people of all faiths free training similar to the LDS approach. It also provides monthly speakers, who might address such topics as debt negotiations, retirement planning and the emotional stress of job searching.
The typical job seekers are in their early to mid-40s, with either college or graduate education, working at a management level or above. They are not used to having to look for a job. The weekly meetings, begun last fall, attract about 15 people; 21 "graduates" have found jobs and another nine have started their own businesses through this effort.
"We encourage people to reach out in the community, to be active in the community, and make sure you continue your routines," Gardner says. "We tell them to have faith in whatever their guiding principles are."
For many people, especially women, a divorce is what thrusts them back into the work force.
That was true for Karen Aries.
Aries had been out of the labor market for 16 years when her marriage to a successful businessman fell apart. She found herself navigating unfamiliar employment expectations. After meeting with the Park City group, a more confident, re-energized Aries found several types of work.
"I was like Cinderella trying on the work slipper to see if it would fit. I had to re-enter the work force as a new person," Aries says. "I was only able to do that with the support of the Park City group and with my Catholic faith."
Salt Lake City's historic black church, Calvary Baptist, has been helping people land jobs since the 1920s, when it operated its own employment agency.
Today, while an official agency no longer exists, its mission to the unemployed remains strong.
The Rev. France Davis spearheads the effort to collect and post job announcements, contact employers who may be hiring, promote job training (and sometimes pay for it) and write recommendations.
"The church is a place where people turn," Davis says. "The pace has picked up recently. At least every day, people drop in to check out our job board. We help everyone, not just members of the congregation."
People come to Calvary not only for outside jobs but also because the church itself offers temporary and part-time work.
"Our own staff has doubled in the last three years," Davis says. "We've been hurt by the recession, but we find a way to keep doing it."
That, he says, is what God expects of believers.
