Some people say there are no second chances in life.
Holly Green would beg to differ.
Not once but three times, the Coquitlam childcare worker has been given a chance to turn her life around.
Now a graduate of the Chance to Choose employment program for at-risk youth and employed at Place Maillardville community centre in Coquitlam, she wants to speak out.
The SUCCESS-run Chance to Choose program is scrambling for funding as it does most years and Green wants others to know what it does for at-risk youth like her.
"I wish I could do so much for them as much as they did for me," she says. "I don't know where I'd be without the program."
And then, emotion coming on her like a sudden rain shower, tears flow.
There are funding challenges, admits program co-ordinator Evelyn Humphreys, but she says A Chance to Choose will survive one way or another.
"Don't make the story about us," she urges. The more interesting story, she says, is about Holly.
CHANCE NO. 1
"Green, as in the colour of grass" is how Holly spells her last name. But there's not a lot of that in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, where she spent 10 years of her young adulthood camping in shelters or behind dumpsters.
"We were working our way down," she says of herself and her boyfriend, who were both addicted to crystal meth and using heroin. There were years of turmoil and instability but in 2009, Green finally admitted to herself that constant drug use wasn't doing either her or her boyfriend any favours.
The lifestyle was wearing her down; she felt sick and in a constant daze. She wanted out but no one would rent a home to a couple of addicts.
Desperate, she put a classified ad on Craigslist under housing, writing: "This is where we are, this is where we want to be."
Being honest was a bold move but one Coquitlam landlord took a chance and reached out.
Green and her boyfriend were offered a basement suite to live in and they grabbed it.
They still call that basement suite home. It's where their lives have taken a turn for the better.
CHANCE NO. 2
Methadone is a synthetic opiate and is used as a substitute for heroin addicts. Getting into a methadone program was the first thing Green and her boyfriend did to get control of their drug habit. Now they could start planning for their future.
But what would that look like and how would they get there?
Neither of the two young people had graduated from high school and job openings for drug addicts were scarce.
Green needed a break and, strangely, it took a Javert-like figure to get her on the right path. Like the prison guard who dogs Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, it was a probation officer from her past who showed up in Coquitlam with an arrest warrant.
But instead of holding her back, the officer pointed Green in the direction of Evelyn Humphreys at A Chance to Choose in Port Moody in the hopes of putting her on the right path.
A dozen other youth had signed up for the program to learn job skills such as how to use a computer, how to handle an interview and how to work together on a community project.
Humphreys took one look at the young woman with the long, dark hair and promise in her eyes, and accepted the challenge of preparing Green for the job market.
"She just had that look about her that 'I'm ready to make a change.' She had already taken the steps she needed," Humphreys recalled.
It was more than a second chance it was a lifeline.
A Chance to Choose gave Green credits toward her schooling, helped her develop her resume and earn FoodSafe, SuperHost and First Aid certificates.
"They remind you," Green said of Humphreys and program facilitator Bob Lewis, "that you can move forward in life and flourish."
CHANCE NO. 3
Danielle Payette, program co-ordinator at Place Maillardville community centre, is the kind of employer anyone would want to have. She exudes both warmth and a no-nonsense style of compassion.
When she got a call from Coquitlam Volunteer Connections about a volunteer with a difficult past but a promising future who had been passed over by other volunteer agencies, Payette was intrigued. She called Green in for an interview and wasn't disappointed.
"She was full of enthusiasm and positive energy," Payette said.
She asked Green to volunteer with the morning pre-school program and was impressed with her communications skills, work ethic and crafting know-how. Green became queen of special events at the centre, organizing all the crafts for Easter, Christmas and Halloween.
"I know the kids love her junk art and we get a lot of positive feedback from parents," Payette said about Green, now an employee who has now worked 18 months at the centre.
NEXT STEPS
As she bustles around the community centre, cleaning up after lunch and rearranging chairs in the pre-school room, Green looks confident and very much in command of herself, her job and her life. She is three years clean and is whittling down her methadone dosage.
"I'm alert, I'm alive," she said.
And she looks forward to getting up and going to work at Place Maillardville every day. About half of her work-week is paid, the remainder is volunteer and she has a nanny job that augments her income.
Recently, she visited School District 43's Continuing Education office to plan her schooling and is deciding on a career in Early Childhood Education or child care.
Could she have made it this far alone? Not a chance, she says.
"I wouldn't have gotten the skills... I don't know where I'd be without the [Chance to Choose] program."
It's a rare person who can admit they need help and then credits others for her success.
Green got a lot of chances but none was as great as the chance she took on herself.
A Chance to Choose is considering starting a soup kitchen or coffee shop to employ at-risk young people. To find out more, or to contribute, call Evelyn Humphreys at 604-931-5889.
A CHANCE TO CHOOSE
Program start: 2006
Number of graduates: 300
Success rate: 85% of graduates in school or working
Funding: Service Canada
