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SKILA HARRIS: We understand the health risks associated with radioactivity much better
today than we did 50 years ago. And at the sites where this country was developing its
weapons, we were not responsible in how we handled those materials. The recovery act
has allowed us to accelerate the clean-up, hire a lot more people so we can return these
sites to the way that they were, and benefit the community, while at the same time giving
people jobs. MR. : All right, ready?
DOUG CLARK: Ready. Name’s Doug Clark, and hired out of here
on June 30th, 2009, and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been a godsend to
me and my family. I was in the forest products industry, had a good job for 28 years, and
then we got laid off about two years ago and it’s been hard finding a job.
BILL PICCIANO: I got started back in 19 – I’m sorry, 2007. I got laid off from Boral Brick,
spent about three months looking for work then, and then I found a job under a contract
with no insurance, and it was a year contract. And I actually spent a year and three months
before I got let go from there. KELLI CULPEPPER: I was unemployed for a year.
Before that, I spent six years working on the commercial side as a chemistry technician
at a place, Colleger Eston (ph), up in Morris, Illinois. And I left there because I was working
a rotating shift – I’m a single mother, three kids – and on the verge of my second
divorce. NANCY COLE: I’ve been out of work for two
years, and I’ve been doing some odd jobs over that time. I have three kids, and I’m
a single mom. And it was really hard. We had to rely on other people to give us food, and
we even lost our home. It was really bad. MR. CLARK: Got a son going to college, just
started last year, and this is his second year, so we wondered how we were going to
get him in school and keep him in school. And of course, things really getting tight,
as far as the bills and all. So – MR. PICCIANO: We started running out of money
at the house. We didn’t have insurance. I ended up putting the kids on Medicaid so
they could stay covered. And we had pretty much made our last house payment in May and
ran out of money, and we were trying to figure out where we were going to get the next house
payment for June. And the last week of June, NX, Incorporated, who I worked through, called
and offered me a job as a logistics expeditor. So I told them I’d take it just because
I needed the work and I needed to keep my family out of hock.
We started with some checks finally rolling in, and we’ve still got to get some things
in line. But we pretty much got our house now back on track and all that good stuff.
MR. CLARK: Now that this has come along, it’s really, really made a difference in our family.
RAHMEL OLIVER: It’s like you’re walking different or, you know, you can – not that
you were sitting down, but you can really stand up and, you know, just – I’m glad
of the opportunity. MS. COLE: I’m a radiological control inspector.
I keep people safe. MR. OLIVER: I mean, you’ve got a chance.
MR. CLARK: It just gives you a lot of pride to be able to wake up in the morning and know
you’ve got not just a job, but a good job, and you can come to work and provide for your
families, and that’s a real good feeling. MR. PICCIANO: Hi, my name is Bill Picciano.
I was hired June 7th, 2009. MS. COLE: Nancy Cole, I started June 15th,
2009. MS. CULPEPPER: Kelli Culpepper, August 3rd,
2009. MR. OLIVER: Hi, my name is Ramel Oliver. I
was hired on August 24th, 2009. MR. CLARK: Doug Clark, June 30th, 2009.