The sun is shining and the closed sign is turned to open.
The day starts off with a Teams call and a brew with the other hubs, sharing ideas and stories — a motivational start to the day.
Jo is off out in the sunshine to ‘meet the street’. She chats to a young guy on his doorstep; an hour later he’s on our doorstep ready to sign up.
Serena is on hand to support Cynthia, who is giving free hand or foot massages to participants — a great way to build her client base and an opportunity for us to reconnect with participants.
One participant in particular, who had previously disengaged, has been looking forward to her weekly massages and has now signed up to our gardening club.
Bev has been busy on Teams calls, getting plans moving: we’ve got the Language Line up and running, and registered the Online Digital College with a plethora of courses available free of charge to participants. All we need to do now is get participants signed up!
We had some good news on the job front: one of our participants has gained employment at the Home Office. She has spent the last year cleaning at the Philharmonic — her ‘now’ job — while she applied for her ‘dream’ job. The employer is happy to see her progress and contacted us straight away with the vacancy. I was never good at maths at school, but this calculation I understand: Participant + JP + Employer = Success!
The workies in the backyard preparing the space for our garden project have been busy making it look great. We’ve kept them topped up with brews! They’ve even offered to come in and talk to any participants interested in that line of work — no interaction is ever wasted!
Serena went through some mock interview practice with one of her young people who has an interview later on this month. We know the importance of making sure our participants are prepared.
Jo has been on the phone to her caseload and has already lined up a candidate for the Philharmonic job.
Bev was back on Teams booking in Groundwork to start the garden project next month. Once the dates were confirmed, Adam got the flyer together and the team are ready to get our ‘garden crew’ together.
We managed a quick team meeting to have a run‑through of all our exciting plans.
A participant popped in with some delicious home‑baked goods to thank us for helping her with her driving course.
Jo gets a text from her earlier sign‑up to say, “You all made my day.”
We had a walk‑in from an existing participant asking for some help with promoting his business; we’ve made him an appointment for next week.
Last job of the day was getting leaflets, cups, and tablecloths together ready for Jo to take to an event at the Jobcentre tomorrow.
AND if that’s not enough — Serena built a filing cabinet today!
Just a normal Thursday in the hub, and we’re ready to do it all over again tomorrow. So proud of the team and the things they make happen on a daily basis.
