Summer workers – Pre Arrival Assistance

AN IDEA! Summer seasonal workers, who are generally college students and the majority from Eastern Europe and Russia, usually arrive in Ocean City MD without having advantage of obtaining any advance pre-arrival information. The creation of such a pamphlet would be inexpensive and could be made available on the internet, providing them a way to obtain this information prior to their departure for the USA. The information could be mostly unique to Ocean City MD and nearby Delaware beach resorts, to include local government assistance, community and church organizations who can assist, housing lists, employer general information, housing regulations and “what to watch out for”, small map of the city, etc.. Upon arriving at the local bus station, and frequently in the middle of the night, the international students are at a loss for assistance. Some have dedicated “real” job sponsors who are there to pick them up and provide them immediate and safe harbor until they get established. However, many of them must seek out a temporary place to sleep and then locate their employer sponsor. It’s known that many of these job sponsor guarantees are “forged” and therein causes a major problem for the student. Without a job or housing, now the student needs support. They usually arrive in Ocean City with limited funds, and are expecting immediate access to housing and their job, as they were led to believe when they departed their country for the USA. They may then end up temporarily sleeping on the beach or on a park bench when these expectations do not immediately materialize. The distribution of educational and informational literature via the internet prior to the arrival to these students via the internet would allow them to arrive with adequate information. They would have enough information in hand to immediately know who to contact for assistance. It would be of great comfort to them to know where they might find local help to assist them in their first few days in Ocean City MD. I write this after reading a news article in the “Ocean City Today” free newspaper of Feb 3, 2006 (unfortunately, this article did not appear in their on line internet version of their newspaper, therefore I am not able to provide a link to it) covering the 1st meeting of a “Quality of Life” task force created to review student issues and provide some solutions to improving student working and living conditions during their summer stay in the city.

Have a comment? Visitors are welcome to register and advance this topic, offer other views, etc.. Simply CLICK HERE to login or CLICK HERE to register.