Job assistance offered to Potter's Field, MudMan workers
Officials with the Job Service of Kalispell said they are available to help former employees and members of the recently shuttered MudMan restaurants and food trucks and Whitefish-based Potter’s Field Ministries IGNITE internship program find alternative employment and assist with possible relocation.
The internship program and popular burger eateries closed their doors Monday amid allegations that claimed ministry owners Michael “Mike” and Pamela “Pam” Rozell emotionally and verbally abused Potter’s Field Ministries members for years.
Those who participated in IGNITE were also employees at MudMan as part of the ministry’s program. But Rob McCoy, who had recently been brought in as the new chief executive officer of Potter’s Field Ministries, said Monday the program, as well as the restaurants, have closed. He also said the interns who were working at the multiple MudMan locations throughout the Flathead Valley would receive their final two weeks of pay.
“I came in to wind the ministry down. We’re closing our doors, we’re shuttering MudMan, everyone’s going home. It’s over,” McCoy said in a recent interview.
Several former ministry members have contacted the Daily Inter Lake in recent days, stating that since the closing they have been displaced in the community and are unsure where to go or what to do.
According to an online statement from officials with the Job Service, “Job Service Kalispell encourages workers affected by the closing of MudMan and related agencies to visit their office at 427 First Ave. E. or call 758-6200. Staff is available to help them search for new employment, file for unemployment, and apply for possible re-employment funding if they qualify.”
Jesse Davis, a workforce consultant with the Job Service, said the services provided are free of charge. The organization’s offerings are already paid for because it is a government agency under the Workforce Services Division of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.
Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4439 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com