Origins of Spero's Hope

You have met Jim. As a matter of fact, Jim is an important part of your life, but you don't think about him that way. Jim is the bus-boy who picks up your dirty dishes at the restaurant. Jim delivers your pizza. Jim is the cashier at your local drug store. Jim stocks the shelves of your favorite grocery store.

At one time, our friend Jim was gainfully employed in a minimum wage job, working over 40 hours a week, and making ends meet. However, through a string of family issues, some bad luck and some poor choices, he had found himself out of work and, shortly thereafter, without a home. In order to avoid living in a shelter, he sought help, and he put himself on a path to finding a job and finding a place to live. It was during this period of transition that we began working with him. We were initially connected with him in order to conduct mock interviews, thereby helping him prepare for his job search. We then helped him write a compelling resume. Within a few months, our new friend received a job offer as a temporary worker for a warehousing / transportation company! We felt a sense of accomplishment, and he was back on track to leading an economically independent life.

Or so we thought. We kept in periodic contact with Jim, and we soon learned that he was unable to make ends meet. He was on the brink of homelessness again, and he found he could barely afford a small room in a boarding house that leaked when it rained. But Jim was determined to keep his independence. He continued to work hard, and he never gave up. Ultimately, he was rewarded with an offer to become a full-time employee paying significantly more than his temporary position did. Shortly thereafter, he moved into a bigger and nicer room and he was able to buy a car. Today Jim is thinking about vocational training so that he can open the next door that leads to financial independence and a comfortable wage, and we continue to provide guidance to Jim when he needs it.

We have many years of experience helping people find suitable employment, both in the corporate sector and from volunteering in our communities. What we have experienced – as was the case with Jim – is that success is defined as someone receiving a job offer and starting a new position. However, what we learned from our friend and what we have seen time and time again is that hard-working people will find full-time employment – many working over forty hours a week and some working more than one job – but they still cannot make ends meet financially. The reality is that many of these people live from paycheck to paycheck. Therefore if something goes wrong and they miss a full paycheck one week, it has serious financial repercussions. In some cases, it causes a domino effect of financial issues.

It was a combination of our appreciation of the fact that a job alone does not necessarily result in financial independence; our friend's determination to remain economically self-sufficient and for him to prove that he could find better paying employment; and our ability to help others reach that same goal that resulted in the formation of Spero's Hope.