Tulare County Office of Education

Ticket to Work Success Stories

Maria

Very active lady ... possibly jet setting around the U.S.?

Maria, age 46, worked in management, loss prevention and customer service. Always active and working two jobs at once, in 2001 she was diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and had to stop working. She couldn't breath and developed more complications due to a stroke caused by medication she was prescribed.

Her health had improved by the summer of 2005. Maria heard about A Ticket To Success from the Center for Independent Living and called for information. When she contacted me, she stated she was "scared, curious, but mostly serious" about returning to the work force.

With our one-on-one job search assistance, she immediately sought employment and was hired by a major retail department store as part of their Management Task Team. She is making more than $1700 per month with benefits, and was recently offered a position as Regional Training Manager in which she would travel to various states, including Alaska. She is very excited and taking her time in considering the position which would pay $50,000 per year.

Although Maria gets tired occasionally, she is enjoying her position with the store and is very happy to be back working and staying busy. She is well on her way to self-sufficiency and I am very proud of her!

submitted by Mary Flores (10/28/05)

Tulare County Office of Education
Services for Education and Employment
Ticket to Work Program
626 North Akers Road
Visalia, CA 93292

Karen Davidson, Regional Coordinator
(559) 730-2737
fax: (559) 635-8754

Please direct web site problems or comments to tcoeweb@tcoe.org.