The southwest suburbs area has currently created and developed a job outreach program to help those who are currently unemployed and looking for work. Those living in the Lemont area are ecstatic about the program and believe that it will be the help they need to lower their unemployment rate and get more people back to work.

The volunteer of the HOPE Employment Support Ministry, Buce Ksiazek, has said, “We’re just in Lemont, helping people.” He also said, “It’s a bad thing to be unemployed. Until you’re on the other side of the fence, you don’t realize how bad it is.” The St. Patrick’s HOPE program is just one of several locations that are currently being run by a number of volunteers who are looking to help put people back to work. A number of services are currently being offered to jobseekers for free, without costing them a single cent.

Tom McMahon, the co-founder of HOPE, says that people do not have to be Catholic in order to take part in the program and attend the sessions. McMahon has been working within the human resources department for over two decades and has plenty of experience with helping other people. He says, “We just want to help these people in the community as much as possible.”

And, that is the general idea of the HOPE outreach program. Its specific mission to provide assistance to anyone and everyone who is unemployed and in need of support and resources for finding employment and improving their status when it comes to filling out applications and attending job interviews. It is all about helping individuals to improve their skills, which includes preparing them for job interviews and helping them prepare their resumes as well.

Ksiazek can speak from personal experience, as he is an accountant who actually happened to rely on the HOPE employment program back when he was looking for work after being laid off from his position, along with a number of other individuals. He believed it was important to volunteer for the program as a way of giving thanks and also to give back to the community.

He has said, “I thought maybe I could help someone else.” The HOPE Employment Support Ministry got started nearly a decade ago in the St. Elizabeth Seaton Church, which is located in Orland Hills. The program was created to help parishioners who were unemployed. The goal was always to help get people back on their feet and help them to find work. McMahon says, “We use HOPE as the acronym because that’s exactly what we’re trying to give everybody when they come to our meeting.”