CBS Morning News correspondent Christina Ruffini interviews Spectrum Youth and Family Services Executive Director Mark Redmond in October at Detail Works on Avenue C in Williston.
Mission-driven Williston business receives national spotlight
Observer staff report
A national television audience was given a window last week into a one-of-a-kind Williston business.
In October, a correspondent with the CBS Morning News filmed interviews with staff and employees at Detail Works on Avenue C. The car detailing business was opened in 2017 as an initiative of Spectrum Youth and Family Services, a Burlington non-profit that supports teenagers and young adults who are homeless, at-risk of homelessness or aging out of foster care.
CBS Morning News correspondent Christina Ruffini interviews Spectrum Youth and Family Services Executive Director Mark Redmond in October at Detail Works on Avenue C in Williston.
Detail Works is where youths in Spectrum’s orbit can practice job skills like teamwork, communication, work ethic, accountability and punctuality. Spectrum Executive Director Mark Redmond said the organization’s leaders brainstormed many ideas for a business to serve this purpose (A coffee shop? A thrift store?) before settling on car detailing.
“There are so many jobs, where you’re like ‘Did I really accomplish something today?’ Here you know you accomplished something,” Redmond said during the four-minute television segment, which is estimated to have reached roughly 3 million viewers. It aired Dec. 9 as part of the CBS Morning News series “A More Perfect Union.”
“It’s a pretty big deal for our tiny, local non-profit,” Spectrum Communications Officer Erin Barnaby said.
Spectrum has recruited partner organizations like Vermont Gas, the UVM Medical Center, law enforcement agencies and Dealer.com to have Detail Works clean their vehicle fleets. The business is managed by Galen Blodgett, an auto industry veteran, and Cody Guyette, a former correctional officer.
Ruffini, right, interviews Detail Works employee Connor Copley at the detailing business. Observer Courtesy Photos
“I’ve built up a lot of good work ethic, and I’m getting my stuff in order,” worker Connor Copley, a resident of Spectrum’s Burlington youth shelter, said during the segment, “It gives me hope.”
The job — waxing car exteriors and vacuuming interiors — is designed as a stepping stone to other employment. Charles Hemmingway said he used what he learned at Detail Works to land and retain a job with Jolley convenience stores.
“Detail Works taught me everything I know about my work ethic, about communication and about making sure that I take care of myself as well as take care of my job, so that I don’t wind up in a situation where I’m jobless or homeless again,” he said during the segment.
