Education/training
O.A.Y.E.C. - Hiring made easyPressman enjoys future prospectsReiniere Maghirang arrived in Canada in 1996. In two short years, he was homeless, living in shelters and working in clubs. NICK CANDIOTTO |
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 [ 2003-10-29 ] |
"I was kicked out of my Dad's house at 19," Maghirang recalls. "I had nowhere to live."
Enter Eva's Phoenix -- a transitional housing facility that offers a range of employment programs.
"The first thing we needed to take care of was getting Reiniere safe housing," said Andrew Macdonald, social enterprise co-ordinator. "Once he had the basics in place, we were able to concentrate on finding employment."
What Reiniere wanted to do was never in doubt. His mother ran a printing shop in the Philippines -- and Reiniere wanted to follow in her footsteps.
"Printing was his goal," Macdonald said. "The Phoenix Print Shop program was just beginning -- it was a great match."
A hybrid of social service and revenue generation, The Phoenix Print Shop is a small commercial print shop that helps offset some of the costs of the program.
In addition to providing Reiniere with some soft skills and offering a glimpse of the day-to-day routine of a printman, the shop was a springboard to permanent employment.
"One thing we promote is getting out for tours of other shops," Macdonald said. "On one of the tours, he made a connection with someone who was hiring."
That someone was Jeffrey Bush, owner of A-Press Productions in Toronto.
"When I first met Reiniere, he was asking for printing shop information and seemed very sincere," Bush recalls. "I like to hire people who can learn from scratch, so I gave him a chance."
Starting as general help, Reiniere's enthusiasm has led to numerous raises and promotion to a junior pressman.
"Reiniere is a very hard worker and a fast learner," Bush says. "I want to train him to become a press operator because he really wants to do it -- and I think he'd be very good at it."
Reiniere's hard work extends beyong A-Press. He now lives in his own two-bedroom apartment with his younger brother and embraces his role as a peer mentor at Eva's --sharing his experience with current participants.
To identify your neighbourhood youth employment centre for hiring made easy at no cost to you, visit www.oayec.org/yejd_locations.html.
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