January 2025

Employer Appreciation

This holiday season, our Employer Relations team played Santa, delivering chocolates and heartfelt thanks to some of the amazing local businesses that partnered with us in 2024. These businesses have gone above and beyond to provide opportunities, training, experience, and mentorship to our clients.

We’d like to extend our gratitude to Darren Ferrato at Trekking Paws for offering hands-on training and mentorship at his thriving small business, and to Tyler De Leon at Equipment World for collaborating with us this year. A special shoutout to the Thunder Bay Museum for supporting our clients during the summer—thank you to Marcus Ogombar and Scott Bradley for making this partnership possible.

Our appreciation also goes to Vishesh Nayyar at Community Clothing Assistance for fostering a safe and welcoming environment for clients to gain retail skills, and to the Thunder Bay Boys and Girls Club, a long-standing partner—we’re grateful for every opportunity you provide. Special thanks to Jess Martin and Lee-Ann Skirving for your continued support.

Finally, a huge YES thank you to Mike Beharriell at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition, whose support provided employment to over 25 of our youth clients this year.

To all the businesses that have worked with us in 2024: thank you! We look forward to strengthening our partnerships and engaging with new businesses in 2025. Together, we’re building futures.

Happy New Year from all of us at YES! Learn more and connect with our team here.

Thanks to the generosity of our staff, an anonymous donor and some very special employers; FreshCo Court Street Thunder Bay, Official Postal Service (OPS), Roach’s Taxi and Impact Promotions , we were able to make the season a little brighter for four of our clients this year with a hamper filled with food, goodies and gift certificates. Congratulations to our hamper winners; Tristian, Carer, Aaron and Albert.