Organization helping homeless join work force.

Most managers might consider it risky to hire unemployed homeless people to work in stores, restaurants and service centers.

That's why real estate consultant Jay Goldinger gets rejected six out of 10 times on his weekly door-to-door trek around central Hollywood, where he tries to get jobs for the homeless as part of the Food on Foot program he founded 11 years ago. But he's sensing a change.

"These days it's very tough finding minimum wage workers and Food on Foot is in great supply of them," he said.

Goldinger said his program has helped at least 100 formerly homeless, unemployed individuals receive jobs since the organization started in March 1996.

"Those workers appreciate the job more than the average 18-year-old," said Tony Davis, an associate team leader of prepared foods at the Whole Foods Market on Fairfax and Third Street. "Why not hire someone who has some years of life experience under his belt and feels the consequences if they blow it? For the average 18-year-old, if they blow it, they just go home to mommy and daddy."

Davis, who employs two graduates from the Food on Foot program, is looking at employing another.

Goldinger said his program gives the homeless an opportunity to build self-confidence through accomplishment, unlike other local homeless programs and agencies that just provide food and clothing.

Food on Foot is structured in stages:

The homeless are offered the opportunity to pick up trash throughout the city on their own in exchange for fast food vouchers and $10 grocery store gift cards. This part is organized every Sunday when Food on Foot distributes meals and clothing to about 250 homeless outside of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center on Shraeder Boulevard.

Once a participant has picked up trash consistently over a series of Sundays, Goldinger asks them to join his work team, which collects trash in Hollywood every morning. Then if Goldinger deems they're ready to join the workforce, he tries to get them jobs.

Stephanie Schwedler, 38, is one graduate. She was homeless for 10 months after her best friend, whom she lived with and cared for full-time, died.

"I went through food stamps for a while and social services, but they kind of just looked at me and went 'OK, she's homeless'," she said. "They just kind of put a tag on you and write you off."

She said none of the agencies she went to offered her the opportunity to work and get back on her feet.

She has been working fulltime at Bailey's Bakery in Beverly Hills since November.

"It feels good to be able to work and then come home to a warm place and put your feet up," said Schwedler, who had slept on beaches and behind abandoned buildings until moving into an apartment recently. Now she lives in Hollywood and takes the bus to work. "It was raining this morning and I was thinking how nice it feels not to have to worry about holding a plastic sheet above my head."

By CONNING CHU

Contributing Reporter