Can water company help jobs flow into Lake County?

The line wrapped around Jenkins Auditorium throughout Thursday morning with hundreds of eager job seekers hoping to get a shot at one of 40 new positions with Niagara Bottling Company. 

Premdat Budhram was one of the first in line around 7 a.m. 

He's a father of two and has been out of work for a year.

“I've got a mortgage to pay and I've got to get a job," Budhram said. "I filled out a lot of applications around Lake County. No one ever calls me. I hope this company calls me for a job.” 

Sheron Wilson has been out of work for two years, and she’s struggling to get by.

“I'm a mother of seven kids," Wilson said. "I have 24 grandkids and three great grandkids. So I do odd and end jobs to help out with my grandkids.”

With an unemployment rate of 11.9 percent in Lake County, several job seekers said as soon as they left the auditorium, they were going to put in other applications around town.

One person even left a resume and a handwritten note on our News 13 vehicle parked a block away.

It said she is leaving resumes anywhere she can because she's so desperate to find work. 

“We're amazed," said Jeremy Derk, Niagara Bottling's production manager. "We thought we would have a few hundred people show up. Over the calls the last few days, we realized ‘wow we're going to have a lot more than we first anticipated.’” 

Niagara Bottling Company printed up 1,000 applications.  Based on the morning turnout, they went back to print more.
 
Up until recently, the city of Groveland was fighting to keep the company from expanding and pumping more water out of the ground.
 
It's a legal fight dismissed by those eager to get back to work. 
 
“It don't matter to me as long as they give me a job,” said Bobby Delgado.

“It's a job opportunity and they don't come very often nowadays so it means a lot,” said Jim Pierdominici.

Niagara is holding second round interviews for qualified candidates on Friday.
 
They said they're looking to fill the positions as soon as possible. Some people could start working as soon as next week.