“I remember Bob. He helped me a lot. Putting my resumé together. When he helped me and I sent it the next day I got four phone calls.”
The Lewis Pearsall Computer Resource Centre was funded by Employment Ontario and was staffed by one full-time employee and one part-time employee. It was also heavily supported by volunteers and by other Ralph Thornton Centre staff. One service user told us: “People travel from Etobicoke or Scarborough to get here. There are resource centres there, but they don’t offer the same kinds of services. One lady came all the way from Richmond Hill …” The LPCRC was clearly more than just an employment centre. It was described by some as “the heartbeat of the [Ralph Thornton] Centre.”
Bob, who ran the LPCRC, was deeply respected by everyone the DEPARTMENT spoke with. He helped countless people conduct job searches, write resumés and cover letters and apply for jobs. The people he helped found work as “carpenters, cabinet makers, nurses, musicians, chemists, architects, cooks, personal trainers” and more. Bob also kept all of the centre’s computers running. A long-time user of the LPCRC told us that Bob provided “the continuity that allowed the centre to be modern. Every new and modern technology. There has not been a change in leadership, so you get continuity. He is a whiz-kid. He is very welcoming when immigrants come in.”