This year, the SAAAC Autism Centre’s Goodness Gift program has been working to create more work opportunities for individuals with exceptionalities. Over 4 weeks, we completed our employment training program, in partnership with Ready Willing and Able and facilitated by Act First Safety. Approximately 20 individuals received certification in WHMIS, Workers Safety, Food Handling and more. A few weeks after completing the training program, four of our participants began a new venture at Vanilla En Glaze.
Founded by Chef John Ferdinald, Vanilla En Glaze is a wholesale pastry production enterprise, working to serve customers from all around the GTA. Vanilla En Glaze has supplied many VIPs with their culinary needed and supplied them to major hotels from Ottawa to Niagara.
“My favourite thing to do is putting filling in the tarts and taking the cheesecakes out of the mold scooping different kinds of fillings into the tarts,” said Nadir, one of our participants working at Vanilla En Glaze. With his coworkers, Nadir has learned to make tarts, mini cheesecakes, eclairs, and more!
“The staff here are really nice people, I like to work with them, and they are very easy to communicate with,” says Iman. Each day, the participants get an opportunity to try something new, with access to additional support and guidance from job coaches when needed.
A special thank you to Chef John for his eagerness and enthusiasm in providing job opportunities for our participants. To show your support, make sure to check out www.vanillaenglaze.com
The SAAAC Autism Centre hopes to continue to provide more employment opportunities for individuals with exceptionalities. We are always looking to connect with other organizations within our community. If you are interested in partnering with SAAAC in providing job opportunities, please feel free to contact us at goodnessgift@saaac.org.
Check out our Employment Placement Video!