You may remember from our May Good News a wonderful lady called Anna, who had started her training with Nurse Plus. We had the absolute pleasure of seeing her today to share her wonderful news that she has passed her training scoring 100% and is about to start full employment as a Healthcare Assistant! Anna said “With my background in Poland as a physiotherapist, I knew I had the experience necessary of caring for patients but it’s so amazing now to have my qualifications. It’s a huge tick box and has opened so many doors for me. I can’t wait to get started now! I just wanted to come back here to see everyone because I feel like I am home, like I am with my family.” Congratulations Anna, you are always welcome to pop in!
Normski has been involved in our Freedom Kitchen team for the past few months and provided wonderful team work and skills assisting our chef Shaun and has managed the kitchen very successfully when Shaun was on leave. He has recently undertaken a week of training courses to improve his employability and has since applied for five jobs in the past week! He was given a values card by Shaun showing how incredibly proud he was of his achievement, saying “Norm you’re a star. I was so happy to walk into my kitchen after training and found it in a lovely way. There was a lot of good feedback on today’s service. Thankyou Norm”. Says it all really!
Hoorieh has finally successfully achieved her first home of her own since moving to the UK! After volunteering with us since November and getting her leave to remain, she was living in a hostel and became homeless and sofa-surfed with family since February. After being listed in June, she was able to secure a property and we are continuing to support her in improving English and her understanding around bills and payments. We are ensuring she is equipped with the skills to be secure in her home live independently. The ability to have her own secure housing is a huge step for Hoorieh, something we believe everyone should have a right to and we hope this will have a huge impact on her wellbeing.
You might remember Borris as we shared his life story not too long ago. Well…we are absolutely delighted to announce Borris has now got his Indefinite Leave to Remain status! As an asylum seeker, this means he is now free to take up residency in the UK, with no formal time restrictions on his time here. Borris said “I am totally over the moon. Now, this means i can bring my young daughter over to be with me and hopefully start my training to begin working once I’m settled. I would really like to become a nurse”.Mustard Tree will be here as long as needed to support Borris into this next phase of his journey since fleeing such hardship and we couldn’t be more pleased for him. Read his amazing story here http://www.mustardtree.org.uk/2018/06/borriss-story/
Lee T passed his SIA test and is now waiting for his SIA badge to become fully licensed Security Personnel at events! Lukasz has passed his PAT testing certificate with the amazing help of Peter Tomcik, our PAT testing and electronics specialist. This means now both men have the skills and qualifications to help them in finding further opportunities
Our Salford branches have been working hard this month developing new partnerships so we can offer more placements for people on our Freedom Project. Two new starters from Resources NE will start in two weeks. We also want to welcome Viv, on a placement from Manchester Growth Company. Viv will be gaining administration and customer service skills and experience on our Helpdesk and has already had brilliant feedback from Derren, their Placement Officer “I’m so impressed with how Viv has blossomed in such a short time!! We’ve never had anything but amazing feedback from the candidates we’ve sent over to you so a massive well done for an outstanding program”.
This month we had a brilliant digital storytelling showcase celebrating the work of our volunteers who bravely shared their fantastic experiences and artwork using digital apps. Stretch charity have been working with us on this project and as it is sadly ending for now, we want to thank Simon for his never-ending positivity and dedication. He has provided so many with amazing opportunities to have their voices heard and learn digital skills. Thankyou to our Freedom volunteers for giving us a brilliant afternoon.