Kim Gagne, Community Living Prince Edward

I’ve been a part of the developmental sector for 47 years and I’d like to share my story and journey.

I began working for Community Living 26 years ago. Starting at the Rick Hotston Centre were I worked with people to enhance their volunteer, employment, and creative skills. Together, we assembled products for manufacturing businesses, did lawn maintenance and took part in a cleaning crew.

For 12 years, I supported people to enhance their work skills while they worked at Splashworks carwash. What I enjoyed the most included working as part of their team.  At one point in my career I was the Volunteer gatekeeper, scouting out and securing volunteer positions in the community. It’s important to find the right job/volunteer role for people as well as promote how awesome their contributions were to the Prince Edward County community. At Community Supports and Services I supported people in many different areas of their day.  Working with people to prepare 60 or more meals to share with others was both exciting and a challenge!

Along the way, I took job coaching courses, belonged to several committees and became a certified CPI instructor and a certified Joint Health and Safety Committee co-chair. I have also supported people who volunteered and worked at Heart of the County. I supported people with learning how to run a business, set up displays, provide customer service, with the dressing for success initiative and much more. Coaching people to learn money management, choosing the right products for the store, coding, and entering products into a data system were just some of the rewarding skills I supported people to learn. Watching people grow, gain confidence and get excited about their personal accomplishments was truly amazing! It was rewarding to see people meet new friends and be recognized for their accomplishments. 

Today, I support gentlemen in their home, which is back to my roots of long ago. I must say, when someone looks at me and says "Oh, your job must be so rewarding or you must be a special person" I find that challenging to hear. My response is always, "WE are two people who are working towards a common goal of citizenship, belonging, life connections, respect, health, wellness and relationships."  

My career has almost come to the end of its journey, and I have to say that it has been a blast. I have learned so much and am continuing to learn. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some very dedicated people who continue to amaze me each day. 

Every day, Community Living Prince Edward team members like Kim Gagne help people achieve their goals here in the County.