Some of Seattle's homeless were hired to fill jobs during Beyoncé's Wednesday night concert at CenturyLink Field -- including serving lemonade at concessions, according to the Millionair Club Charity.
The Millionair Club operates a supportive employment program that specializes in helping people who are experiencing homelessness or other barriers to employment to become job ready, according to their website.
Their services include daily work assignments and temporary job placement.
The Millionair Club tweeted shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday that 236 workers were send to fill jobs at CenturyLink Field. Beyoncé Formation World Tour concert starts there at 7:30 p.m.
The “MCC workforce will be there, serving #lemonade at concessions (and catch a glimpse of Bey!),”
[ Millionair Club staff tweeted ]
.
The Millionair Club started staffing workers for CenturyLink jobs last year, and staff said Thursday those result in nearly 80 percent of their permanent job placements.
The charity pays for workers’ food handler cards, and in some cases helps with the black shoes and pants required for the job uniform.
“We feel like these jobs are stepping stones for rebuilding their lives, and were so pleased to be in the middle of it,” said Christine Rylko, the Millionair Club’s director of volunteers and special events.
There are other events, too. At least 40 people have been hired to work the Billy Joel concert later this month at KeyArena, and more than 200 are scheduled to work at an upcoming Sounders game.
“It’s a solution for folks who are having trouble getting employed,” Rylko said. “This is one of the most gratifying things to see and work on. These folks are so grateful to have a hand up instead of a hand out.”
The Millionair Club operates a supportive employment program that specializes in helping people who are experiencing homelessness or other barriers to employment to become job ready, according to their website.
Their services include daily work assignments and temporary job placement. They also provide a place for people to do laundry and get showers.
In November 2015,
[ Seattle Mayor Ed Murray declared a homeless civil emergency ]
. An annual count of people on the streets of Seattle found more than 2,800 people – a 21 percent increase from the previous year.
Seattle residents have raised concerns about homeless encampments other than The Jungle, and about transients living in RVs in multiple Seattle neighborhoods. Minutes before Murray gave a speech about Seattle’s homeless problem in January,
[ five people were shot in The Jungle ]
, a longtime homeless encampment under Interstate 5 near Beacon Hill.
The day before Beyoncé's concert, city and state leaders announced
[ a plan to clean up The Jungle ]
, a space that has raised health concerns since the homeless population there increased in the early 1990s.