Graduate Bianca Thomas is one of about 150 homeless people this year to complete Pine Street's job skills program.
(John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff)
For these grads, pride is a job skill
Pine St. Inn lauds trainees' triumph
Graduate Bianca Thomas is one of about 150 homeless people this year to complete Pine Street's job skills program.
(John Tlumacki/ Globe Staff)
Like most graduating students, Joyce Lawrence has lofty goals. She wants to pursue a career in culinary arts and hopes one day to open her own bakery.
But Lawrence isn’t like most graduates. She is 50 and homeless.
Yesterday, she and about 80 other homeless men and women donned caps and gowns and celebrated their completion of job training classes at the Pine Street Inn in the South End.
“I learned so much in this program,’’ said Lawrence, who said the training she received will help her start a new career. “It wasn’t looking good for me, and I turned myself around.’’
About half the students who completed training in food preparation and maintenance gathered under a white tent set up yesterday over the Pine Street Inn’s parking lot. Friends and family members cheered as each graduate stepped up to the stage to receive a certificate.
“When they come in, they’re often in desperate situations,’’ said Nick Pieri, supervisor of the Pine Street Inn’s building maintenance training program. “And today they’re in suits and ties, caps and gowns. I think it’s a milestone on the road back to a normal life.’’
“I’m feeling very overwhelmed,’’ said Benny Hicks, 46, who grinned as he spoke of completing the STRIVE program, which teaches skills needed to get a job. “Now I believe that, once I get an interview, I can get any job I try for.’’
The Rev. Ray A. Hammond, pastor of Bethel AME Church and a member of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, was the keynote speaker at the ceremony yesterday morning. The event was attended by about half the 150 people who completed job training programs this year.
“As I look out over this assembly, I see that miracles still happen. You are proof of that,’’ he said. “It was true before - but it’s even more true now: You are a vital part of this city. You have the brainpower to do what you want to do.’’
Susan Jarvi, the student speaker at yesterday’s ceremony, moved to Boston 10 years ago and was briefly homeless. When she lost her job last year and could no longer pay her rent, she knew she could turn to the Pine Street Inn.
“We’ve all been given what we really needed,’’ Jarvi, 38, told her classmates. “A second chance.’’
Jarvi is back in her own apartment and works as a waitress at Porter’s Bar and Grill near the TD Banknorth Garden.
Matt Collette can be reached at mpcollette@globe.com. 
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