CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Applicants had an opportunity to visit with employers from the new Kroger Marketplace Wednesday afternoon on the Capital City’s East End.
Kroger and the Charleston YWCA held a three-hour event at the Kitty Dooley Center for Enrichment on Elizabeth Street. They interviewed for positions at the new Kroger Marketplace that will open at the Park Place development in South Charleston in June 2026.
YWCA Executive Director for Community Enrichment Theresa Horton said she is grateful for this event.
“I want to thank our partners at Kroger for coming down and being so generous to come and see us today. They did not have to do that. They did not have to stop down on Charleston’s East End, but they did. I’m super excited that they took the opportunity to partner with us.”
Horton said this event fit in perfectly with her goals for the YWCA.
“My goal since I’ve taken this position is to be able to eliminate barriers for folks, create opportunities where we can showcase talents, we can showcase really even needs, and we’ve been really hard — myself and Jessica Hudson, who’s over our workforce development program — we’ve been working really hard to get traction here so that we can figure out what the community needs, and then meet them right where they are.”
“We wanted to be able to say, ‘hey, listen, employment is an opportunity and we want to grant you as many of those opportunities as we possibly can,'” Horton continued. “We want to create lanes of sustainability for our community, and this is one way that we wanted to be able to do it, by ensuring that they were prepared, and that they also had easy access to be able to follow through with the opportunity.”
With the first-of-its-kind Kroger Marketplace opening in two months, Horton saw an opportunity to get involved.
“There’s a big push for the new store that’s happening, and so that’s going to require a lot of folks to be in that building,” Horton said. “We did a little bit of research to see what those positions look like, are they positions that the folks that we want, the demographic of folks that are going to be here today, are they qualified? So, we did a little bit of talking with them, and then we also did some talking with some of our workforce development classmates to figure out what it is that they’re looking for. That ranged from pay to hours to accessibility to benefits packages.”
“A lot of different things went into this,” Horton added. “Then we went back to Kroger and said, ‘hey, these are things that our people are looking for. Is it possible for you guys to be generous enough to come down and just talk to our folks?’ And, of course, they agreed, and so here we are. They have catered really well so far to every person who’s been in line for an application today.”
Executive Director of Workforce Readiness Jessica Hudson said she has been busy preparing YWCA clients for opportunities like this.
“The event is important to the community at large, but also to our clients here at the YWCA who have been working every week in our workforce readiness program to get ready for this exact thing,” Hudson explained. “We’ve been putting in the work [by] working on our soft skills, on our job skills, and getting ready for employment opportunities, for interviews, just getting ready for the event that is happening today. Not this one specifically per se, but I think they were more than ready to put those skills that we’ve been practicing to work today.”
Hudson said she is quite familiar with the Kroger company.
“Kroger is a great employer. I know, I was employed by Kroger when I was in college,” Hudson said. “They offer competitive wages, above minimum wage, shift differential. They have a lot of great benefits to their employees, and so I think anyone who is looking for a company where they could not only have a job to go to every day to earn an income, but also have those benefits that are so important in the workplace that often aren’t offered through other employers. I think Kroger is going to be a great partner to the community — they already are — but I think with this new store coming in, it’s shedding light on that. I think they’re filling almost 200 to 250 positions, which is huge in this economy and in our area. We’re excited to have them here today and do our part to help the community.”
Horton noted that people may believe there are many barriers to gaining employment. She said that some may not have enough money to gain certain certifications or may be hindered from getting a job because of their unemployment status. She said the YWCA is here to help, whatever people’s next step may be.
“If there’s one person that leaves here today and they feel more encouraged and more empowered to go work, then we’ve done our job, right?” Horton said. “I’m not looking for a number; I’m not looking for a response. I’m looking for this to be a more consistent thing, and that we’re not the only people who do this. We want to create these avenues and these opportunities for folks to be able to come out, see familiar faces, feel comfortable enough to apply for a job and know that they’re surrounded by support. We just want to help where we can.”
There are chances for others to get involved if they’re interested, Horton said.
“If your heart is in the right place and you want to help folks and you want to see them prosper, there’s plenty of things that we have opportunities for. There’s plenty of things that other organizations have opportunities for [as well]. But I think the biggest thing is making sure that we’re grounded and that we believe in humanity again. This is what this [event] says. Putting decency and integrity and fulfillment back into looking for a job and knowing that there’s support for that. So, if we can all get on that same wave, I think I’d be one happy lady.”
Horton added that she hopes the YWCA will keep growing.
“We’re going to keep on rolling. If anyone would like to make a donation to the YWCA to keep these programs going, then absolutely visit our website at ywca.charleston.org. If anybody has any questions about anything, please reach out to me, Theresa Horton, thorton@ywcacharleston.org. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to give back to our community today.”
Visit the YWCA website here.