With the 131^st anniversary of the U.S. Labor Day  (also known as “The Working Man’s Holiday”) approaching, and as many American workers are often pressed to do more with less, more and more U.S. and international companies are turning to the strategic initiative of Marketplace Chaplains to help alleviate some of the pressures their employees face today.

The country’s largest and original workplace chaplaincy organization has seen a large rise in companies turning to trained workplace chaplains to help with their employee’s needs, hurts, hopes, and everyday life.

Marketplace Chaplains works with dozens of different types of businesses in the U.S. and around the world, including blue collar facilities which have seen their personal needs met by the unique efforts of Marketplace Chaplains. “They have helped us bear a lot of burdens,” said Jay Godwin, Executive Vice President of FSI office in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We’ve had some deaths, funerals and hospital visitations and they have helped lighten the load.”

“With a growing business like ours and the amount of laborers we have, we consider Marketplace Chaplains a true business partner to help our team,” added Jeff Terry, Partner of Peachtree Tents & Events in Atlanta, Georgia.

Labor Day was founded in the U.S. by New York’s Central Labor Union as a way to honor the working men in the factories nationwide. “All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts or battles or man’s prowess …. Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race or nation,” said Samuel Gompers, an early labor union founder and longtime president of the American Federation of Labor.

While the dozens of workers at the Sturdisteel factory in Waco, Texas, are not fighting any battles or armed conflicts, their workload especially during the busy summer months, is full and challenging, which is why they have been a client of Marketplace Chaplains for more than a decade.

“Our people appreciate the chaplains a lot and what they have been able to do,” said Sturdisteel President, Johnny Bledsoe, whose company is one of the leading manufacturers of metal bleachers primarily used during the fall football season. “We have a hard working workforce, but it is a lot of blue collar work in the warehouse where it can get hot and the work can be hard,” continued Bledsoe.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 2013 Labor Day statement, working men and women today still struggle and have definite needs. Their needs can be met with the help of workplace chaplains.

As stated in the Bishop’s Report, half of today’s jobs in the country pay less than $27,000 a year, with over 46 million people living in poverty, including 16 million children. Department of Labor statistics show that 4 million people have been jobless for more than 6 months and many more have given up looking.

Marketplace Chaplains serves in 44 states, and 4 other countries, in 996 domestic cities, and in 3,132 locations, caring for the needs of over 550,000 employees and their family members and Godwin has found that especially helpful with his labor force. “We’ve had a lot of hard problems, and the Marketplace Chaplains have been right there helping our employees and their families,” he said.

Marketplace Chaplains provide more than two dozen different kinds of employee care services and chaplain activities including hospital visitations, on-site worksite discussions, funeral support and more.

“While Labor Day means a lot of different things to different people, I’m so very thankful that these insightful CEOs have chosen to honor and help the laboring men and women in their companies with the use of workplace chaplains,” said Marketplace Chaplains’ President and COO, Richard S. De Witt.