Together We Can

At least that is my story.  Twenty five years ago I was a student in a computer programming program at Boston University Corporate Education Center in Tyngsboro MA.  My route there is slightly unconventional and an act of faith and charity on my community’s part.  But it started long before that.

I grew up 40 miles from Boston in Attleboro MA, the jewelry Capital of America, at least that is what the sign said.  I was 1 of 8 children in an Irish Catholic family.  Long story short, I got pregnant right out of high school, had a shotgun wedding which lasted about 3 months and decided to go to the local community college.  After my son was born I went on welfare and attended the Community College of Rhode Island while my mother took care of Billy.  Summer came and rather than sit around I went back to my job from high school, slinging coffee and donuts at the local Dunkin.  My mother once told me that once when we were driving by Dunkin Donuts when I was little I said dreamily,  “I’m going to work there one day”.  Little did I know…

CIrca 1987

I worked full time that summer making minimum wage and as a result no longer qualified for government loans for school.  Instead, my boss sent me to Dunkin Donuts University in Randolph MA.  There I learned how to make the donuts and how to manage a store.  Within a few years I was running 3 Dunkin Donuts and by the time I was 25 I bought a house.  A small house next door to my parents, it cost me about $35,000.  My aunt gave me $1500 for the down payment.  My father died a few years after I bought the house and I found the courage to consider a new career.  You see, I couldn’t change jobs while my father was alive.  After he got home from WWII he worked in a paper mill right up until cancer no longer allowed him to work.  He was a child of the great depression and never failed to tell me how lucky I was to have such a good job.  At the time I didn’t realized it but I just couldn’t move on and risk letting him down.

Though I did wonder about other careers.  I often wondered how I could access a different kind of life.  A life that did not include working in a hot kitchen over a fryolator in 90 degree weather and did not include phone calls at midnight or 5 AM from people saying they couldn’t come to work that day.  What it would be like to not smell like a donut all the time.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job.  I used to sing (to my co-workers lament) as I made the donuts but I wanted more than anything to move on with my life.

One day after a particularly difficult New Year’s Eve of someone calling in sick one time too many, I saw an add in the newspaper for a computer training program at the Boston University Corporate Education Center.  I applied for all the credit cards I could get my hands on, took my $5000 in savings, quit my job and enrolled in the program.  I was so scared!  I tried to think of what the worst possible outcome would be.  I decided the absolute worst was I would lose my house and have to move in with my mother while I picked myself back up.  No one would die, no one would get hurt - I literally had to keep reminding myself of this.  I also knew that this was a chance to move on.  To acquire a skill that could help me move ahead and it was too good a chance to pass up. But I was petrified.

When I gave my notice at Dunkin Donuts I was 29 years old.  I had been working at Dunkin almost half my life.  My boss RIchard, God-bless-him, gave me a stack of coffee and donut cards to last me for several months.  He also paid for my health insurance while I was out of work.  The employees got together and gave me several gift cards to the local grocery store so we would be able to eat.  I was moved to tears.

The training program lasted 8 weeks and in June we graduated.  When it was over I worked part time at Dunkin Donuts and part time at a local Community Service Agency while I looked for work.  I bought my first answering machine so I would not miss out on any opportunities.  It was a scarey summer for my son and me.  Billy was 12 and that was a particularly hot summer.  Between the heat and our nerves Billy developed a case of the hives.  My brother brought over a little air conditioner that we put in Billy’s bedroom which was the only way he could be comfortable.  In August I turned 30.  While I was out in the morning BIlly came out of his room and made me a birthday cake.  In the microwave.  Yup.  Best birthday cake I ever had.

By the fall I had a job as a computer programmer at AMICA Mutual Insurance Co.  AMICA gave me, a single mother and college drop-out a chance to make something of myself.  I had to drive into Providence RI every day and work in a big old glamourous office building.  I was beside myself with joy.  And fear.  I was sure they had a made a big mistake.  Every night for the first three months I got down on my knees and begged God to help me because I knew any day they were going to find out I didn’t have a clue.  Every single night.  And then, after three months, I realized He didn’t need to do it for me anymore.  I knew what I was doing.

Meanwhile, after I started getting a paycheck I went back to Dunkin Donuts.  The deal I had struck with them was that they would pay my insurance and once I got back on my feet I would reimburse them.  I went in and saw Roger, Richard’s brother-in-law.  Roger wouldn’t take my money.  He told me my debt was forgiven and he wished me well.

I tell this story because I think it is a nice story of how a community of people pulled together for me and my family.  I could not have achieved what I have on my own; I had help from a wide variety of people.  My parents babysat my son while I worked and gave me rides when my car was not working.  My boss at Dunkin Donuts saw a potential in me that I did not see and sent me for training.  My aunt helped me buy my house.  My co-workers and my boss helped support me when I was ready to move on.  I did not mention this in my story but two of my brothers spent weekends remodeling my house for me at cost.  My sisters and my brothers were always ready to babysit my son when I wanted to go out.  AMICA took a chance on me when they hired me without a college degree and only 8 weeks of training.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were more stories like this?  How can we, as a community, provide more opportunities for people to succeed?