peter
1/2
“I work in homeless services for Focus Ireland where I often help families to secure a home so that is always really nice to see. I get to meet people the day they begin a new journey and sign the lease for their new home. I find the work to be quite positive as it focuses on the future and a new life. In terms of my happiest memory in work, delivering hampers and other items to families before Christmas was by far the most rewarding thing I have ever done. In particular, one family I worked with had moved into their accommodation some months beforehand and had not gotten around to getting a kitchen table yet. The kids were sitting on the sofa to do their homework and eat their dinner. I made it my mission to get them a table for Christmas – I didn’t have to do it, but I knew how special it would make their first Christmas in their new home. Literally 5 days before Christmas I was ringing around looking for a donation of a kitchen table and 5 chairs. Eventually, I managed to track one down and arranged transport with another colleague and we delivered it 3 days before Christmas. The family were over the moon and knowing they could all sit together on Christmas Day made it all worthwhile. This job has made me realize that I take a lot of things for granted, such as a kitchen table. Most people, particularly single men or women, talk about how isolating it can be when they move into their own accommodation, and for example, they often have to wait weeks or months to save up for a television. Things that we take for granted and consider essential are often the things that the people I work with go without. “