WBZ Cares: Operation A.B.L.E Grads Share Success Stories
BOSTON (CBS) - Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization, and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month's organization is "Operation A.B.L.E," (Ability Based On Long Experience), a Boston-based organization that provides a wide range of job training and employment services and classes for workers 45 and older to help them get back to work.
When Ella Jahdia Tibbs-Caldwell found herself out of work and back on the job market after being laid off from Brigham and Women's Hospital, she says it was extremely tough finding a new job and the fact that she was over 50 didn't help.
"Overbearing sometimes. Mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically, it was very tiring," Tibbs-Caldwell said.
She took some much-needed computer and social media classes at Operations A.B.L.E.
"It's a job trying to get a job," she said. "When I first got here, I was very fearful. I couldn't type at all. I didn't really know the computer well. It gave me great skills and how to navigate through the system. It branded me to be able to be ready for the workforce at a higher capacity than what I was."
Recently, Tibbs-Caldwell had an interview with a staffing agency. She says the staff at Operation A.B.L.E gave her confidence back.
"I don't think that I would have been able to have the belief in myself as they had in me," she said. "I get emotional because there is such warmness here. Such love here."
Much like Tibbs-Caldwell, Entrepreneur and business owner Roger Darosa found himself starting over.
"I went through a midlife crisis. I went through a divorce, I didn't plan for it," Darosa said. "The staff here really helped me out and motivated me. Got me on the right path to get my life back on track," he said.
Darosa is also taking classes at Operation A.B.L.E. and is involved in their internship program. He started his own non-profit, which provides services to the homeless.
He says the A.B.L.E. staff supported and encouraged him every step of the way, and that has made a huge difference in his life.
"I can see a light now in the middle of all the clouds," he said. "As far as my life, I see me being able to be back on my feet again and a productive member of society."
For more information about Operation A.B.L.E, visit: OperationAble.net or the WBZ Cares section on the CBSBoston.com website during the month of May.