Jobs Jobs Jobs

Everywhere I turn, there's something talking about money or the state of the economy.  Money and jobs are great attention-getters.  And that's what the goal of this blog and other Harvest House publications are- to get attention and spread information.  So, this post is a bit about money and jobs.

The New Hope Education Center was designed to help improve lives of those living in East Side Buffalo, as well as Buffalo in general.  I think we can all agree that money is a necessity, for better or worse, to live a healthy lifestyle.  In designing the center, classes were selected with great job outlooks for the next decade:  things like, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Personal Care Aide (PCA), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), etc.  The US government has researched these jobs and thinks that they have good outlooks for the forseeable future.  That's why I was happy to see that the government's promise on job security seems to be true.

I conduct a lot of conversations with students 3 months after they have completed a course.  I check-up to see if they've achieved their goals, what has stood in their way, and what we can do to improve what Harvest House offers.  One student responded, saying he will be working as an LPN team leader; he is going to ECC in the fall to begin their Registered Nursing program.  He continued by praising our LPN instructor, saying he felt very comfortable at his job doing things that the other LPNs had not even seen yet.  His response was a tremendous gift and encouragement to keep doing what we're doing here.

What other jobs or programs do you see working well and leading to jobs?  Are they all in the medical field?  Let me know- we are working on expanding, and we would love to bring in more great, effective programs!

Holistic Medicine

GOOD NEWS!

Life Uniform recently donated 163 tops and 92 bottoms to the New Hope Education Center of Harvest House.  Many of New Hope's LPN students already work in the medical field as a CNA, and are required to wear scrubs.  Scrubs can be a financial burden for someone accepting a new job, or a new student.  This donation has allowed us to give scrubs at no charge to current and future students!  We are grateful for this donation from Life Uniform. 

(We sorted the scrubs according to size to create our impromptu "store" for current students.  On the left, our LPN instructor, Laura Bailey shows off some of the donated items.)


This donation was unsolicited (as far as I know).  I simply picked up the phone to someone asking me "would you like some free scrubs?"  Life is nice when it is so easy to give and receive gifts.

However, my time at Harvest House has shown me that it is not that easy to solve someone's problems.  An education can be a very powerful tool that can make life easier.  Last month, I was overjoyed to hear that a recent graduate of New Hope's LPN program was graduating with a full-time job.  This single mother had worked hard; I was happy to see a quick reward for her year in the LPN program.  When I called to see how her job was going, she replied, "Oh, I didn't take that job."  I was shocked.

I asked why she didn't take the job.  She responded that family issues needed to be addressed before she could accept any job.  She seemed to be taking it all in stride while I was almost angry that she was now without a nursing job.  Why didn't she simply get someone else to look after her ill uncle while she began this great new job!?  Why didn't she do things differently!?  Why was she so calm during this whole situation!?

I realized that it's because she is living her life, not mine.  It seemed like her family came first and she was willing to sacrifice a job in order to be present for her family.  Although I may not agree, she made this decision. 

I can offer opportunities and options.  Harvest House surely offers many opportunities and tools to help make life easier: clothing and large items at the Baby and Children's Ministry, medical care at Good Neighbors Health Care, education and legal advice at New Hope Education Center, and spiritual time at the Retreat and Spirituality Center.  However, not one of these things will bring a person peace.  It can help lead them to it; but, a person, as well as his or her problems, have many facets.  I love that Harvest House strives to treat a person as a whole.  Even so, I know that I am not in control of anyone who walks through our doors.  I can only treat them with love and kindness.