If you are wandering round the streets of Nelson’s CBD on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, chances are you may bump into Leiv Bjerga delivering the Nelson Weekly with his new trolley.
Partnering with Choices NZ, 27-year-old Leiv was looking for some part-time work, and becoming the new CBD deliverer was the perfect fit for him.
Choices NZ works with people with disabilities and health needs to achieve employment and thrive on the job.
Nelson Weekly sought the help of Whakatū Menzshed to build Leiv a suitable cart to carry the papers around.
Colin Johnstone jumped at the chance to help get a young person into employment, building it for him.
“That’s the cool part about this,” Colin says. “A sense of purpose to get out of bed in the morning.”
Cutting Edge Signs’ Arko Biswas says the existing relationship with Top South Media meant he didn’t think twice to get involved in the project to get Leiv into work.
“A lot of the time, those little things make a big difference to one person.”
Choices NZ employment facilitator Sophie Ward says Leiv enrolled with the service so she was able to help him find the role, which needed to be a minimum five hours of paid work a week.
“Using his skills and strengths and what he would really like to do, we did a bit of job carving for this role.”
Sophie will provide in-work support while Leiv finds his feet and says he is building up a nice rapport with the city’s business people.
If you see Leiv out and about, be sure to say hello.
Sophie adds that anyone that would like to know more about the service can contact her by emailing sophie.ward@choicesnz.org.nz
