By Sahar Foladi
A man of persistence, Paul White has finally fulfilled his dream of being a “work man” after waiting 28 years for employment.
Mr White, who is afflicted with chronic lung issues, cerebral palsy and epilepsy, recently earned his long-awaited job at The Bridge’s newly opened social enterprise 2Works.
His proud family and mother, Jan Whitemore says with Mr White’s stubbornness and level of determination, it was meant to be.
“He’s loving it, he’s so proud of himself, we’re so proud of him because it’s been 28 years and he’s finally made it.
“When he went to school, they said put him at home because he won’t be able to do anything. “We said this is rubbish, we’ll do the best to support him.
“He was very sick when he was born and went down under one pound. He had sudden death syndrome when four months old. We revived him and he spent time in intensive care.”
His family took Mr White to multiple organisations for supported work, but nothing felt better than The Bridge support.
“The Bridge has been the best place for Paul all the way because without their training he wouldn’t be here.”
Mr White is one of the longest members of The Bridge. Since the age of 18, The Bridge supported him to improve his skills to achieve his goals now attained as a 46-year-old man.
“I took him around a whole lot of organisations to see where he might like to go and that’s the place that said we would like to have him here.
“We took him to many places, but they said he’s not ready for employment.
“On Sunday afternoons he would ring up photographers, vets, armed forces to see if he could get employment, he’d leave messages.
“People would return the call just to say if people had that sort of initiative and determination, they wouldn’t have any unemployed people.”
He did work experience at Coles, McDonalds, Post Office and various other places to get him into supported employment and work ready.
“He did everything to try and improve his skills, he requested the Bridge staff so much that they eventually created a pathway between the 2Works and The Bridge Hub to do work experience for eight weeks and observe their suitability.”
By the end of the program, he was offered employment for three days a week which will soon change to four days at the 2Works social enterprise at Dandenong.
“He went to his nephew’s 18th birthday party in his work clothes to show off to everyone,” Ms Whitemore laughed.
Chief executive officer of The Bridge Mary-Jane Stolp says Mr White is a very social and motivated person.
“We’re delighted to work with Paul over the years to transform his life and given this opportunity to him, it’s been life changing for him.
“Our mission at the Bridge is to transform people’s lives by connecting them with opportunities for home, work and community and have that social integration,” she said.
“Through our services, we’ve been able to provide Paul with opportunities for education, work experience and volunteering which developed his independence over time and work ready skills.”
Mr White will have to juggle between his work commitments and athletic commitments as Bocce and champion bowling athlete at the Special Olympics.
As a member of the Special Olympics since 1990, Mr White has numerous golds, silver, bronze medals, and ribbons in international, national, and local games.
