BOCA RATON, Fla. — In Boca Raton, Sean Martin Murphy and his co-workers at Cafe 95 have their eyes on the prize.
“I always want to stay focused and do everything right,” Murphy said.
He is living with an intellectual disability and for him the opportunity to earn a paycheck isn’t always easy.
“The individuals in our program, they’ll work twice as hard to make sure they are better than anybody else,” Nancy Freiwald said.
Freiwald is the Director of Program Services at JARC Florida. An organization helping to empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Cafe 95 is a part of their work force training program.
“When we reopened in August, we wanted our community works program to get back up and running,” she said. “Unfortunately, many of the businesses that we had created relationships with were not ready yet.”
Freiwald says now more than 60 clients like Martin are trained and ready to work, with no place to go.
“We keep hearing about this worker shortage in the community, but we have trained individuals,” she explained. “They are ready, willing and able to work.”
From dishwashing to food prep, JARC clients are trained in various parts of the kitchen.
“People just need to know that they can do the job,” Freiwald said.
Still - they keep practicing their skills.
“Because I’d like to get hired someday,” Martin said.
