Yesterday, we had Joe Doria, our boss’s boss, and David Molina, his boss, visit us at the employment center. They liked what we’re doing, told us to continue to serve stake presidents and bishops, build up additional volunteers, work with job seekers, and develop relationships with employers and other potential resources. It’s more than we can reasonably do, so we’ll plan to prioritize and plan to make sure we’re following inspired direction to help the most people in the ways they need.
At dinner (we ate at Carmine’s, a family style Italian restaurant near Times Square that has been a New York fixture for decades—the dessert is called the Titanic, a brownie, ice cream, whipped cream dessert that was enough for the table of seven with some left over) we had an interesting discussion with a bishop. He described three types of job seekers he’s seeing right now:
- Those needing any job who have little training and experience, some of whom have never worked.
- Those pursuing an acting or other arts dream that need a survival job (many of them get server jobs that require Sunday work, so they aren’t able to attend church) while they pursue their dream.
- Professionals who want to do something else (examples: lawyer who doesn’t like to practice law, doctor who wants to try something else besides medicine).
In our discussion, involving the bishop and David Molina, we discussed potential solutions possibly being mentors for each of them. There probably aren’t enough mentors in the area, but David Molina suggested that not enough mentors here may mean job seekers look to the wards they grew up in for distance mentors. Interesting thoughts that are inline with our seeking leverage to help the most job seekers in the most effective way, always involving the Lord.
Also, we see several beggars each day. One had an interesting approach. He saw our tags and must have known our church’s connection (ownership) of BYU, so as we were walking by, he shouted out BYU Cougars, Ty Detmer, Steve Young. We stopped and gave him a little cash. We’re excited about the terrific football season the Cougars are having so far this year. We figure they must be receiving blessings due to our serving a mission. Yeah, we’re going with that.