“I don’t smoke or take drugs. I’m just here to make money,” was a common sentiment among cannery workers who came in on the ferry in mid-January.

“A few ruin it for everybody,” said cannery worker Johnny Brookings, originally from Atlanta. “A small percentage of the workers caused trouble. People blamed everybody but that wasn’t the case.”

A visit to the Brother Francis Shelter Tuesday night revealed a cross-section of work-weary guests, some obviously down on their luck, some who came to Kodiak seeking adventure and some who simply came to work.

The shelter doors opened at 8 p.m., and by 10, 31 people had signed in and were either sleeping, eating, taking a shower or relaxing after a hard day’s work. The Brother Francis night supervisor said he expected 40 people to trickle in before the night was over. Forty people however, is “many times more than the number we usually have at this time of year,” he said.

“These guys came down here to work, they’re here to make money,” the supervisor said, echoing the sentiment of many of the men.

Jeffery Harral, a student staying at the shelter and for the time being, a cannery worker, said, “Some of us made plans to do something with this money. I go to school in Hawaii. I don’t smoke or do drugs. A few made it bad for all of us.”

Harral said he is grateful to the Kodiak community and Western Alaska Fisheries for its support.

“A lot of people in the community have morals,” Harral said. “Without them, where would I be? I am really grateful to the community for their support and I apologize for any of the bad seeds. The only reason I came here was to work, not destroy the city.”

He added he hasn’t had a lot of time to get to know people in the community because he has been doing what he came here for — working.

“Western Alaska has been very supportive to all of us. They really went out of their way to make sure we had cookies. They are really good people to work for and patient with us,” Harral said.

Sam Allen, also a cannery worker who arrived on the ferry, echoed Harral’s sentiment. He eats supper at the Brother Francis Shelter but is not sleeping there.

“I have not had the chance to go out in the community too much. A lot of guys have gone back to Anchorage, but we were warned that there would be no housing. A lot of the workers came unprepared,” Allen said.

“I’m extremely grateful to Western Alaska Fisheries for giving me the chance to come and work,” he said. “There is innuendo about how they brought us over in an irresponsible way but they made the circumstance clear to us in Anchorage.”

Allen guesses there was miscommunication between Job Service in Anchorage and the shelter and said no one is to blame for so many workers arriving in Kodiak at the same time with little money or plans for housing.

“Some of us just came here to work,” he said, adding that some guys will fall away after their first paycheck.

A rumor has been circulating that some of the workers were fired.

Job Service employment security officer Maureen Butler checked the situation out and found only one worker was fired for drunkenness and others quit for a host of reasons.

“There were 17 who quit and four who are not showing up regularly,” Butler said.

Those who quit signed the proper forms and quit because they were sick or had other medical situations. Others had various reasons for leaving, she said, including some who left to accept another job.

Western Alaska Fisheries has at least 50 workers still working out of the close to 70 workers they originally brought over Jan. 19.

“Western couldn’t have made the production without them,” Butler said. “They were trying to do the right thing by hiring Alaskan and not bringing in foreign workers.

“The company was offering to front them money to rent a place so they wouldn’t have to stay at the shelter and helping them to look into places. This company has bent over backwards to help them,” she said.

Help has come from other sources in the community. Alaska Pacific Seafoods donated half a container, about 20,000 pounds of pouched boneless, skinless salmon to the Food Bank that will be used throughout the next year.

The Food Bank will share it with the Brother Francis Shelter and The Living Room.

Trevor Jones, executive director of the Kodiak Baptist Mission/Kodiak Island Food Bank, said, “It was neat to see a little more industry-wide response to the situation.

“I know APS didn’t have a situation with their workers, but felt that it is a broader community issue and got involved to do something,” he said.

“It’s great to see the industry come together and distinguish this as a community need as well as an industry concern and support all our community’s workers regardless of which plant they’re working for,” Jones said.

Mirror writer Deanna Cooper may be reached via e-mail at dcooper@kodiakdailymirror.com.