Tampabay-Job-Links Honors Its Volunteers and Donors

January 11, 2020

Tampabay-Job-Links (TBJL) held a “Celebrating You” event to honor its volunteers and donors at the Bayshore home of Alyce Gross on Thursday, November 7, 2019. Chaired by Kay Jacobs and Stacy Leeds, guests mingled while enjoying hors d’oeuvres and libations. During a short program, Andi Jacobs, President of TBJL’s board, welcomed everyone and served as the program’s MC.
Sheila Solomon Rudd, TBJL’s Executive Director, then expressed her thanks to those in attendance. “We truly have the most amazing community. Our volunteers, donors, and community partners make our work possible. Because of your support, total attendance at our workshops since 2012 is over 4,900, and over 785 people have received career transition services. The percentage of our coaching clients who have landed jobs from May 2018 through the end of April 2019 exceeds 90%.”

As an example of the important contribution that volunteers have played in the growth and development of TBJL its 2011 founding, long-time volunteer, Kay Jacobs, was recognized for her “unwavering support over the last 9 years…[as] a relentless Job-Links ambassador in the community” who is always willing to help wherever and whenever she can.

In addition, Solomon Rudd expressed a special appreciation to TBJL’s major program donors including The Herman Forbes Charitable Trust, the Rooms To Go Foundation, the Vinik Family Foundation, and the SunTrust Foundation, as well as individual donors.

President Jacobs then explained how Job-Links continues to assist the unemployed: “Every day, we are coaching, guiding, and connecting people, helping them find jobs to sustain themselves and their families. We know the formula that works. It’s professional, individualized, and high-touch coaching combined with a full curriculum of job-search programming, a holistic, wrap-around approach to the individual, and community connections.”

She also noted, “The unemployment rate may be low, but it doesn’t reflect the true state of unemployment today. If you work just 1 hour a week, you are considered employed and are not counted in the unemployment numbers. According to a recent New York Times article, the unemployment rate today is closer to 6.9%. And yet, this still doesn’t paint a picture of how difficult it is to get a full-time job, that doesn’t come with an end date, even for skilled workers.”

To demonstrate how Job-Links clients gain relevant job-search and career-transition skills that enable them to find appropriate employment, two of them, a former Marine and a marketing professional, described the difficulty they had encountered in translating their skills to the current job market.

The program ended with the announcement of some exciting news. The Tampa Bay Lightning recently named Andi Jacobs as a Lightning Community Heroes award winner. Jacobs will be recognized at the December 17^th Lightning hockey game and has designated TampaBay-Job-Links the non-profit to benefit from the $50,000 award. According to Solomon Rudd, “Having Andi and TBJL’s work recognized in this way is testament to every one of our supporters and an indicator of our impact.”

During the evening, guests enjoyed the hors d’oeuvres and desserts provided by Chives while listening to guitar music from Ben Pila. They could also view a video of the many people and activities that occur every day in TBJL’s Westshore office, such as volunteer guest speakers presenting workshops and career coaches meeting with clients.

Published in the December 1-12, 2020 edition of  The Jewish Press of Tampa: “TampaBay-Job-Links recognizes volunteers and donors who help sustain program” bit.ly/309kVW0

Click HERE to download the PDF version of the press release.