HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – In an effort to help Huntsville service workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, a new program is offering them temporary employment.

Downtown Huntsville, Inc partnered with Downtown Huntsville Charitable Fund and Land Trust of North Alabama to create a program that will assist unemployed and furloughed workers in the Downtown Huntsville Core and Downtown Huntsville Districts.

Under the program, The Land Trust will hire recently unemployed workers to remove invasive Japanese Honeysuckle plants from trails on Monte Sano Nature Preserve. The job will pay $10 an hour for up to 40 hours a week.

To be eligible, the person must be able to prove that they were a downtown Huntsville food, beverage, or retail industry employee who, effective April 1, 2020, was laid off due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“In times of crisis, it is heartening to see the many ways our community has come together to help each other,” Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said in a news release. “This creative opportunity to provide jobs and wages for our displaced downtown workers and to help one of our treasured assets is the kind of compassionate creativity that will help Huntsville get through this pandemic stronger than ever before.”

Anyone interested can email The Land Trust at jobs@landtrustnal.org by 5 p.m. on April 15.