Fifth Annual Biggs Award

Tasha Daurie receives the fifth annual Biggs Award from Flowercart

By Lisa Hammett Vaughan, Coordinator, Flowercart’s Community Employment Services Program

I met our 2008 Biggs Award winner, Tasha Daurie in August of 2005. She had come to Partners in Employment Outreach for assistance to find a job. Her pleasant personality is one of the first things we noticed about her. She was always up-beat and cheery. She wasn’t sure what type of work would be best for her. In one meeting with Jennine Wilson, Tasha did an exploration of her work values. Her highest values were:

Purpose – helping other people
Friendship – making friends with co-workers
Recognition – being recognized for your work
Achievement – feeling like you got a lot done
Fast Pace – working in a busy work environment

We hired Tasha to work for us at Michelin in September – where we first learned what a determined person she is. The work at Michelin is hard physical labour and Tasha was the only female on our crew there at the time. She had blisters on her hands and aching sore muscles in her arms. Still, she persevered in spite of the pain, for several weeks. We finally convinced her that it was okay for her not to keep working at a job that wasn’t right for her.

The team from Partners in Employment Outreach worked with Tasha throughout the next year. She attended numerous interviews and secured several jobs – working at a store, doing different kinds of harvest labour, making boxes, and doing child care. When these jobs did not turn into full-time employment for Tasha, she became slightly more discouraged each time. Still, Tasha stuck with us and accepted the help we could give her with job searching.  Many people might have given up at this point, walking away with a lower opinion of themselves and of the working world.  Tasha didn't.

In October 2006 Tasha was referred to our Transition-to-Work project. Right away she began to learn new things. She worked on her typing skills, got an email account and learned to do emails. Her first Work Experience Placement was a 5-day per week job at the Wolfville Nursing Home in the recreation program. Every day there was something new for Tasha to learn. Who would have thought that one of the first things she would have to learn there was to play dominoes!! She was learning people’s names and how to deal with and care for people. She was learning work routines and paperwork. She was learning how hard it is to work (how much energy you need) and learning more about herself as a worker and community citizen. 

Tasha was also learning new skills at Transition-to-Work during her time in workshops and project activities. She was practicing to improve her reading, and studying to get her full drivers license. She was learning to do searching on the internet job bank. Tasha found herself very tired at the end of each work day, but she was determined to keep going. She knew that she was changing and she was willing to keep on. Then unexpectedly her placement at Wolfville Nursing Home had to be paused because of a bad virus that was making its rounds. Sheila Dick, our Transition-to-Work Employment Counsellor, set up another placement for Tasha, at Wolfville Animal Hospital.

Tasha was enthusiastic about her work at the Animal Hospital, and she learned the tasks well. Her natural love of animals, and the practical experience she had had in her life, rescuing and caring for cats, could be put to use at this placement. As part of Tasha’s reading practice, Sheila took her to the library, where Tasha said she had never been before. They got her a library card and Tasha borrowed books about cats, so she could learn more about them and apply what she was learning to the job she was doing at the Animal Hospital. It was clear that this position was a good fit for Tasha – The staff was very supportive of her and gave her new responsibilities. Tasha enjoyed the people she worked with and was confident about what she could contribute to the work team.

Before too long Tasha was doing regular morning shifts at the Animal Hospital and had taken on supervising 2 volunteers. But since there was no paid job for her at the Animal Hospital, the search continued for a Work Experience Placement that would lead to a regular job. Other work placements were established for her – one in retail, and then 2 more in retail situations that were related to animals.

By the new year Tasha had completed a defensive driving course and had achieved getting her drivers license. Sheila praised Tasha for demonstrating great flexibility at her Work Experience Placements and for her dedication to the goals of her plan. She was working hard at everything she had set her mind to accomplish: Reading, driving, learning new work skills, taking risks and trying new things. Tasha was really reaping the benefits from experiencing different work placements as well.  She learned so many valuable lessons and learned so much about herself as a person (her likes and dislikes, values, work skills, personal qualities, and so on).  The idea of, and the reality of, going through six different work experience placements can be daunting for some of our clients; Tasha showed a lot of resilience and determination in finding her perfect match. Other people might have given up after 2 or 3 placements or jobs not working out for various reasons.  Tasha didn't ever give up.  No matter what happened at the placement or job, she was always thinking ahead to what she could do next, how she could change to make it work better and how she could succeed.

In February, Tasha told Sheila that one of the reasons she found reading hard was because the words seemed blurry to her. Sheila assisted and encouraged Tasha to get her eyes tested, and eventually to get glasses. Once she got her glasses, Tasha’s reading, AND her driving, became a little bit easier.

In March of 2007, Tasha started a new Work Experience Placement at Consignors Place in New Minas – and once again found herself in a very supportive work team at a workplace where she was challenged to learn so much – learning about cash, a complex inventory system, alphabetizing. The challenges of the job were big, and Tasha was sometimes overwhelmed but she found she could handle it because of the support and friendship she received from her co-workers. She had become familiar with the feeling of learning and trying new things, and when she had people around her to help her and acknowledge her achievements, she could keep going.

Everyone was shocked and saddened in May 07 when Consignors Place burned down. The people at Consignors have been friends of Flowercart for many years and we all felt badly about this huge setback for them. It was a setback for Tasha too - but not for long!

The folks at Wolfville Animal Hospital were having some staff changes and it looked like there might be a chance for Tasha to get hired there. Her supervisor Nancy really wanted her back, so Tasha began a 2nd work placement there in June.

July was a busy month for Tasha. Consignors got back on its feet and she returned to work there. She also got married that month! And, as if that weren’t enough life changes in one summer, in August of 2007 Tasha was hired part-time by Wolfville Animal Hospital to work in the mornings, and was hired part-time by Consignors to work in the afternoons.

A couple months later Tasha emailed Sheila to say she loves both of her jobs and she is really happy with both of them. And in May of 2008, Tasha’s employers – BOTH of them – showed publicly that THEY are really happy with her, too, by nominating her to receive this year’s Biggs Award.

In his nomination of Tasha, Dr. Peter Bligh from Wolfville Animal Hospital described her as “a dedicated, reliable and responsible individual who exceeds our expectations and continually strives for improvement. We are very pleased to have her on our staff.” Susan Escott from Consignors said “Tasha is an excellent employee. She … always strives to do her best. What really sets her apart is her eagerness and positive attitude. She is a pleasure to work with.”

All of us at Community Employment Services are very proud of Tasha, and happy for her. She has experienced great success. Tasha Daurie is receiving the 5th annual Biggs Award.