We love to celebrate our participants when we hear about improvements and accomplishments they make in the workplace! Melissa Holm has been working as a server at Brethren Village since 2016. Brethren Village is a retirement community located in Lititz Pennsylvania! The restaurant Melissa works at is called Chives American Grill. This restaurant is for both residents and outside consumers!
AHEDD Employment Specialist, Kelsey Chlebowski, began working with Melissa in August of 2023. In the short time they have spent together, Kelsey has been working with Melissa to improve her focus and take initiative if the restaurant is not as busy with customers. Recently, Kelsey has seen Melissa take on other tasks on her own even when coworkers around her are on their phones. Melissa began to organize the silverware to prepare for the rush that happens later in the day, when previously, she would just grab her phone as others did around her. Her manager took notice of Melissa’s work and went out of her way to thank her when she was finished! Melissa is even starting to let Kelsey know what she needs to work on in order to become a better server! She wanted Kelsey to watch her so she didn’t reach over any customers when serving their food! Kelsey stated, “It was a proud moment to see her observe and make a plan to correct that behavior!”
In a matter of a month, two different people have come up to Kelsey to compliment the work Melissa has been doing. This is not a surprise to us as Melisa stated her favorite part of the job is speaking with customers and learning getting to know their interests! First, a customer let Kelsey know that Melissa always does a great job and puts the customer in a better mood each time they see her! Less than a month later, one of the nursing staff approached Kelsey to let her know Melissa is always so friendly and helpful to him when he comes to eat!
Melissa obtained her culinary arts degree and her overall goal is to become a chef, so even though she loves her current job at Brethren Village, we are very excited to see where she goes next!