I nominate Paulina Podgorska, a single mother and Founder of an invaluable service helping thousands of families across Canada and Quebec – www.SOSsitter.ca / www.SOSgarde.ca As a single mother, Paulina founded SOSsitter.ca / SOSgarde.ca in 2009, with a single mission in mind – to help Canadian families quickly and easily find a local nanny or babysitter. It was born from a persistent problem Paulina faced when she could not find a nanny when returning to work from maternity leave. It was a stressful situation and a real hassle.
Very quickly she found out that many more parents of her local community were facing the same challenge she did. With her marketing experience, and solid knowledge of Internet’s connecting power, SOSsitter was born. Using latest technology, it’s one of the fastest and most effective methods to find a nanny or babysitter. Families only need their postal code to find a caregiver closest to their home, and select with different criteria such as spoken language, availability, desired salary, special needs.
Detailed profiles with pictures are available along with parent’s reviews, references and caregivers’ criminal records checks making the short-listing a breeze and the interviewing process more manageable. All profiles are read and Mom approved. As time went by, Paulina saw that SOSsitter could help Canadian families not only in finding childcare help, but also support with ailing parents, pets or even keeping the house clean. Now SOSsitter offers to all its members a possibility to find all types of caregivers in one place. SOSsitter also wanted to make sure to give back to the community and one way that was near and dear to Paulina’s heart was to help members and families of the Canadian Armed Forces.
As a result, SOSsitter implemented a permanent 20% discount on memberships for members of the forces and their families so they could find the help they needed, wherever and whenever they had to move. We are living in challenging times, where Canadian families really need help in household chores. SOSsitter is a proven, reliable, effective solution constantly evolving in its offering aimed at our modern realities.
Since its inception, SOSsitter has grown exponentially year on year, has helped over 6000 families, has been the source to find employment for 20,000 sitters, provides flexible employment from home for two staff members. This is just the beginning. Next step is to offer SOSsitter services to Employers across Canada as an innovative Employee Benefit program. Paulina had created something invaluable, from a simple idea, answering a real problem. With persistence, skills and constant improvement, she is a true social entrepreneur changing our immediate world for a better place. I nominate her with my eyes closed to this award.
Nominated by:
