NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After a fire ripped through a business some local residents rely on a few weeks ago, the family that runs the business said they’re starting over from scratch, but their goal remains the same: to give people with criminal records a second chance.
On June 25, LaToya Moore, chief operating officer of Do It My (DIM) Way Pallet Manufacturing Company, said the business had gone belly up after experiencing problems with one of its machines.
“It’s just a piece of machinery that caught fire. I think it may have been heat related,” Moore said.
Moore said it’s been “chaotic” as he tries to find a new place to locate his operations and continue to support employees who may not be able to easily find work elsewhere because of their criminal records.
“At DIM Way, we’ve always had the motto of ‘second chances,’ and we’ve always given second chances to people who wouldn’t normally get a job,” Moore said.
Moore says their business helps people across the state.
“We manufacture pallets from start to finish. Without a pallet on the back of a truck, freight can’t move across the country,” Moore said.
Moore added that while things are still not the same, they have been fortunate enough to find a warehouse in the city where they can work.
“We really started from scratch and now we’re back up to 50%,” Moore said. “Before the fire we had nine employees and now we’re down to four and we’re trying to get back to where we were.”
Some employees with criminal records, like Rashad Scott and Curtis Holloway, say they rely on the job and what it offers.
“It’s good structure and hard work – for me it’s a way of working hard and not giving up,” Scott said, while Curtis said the business feels like a family and he takes “pride” in his work.
Moore said there’s still a long way to go before everyone is back at work and back to work, but they want to continue to help in any way they can.
