THE ABOVE PHOTO BY JENNIFER BAILEY OF NEWS-GAZETTE
Last spring, a meeting was scheduled at Danville’s Quaker Oats plant, with many people around the county thinking that meant it would resume full operations. Instead, it was the opposite. The Quaker facility in operation in Danville since the late 60s was closing; for good. For Chuck Jones and the team at Vermilion County Works, there was no time to lose. Looking back, he’s glad they were able to get information and services to the Quaker workers, including setting up “rapid response workshops” that began around the end of April.
AUDIO: Which was pretty good; considering the amount of planning, the amount of people involved; the amount of information that we had to corral pretty quickly. And we held them out at the college.
Jones says the attendance of Quaker workers to those sessions at Danville Area Community College made their efforts a satisfying success.
AUDIO: Traditionally in events like these; when you have mass closures, mass layoffs; the expectation is somewhere around five to ten percent of the workforce will actually follow through and utilize training, and other benefits like that. And we actually saw approximately 100 workers take advantage of that, which is twenty percent of the workforce.
Chuck Jones (left, first picture) and the Vermilion County Works team (located in American Jobs Center, second picture); acted quickly to get “rapid response workshops” going for Quaker Oats workers. Meanwhile, Vermilion Advantage CEO Mike Marron (third picture) says there is definitely a desire to use the Quaker and adjacent Heatcraft Refrigeration property for a rebirth of the old East Voorhees Corridor.
Another person heavily involved in all this, and still is, would be Vermilion Advantage CEO Mike Marron. He recently appeared on 1490 WDAN’s “Cheers” program with Pat O’Shaughnessy. Marron stated that with the Quaker property and adjacent old Heatcraft Refrigeration property; this is a chance for a rebirth of the old East Voorhees Corridor; back in the days of Heatcraft, Bohn, and Hyster. Marron says there is one very important thing already in existence along that corridor, that other potential industrial sites in the area don’t have.
AUDIO: Where we have large tracts of land that we could develop, we don’t have available utility infrastructure that is needed for some of these industrial projects; where we could redevelop on short notice.
But that being said, the existing utility infrastructure may still need updates. Marron says the idea is a long term approach, where areas are “shovel ready” and the county “has all its ducks in a row.” And often, larger communities can get to that point quicker.
AUDIO: It’s a greater challenge for a community like Danville and Vermilion County. But we’ll get there. The planning process is key, and we’re going to get it done.
To hear all of Pat O’Shaughnessy’s interview with Mike Marron on the “Cheers” program, please go to https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/cheers-vermilion-county/
