Anyone who is unemployed should read this column. That's because Fallbrook resident Barbara Findler, founder and CEO of the Fallbrook Wellness Spa, has an important story for all of us.

"Twenty-eight years ago, I was a 26-year-old single mother who had just moved to Fallbrook," Findler told me recently. "I wanted to earn money to go to a trade school. I sincerely believe that I could not be where I am today without the selfless service and caring staff of People to People Services."

Without People to People, she said, "It could have been a different story."

Marjory Markham and Mary Breen founded People to People in 1981 to help people find jobs in the home health-care field. But it's not just what the small, no-fee employment agency did for her that day, when she first stepped through its doors.

"It's what I've learned from the many jobs to which they sent me in those days," Findler said. "For five years I relied on People to People to supply me with employment when I needed it. A few jobs lasted only weeks. One, for years. But I was always employed."

She cleaned houses at first. Later, after training in health care through a nursing program at Palomar College, she began to take care of seniors in their homes.

"The priceless wisdom I gained from listening to the stories of the elder people I cared for has been invaluable," she said.

Findler advises job hunters to become involved with the community in which they live.

"If I have two applicants for a job -- equally qualified -- I choose the one from Fallbrook," she said.

A farewell: This is my last column for the North County Times. I don't like goodbyes, and so I would like to point out that this is not really a formal adios.

Although you may not encounter evidence of my existence in print, those who frequent downtown Fallbrook will continue to meet me often -- at everyone's "town center," Major Market, where I do my weekly grocery shopping.

My home phone number will remain what it is now: 760-645-3166. My e-mail address of bettyj82@roadrunner.com will continue.

And I'll be happy to hear from you. Till then -- Betty Johnston