A new job!

This morning we had a marathon of meetings and I was set for a horribly long day.  There are often times when you wake up and wonder why you would want to walk outside on a cold day like this.  Yesterday, we broke ground on the Genesis project and my back was killing me.  Needless to say, I was not looking forward to the day ahead.  At 8:45, there was a soft know at my door and there was someone who made it all worthwhile. 
Two weeks ago, we hired a young man who is homeless and struggling to find a job.  He had been working by raking leaves on a daily basis for about 20 dollars a day.  We met during my Month on the Street and I spoke with him at length during a couple of long nights.  So, we decided to give him a shot.  There was not a lot that we could do, but the amazing thing is that he did not want much nor did he need it to be off an running.
We gave him a Starbuck's card and a mission and he took to it immediately.  I am not one to have a personal assistant, but this man (not a kid at 18), contacted me daily asking what he could do.  I would tell him that there really was not a lot that we had for him to do.  I told him that we would really need someone to help out with running errands.  I asked him to show up at 9 a.m. on Friday and over the course of the week told him to do something here and there, offered him a chance to use my computer to apply for other jobs.  I loaded and tracked his Starbucks card.  He used it to buy coffee to keep him going and for one other thing.

He showed up at my door this morning 15 minutes early with a double tall soy, raspberry, no whip, mocha and a stack of flyers that I had asked him to make earlier in the week.  I am going to go ahead and say it, Employee of the Month.

We took the train into Little Five Points and sat for a while talking about what we are going to do with the day.  Not a great deal was on the table, passing out flyers and talking to people and we would pay him $10 per hour for about 4 hours of work.

The great thing is that while I was working at this particular Starbucks, a manager was talking to me about the interview I had done some weeks ago and she said that she would hire someone homeless if she could find the right person.  It was then I said, "Have I got a guy for you..." 

We shall see.