A Story of Resilience: Jessica’s Journey with Awake
It was April 18, 2022, when Jessica joined the Awake team. She was introduced to us by her cousin, Riqkee, who told her Awake is not only a good place to work, but they, “are a strong mental support.” Jessica filled out the application and, after being offered a position, was assigned to our storeroom. Before long, she was helping with inventory and organizing hundreds of pieces of hardware, vinyl, and all the supplies needed to build our windows. Though the new job was a welcome change and path to personal growth, the demands of being a mom, housing instability, and illness soon made it difficult to perform at her top level. She soon began calling out sick and getting distracted while at work.
As a fair chance employer, we regularly are faced with the decision of whether to work with and support individuals or initiate a discipline process and move to termination. Jessica’s story, along with many others, has helped us to land on one clear policy when navigating complicated scenarios; listen to the whole story. There is often support that we can provide individuals or allowances that we can make that don’t cost the company anything, but provide the necessary means to overcome barriers. We were able to connect Jessica with community resources and leverage some of our internal resources to help her find a place to live with her three children and move toward stability. Her work performance improved and her outlook on life became more hopeful and positive. Then in July, Jessica got word that an old case which had been held up in the courts due to Covid would be going to court. Later that month, she began an unexpected three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
This last August, Jessica wrote a letter to our team and gave us permission to share:
To: My Awake Family
Hello everyone, I like to start off by saying I hope everyone is having an amazing day but I also want to thank you all for everything. I appreciate all the love and support you have shown in so many different ways. You have been a blessing to me as well as my children’s lives, from the gifts during Christmas to helping prepare them for school, it has all been very much appreciated. Words cannot express how grateful I am and how much it all means to me, thanks again…. Joe, Maria, Scott, and the rest of the Management Team at Awake. You all have been super amazing and will forever hold a special place in my heart. Thanks to each and every one of you for all your love and support as well but most importantly for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be a part of something as great as Awake, I can’t wait to come back to work. Joe and Maria have been a part of this journey with me from day one and I truly appreciate you both for taking time out of your busy day to reach out to me. You don’t know how much those text messages have made my days so much better. This journey has taught me so much and every day I strive to do better and be better for myself, my kids and my family.
Awake has been such a huge part of my journey that I brag about the company, staff, and management constantly. Awake has been a huge part of my assignments in My Rio Salado Class which I graduated from on July 3,2024. I had my Rio Teacher look up Awake and read the Mission and Vision statement and all the Company has to offer and he was super impressed to the point where he has been sharing it with others. His exact words to me were; “Jessica if we had more companies like Awake who cared and wanted to help people and make a difference, this world would be such a better place”. I’ve worked for many different companies but never one like Awake. I’m sure you all can agree as well that the staff is so loving, caring, and understanding they make you feel like FAMILY and the positive atmosphere makes it an amazing place to look forward to coming to every day. Thanks for all the pictures, it’s so amazing to see so many FAMILIAR FACES like Ron, Guac, Victor, Mike, Maria, Scott and so many more. I miss working with all of you and I look forward to coming back to work next year. I hope to see all of the familiar faces when I return. Thanks again for everything. Have a blessed day, Jessica.