For the past six years, Paulze has worked at Largo-Tibet Elementary school with an important task: making sure hundreds of students are fed each day. Working behind the scenes, Paulze unloads food from delivery trucks into the cafeteria’s cooler. It’s not easy work, but he enjoys it because he likes his co-workers and likes to be part of the team.
Fast forward to March when the shelter-in-place order was put into effect and the school closed its campus, Paulze was thrilled to be asked to be a part of the squad making lunches to be distributed to SCCPPS students whose families cannot afford lunches.
Even though the lunches were being assembled miles away at Southwest Elementary, Paulze figured out a way to get there. He takes the bus, which can take more than an hour in each direction and doesn’t always align with his work schedule.
Once lunches are completed, he and two other teammates load the boxes onto the buses so bus drivers can deliver them to hungry students. They typically make and load 4,000 to 8,000 meals each week.
During a time that is causing so much concern, Paulze thinks of others, not himself. “It’s scary – the virus is very serious,” says Paulze. “My grandma is concerned about me, but I wear a mask and gloves and wash my hands a lot. I am careful. But it makes me feel good to put a smile on someone’s face when I can help them, so I keep working hard.”
His job coach, Elizabeth, bragged about him, saying, “Paulze has a really great attitude. Despite the extra effort required during the Coronavirus quarantine, he’s been willing to do whatever it takes because he knows that his team depends on him.”
EmployAbility is proud of Paulze’s compassion and motivation to help school children experience the comfort and stability of a regular meal, and we are proud of the 100+ other essential workers impacting the community each day!
