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Michelle Bell scoops filling on the Armstrong Pie Co. assembly line

Stimulus money that created 1,000 jobs in rural Tennessee counties dries up today. WPLN’s Anne Marshall traveled to one of those counties 90 miles west of Nashville. She talked to workers who are feeling a mix of fear, gratitude, and for a lucky few – relief.

Fortunate Few

At the Armstrong Pie Company in Perry County, Michelle Bell is using an ice cream scooper to pile ruby red raspberry filling onto flat circles of dough. Friday feels close enough to start assembling plans along with pies.

“Alan, what are you and Juna doing this weekend?” Michelle asks her co-worker, Alan. “Going shopping,” he answers.

As Alan plucks cooked pastries shaped like half-moons out of bubbling oil, he says he’s planning a trip to Goodwill. A woman nearby on the line smiles and chimes in, “My brother in law went to a Goodwill store to get a pair of disco pants and he reached down in the pocket of them and found 85 dollars.”

Workers here won’t have to rely on that kind of luck for money. They make up part of the fortunate 25 percent whose jobs came courtesy of the federal government, but are now permanent, thanks to good business. Armstrong hired 12 people as part of the federal stimulus program. The company used the extra labor to stock pies in hundreds of new locations and increase delivery routes. Now they hope to keep growing – even adding a cookie line. Michelle Bell says sign her up. “As long as they let me be here I’ll be here. They’ll have to run me off,” she laughs.

A year ago, she was unemployed. When an auto parts factory shut down and another cut its work force, it sent Perry County’s unemployment rate to 27 percent. No one wanted to pay for her housekeeping services. Now, Michelle knows she’s lucky. While she and her coworkers think about the weekend, 300 in Perry County are focused on their last day of work, including her mom and step-dad, Cynthia and Larry Nix.

Cynthia and Larry Nix on one of their last days on the job

Clocking Out For Good

“Tomorrow’s my last day,” Cynthia Nix tells a customer. She and her husband were hired by a liquor store a year and a half ago. She loves starting small talk with the regulars, but today feels like one long finale.

“Where you going?” asks the customer. “Right now we don’t have no job. We’ll just be at home hoping and praying I guess,” Cynthia replies.

She’s grateful for the employment. She now has experience working in a retail store and ordering product. But, she’s been working pretty much every day since high school. Now, at 61, that routine, that stability, is over.

“It’s really, really unnerving, I can tell you. And if nobody’s ever been there I hope they don’t never have to go through this,” she says.

Friday, she’ll have no income. She can’t apply for unemployment. Employers who took on these stimulus jobs were not required to pay into the unemployment insurance program, so most workers aren’t eligible. For now, Cynthia’s thoughts are on goodbyes. Her favorite deliveryman walks in with boxes of liquor. “This is your last day isn’t it?” he asks. “No, tomorrow,” she reminds him.

Every week they joke about his next stop: Clifton, a town down a windy, stomach-turning road. Today is no different, but it includes a long hug.

“Take care,” tells her. “You too,” she responds. “And I’ll think about you every time you go to Clifton (laughs)…”

As the deliveryman rolls his empty dolly out the store Cynthia knows he may not like the road he’s about to travel, but at least he knows where he’s headed. She says right now, that would be comforting.

For Nashville Public Radio, I’m Anne Marshall.