HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Metrolina Greenhouses is one of Huntersville's largest employers. It's a family-owned business that grows plants for big companies like Lowe's, Walmart, and Home Depot across the East Coast.
The company tries to give people like Troy McNeil opportunties to work. McNeil is in his 40s, but says his role in the greenhouse was his first real job.
"I was incarcerated for about 12 and half, 13 years in the federal system and I come home to a halfway house," said McNeil.
McNeil said a flyer in the halfway house about four years ago led him to Metrolina Greenhouses. "I worked my way up from being a regular worker to being a crew leader now," McNeil said.
Right now, the company is hiring about 50 people a week, or 1,000 people this year, for its Huntersville and York County locations.
Co-CEO for Metrolina Greenhouses Abe Vanwingerden said, "A whole wide variety of jobs. It’s a highly automated facility so anything from seasonal labor, all the way up to maintenance jobs."
Vanwingerden said pay starts at $11 per hour, and full-time employees get a 401K and benefits.
The company invited local leaders like Zeritha McFadden to its headquarters Tuesday to help spread the word to their network. McFadden is the program coordinator with the Mecklenburg County Criminal Justice Service. She helps people with rough backgrounds find work.
McFadden said, "If people have the opportunity to feed their families, be constructive, then they are less likely to offend in the society in which they live."
McFadden said she helps people who do get hired at Metrolina Greenhouses get to work. She said she gets people bus passes so they can take the CATS route directly from the JW Clay Station to the Huntersville headquarters.
McNeil said the job opportunity has changed his life. He said he can now better support his six children, pay rent and plan for his future.
"I wanna let everybody know that just because you do something in your past, don’t mean you can’t move forward," said McNeil.
The company said they need the most help during the spring. That's when they have the most plants in production. They hope to turn up to 200 part-time positions into full time.
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