By Eve Hightower
ehightower@modbee.com
Along with 1.4 million other Californians, Jerry King was out of work, applying for every job he could and looking for a break when The Modesto Bee wrote about him in September.
King finally got that break three weeks ago, when his old boss at Beck Properties called with a job offer for King and his wife, Debra.
"It's like a big, big rock was taken off of me," said King, a former home warranty representative.
King had been looking for a job for 17 months before his old boss called. As the unemployment numbers rose, he turned in hundreds of applications.
At the same time, his wife was recovering from cancer. Then she discovered another lump in her breast. With no health insurance, they sold their house to pay for medication. Meanwhile, the special medical aid she was getting was coming to an end.
Though faced with all of that, King had only good things to say about his former employer when interviewed for the story about his job search two months ago.
"They kept me as long as they could," he said then.
That loyalty and King's reputation as a hard worker won Mario Guerra's attention when he read the article in The Bee.
"There's only so much we can do in this economy. We can't help everyone, but I knew I could help them," said
Guerra, King's boss. "Jerry has always done a good job for us. So when this job came up, I thought of him."
Now Jerry and Debra King manage and maintain 592 storage units and moving trucks for B&R Self Storage in Stockton, which is owned by Beck Properties. The couple's new job comes with full health care benefits and a rent-free apartment.
"We're well taken care of. They're doing everything to make us feel comfortable," King said with a smile. "The bottom line is: Don't give up."
Guerra is glad to have King back.
"We go through life and just run across people and keep going. That article reminded me what a good guy Jerry is. We're all out there trying our best to find success. That's OK, but right now we need to take care of each other," he said.
Companies don't want to lose good people, he said. But their choices are limited in a bad economy. To stay alive, some companies have to lay off even their best employees. That doesn't mean they'll forget them.
"There's always a chance you'll be hired back after all this," Guerra said.
Debra King said it couldn't have happened at a better time.
"We never thought we'd be in such a bad situation. And Jerry was trying so hard to find work," she said. "There were times we didn't even have food. We had nothing."
Those times are behind them now, but the Kings realize they still would be in their Hughson mobile home fretting about medical bills had Guerra forgotten about his former employee.
"We got real lucky. A lot of good people are still out there feeling bad about not finding work," Jerry King said. "We just finally got a break. We're all looking for a break."
Bee staff writer Eve Hightower can be reached at ehightower@modbee.com or 578-2382.
