Wolverhampton charity tells story of how Adelaide went from service user to employee
A Wolverhampton homeless welfare charity has told the inspiring story of a woman who has gone from service user to full-time employee of its social-enterprise cafe.
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The Good Shepherd has been running Pomegranate Cafe in the Queen's Building in Wolverhampton for nearly two years, offering training and employment opportunities for people with lived experiences of homelessness or other barriers to work.
The charity has helped plenty of people to gain employment opportunities and has told the story of Adelaide, who is the first employee who was a previous service user to gain paid employment at the social-enterprise café.
During her time with the Good Shepherd, Adelaide began volunteering at the Good Shepherd’s dining service, saying: “The people at the Good Shepherd were so good to me, I wanted to give something back", then successfully gained employment at the Good Shepherd as a cleaner three days a week.
In October last year, Adelaide became the first person, who was previously a service-user, to gain employment at Pomegranate Café.
She said: “I love working at Pomegranate because they treat everyone the same. We have our usual customers I like talking to, we have good food at a good price.”
Chief Executive of Good Shepherd, Tom Hayden said: “It’s great to see the difference that Pomegranate has had on Adelaide’s life and that she’s doing so well.
“Pomegranate café provides training and employment pathways which we are looking to provide even more of over the next year.
Leader of Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Stephen Simkins said: “Adelaide is an inspiration to us all and I congratulate her on the journey she has made, overcoming real adversity.
“I’m so glad the Pomegranate café at the Queen’s Building has been part of her being able to rebuild her life, it’s exactly why the council created the Queen’s building with our partners the Good Shepherd and the Wolves Foundation.
“So please support the café if you can, you can get a great coffee and bite to eat, while knowing it’s also helping people like Adelaide.”
As well as providing training and employment opportunities to support people like Adelaide, every penny of profit from Pomegranate Café is donated back to the Good Shepherd’s free to access services.
A spokeswoman for the Good Shepherd said: "Adelaide is from the Champagne region of France, she moved to UK in early 2000s, firstly to London and then to Wolverhampton.
"With an NVQ Level 3 in Health and Social Care, she worked as a care assistant for Sandwell Hospital and lived with her daughter and husband in the city.
"To visit relatives, Adelaide went to Congo in Africa, whilst there she caught Malaria and was hospitalised, twice. She was in Congo for eight months as she was too poorly to return to the UK.
"As she was out of the country for so long, when she returned, she lost her job and her home. She also went through a divorce.
"Falling on difficult times, her social worker referred her to the Good Shepherd’s family pantry service to receive food and goods for her and her daughter.
"She used the service for two years whilst she rebuilt her life."
Located in the Queen’s Building by the bus station, the café is open Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 2.30pm.
For more information about the Pomegranate Café, go to gsmwolverhampton.org.uk/pomegranate/
