The Unemployed Help Centre is celebrating 40 years in Windsor-Essex.
Established by the labour movement in 1977 to help workers find jobs, the centre now helps thousands of unemployed, under-employed, and disadvantaged people keep their head above water and find work.
Help centre CEO June Muir tells AM800 News the organization has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the basement of downtown Windsor's Central United Church.
"We have literacy and basic skills where you can get your GED [General Equivalency Diploma], we have a community garden, we have a food bank, but it's not a food bank model, it's more of a grocery store model where people come in and shop," she says. "We're quite proud of that."
Now offering 24-services for youths and adults, it aims to provide almost everything needed at one of their two locations,
"It's not like they have to come here for just their employment needs, they can also get help with their basic needs, it's one stop shop," says Muir. "We don't have to refer them anymore, we can do it all here."
Muir says being able to change the course of someone's life is a great feeling.
"It's the staff and the board, all of us working together, that makes what happens here at the Unemployed Help Centre happen and that's why we're successful," she says. "It makes us all feel very proud that we can help people."
The help centre also has a satellite location in Belle River in addition to its Windsor location at 6955 Cantelon Dr. - Muir says a shuttle service was recently established to assure people can everything the UHC has to offer.