James Collins Ford is more than a source of income for some of its workers.
The Louisville, Ky., store has served as a lighthouse during stormy periods for staffers who have been incarcerated and battled addiction as they work to turn their lives around.
It has employed more than 50 men from the Beacon House, a Louisville transitional living facility founded in 1997.
The dealership has worked with the Beacon House for nearly a decade to support men during their recoveries and allow them to flourish, with some becoming master service technicians and leading salespeople. It starts them off in lower-level positions such as porters and gives them a chance to prove their reliability before moving them up the ladder, said Daniel Mekuria, the store’s managing partner.
About 40 percent of the staff today came from the Beacon House. Workers say having colleagues they know from the facility has proved invaluable because they understand each other’s struggles. Although some workers relapse and lose their positions, the dealership said the majority have remained clean.
“They needed an opportunity,” Mekuria told Automotive News. “They needed a type of management that is coaching them, building morale up and finding their best talents and just following through the whole process to where they have good credit now, they’ve got brand-new trucks, they’ve got houses.”
Owner James Collins said those coming from the Beacon House have a chance to earn lucrative work, pointing to senior master service technicians such as Jamie Sherrill who earn more than $100,000 a year.
Sherrill, 49, doesn’t want to think about where he’d be if James Collins Ford hadn’t invested in him. There was a point when he thought he’d spend decades in prison.
He was arrested for making methamphetamine and was facing the possibility of a 70-year sentence for drug charges. After serving about six months, Sherrill was given the chance to wait for his sentencing date at the Beacon House.
During this period, Sherrill got a job as a shuttle driver at James Collins Ford. When he got bored between runs, he began asking the service crew if they needed help and chipped in where he could. The dealership saw his interest and wanted him to start Ford’s technician training process, but Sherrill said he couldn’t do it with his case hanging over him.
After ultimately receiving a 10-year sentence, he left to serve his time. Dealership management told him they’d have a job waiting for him.
Six months later, Sherrill said, his fortunes took an “amazing” turn. A judge unexpectedly gave him probation and, with it, a new lease on life that many in his position don’t get.
“I was already a convicted felon,” Sherrill said. “I don’t quite understand why all those things took place. I’m just glad they did. This is a judge out of Bullitt County. It’s just not a place where you normally are given a second chance.”
Sherrill returned to living at the Beacon House for nearly two years and resumed his employment at James Collins Ford. He soon started technician training, which the dealership paid for, and kick-started an upward trajectory in his career and life.
“They’ve been tremendous. They really have,” Sherrill said of the dealership, where he’s worked for almost nine years. “It’s a really good place to work. Friendly people who just work with you, give you a chance.”
Sherrill’s motivation these days is to show others dealing with addiction that there is hope and how they can get help. He’s a sponsor for several workers from the Beacon House at the store, including Jason Clark, a former heroin addict who was last year’s top salesperson.
Clark, 32, started working as a lot attendant before moving into sales. He thrived as a salesman until relapsing in the early days of the pandemic.
The dealership rehired Clark after he got sober several months later, but he had to go back to being a lot attendant and work his way up again. He’s been clean for almost three years.
Clark said workers at the store hold each other accountable. “If you work there in early sobriety,” Clark said, “your chances of staying sober probably double.”
Clark has received two job offers in the past six months that would pay more but has stayed at James Collins Ford because of the nurturing environment.
“The fact that they gave me another opportunity, the fact that they care about our sobriety, and I get to work with all my friends that are in the program, that’s priceless,” Clark said. “We have something special going on there.”
Jeremy Cottrell, a senior master technician, said he’s grateful each day for how his life has progressed. He started using drugs at age 11, progressing from pain pills to heroin, and picked up criminal charges over the years for stealing a handgun and trafficking controlled substances. He’s spent about two years behind bars.
Cottrell, 41, entered the Beacon House in 2016 and initially worked at a restaurant until Sherrill, whom he knew from the facility, helped him get a job at James Collins Ford, where he was trained as a technician and earns a good living.
Ford Motor Co. recently honored Cottrell and others who achieved senior master technician status with an all-expenses-paid trip to Huntington Beach, Calif. He went on the trip with his wife.
Cottrell said the dealership has allowed him to turn his life around.
“If I look at what my mind state was, and how my life was when I first came in the Beacon House, it was hopeless. It was the end of the road for me,” Cotrrell said. “And now it’s just amazing.”
Virginia Payne, the fixed operations director at James Collins Ford, said the dealership has succeeded by hiring staffers from the Beacon House who have decided “enough is enough” and that it’s time to change their lives. She said the store has a culture of holding workers accountable.
“There are good people out there that have, for whatever reason, had a struggle in life,” Payne said. “What I’ve learned over the last nine years, more than anything, is that [addiction] is a disease. It’s not something that they overcome and they’re cured. It’s something that they live with for the rest of their lives.”