Paul Nielsen
Proudly Serving: Sobeys #772 Tacoma Drive, Dartmouth, NS
Position: Grocery Manager
Core Value: Proudly Serve Our Communities
Paul coaches Special Olympics basketball and when the season finished, one player said he was taking time off to take up figure skating. As time went on, the athlete would stop by the store to update Paul. “He came in one day and told me he had won provincials so he wouldn’t be back yet. Then he came in and said he had won nationals and wouldn’t be back yet. He was going to worlds.” Shortly after that, in walked the athlete to share the news: he had won three gold medals at the World Figure Skating Championships in Austria. “It brought tears to my eyes,” says Paul, emotional at the memory. “He went home, came back and brought the medals with him. It was quite a day.” Coaching Special Olympic athletes is very humbling and rewarding, says Paul. “The things we get stressed about means nothing to them. They are just there to have fun and that’s what they do.”