Kara Thiessen zips around Winnipeg to customers’ homes with trimmers and brushes that she uses to clean pets’ nails.
It wasn’t long ago that the Pretty Lil Paws founder had no high school diploma or job training.
"I had to figure out, ‘OK, what am I going to do? How am I going to get my Grade 12?’" Thiessen said. "I couldn’t get a proper job."
How to help
Click to ExpandThe COVID-19 pandemic has made setting a goal for this year’s United Way Winnipeg fundraising campaign difficult.
“Needs are increasing so quickly that we need to raise as much as possible,” Mona Gill, the organization’s director of campaign and partnership development, wrote in a statement.
The entity funds over 100 local non-profits.
People can donate by visiting United Way Winnipeg’s website or calling 204-477-UWAY.
Her mother told her about an adult education program at Teen Stop Jeunesse in St. Vital. So, in 2011, Thiessen, who was 20 at the time, enrolled in the program. She graduated within a year, while battling cervical cancer.
She spent years as a cleaner before falling ill again: doctors found embolisms in her lungs. She recovered but looked back to Teen Stop Jeunesse, to a new program it had launched to help people find employment.
"I felt I needed to do something for myself, so I went and took (it)," Thiessen said.
There, in 2019, she learned skills for the workforce and was placed at a doggy daycare, her internship of choice. She kept a job there before turning to entrepreneurship, encouraged by Teen Stop Jeunesse mentors who continually checked in with her.
"They’ve been with me through every step of the way," Thiessen said, adding they’ve boosted her confidence.
She still regularly discusses her business plans with Teen Stop Jeunesse staff.
"We go from A to B and then back to A," she said. "It’s great to have them to talk to."
The non-profit, based on St. Anne’s Road, fills gaps and ensures people have what they need, said executive director Pat LeBlanc.
The charity largely focuses on youths. However, it’s expanded its services to all ages.
"We felt that the best way to help the kids in our programs was to help the entire family," LeBlanc said. "We started an adult education centre (in 2001) to get parents back into the swing of things and get them back to work."
Teen Stop Jeunesse began a transitions to employment program in 2019 because of a lack of such resources, LeBlanc said. Thirty-two participants finished. Then, the pandemic halted its operation.
"Our first experience made us realize that there are far more issues that we need to deal with than just finding people jobs," LeBlanc said. "We need to deal with all those mental health issues, and all those confidence issues."
LeBlanc focuses on empowerment with his young visitors, too.
Teen Stop Jeunesse has a music studio, recreation room, homework club, life skills programming and other youth activities. The drop-in centre helps marginalized members and folks new to Winnipeg.
"A lot of the kids in our programs don’t feel as though they are looked upon as having any skills," LeBlanc said. "They’ve been told they don’t, because they’re living in poverty."
He calls it a victory to witness a person flourish and realize they can contribute to society.
"Those kids who come in that are considered to be, at school, the worst behavioured kids... (and) are being told that they will never amount to anything," LeBlanc said. "We treat them like they are the most important kid — because they are — on the planet.
"You would not believe how many of those kids we have been able to get on the right path."
Teen Stop Jeunesse works with as many as 43 young people per evening during the school year. The number bumps up to 52 in the summer.
Over the past two years, Teen Stop Jeunesse has had to close multiple times, but, the programming hasn’t stopped. There have been online cooking lessons, Lego challenges, art sessions and more.
The site is currently open, and kids are back to recording music, playing table tennis and serving meals.
Teen Stop Jeunesse will be around as long as it’s needed, LeBlanc said, and there is a demand in Winnipeg’s southeast, despite what people may believe.
"I found that St. Vital is filled with pockets of poverty that no one knew about."
The drop-in centre receives funding from United Way. The organization saved Teen Stop Jeunesse from bankruptcy in 1998, LeBlanc said.
"Anyone who’s supporting United Way is supporting Teen Stop," he said.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabby is a big fan of people, writing and learning. She graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in the spring of 2020.
Teen Stop Jeunesse helping people find employment - Winnipeg Free Press
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