Empowering People with Disabilities

Sam

Sam worked with us for a number of years doing shifts with us washing dishes, helping where she could but her heart longed for more. She wanted to cook, to make coffee, to serve customers.

Brody

Brodie volunteers with us doing dishes, helping in the kitchen. He longs to make coffee and to serve customers and to get a job.

Wendy

Every week Wendy would voluntarily come in to water plants, polish windows, and every week her heart longed to make coffee and serve customers.

Luci

Luci has worked with us for nearly a decade. Stocking bars, cleaning the balls in Kids Paradise and helping out in the café during school holidays. But Luci longs to be a front of house worker serving guests in the café.

Each one of these young people do not have equity to the workforce. Everyone one of them wants to work, to learn, to have a sense of purpose and accomplishment. Each one of them want opportunity.

They don’t have equity to employment like I do because of how our culture thinks about difference.

We are all different.

I get annoyed when government bodies come and assess our staff with disabilities. I hate the categorising, the labelling, the evaluations, the insinuation that they somehow cost more. I wish I could get assessments and funding for all the “disabilities’’ all of us others bring to the workplace. Those gaps where we never fulfill our job descriptions, the moment we cost a not-for-profit income because we made a mistake and refuse to learn from it. Every person has an upside and a cost side to a business. We all come with difference.
Judes is operated by Tailrace Community Church and in church circles we talk about being pro-life. Being pro-life for us is living “pro-Sammy”, “pro-Wendy,” “pro Luci,” “pro Brodie”. Advocating for their growth and learning. Pushing them to be the best version of who they can be.

This year because of your partnership, loyalty, and social buying we have been able to see their dreams released and flourish in new ways.

Lucy has completed her two term of hospitality training course.
Sam and Brodie have completed their third year of hospitality training.
Wendy has just entered her third year of hospitality training.
As a result, Sam, Lucy, and Wendy are now making coffee, serving guests in the cafe. Sam is making biscuits and selling them. Brodie, and Wendy have each worked a function.
The hospitality program is run by NOSS every Monday afternoon. Some of our best past front of house workers are now employed by NOSS and help facilitate this program. The combined mentoring and coaching provided by NOSS and Tailrace is seeing these young people realise their dreams.
3 of them are now being paid for shifts which include their dream jobs.
Our goal is that by the end of this year we will be able to provide Brodie with employment or find him a job somewhere else. This is his dream.
This simply wouldn’t be possible without your ongoing support.
Anything is possible when we all come together