“I want to learn anything I can learn, like responsibility and respect,” said Shraiteh, 15, who is on a waiting list for Harmony Corps, the cafe’s job skills training and positive personal development program.

An $8,300 Opportunity Fund grant from the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region Inc. in 2005 will allow the program to pay eight to 10 employees at least minimum wage for cleaning and completing odd jobs, probably beginning in January, said Harmony Cafe director Shannon Kenevan.

“There were folks who could be doing something more productive, but needed a little push,” Kenevan said. “The goal is to get each person to work and at the same time be working toward some goals to springboard them out of the program into the community.”

The Community Foundation awarded 454 grants totaling $2.05 million to local nonprofits during the first quarter of its fiscal year 2005.

Harmony Cafe, a nonprofit community outreach of Goodwill Industries, developed Harmony Corps as a pilot program to guide an increasing number of walk-in volunteers, many of whom frequent the bus station and other downtown sites.

Young adults now in the pilot program earn “Harmony bucks,” good for purchasing cafe merchandise. It’s a way they can give back to the community by helping support the cafe’s services, said Harmony Corps participant Rose Weed.

Weed, 21, of Appleton says the program is slowly introducing her to the demands of working a steady job, including appropriately handling stressful situations.

“I know I’ve learned patience,” Weed said, “because sometimes people come in with their kids and they are loud and whiny. I like to think Harmony Cafe is helping me not to yell at people so much.”

Jason Canaday, 22, of Appleton said he hopes the program will give him solid references for a resume he plans to develop.