NYSA - Nanaimo Youth Service Association

[Foxglove]

I just have to say THANKS A MILLION! What a wonderful and fulfilling service this place is. I wouldn't have survived here without you guys. I don't even know where to start in my thanks. I can't recall the day I walked through their doors, but it was at least 3 months ago. I was jobless, disheartened and wondering if I would ever find work here or would I have to move back home to Ontario. (have to say that thought crossed my mind more than once and was depressing lol)

I got myself a Job coach, Colleen. She had been nothing but awesome to me on my first day and went above and beyond what I'm sure her job description was to help me. For weeks we pounded out resumes and cover letters, I had tons of interviews and still couldn't land a job. Then I finally got one, then a second and things looked great. Then all hell broke loose, I got laid off one, and the other was 10hrs week, I didn't get a job I was promised and things looked grim and money was tight. But we never gave up! We were kind of like a team, when I was down, she felt a loss, when I got a job, she felt the win. It was this awesome duo of getting Foxglove hired, haha.

Here are some of the things that NYSA and Colleen did for me. They gave me bus tickets to help me get around, one month they actually bought me a pass. I got a $50 gift card for Thrifty's. They enrolled me in both of my First Aid classes which then lead me to become a volunteer First Aider. We perfected my resume and cover letters. I went on a tour of VIU. I received non-stop emotional support, because as you can guess, there were days I went in for my appointments and I actually cried because of the stress and hopelessness of my job situation, it was just too much to bear some days. Every week she would keep asking if I got hired yet and I always had bad news and we were both disappointed but we just kept at it and always had that little glimmer of hope.

Last week I got to see her and she was like, please tell me you have good news this week. When I told her I was hired on for 2 new jobs, which includes one as a keyholder, her eyes lit up and she beamed. We were both so ecstatic and even one of the other girls that worked there was beaming too. It was like a win for everybody. It was good reassurance for them, and that their job and hard work was actually getting results, of course it was up to me too, lol. It was reassuring for them to know there are jobs out there, but it is very competitive to say the least and to know the hard work paid off. I told them every cover letter we did were the jobs I got interviews for, so it was nice for her to hear that they make a difference instead of a resume on its own.

That place is filled with caring and compassionate people. I'll probably make one last follow up appointment, but I have to say, I'm glad to not have to go there again, because it means I succeeded. But I'm sure I'll pop in now and then to visit because I was just blown away by their service. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel. I almost feel like this post isn't doing them justice. They are just that wonderful. I'm glad this city has services like that and I'm happy to have stumbled upon it. Thanks!

[All Ages Music Concerts]

What an awesome post Foxglove! I am sure they would love to read this post!

[riverrat]

Awesome.
Way to express gratitude!

[Foxglove]

They deserve an award or a million, lol. Everyone is so helpful and caring it's awesome. And they have so many youths that they help out and they just do so much! And they have such an awesome age bracket, they consider youths up to like 31 years old. Which I think is fantastic, because any youth services I ever ran across had a cut off of like 21 at the most. Which always left me SOL when I needed help or wanted to do something, haha.