Steve was new to his community and although he had made himself quickly at home, he had many dreams and wishes for himself! This is a story about believing in yourself and chasing your dreams.
When Steve and his facilitator started their exploration one thing stood out. Steve might be in his fifties, but he wanted a job!
Steve was eager and didn’t let anyone stop him. He handed in resumes and would talk to anyone who he thought would be able to hire him. Unfortunately for Steve this was not successful and many people told him to just retire and stop looking for a job. Steve was pretty frustrated when he met with his facilitator.
With the support of his facilitator he didn’t stop. She connected him to a program through an employment agency. Steve was accepted and went to their program for 4 weeks, 5 days a week. His family was worried that it would be too much, but Steve wanted to give it a try and did he ever! During this program he learned how to write a resume, how to do a job interview and he collected some great certificates. He successfully finished the program and showed everyone that giving up is not an option and perhaps more importantly he was very proud of his accomplishment.
After this program the search continued, but Steve was more confident and didn’t let the disappointments stop him. In the meantime he worked with his facilitator on other community connections as well. He joined the bike club and was warmly welcomed there and he started working on his literacy skills. Steve joined a chess club and volunteered at Special Olympics and met many new people and made many new friends.
And then finally there it was; the job! Steve started working at Boston Pizza for 1 ½ hours a week, doing janitorial work. Soon the managers at Boston Pizza noticed that Steve also had an interest in doing the dishes and it didn’t take long before he was asked to do a dishwashing shift on a weekend, at one of their busiest times.
The facilitator and the job coach were a bit nervous, because this was a job with time pressure and more responsibilities, but Steve didn’t think twice and gladly accepted the opportunity.
And did he show everyone that not giving up and following your dreams is the right thing to do! Steve did an excellent job dishwashing and is now doing the dishes every weekend and picking up many other shifts throughout the week.
He sure proved everyone wrong! Steve is proud, confident and has grown immensely.
In the meantime, he also moved out of his family’s home and enjoys living in Stratford. He has made many new friends and the future is looking bright!