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A day in the life of a Kickstart Placement – Tommy

By 6 August 2021No Comments

Last but not least, we caught up with Tommy, our warehouse assistant.

“The past three months of working at Alexander’s Community Development has been one of the best experiences of my life. I feel privileged I have had the opportunity to achieve so much in such a short space of time and I hope that the following few months will be as good as the first three.

In my first few weeks I was shown how to use the manual lift, it took a while for me to get to grips with using it as it was not an easy job for me, but over time I got used to using the lift thanks to John Snr for being patient and explaining that if I stay calm and take my time and do everything to the best of my ability, then I will succeed and this is how I feel thanks to everyone at ACD.

I feel privileged to work with the foodbanks and community café’s across Dundee. I feel proud when I think that I contribute to the distribution of food to 27 foodbanks and community café’s across the city.

For me I feel like my week begins on a Friday, whereas most people a new weeks start on a Monday. The reason for this is that all of the food deliveries come in on a Friday, this then allows us to put all of the food out for the week ahead. We are so thankful here to have excellent volunteers to support us with this. The volunteers help me to fill pallets with all the food that is scheduled to go out during the week. Kyle especially who has additional support needs, has been a pleasure getting to know. It was a new experience for me working along side someone who requires additional support, however it has been both rewarding and inspiring to see how much Kyle does, I would even say I look up to him.

There is a wide range of food we get in from cereals and canned foods to tasty pastries and cakes that we pick up daily from both Clark’s Bakery and M&S who are kind enough to donate these items. M&S also donate loads of flowers which we give to the foodbanks and community café’s – but also to the local community so if you are ever passing the yard and would like to take some flowers home please do, as you never know whose day you are going to brighten up – it’s the little things that make the difference. That’s why I am so proud to come to work here every day. It gets me through a day of lifting and gives a boost of both energy and motivation knowing what we are doing is making such a significant impact on the community.”