Threads – Youth Find Space to Grow at Sam’s Place

Episode transcript:

Kyle Rudge (00:02):

It begins with a single thread woven through other thread and then another and another until we have a single piece of fabric. That fabric is stretched, cut and stitched together with another just like it. This process is repeated over and over and over until we have a beautiful tapestry that all began with a single thread. Welcome to an MCC Threads where we look closely at how our stories in Manitoba weave together with the stories of MCC and its partners around the world.

Cinnamin Moar (00:51):

It's crazy how much you learn in this program. Like you do retail, back of house, front of house, like it's everything and it's, more than anything, it's a lot of fun. [Laugh].

Kyle Rudge (01:03):

Happy New Year. I hope your holidays were and are wonderful and filled with joy. Our past year on Threads saw us everywhere from linking school groups here in Winnipeg to MCC projects in Zambia to SEEK participants in Southeast Asia and all the way back home to our Indigenous neighbors in Winnipeg. And to make sure we start a whole new year off on the right foot, we're going to need some coffee.

Rebecca Engel (01:29):

Hi, my name is Rebecca Engel and I'm the Volunteer and Program Coordinator for Sam's Place, which is the Manitoba location for MCC on 140 Bannatyne. 

 

Cinnamin Moar (01:40):

I am Cinnamin Moar. I am a supervisor here at Sam's Place.

Kyle Rudge (01:46):

Rebecca and Cinnamin were an absolute delight to speak to. They frequently laughed together, finished each other's sentences, you get the idea. They were calling in from the back room of Sam's Place Coffee Shop at 140 Bannatyne in Winnipeg to share with us what has gone on this past year.

Rebecca Engel (02:02):

Sam's Place, I feel like is very unique in our setting because primarily what we do is we focus on the employable skills program that we run. So we run a program for youth and young adults, age 14 to 24 who face barriers to employment. So for us, a lot of that means they might have mental health things going on in their life. They might have disabilities, they might be new to Canada, they might just have no work experience. And they come to us and we give them these work skills. So a lot of what customers see when they come in, is participants behind the till, participants making their drinks, things like that. And it's very obvious what we do. It's written on the walls, it's written on our cups, like this is supposed to be a safe space, a place to make mistakes, and I think that's what really makes us stick out in this area.

Kyle Rudge (02:54):

What's interesting about Cinnamin's story is that they have a history with Sam's Place long before they were hired this past year as a supervisor.

Rebecca Engel (03:02):

We were hiring for new supervisors here at the 140 location on Bannatyne at Sam's Place. And we had Cinnamin's like application come across my desk and Alison, our manager, was like  I'm pretty sure that was an old participant at the old location, let's look at our records. And we pulled it up and we realized that's who it was. So we interviewed Cinnamin and like they blew us away.

Cinnamin Moar (03:28):

As somebody who was struggling with a lot of anxiety and like had a recent diagnosis with autism, I was facing a lot of barriers to employment. I was not getting calls back, I was not getting any of my applications accepted. I actually knew the previous coordinator for the volunteer program and so when I was lamenting about my employment struggle, she said, come on in, like there's a place for you here.

Rebecca Engel (04:04):

The really unique part of having Cinnamin on our team is like they have gone through the whole program, like, yes, it looks slightly different now in this location, but like they know what we do. They fully understood it, they understood that like as a supervisor you are also supporting participants. And so because they used to be a participant, it was just a very unique view. And so it's been really cool to see them on the floor interacting with participants and being a mentor. It's just awesome.

Kyle Rudge (04:33):

So you might start to think that this is just a wonderful job skills program, helping those without opportunity or an experience for a variety of goals. But Cinnamin was quick to correct me when I implied exactly that.

Cinnamin Moar (04:45):

No, it's so much more than that. [Laugh]. My favorite part of the day is when there's a lull and then we get to just chat with the participants and we tell them like, you know, this is a huge part of working somewhere is chit-chatting with coworkers.

Rebecca Engel (05:01):

Small talk.

Cinnamin Moar (05:01):

Yeah. Small talk is huge. And so it's building friendships, it's building community and building job skills all at the same time.

Rebecca Engel (05:11):

It's very unique because like, yes, we talk about job skills all the time and it's like, yep, we want you to learn cash handling and how to brew coffee and dishwashing and how to do a kitchen line. But at the same time in these like casual conversations, we're also teaching and talking about what's appropriate to talk about at work or like what's something that's maybe like a private conversation you should keep to yourself. Because a lot of people just don't know certain things of what they should say or shouldn't say. Or like even like, oh, it's maybe, let's not make fun of someone's like new, exciting, I don't know, sport they're into. Let's like ask them about it, ask questions. Like it's even like, just like curbing some of those like things and just like teaching them how to like relate to each other. Because so many of our students come to us with like social anxiety. Like we have like small talk questions written and it's posted on our wall. Like they can just pick one and start asking supervisors. So it's like we try and teach even that like relationship side of it when you're at a workplace, which is huge. My favorite part is watching the participants come out of their shell, like when they all start here, very quiet and timid,

Rebecca Engel (06:31):

Nervous.

Cinnamin Moar (06:32):

Very nervous and then just soon enough they'll be making fun of you and they'll just be laughing and having a blast and then they'll linger once their time's done here they just stand at the counter, slowly say goodbye. And it's just, it's so rewarding watching them become themselves here.

Rebecca Engel (06:54):

I feel like any of our participants, we could be like, this was what they started like. Like we have one right now and he started in the summer and he'd come once a week and was like kind of slow and kind of quiet and like went through the first part of the program was like, okay, like I kind of like this. Like, okay. And then started in September again and did our barista program and got paired with like, before he was only with like other girls in the program. Just that's what lined up with his time slot. And now he is lined up with like other guys that are in our program and they’re best friends. They're like, these two boys are just like stuck together like glue. And they're like, "can I come another day? Like, "okay, now I wanna come on the day that they're coming so we can come together." And like, it's just so different. Like before we'd be like, “okay, like are you coming next week? Like let's make sure you're coming next week.” And now they're like emailing us like multiple times a week being like, "can I also come on Tuesday? Can I also come on Wednesday? Is that okay?" Like, it's really neat to see that big change and we see it with like every single participant that comes in, which is really cool.

Cinnamin Moar (08:06):

I heard them the other day just making plans to go to a Jets game together.

Rebecca Engel (08:10):

That's so fun.

Cinnamin Moar (08:11):

It's really fun.

Kyle Rudge (08:13):

It's been an incredible first run of the program at Bannatyne in 2024. So what have been all the changes since their days back at the Henderson location?

Rebecca Engel (08:22):

Just based off of like cafe wise, like the amount of customers we have in is very different. Like we have so many more and it's a very different clientele, which means that our program has to reflect that in the sense of like how quick we're teaching them things, how fast they're learning things. Even the like amount that they're learning. Like it's different.

Cinnamin Moar (08:47):

It's a lot more organized I feel, because the old program there weren't cohorts and we didn't get like a graduation or certificates. And so watching these groups of kids like become friends with each other and then get the like satisfaction of having a paper at the end where they graduated the program and it's really exciting. It's like an accomplishment for them and it's really great to see. Yeah.

Rebecca Engel (09:19):

We just completed our like first year essentially, this cohort that's finishing up in January, will mark, like the second time we've started it, which is like pretty cool. I feel like our next step and one thing we're trying to do is like work with local businesses that will like directly take participants and employ them. Or with like the co-op down the street or like something like that where we can place students and they can have jobs quicker. I think that's a dream. So, that's my goal for the years to have a few of those. So if anyone has a business that wants to partner with us, let me know. [Laugh]. But yeah, I think there's that. And then also just like getting more kids in the program. Like we do have a max that we can take each round and we're slowly trying to see if we can squeeze a few more in to see if it works. 'cause Yeah, like we always have a wait list and I wish we had 12 Sam's Place locations that we could do this in.

Kyle Rudge (10:21):

One of the biggest successes for Sam's Place, for the surrounding Exchange District community was their participation in Nuit Blanche.

Rebecca Engel (10:29):

So Nuit Blanche is basically like an arts festival that happens in the downtown Exchange of Winnipeg and a bunch of restaurants stay open late, museums are open late, there are art installations in the streets, like it is packed. Like the streets are generally like very, very packed and it's all night, like it goes till like midnight or 1 A.M. and so we were open and it was crazy. Like we had a lineup out the door, like the first year we had to shut the door and like we didn't have enough staff and it was like, it was so much fun. We just didn't expect the like massive response. And so this year we came better prepared and it was so much fun. We played like old music videos in the cafe. We played like pop music. We like had so many fun glittery drinks and like we served till like midnight and people were just like lining up and lining up and lining up and lining up.

Cinnamin Moar (11:37):

Yeah, it was a crazy response. The cafe was full [laugh]

Rebecca Engel (11:44):

like no-seat-you-couldn't-move full. Yeah.

Kyle Rudge (11:49):

So who should apply? How do you apply? What's the process?

Rebecca Engel (11:52):

So we have an application form that is on our website and it will go live in January for our new intake to start in February. For that, like you fill it out, all that information, part of it is listing like what the barriers that you face because we wanna take based on most needs. So like if you have a kid that wants to do this program but volunteers at your local church or volunteers in their school and has all this volunteer experience, this might not be the program for you because you have experience in areas of like a type of workplace that can add to your resume and can help you get a job. Like a lot of our students we have, will have no volunteer experience. Some might have like anxiety, depression, some might have different disabilities. But I mean, if you are interested or you know somebody that might be interested, like fill out the intake form, send us an email like we'll book interviews anyways because we think interviews are a good life experience to have. So we'd love to chat more about it if you have any questions.

Kyle Rudge (13:01):

And last but not least, you can't not ask those who work in a cafe, what their favorite drink is.

Rebecca Engel (13:07):

Okay, well my favorite flavors currently are all the winter flavors. Like peppermint and everything is, is always my go-to. We have a peppermint white chocolate matcha latte and that's my go-to. It's so good. I love it.

Cinnamin Moar (13:25):

I don't know, I have so many favorites currently. Yeah, but I mean my classic go to is a quad shot latte. Listen,

Rebecca Engel (13:35):

That's so much!

Cinnamin Moar (13:36):

the cafe life sometimes you need it [laugh].

Rebecca Engel (13:39):

That's fair, very fair.

Kyle Rudge (13:45):

Start your new year with purpose by sharing Christ's love with a refugee family in need. When you join MCC's new email series, Welcome the Stranger: Journey of Sponsorship. You'll learn what it takes to sponsor an at-risk family that's been fast-tracked for resettlement in Canada and it's free. Begin your journey at mcc.org/startyourjourney. MCC Threads is produced by KR Words with story assistance from Jessica Burtnick. Thanks to Rebecca and Cinnamin for sharing your passion for the program with us. I'm Kyle Rudge and this is MCC Threads.