PERRYMAN, Md. — Pink slips await for 363 workers at the Rite Aid warehouse in Perryman, including one woman who put in 20 years there who did not wish to be identified.
“A lot of us have been there a long time, and no one expected this at all,” she told us, “A lot of people are getting together and they’re helping each other to try to find the way.”
For some of the longtime employees, this is about much more than losing a job.
RELATED: Rite Aid distribution center set to layoff over 300 employees in Aberdeen
Almost seven years ago, they lost a number of co-workers in a mass shooting.
A 26-year-old temporary employee shot six people killing three of them before turning the gun on herself.
“It made a lot of people closer afterwards,” the woman told us, “It was hard, but the people that knew about the situation that was close to her—-they could kind of feel what she was going through. It was a bad situation. I never want to experience anything like that.”
Now, many of those who are losing their jobs may turn to a nonprofit based in Edgewood for help called the Harford Community Action Agency.
“Not only do we have energy assistance, we have the food pantry,” said the agency’s Lisa Zimmerman, “We also have homeless prevention services, housing needs and coaching and things like that. So we have pretty much a lot of wrap around services that will help the clients and we are ready and willing to help everybody that comes through the door.”
Help from the community for people who may have never needed it before.
“I’m sure that they are just in a state of shock and trying to figure out what their next steps are,” said Zimmerman.
Hard-working people who won’t have work when the warehouse closes down for good.
“So you don’t know where you’re going to be in another month?” we asked the woman now looking at an uncertain future.
“Nope,” she replied, “We just know it’s not going to be here."
