Meet Gill, a Very Motivated Home Repair Technician
- Brooke Kennis
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
More than a decade ago, Gill was a sophomore at a local high school. He liked school and was doing well, but when the topic of college came up, it was made clear that he would be an unlikely candidate for college due to immigration paperwork. That immediately popped any motivational balloons that were letting him rise in his studies.
“What’s the point?” Gill wondered. “If you can’t go to college, why even bother focusing on your grades?”
Gill made it to the last two months of his high school career before he dropped out. Call it peer pressure, call it being too hard to witness everyone else heading to a future you are being denied. Whatever you call it, it moved Gill into getting his GED rather than walking with his classmates.
Fast forward to his 30’s and Gill and his wife are expecting their first child. He needed to find a steady job and fast. Something with a reliable income that he could jump into immediately. “I started in restaurant jobs,” said Gill. “I liked construction, I did things around my house and liked to think I was somewhat handy, but I needed to provide for my family right then.”
BY Plus popped up in a Google search one evening. He was looking for a career change, now with a nine year old and twin three-year-olds, Gill needed to find a career ladder he could move up. Overall, he found the course “okay.” He couldn’t help but wonder how his classmates that didn’t jump into the "WEX", or work experience bootcamp, were going to be able to learn the skills if they didn’t put the book learning to practice.
Gill understands the need for practice. One of the days in their BY Plus work experience they were working with the plumbing mock-ups.
“Travis was showing us how the toilet works, all the insides,” Gill explains while motioning with his hands, the now familiar, inner workings of a toilet. “He walked us through how water lines work and the connections with the faucets for sinks and showers. It was so helpful because I had a water leak at home that I knew exactly what I needed to go home and do after that class.”
Sure enough, Gill went home that night and fixed it. He was also the trainee who would go home and look up some of the tools he had just been introduced to that day. He’d learn better ways to bevel or how to smooth cuts with difficult siding. In general, he was gaining a well rounded knowledge for a path in construction and had the drive to pursue it. The mock-ups that really caught his attention though—that was electrical.
After graduating BY Plus, Gill explored the electrical union. He was told he needed experience, way more experience.
Home Repairs for Good was in need of a technician to help get home repair projects done. Mostly indoor projects that took a little more skill, but not enough that a license was required, and yes, it included some electrical.
Travis remembered Gill and wondered if he’d be interested in joining Home Repairs for Good (HRG) as a technician. He would be paid to go and gain hands-on experience in more skilled projects than what he had worked on as a trainee. Gill, still very much seeking benefits for his family, wasn’t sure if it was the right move. But, with the assurance that HRG absolutely understood he was actively looking for something that could provide fully and would help him how they could, it did seem like a smart move to gain that much needed experience before trying for the union again.
“I feel more confident doing things. Moving forward, when I get the opportunity,” Gill said with a flood of optimism, “I know I can tell them I have much more hands-on experience and know how to do things.”
Home Repairs for Good’s mission is to help older adults and people with disabilities age in place safely and with dignity. We do this by providing home repairs at no cost to the homeowner. One way we are able to accomplish this is by utilizing adult learners in workforce development programs. We provide hands-on work experience in the field–they provide semi-skilled and skilled repairs for the homeowner. To learn more about our Workforce Development programs, click here.