WEBVTT 00:00:00.201 --> 00:00:06.352 (music) 00:00:06.352 --> 00:00:09.770 So many people are sitting around saying, "Well, our job isn't quite exactly what 00:00:09.770 --> 00:00:13.486 I want, I'm here for something else. And something else, and all of a sudden it's 00:00:13.486 --> 00:00:18.191 three years later and they still haven't got a job." Hey, if it means cooking 00:00:18.191 --> 00:00:22.610 hamburgers at McDonald's, get a job. Get out there and get some experience and go 00:00:22.610 --> 00:00:29.003 after it. Now, that was one thing my father taught me, and just beat it into me from the 00:00:29.003 --> 00:00:33.689 time I was a little kid, he says: "Nobody ever makes a great success out of life workin' 40 00:00:33.689 --> 00:00:39.455 hours a week." When he was 14 and a half years old, his father sent him to Omaha, 00:00:39.455 --> 00:00:44.067 Nebraska, with a whole trainload of sheep. By himself. To sell the sheep. 00:00:44.067 --> 00:00:49.383 Fourteen-and-a-half years old! Come on, he had his first pair of long pants when 00:00:49.383 --> 00:00:57.306 he did that. He went and sold all the sheep and came home. And he said, you know, "He told 00:00:57.306 --> 00:00:59.252 me what to do, he never told me how to do it." 00:00:59.252 --> 00:01:02.368 (laughter) 00:01:02.368 --> 00:01:08.726 In 1989, my brother and I and my folks were trying to decide - my mother and my 00:01:08.726 --> 00:01:14.458 father had passed away in 1985 - we were trying to figure out what segment of the 00:01:14.458 --> 00:01:21.755 population, of the youth population, can we help out. What can we do? And we sat 00:01:21.755 --> 00:01:27.087 down and went through everything we could think of. We said, "You know, young people 00:01:27.087 --> 00:01:30.454 with disabilities are making a tremendous contribution to our company. We've been 00:01:30.454 --> 00:01:37.131 hiring them for years. But most of them have- they are unemployed! And what we 00:01:37.131 --> 00:01:40.964 need to do is get in there and try and find a way of helping these young people get 00:01:40.964 --> 00:01:46.687 an opportunity for full-time employment. So over the the past 23 years, Bridges has 00:01:46.687 --> 00:01:51.573 helped more than 18,000 young people find meaningful employment. 00:01:51.573 --> 00:01:55.730 (applause) 00:01:55.730 --> 00:01:59.817 What Bridges does... We go work with the special education groups and the voc 00:01:59.817 --> 00:02:03.163 rehab groups and so forth in the various cities that we're working with. They 00:02:03.163 --> 00:02:09.059 identify students who could possibly be possible Bridges candidates. Our employer representatives 00:02:09.059 --> 00:02:14.236 work with these young men and women, and we train them how to make an 00:02:14.236 --> 00:02:18.664 application for a job, how to interview, how to perform work, how to have 00:02:18.664 --> 00:02:24.223 responsibility, how to do day-to-day job responsibilities. I spoke today about this 00:02:24.223 --> 00:02:29.039 sweet girl named Maria in Dallas. Hired by the Bank of America, they'd never 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:34.464 anybody out of the program. She has spina bifida, she could barely walk. But, you 00:02:34.464 --> 00:02:38.365 know, she said, "People don't think I can do anything because I can't walk straight." 00:02:38.365 --> 00:02:44.641 But the Bank of America hired her. She is a sensation! I mean, she's had three 00:02:44.641 --> 00:02:50.996 promotions, they've hired 32 people since from the Bridges program, and- Because 00:02:50.996 --> 00:02:58.047 she is so darn good. These kids are great for the team morale. I mean, people who 00:02:58.047 --> 00:03:02.416 work with them say, "Here is somebody who's truly excited about their job!" 00:03:02.416 --> 00:03:03.449 (laughter) 00:03:03.449 --> 00:03:10.301 I mean, wow! They show up, they work hard, they're happy, they're just excited to be 00:03:10.301 --> 00:03:16.222 there and be performing a useful service. And it's good for everybody! 00:03:16.222 --> 00:03:23.486 We've dealt with 4,800 different employers down through the years. I mean, there 00:03:23.486 --> 00:03:29.277 are a lot of employers out there. And it's usually- We're educating the kids how 00:03:29.277 --> 00:03:32.418 to apply for jobs, and we're also educating the employers how to work with people with 00:03:32.418 --> 00:03:36.262 disabilities, and how to be comfortable with them. And the comfort level is the 00:03:36.262 --> 00:03:39.495 most important single thing. We can get them comfortable with working with these young 00:03:39.495 --> 00:03:46.251 people and know how they can best apply their individual talents, and it's a no-brainer. 00:03:46.251 --> 00:03:50.603 These kids can really make contributions. They can help us, they can help with our 00:03:50.603 --> 00:03:56.013 morale, they can help with our bottom line, they can help with our participation in 00:03:56.013 --> 00:04:01.332 the community. You know, it's a terrific opportunity for them, to really bring 00:04:01.332 --> 00:04:07.417 these young people into the community and into the business community.