Business for Good surprises AIM with $50K check

The Business for Good Foundation surprised AIM services in Saratoga County with a $50,000 check Thursday morning. AIM staff expected $25,000 for its career services programming and had organized a press event to celebrate the donation and the collaboration between the two groups. They were not ready for the $50,000 surprise.

For a short time, just before the organized photo with the oversized check, AIM staff who caught a glimpse of the check wondered if there were a typo.

Nope. It was supposed to be a surprise: “That was the goal,” Jahkeen Hoke, Business for Good’s chief executive officer, said. 

He added that $25,000 was to be used for the employment center that AIM is developing, but Business for Good likes to give unrestricted funds as well, so they tacked on the surprise, Hoke said.

“We want to make sure this money kicks off dreams for people,” Hoke said. “We’re here to support that.”

Bo Goliber cried. 

When she realized there was no typo and that AIM services was getting an unexpected $25,000, AIM’s chief development and communications officer was overwhelmed by the generosity. 

AIM plans to use the initial $25,000 to help build out its “Career Center” with more technology and other resources that the people they work with might not have, officials said. Some people they work with do not have computers at home or they need to take a special class or course, and the donation will help with that.

The services that AIM provides include career preparation and placement for people with disabilities. The career services program develops a individual plan between the client and counselor for a job and beyond that for a dream career or life goal. AIM staff has said in the past they do not work for just what a person needs to live in the community but what they want as well.

[Read more about that here.]

“Everyone wants to be competent at something,” said Christopher Lyons, AIM’s Executive Director. He added that people with disabilities face challenges, but they still need a chance to reach those goals, and work at its core is a way to have dignity in the community. Everyone wants that, he said.

The $50,000 was a surprise, but it also shows how BFG is committed to those ideals, Lyons said.

BFG owns a handful of small businesses in the area and gives to minority-owned businesses as well, Hoke said. Therefore the collaboration between AIM and BFG is so important to AIM because it provides job and career opportunities for people. It opens doors for AIM’s clients.

Bella Boyd is a 19-year-old Saratoga Springs High School graduate who has worked with AIM counselor Molly McCarthy for a couple of years.

Boyd works as a front end associate and cashier at the Hannaford on Weibel Avenue. She started there as a bagger and cart-wrangler, working her way through “re-shopping” or re-stocking shelves, to her work as a cashier.

“I’m almost on the wall,” she said, indicating the wall of associate photos in the store.

She said the training there was aimed at her.

“They did it slow for me so I wouldn’t get anxiety,” Boyd said.

McCarthy said it was the focus of the management at Hannaford that helped move Boyd up the ladder. But Boyd and McCarthy talked about the videos that Boyd watched and the job preparation that she received from AIM before ever entering her first job.

The training is intended to help prepare people for jobs generally, but they work on the specific skills needed for a particular job, too.

There was “a lot of learning beforehand,” McCarthy said.

“I’m ecstatic about this” donation McCarthy said, before realizing it had doubled. She is looking forward to working BFG and their businesses, seeing more opportunities for her clients. 

Next up for Boyd is to try other positions at the Hannaford but moreso, to rent an apartment.