Emily
The new Client Success Board highlights and
celebrates our clients' employment success!
Being a single parent is a challenge under the best of circumstances. Without an income, it can feel impossible. Last year, Emily was laid off from her job and unable to find another one. One month and then two went by and then Emily lost her apartment. She found a shelter to stay in but was unable to keep her 13-year-old son with her. This was the first time the two of them had ever been separated.
Emily was highly motivated to find a job and she immediately sought support in finding employment. She found St. Joseph the Worker, who helped her create a résumé and locate job leads. St. Joseph the Worker also provided her with bus tickets to put in applications and within a month she found work. Unfortunately, it was a commission-only telemarketing position, which she found stressful and challenging to make any money. She tried her best, but decided to quit after she received her first paycheck, which was very small.
Emily decided to focus on more sustainable work. She worked with job developers at St. Joseph the Worker to revise her résumé and map out a budget so she would know what kinds of jobs could sustain her small family. Within another month, Emily was hired at a local fast food restaurant and began to receive a regular paycheck. St. Joseph the Worker provided Emily with clothing for work, bus passes to get to work, hygiene items, and a referral for a bike. Soon Emily was promoted due to her excellent work performance and her savings was enough to move into an apartment. Just 6 months after first becoming homeless, Emily and her son were happily reunited. Today Emily remains employed and she continues to save for the future, which is looking brighter every day.
José
José spending time with his daughter at
a St. Joseph the Worker holiday event.
After dropping out of school and having his first child at a young age, José held several minimum wage, short-term jobs, making just enough to rent a small apartment with his girlfriend. Meanwhile, his intermittent drug use descended into a vicious methamphetamine addiction. In 2007, the balance fractured. José was convicted of two felonies involving drugs, theft and was sentenced to significant county jail time. While incarcerated, José attended a substance abuse recovery program which allowed him to take a clean, sober look at his future with a new set of priorities in mind.
When he was released, José and his family entered an emergency family shelter. José felt the freedom of being outside bars, the enormous pressure of probation requirements and the shelter’s limited time frame to find a job that would get him on his feet. It is at this emergency family shelter that José made contact with St. Joseph the Worker through “A Working Partnership” and registered for assistance in his job search. During his intake interview José told St. Joseph the Worker his story, his mistakes and what he learned from them. In a bright, yet apprehensive manner, he laid out his goals with family first among them. José’s earnest dedication, sincere desire and gentle personality shone through immediately.
José very quickly found a job with a fast food chain opening new stores across the Valley. St. Joseph the Worker provided assistance with transportation, several gift cards so José could purchase articles of clothing for his uniform and a check to pay for his Food Handler's Card. José studied well and passed his Food Handlers test on the first try! He did equally well on the job and continues to impress his supervisors, who singled him out as “King of the Sandwich Line” to staff the restaurant's busiest hours. In fact, José was recently promoted to Shift Manager, bringing new responsibilities and better pay.
Neither the job nor the long bus commute is easy, but José takes great pride in being a reliable employee and a devoted father. (He amusedly recounted the challenges of handling his seven year old daughter's burgeoning sense of style as they went shopping for school clothes!) Aware of the potential pitfalls that could come from taking on too much at once, José and his girlfriend, Julia, entered a two-year transitional housing program after leaving the emergency shelter, where they will maintain some ties to structure and support.
José’s girlfriend, Julia, is also a client of St. Joseph the Worker and working full-time as well. However, with José's recent promotion and increase in pay, Julia is now able to return to school in a program for medical billing and coding. Their two children are ages two and seven. Their daughter is the top reader in her first grade class.
Names have been changed in the following stories to protect client confidentiality
Vince
Vince came to Phoenix in April of 2007. He got off the Greyhound bus, homeless and with very little money and no knowledge of the Phoenix area. Vince learned about St. Joseph the Worker through Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), one of our partners on the Human Services Campus.
Vince was honored at the 2008 Open House
During his first few visits to our office, Vince was very frustrated with his situation. Due to the extreme stress and anxiety Vince was experiencing as he worked to secure daily needs and make future plans, he had difficulty accepting feedback from staff without getting upset. However, with some patience and guidance from St. Joseph the Worker staff, Vince was able to relax and focus on his job search, ultimately learning new communication skills and ways to act professionally in an office environment.
Vince wanted to work as soon as possible. After going out on many interviews, he received a phone call from Pepsi offering a job. However, after working the night shift for a few weeks, issues regarding transportation and shelter became apparent because it was hard for Vince to get back to CASS at 3am. Vince knew he needed to find a full-time job where he could utilize public transportation. He kept coming to St. Joseph the Worker everyday until he was able to find a full-time job with Amazon.com. Although this job ended unexpectedly, Vince was able to use the job searching skills he had been taught through St. Joseph the Worker to find another job within one week. During this time, St. Joseph the Worker also provided Vince with bus passes and clothing to aid him in his job search.
According to Vince, “There were a lot of times I just wanted to give up. I was able to obtain my own apartment in September. And here it is April again. I still have my own place and a full-time, permanent job.”
Margaret
Recently, St. Joseph the Worker had the pleasure of assisting Margaret. Before the summer of 2006, Margaret had never experienced homelessness. She worked for 9 years as a phlebotomist and had always been able to maintain a steady income and stable residence. When the nursing home she worked for suddenly closed, she was not able to find another job quickly enough to pay rent. Not knowing what else to do, Margaret moved into a motel, which quickly drained her resources.
Margaret came to the HumanServices Campus for help and was overwhelmed when she saw so many homeless people and realized she was one of them. When she came into St. Joseph the Worker's office, she filled out an application and met with a job developer. Margaret would need lots of encouragement and basic resources. St. Joseph the Worker gave Margaret computer access to search job postings, a voicemail for potential employers to contact her, and transportation to complete applications and attend interviews. With the help of St. Joseph the Worker job developers, Margaret found employment as a bus driver. It was a change from the medical field, but Margaret found she truly enjoyed the work.
Margaret has been working for over six months and St. Joseph the Worker assisted her with a few move-in costs so that she could live in an apartment. Since then, she has been able to save up enough to purchase a car and put a down payment on her own home! Margaret is an active participant in the Client Follow-Up Program and enjoys meeting other clients for support, while learning about goal-setting and budgeting.
Margaret gave St. Joseph the Worker much more than we gave her. She shared her wisdom, love and joy with us freely. She evens stops in to the office sometimes to share a treat with the staff and clients of St. Joseph the Worker. To Margaret, nothing happens without a reason. "This has all been a blessing in disguise," Margaret says of her hardships last summer.
Joe
When Joe was 22 years old, he was convicted of felony counterfeiting and sentenced to federal prison. He spent 22 years and 7 months (more than half of his life) in "super-max" detention; allowed out of his cell only 1 hour per day. When Joe was released from prison in the winter of 2006, he made his way to Arizona, found the emergency shelter and was referred to St. Joseph the Worker.
Joe's interaction with St. Joseph the Worker began as some do: frustrating and depressing. Joe struggled through an intake interview full of challenging questions: education? – no high school diploma; work history? – Joe never held a legal job; references? – after his felony conviction, Joe lost family and peer ties. The only people he knew were his public defender and his parole officer. The world had changed dramatically in the past 22 years, as had job searching. Joe was under extreme stress and anxiety.
One day he broke down, reporting that he felt like giving up. He was considering committing a crime so he could go back to jail where he knew how to survive. The staff of St. Joseph the Worker offered support and compassion through Joe's struggle. After a few more visits with Job Developers and completing the St. Joseph the Worker Job/Life Skills class, Joe was equipped with interview clothing, transportation, a resume with a telephone number and mailing address, that boasted attributes such as: organized, punctual, hard-working - with welding experience (something he learned as a boy).
Eight days after coming to St. Joseph the Worker, Joe landed a job with a major construction company in town. His outlook changed 180 degrees. He now had hope and a new course to pursue. Joe will continue to receive follow-up services from St. Joseph the Worker including a monthly bus pass, work essentials and hopefully soon, deposit assistance for his own apartment. Joe will also participate in "peer-support" networking events where he will meet others that have come through similar experiences and are working on maintaining a positive, independent life style.
Names have been changed in the some stories to protect client confidentiality
