Olivia Worley cuts the hair of Joseph Blackwell at the Georgia Beauty Academy booth during Homeless Connect. 

DALTON, Ga. — Lakeesha Ervin moved to Dalton last year from Lithonia looking for a better life for herself and her children. 

On Wednesday, Ervin attended Homeless Connect, designed to help the homeless and “unstably housed” with housing, employment, obtaining photo identification and other basic needs, at the Mack Gaston Community Center. This is the fourth year for the event presented by the Dalton-Whitfield Community Development Corp.

More than 20 agencies, businesses and organizations participated, with about 150 people having attended by lunch time, according to Marlene Alfaro, a housing counselor with the Community Development Corp.

Ervin, 37, said she was “very impressed.”

“It’s great seeing everyone in one spot,” she said. “Today they seem to have everything I need.”

Among those participating were representatives from Amerigroup, Dalton’s Greater Works, the DEO Clinic, the Georgia Beauty Academy and Highland Rivers.   

Jennifer Shearin, executive director of the Community Development Corp., said they had a great turnout.

“We have a lot of the same vendors from last year,” she said. “A few are different, we have someone here offering employment.”

Justin Silvers, a human resources employee with Garland Sales, said he’d collected some 22 applications. Garland Sales is a textile manufacturer in Dalton. 

“A lot of people need jobs so we’re here reaching out to them,” Silvers said. “We’re a family-owned and oriented company.”

Silvers said the company has more than 60 vacancies including for general labor, a truck lift operator and a sewing machine operator.

Cheryl Truitt was one of some 80 volunteers. Truitt is a participant in the Conasauga Drug Court program. Individuals in the program collected purses filled with personal items for women. The purses can also be used when the women go on job interviews.

“Every woman loves a purse,” Truitt said. “It’s such a blessing to help, they (the women) have been overwhelmed with gratitude.” 

“We are all children of God,” Truitt said. “We’re in a program for Drug Court, we’ve been helping each other, and to do something so powerful here (makes me) speechless.”

“The day is going wonderful,” Alfaro said. “There’s lots of food and resources for people coming in.”

Shearin said this year they saw a lot of the same people, but new faces also.

“Some we haven’t seen in a couple years, but now they’re back,” she said.

She called this year “more chilled” compared to last year.  

“I think by this being our fourth year we’re getting the swing of it,” Shearin said.