Thanks.
I'm Courtney. I'm 24, and I've been involved with YOU since I was 18. The journey has been a long road and it wasn't always successful, but YOU didn't give up on me. I started doing the skills training program this September, and I finished in February. Through this time, they gave me the skills that I needed. I had never worked in a kitchen before, and I am leaving this kitchen to manage my own. I am now managing my own local restaurant.
Without YOU, I would probably still be homeless and on social assistance. They gave me the skills that I needed. As Steve was saying earlier, you're allowed to make mistakes in the cafe, and that is a great thing. You know that if you accidentally mess up, it's okay; it's going to be fine. The people are okay with that. That's phenomenal.
Witnessing people coming through the cafe, I would say that eight out of every ten people—other than me—who graduate the cafe have found work elsewhere. Also, it gave me strength to be able to do stuff like this. I didn't like myself a year ago, and now I love my success. I'm not going to be on social assistance, and I see a bright future for myself. A year ago, maybe I didn't even think that I could be successful, and now I'm thinking about public speaking. It's giving me great opportunities. If it could do this much for me, think about how many other people it could help out as well.
I can't preach enough about how much this place has helped me. It really helped out. I learned things like how to do inventory. I learned how to manage. I've trained people. All of this has been through YOU.
When I went to my first day at my new job just this week, I went in there and, just like Steve was saying, I didn't want to mess up. I was just standing around and I wasn't getting the training that I needed on the first day. At YOU, they give you that training. Then on the second day at the new job I felt like, okay, I should just get back in.... I know what I'm doing. I've been in a kitchen. YOU has helped me; I'm fine.
Now I'm stuck. You can talk. I don't know—