Summer is the busy season at Carter Caves State Resort Park. Taking care of the guests that pour in to enjoy the resort is a full-time endeavor, and some projects get put on the back burner.

This summer, however, posts and structures have a fresh clean coat of color, weeds are pulled, flower beds are planted and the park’s campground is scrupulously clean.

“We’re not used to getting this much painting. We looked around and we’re like, ‘Whoa, we’ve spent our paint budget,’” said Adam Collings, park manager.

The difference, this year, is that the park had help from more than 20 additional employees in the form of participants through Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program’s (EKCEP) Let’s Go 2 Work.

Because Let’s Go 2 Work pays the salaries of the 16 to 24-year-old it has been placing with businesses and agencies in 23 eastern Kentucky counties, places like Carter Caves have been able to do extra projects and supplement their services this summer.

In all EKCEP expects to employ 3,000 young workers this summer and pay their salaries using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, which will have a total economic impact of $6 million. In Carter, Elliot and Lawrence Counties, EKCEP has partnered with Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency (NKCAA) to provide Let’s Go 2 Work services, and expects to employ 305 people in the tri-county area by the end of the summer.

Let’s Go 2 Work has provided Carter Caves with a special team of young people to paint, landscape and otherwise make improvements to the park’s campground areas.

“My campground looks brand new,” Collings said.

Let’s Go 2 Work participants have also been working in the park’s kitchen, maintenance area, housekeeping department, front desk and gift shop. Collings said that with the additional help the park is keeping up with the large workload for summer tasks better.

Collings said the young people are also getting many compliments from the guests.

“They’re dealing really well with the public, especially considering their age,” Collings said.

Some of the young people Let’s Go 2 Work placed at Carter Caves said they enjoyed the chance to work there this summer.

“I needed a job really badly,” said Jacob Lawhorn of Olive Hill, but it was difficult to find something that was only for the summer. He said he’s glad he found out about Let’s Go 2 Work from friends.

“It’s been pretty fun,” he said. “It’s a really good program for people to get into.”

Leah Sweeney of Olive Hill said she needed a summer job to save money for her cheerleading and gymnastics fees and equipment. Working in the summer heat is tough, she said, but “it’s pretty fun.”

Both Jacob and Leah are part of the campground beautification team, which is led by Let’s Go 2 Work supervisor Cymilee Tackett.

“We’ve noticed that all of our hard work is making the park look a lot better,” Tackett said.

Collings said that in addition to the benefits the extra labor brings the park, he chose to participate because he believes the program gives young people a chance to prove that they can work and do a good job. For many of the Let’s Go 2 Work participants it is their first job.

“This is the future of this area, if you don’t give them a chance you’re losing some valuable people,” he said.

Collings has already hired one Let’s Go 2 Work worker as a seasonal kitchen worker after his six week Let’s Go 2 Work placement ended.

“It’s a way to get your foot in the door here,” he said.

Brenda Shumate, summer employment coordinator for NCAA, said the partnership with the park has been a good one.

The park is a good worksite for Let’s Go 2 Work, because it provides a number of different areas for young people with different interests to work. It’s also a good worksite for young people with less reliable transportation, she said.

Shumate said that through their Let’s Go 2 Work experience the young people not only earn a paycheck, but they also get mentoring, and public interaction and at the end of their six weeks “they know what it’s like to say that this was a job well done.”

For more information, visit the Web site at letsgo2work.org.