Jacobs – Staff Update
Three months into the year already, where has the time gone!
The clients at AJs have been hard at work this year. We have been continuing with jobs such as folding/shredding paper for Orana park, assembling the screws with washers and plates for Bremick Fasteners, and counting out and packing different coins and counting tools for Every Educaid. On top of this, we’ve also had a couple of new jobs come in, such as packing envelopes with sheets of paper and donation slips for Caxton as well as some new Cookie Time wobblers for Rainbow Print. All these jobs get broken down into multiple steps and stages, so the clients can cooperatively complete the tasks inclusive of all abilities.
On Monday mornings I kick my week off doing some one-on-one FOCUS with Joe, this consists of four rounds of boxing with some dynamic movements in between to get the blood moving, followed by some press ups! Following morning tea I have a pool group, the members are Harley A, John, Hamish, Kevin, and Alecia! These games can get quite competitive! After lunch I take a group to golf at the driving range – there’s two groups I alternate between with Harrison, Justin and Daniel being one group and Alecia, Cara and Cam being the other. We enjoy trying to hit or get closest to certain points when we swing our club.
On Tuesdays I take a group to bowling. I have a big pool of clients I take so we aim for 3-4 each time. Clients that enjoy this are Josh, Nick T, Nick F, Anthony, Te Hia Hia, Clement, Cam M, Simon, Georgina, Emelia, and Dean. The guys are always stoked when they get 100 or better yet, beat me!
On Wednesdays some of the clients get McDonalds for lunch. I go down with Kyle, Harley B and Alecia to pick it up and leave them to do all the heavy lifting – I just pay for it! After lunch I have two “outing” groups I alternate between. The first group is Jeff and Liam and we’ve been doing a lot of obstacle courses and body weight circuits recently. The other group is Nick F and Harley A and we usually go climbing at the YMCA or go for a walk if they feel like a more relaxed outing.
On Thursdays I skive from the workroom and go car cleaning for the day. I take Kevin and Harley B to Hillmorton Hospital to clean their fleet of cars where we clean four cars throughout the day.
Friday mornings I have a “Young Guys” group with Samuel, Nick F and Harley B. What we do that day is up to the boys – we’ve done fishing, go-carting, and been to the movies to name a few. After lunch I take Ben N-F and Laughie out to the gym – we usually warm up with weights and then do boxing drills, a great way to finish the week!
To finish up my update I wanted to make a special mention to a lifelong member of the AJs family who unfortunately passed away at the end of last year. Anne Harding has been with AJs since opening day and has been such a big part of the place ever since. Her infectious smile and cheeky personality will be remembered by many of her workmates and staff for a long time to come.
And with that, another update done! Till next year 😊
Thanks,
Jacob
