achieving the american dream in fort myers by MOONLIGHTING

How many are working two jobs — or more — to make ends meet

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY

"Moonlighting" could suggest the glorious youth of Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in their 1980s television series and hit film. It might also imply clandestine, even disreputable business done under cover of night.

"In the past, I think 'moonlighting' kind of has the inference that your boss doesn't know you're doing it," said Steven Belcher, director of Human Recourses at Florida Gulf Coast University. Full time teachers there are required to report any "outside activities," like moonlighting or even volunteer jobs, that may be a "conflict of interest" with their day jobs.

Department of Labor, moonlighting is simply "working more than one job." About 4.5 percent of Florida workers do it for some of the same reasons others have for generations: rising food and energy costs, children to care for, paying off debts, cushioning a savings account or simply a passion for what they do.

For Ken Benson, moonlighting is a means to achieve his own version of the American dream.

A day or night off from his primary job, where he works 40 to 48 hours per week as a line cook at Renaissance Country Club in South Fort Myers, is usually valuable time spent working elsewhere. The extra cash helps him pay his 13-year-old daughter Hannah's tuition at Canterbury School in Fort Myers. It will also help him make a fresh start with his fiancée, affording them a wedding, a new car and, one day, a home of their own.

Ken Benson works as line cook and a machinist.

"We're going to have children, so when that day comes, we're going to want to be in our own house," he said.

Aside from Renaissance, he picks up cooking shifts at The Hut, a restaurant on Buckingham Road, when he can; does prep work for Chef Bill's Catering in Cape Coral on an "as needed" basis; and he does metal machine work on a drill press 10 to 20 hours per week at Larson Enterprises, building light-modification devices for photographers.

Mr. Benson, 39, has given up certain things to work more: a certain amount of sleep, for one.

"I don't have time to go fishing or ride my mountain bike, but I enjoy my jobs," he said. "It's give and take. As long as I'm happy doing what I'm doing, it doesn't bother me. I like cooking because you can never stop learning."

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Kim Davis, rec center supervisor

At the country club, Mr. Benson normally works the sauté station, in spite of having held executive chef positions, including at Cypress Lake Country Club. Because of his qualifications, he often performs additional duties like menu planning, ordering food or filling in for other kitchen staff.

"Whatever needs to be done," Mr. Benson said. "I work any position."

Although the percentage of moonlighters hasn't changed a lot in the last 10 years, those who do hold multiple jobs value them all the more for their relative scarcity. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the Labor Department says, 3.6 million people in the U.S. lost jobs.

As news stories doggedly report rising unemployment rates and more businesses fold or lay off workers, some labor experts say Mr. Benson and others like him are lucky to have even one job.

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Kim Davis, first-grade teacher

"It's really hard to find a good first job right now," said V. Jane Kappler, director of AAA employment, a staffing agency in Lee County. "And to get a second job? You might be just as well off buying a Powerball ticket. I've been here 30 years and I've never seen anything like it."

Indeed, Southwest Florida took a larger blow, employment-wise, than most places.

According to the Department of Labor, the percentage of Lee County workers who lost their jobs between June 2007 and June 2008 was the highest in the nation, at 8.8 percent. Collier County came in second — where 6.8 percent of workers lost their job between the summer of 2007 and 2008. And Sarasota County tied for third with Elkhart, Ind. in highest percentages of jobs lost in the nation, at 6.5 percent.

In spite of a weaker job market, Mr. Benson's jobs may have been more a result of hard work, hustle and determination rather than luck. A prep cook, line cook, sous chef and executive chef in restaurants in Lee and Collier Counties since he was 15 years old, Mr. Benson said "the restaurant business can be very cutthroat." But, he added, "The jobs are out there."

Ms. Kappler allowed that her view of the job market is based on clients who are generally looking for salaried, administrative jobs, which may be scarcer. Many hospitability industry positions, from cooking, bartending and waiting tables, to head chef, often have a higher staff turnover, so those positions are more likely to open up at any time.

Other staffing agencies, like Mancan in Fort Myers, say many jobs are still available, but the work may be temporary and include part-time work telemarketing, in cleaning positions or day labor. Most of the company's clients come in looking for full-time jobs, said Branch Manager Dawn Carletta. But now people are taking anything they can get, even if, like Mr. Benson, they're overqualified.

"I think people are doing anything to make ends meet right now," Ms. Carletta said. "Somebody just came in; I think she's a nanny during the day, and she wanted to do some housekeeping on the weekends. We've had people that have had paper routes to try to feed their families. Most people just say they'll take anything that's available, even jobs beneath their skill level. I see that a lot more right now."

Teacher, rec center supervisor, Burger King employee

Kim Davis, 33, is a full-time, salaried first-grade teacher at Alva Elementary School. She graduated with an associate's degree from Edison College in 2004 and a bachelor's of science from Hodges University in 2005, but also works at Burger King on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

"I come in and I do the prep, get everything ready for lunch," she said. Sometimes she stays late for co-workers.

Ms. Davis also works at Veterans Park Recreation Center in Lehigh Acres, where she was recently promoted to senior program specialist. That means Ms. Davis will work 29 hours per week after school, most nights until 9:30 p.m. and all day Sunday.

She makes $10.75 per hour at Burger King, $38,000 per year as a teacher and, since her promotion, will make $21,000 per year at Veterans Park, where she has many duties, including running the front desk.

She pays about $700 in rent, $400 for a car (including the monthly payment, gas and upkeep), car insurance, a gas bill and cell phone bill. She goes without cable television, the Internet at home or having a land line telephone.

"I don't buy expensive clothes," she said. "We don't buy name-brand stuff."

According to the federal government, she also doesn't qualify for any state or federal assistance, for medical care, housing or food, because of her income status. It's at least one Catch- 22 of having the ability to spend most of your time working.

She is also offering financial help to her sister, whose is struggling with a baby that was born prematurely. Her son, Diondre's, father isn't a part of the scene for the 13-year-old student at Varsity Lakes Middle School.

"Even with the three jobs, it's still very tight," Ms. Davis said.

Last week on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, her first-grade class learned about Dr. King's famous dream and shared their own as well, which they wrote on paper cut-out clouds and posted in the hallway bulletin board. School let out early that day, and Ms. Davis worked on lesson plans and report cards until leaving for the Rec Center. She arrived a half hour early to fill in for a co-worker at the front desk.

As parents came to pick up children from after school programs at Veterans Park, she recognized their faces before they walked in the door, and called their children over the loudspeaker to let them know their rides have arrived.

Meanwhile, kids came up to her, wanting things: change, a broom. In another part of the building, the Lehigh Acres Fire Department was holding a meeting. "Down the hall and to the left," she instructed the arrivals, between answering the telephone.

She considers working at the Rec Center "a break" after being in the classroom all day. "I have 17 first graders. This is a breeze."

When morning comes again — she has to make it to school before 7:15 a.m. — Ms. Davis is back in class. She admits to having a single cup of coffee to get started in the morning and a single bottle of Mountain Dew at lunch to keep her going.

Working long hours is nothing new to Ms. Davis, who has juggled jobs for at least the last 13 years — since her son was born. She has been employed at one place or another since age 14, when she was growing up in Alva, one in a family of five daughters raised by a single mother.

"I wouldn't necessarily blame it on the economy," she said. "I've always worked two or three jobs."

Her first full-time teaching position began last year, for third graders at another Lehigh Acres school, but she was laid off due to district-wide budget cuts.

This year, she was nominated for a Golden Apple Award, but decided not to go through with the process of applying for the award because it's her first year teaching first grade.

Her work over the years has included positions like teacher's aide, school bus driver, family counselor, day care center worker and after-school programs director.

When Ms. Davis is not working, she said "I have laundry to do. I have housework."

Ms. Davis hopes, ultimately, to own a home and pay off her student debts, which are currently deferred, but will cost her about $200 per month.

"My only reward is when everything is paid," she said. "That will be my reward. And I want to be able to put money in the bank. I want to be able to save and take my son on a vacation for a weekend to Busch Gardens or something."

College administrator, teacher

While Ms. Davis moonlights to make ends meet, others take on more work for networking opportunities. Susan Baurer, who has a full-time salaried position in the Human Resources Department at FGCU, gets permission every semester from HR director Mr. Belcher to teach a three-credit hour course called Human Resourse Management, which is required for Management Students. The university calls her adjunct teaching position "overload activities."

In some cases, community professionals like scientists, educators or Ms. Baurer, are invited to teach at FGCU.

"It's a real benefit for our students to have that opportunity," Mr. Belcher said. "What they bring to the table is practical experience."

Ms. Baurer is compensated $3,000 per semester for the extra job, but does it "first of all, because I like the connection to the students. But the money helps."

She also does volunteer work and is a member of the Human Resourses Management Association of Southwest Florida, a professional group.

"It's all basically networking," she said.

Through her "moonlighting" teaching position, she is able to meet students who might be interested in an internship in her and Mr. Belcher's office on campus. Her work includes projects like creating a computer system that tracks applications to FGCU and writing job descriptions for the University's many positions.

Ms. Baurer, 51, is a single parent with two grown children.

"It took eight years to get my bachelor's degree raising children," she said. "I'm pretty proud of all the things I accomplished."

She also earned her master's degree at Barry University, while working at FGCU.

"You do what it takes to make ends meet," she said. "If I had to do it all over again I'd be smart enough to go to school before I had children, but I'd be in the same career path."

A Staten Island, N.Y., native, still carrying a trace of the accent to prove it, Ms. Baurer started as a temporary employee at FGCU in 1995 and became a staff member in the HR department six months later. She moved up the ranks, starting with an hourly wage of $7 and now making $67,000 per year. She usually works more than 40 hours per week at her primary job; often, the hours push 60 and 70.

But, she added, only half joking, "If we broke that down to an hourly wage we might not even make the minimum (wage)."

She's been teaching for three years.

"I'm a late bloomer, so I have a strong understanding of what the students are going through, trying to juggle everything, especially the older ones."

Her father is a retired police officer who also moonlighted as a taxi driver.

"That's kind of where I understand the term of 'moonlighting,'" she said.

Like others who have given up their time to take on extra work, Mr. Benson, Ms. Davis and Ms. Baurer feel the long hours will ultimately pay off.

"I like this job," Mr. Benson said cheerily one day last week, as he finished drilling holes in a thin metal beam, in his jeans and flannel shirt at Larsons. Later, before arriving at the country club, he would don a white chef's jacket. After a full night working the sauté station in the kitchen, sometimes until 10 p.m. or later, collapsing into bed is often foremost on his mind.