Richard Wang is working up a sweat on the warehouse floor.

As Wang enters the break room, boss Mark Cooper claps him warmly on the back.

“You’re working hard!” he booms.

Anything else would be out of character for Wang. But for the first time since he arrived in Canada 10 years ago, his efforts are being fairly rewarded. For the first time in a decade, he has a fulltime position with regular daytime hours. And he still can’t quite believe it. “It’s something too good to be true,” he says.

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Two months ago a friend sent Cooper the Star story profiling Wang’s struggle to balance precarious work with the duties of single fatherhood.

Cooper, president of Toronto-based Revolution Recycling and father to a now 3-month-old son, was touched.

“It definitely struck a chord,” he says. “I have got an amazing family and lots of opportunities in my life and a big network. And things still don’t necessarily come easy.”

So Cooper met with Wang. He was immediately impressed by Wang’s soft-spoken manner and conscientious attitude. This, he decided, was the kind of worker he needed.

“Certain things can be taught,” he says. “But work ethic and attitude and strength of character cannot.”

Cooper’s firm, founded in 2013, collects and sorts material for processing. The task of sorting recyclables may not ooze glamour but Wang is savouring the small luxuries: a lunch break, free parking, a stipend for safety equipment.

Decades ago, these perks may have seemed ordinary. But in a city where the number of temporary workers has increased by 40 per cent since 1997, they have become the exception. What Wang loves most about his job is the stability it provides in an uncertain market.

“That’s what I’m seeking,” he says. “I just want security for myself and for my son.”

Now simple dreams long obscured by erratic schedules and constant stress are being reclaimed. This year Wang plans to find more time to read. He hopes to take 8-year-old Noah on his first real holiday, perhaps to take in Ottawa’s Tulip Festival.

Wang’s decision to share his story with Star readers in November was not easy. As Deena Ladd of the Workers Action Centre, a labour rights group, points out, many in precarious work risk losing already tenuous employment if they speak out.

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But for Wang, exposing an unfair system also ultimately reconnected him to the kindness of strangers. Numerous readers reached out to him: some saw their own childhood in his son’s, others saw a fellow parent struggling to hold it all together. All wanted to help, offering to provide contacts or look over resumés.

“That helped me build the faith in the community and the people,” says Wang. “Because for a long while, honestly, I lost faith in the people. Because too many things happened to me and other immigrants.”

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving than (Richard),” says Ladd. “We’re absolutely thrilled for him and we wish the same for everyone.”

Wang cherishes the same wish. In the plain Revolution Recycling break room, he lays out a bag of tangerines for his co-workers. The fruit represent good luck in his home country and as Chinese New Year approaches, Richard Wang intends to extend his in advance.