‘Dirty Jobs’ host Mike Rowe gives boost to Sellersburg-based painting company

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – A small southern Indiana family business is getting some big time celebrity help.

Chambers Painting in Sellersburg was having problems hiring people in a tight labor market. However, a chance encounter may have changed that.

“I heard him talking so I turned around,” Mike Chambers said. “I said, ‘That’s Mike Rowe.’”

Chambers Painting owner Mike Chambers was waiting for a flight in Sarasota, Florida on Tuesday when he ran into Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs.”

Rowe is a big supporter of workers in the trade professions.

Chambers made a call to his son to tell him about the celebrity sighting.

“He hollered at me when he was at the airport and told me that Mike Rowe was there,” Kevin Michael Chambers, Mike’s son and company vice president said. “And I was like, ‘Man, you’ve got to talk to him. You’ve got to tell him your story because this is the type of story that Mike Rowe loves.’”

The advice was correct. When Chambers told Rowe about his problems in the labor market, Rowe took note and wrote about their conversation on Facebook.

Chambers told Rowe that more apprenticeship programs are needed to encourage young workers to seek careers in trade professions.

“We definitely need some kind of program to get people in, federally funded or whatever, to get everyone to do apprenticeship programs for all these trades,” Chambers said on Wednesday. “Back in ‘09 when the economy crashed, you know what? We kept working. We stayed busy. No one missed. So that goes to show you how good trades keep you full-time jobs.”

It was a message that resonated with many of Rowe’s nearly 6 million Facebook followers. And in less than 24 hours, the post was shared 25 thousand times.

Chambers said his company received 40 to 50 calls Wednesday morning.

He is confident he will be able to fill the 20 to 30 openings he has, thanks to one chance conversation.

“It was very good,” Chambers said. “Honestly, it’s like at the right place at the right time. It’s my Christmas gift of the year.”