When people apply for a job, they take into consideration salary, retirement benefits, and medical insurance. All of these forms of compensation are important, but an environment that encourages dignity and respect among employees, one where people can experience felt safety is priceless.
Dealers Supply and Lumber is intentional about providing all of these benefits to its employees. Aspire student Odell recently began working at this community partner of Fostering Great Ideas. Working here for two months, Odell has found stability. She feels welcome and safe. She has income to save up for her first apartment. She is treated like a person, not just an employee.
The owner of Dealers Supply and Lumber, Richard Stein, is a foster and adoptive parent himself. Stein leads this family-owned business in a way that encourages the success of youth like Odell. Odell’s Aspire coach and our director of youth development, Hope Coudayre, put it this way:
“They do so much. It may seem small, but they are providing a safe space for a former foster youth to grow into adulthood.”
*Name of youth has been changed to protect privacy. The story is real.
