We have recently been the recipient of some excellent news…

The Occupational Development Center has partnered with Kinsey’s Outdoors in Mount Joy, PA to provide a new service called, Small Group Employment.

Three days a week, the ODC will be sending a crew of program participants and a program supervisor to work in their warehouse alongside the other employees at Kinsey’s Outdoors.  The program participants will be performing a variety of tasks such as: making boxes, packaging, assembly, and quality assurance.

Their starting rate of pay will be… Minimum Wage!

Now, while that may not sound like a big deal to most people, it is a VERY big deal to our program participants.

Historically, the ODC has provided the bulk of our work opportunities to individuals with disabilities at our facility at 640 Martha Avenue in Lancaster, PA.  Most of the jobs that we complete “in house” for various businesses are performed at what is called, “Piece Rate.”  The idea behind piece rate work is that it allows different individuals having varying skill levels and abilities to “succeed at their own pace.”

Many of our community based jobs were either volunteer opportunities or transitional work meant to give people work experience and to develop the social skill required to be successful in achieving competitive employment.

The Occupational Development Center has always and will always try to develop the skills of our individuals to achieve their maximum levels of independence and inclusion in their community.  Many of our program participants have absolutely achieved the skill level to be successful in competitive and integrated work settings but just require the opportunity to show what they can do.

We applaud Kinsey’s Outdoors for recognizing the ability of our individuals and providing the opportunity for them to succeed.  We are confident that this pairing will be the first of many successful relationships between the ODC and local businesses, but we wanted to take the opportunity to say,

Thank you Kinsey’s Outdoors.

Thank you for providing a life changing opportunity to our program participants.

Thank you for participating in the cultural shift that will allow individuals with developmental disabilities not only to get out “in the community,” but to be “OF the community.”

A part of everyone’s everyday lives.  As it should be.

As we celebrate our freedoms during this Independence Day weekend, we should take some time to think about what freedom and independence mean for the people we serve at the ODC.

For nearly 70 years the Occupational Development Center has been working hard to help those with developmental and intellectual disabilities experience true freedom and independence.

It wasn’t that long ago that their parents were told that they were “uneducable” or would never be able to work. For many, their fate was staying at home, or even being put in an

We do this by working with them as individuals and providing them with the skills they want, and need, to gain meaningful employment. This includes vocational skills they need for a variety of tasks, as well as the “soft skills” necessary for succeeding in the workplace alongside their fellow employees.

We believe that every one of our participants deserves to be employed in their least restrictive environment, allowing them to flourish and succeed while earning an income. This might be in some form of customized, community employment.

Our individuals are adults, just like you and me, who can make their own decisions. They are capable of working in the community.

So on this Independence Day, think about those who are still seeking independence in their daily lives. Consider coming alongside them and helping them.

First and foremost, you can do this by helping us identify those area businesses that would be willing to talk to us about hiring one or more of our participants. We know they are out there, but would love you to introduce us to them.

And, of course, you can always give to the ODC and help us as we continue to work with our participants to prepare them for employment.

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

This week we got to spend some celebrating with two groups of folks who are our longest running supporters: the ODC Parents Group and the ODC Auxiliary. Each year in June we meet with them at their annual meeting (and potluck supper!) to receive donations from them.

These two groups date from our earliest days, all the way back into the very early 1950’s, when we were the Child Development Center. At the time, the Parent’s Group was more of a PTA, but for nearly 70 years these two groups have supported the work that we do.

In fact, we recently discovered that the ODC Auxiliary actually raised the money for a part of the land we are now sitting on, when we built the first portion of our building in 1956. The land they helped us purchase allowed us to expand our building in 1965, and again in 1984.

Throughout the year, both of these groups hold events solely for the purpose of raising money for the work we do. From nut, plant, and wreath sales to fashion shows, banquets, and our annual chicken BBQ, these events have become a part of the culture of the ODC.

As part of the annual meeting, these two groups, along with the Hempfield Women’s Club, presented us with checks that together total more than $9,000.00!

We are so grateful and appreciative of the hard work these groups do all year.

Thank you!

But what about you?

If you’d like to find ways of supporting the ODC, we have plenty of opportunities. If you are a family member of one of our participants, our Parents Group is open to you. Or, if you just want to help, consider joining our ODC Auxiliary. Just contact us and we’ll connect you with the right people.

And at least stay connected to our event calendar and Facebook as we’ll be regularly updating you on the fundraising events hosted by these two groups.

Again, thank you!

What exactly do we do here at the Occupational Development Center?

From the perspective of our participants and their families, we offer them job and vocational skills training, and also help them with employment.

But from the perspective of area businesses, we make it our business to do their business.

That’s right, we can do your work for you. What could be better than that?

And we do this in three different ways:

• You give us a job to do, and we’ll do it here at our facility.
• You give us a job to do, and we’ll do it at your facility with one of our mobile work crews.
• You give one of our participants a job and they become your employee. Period.

It’s a win-win situation, because our participants are hard workers who are trained to do a wide variety of tasks.

Take, for instance, Kinsey’s Outdoors in Mount Joy. We’ve been sending our mobile work crews out there several times a week since September of 2016. Deb Russell is the Inventory Control Manager there, and works with our crews. She had this to say:

“The team from ODC has been such a great support in our daily operations at Kinsey’s, and we’re proud to be working with such a wonderful organization. The ODC Mobile Work Crew arrives with a positive attitude that is contagious throughout our company. The way they support one another to accomplish the goals we’ve laid out for them is inspiring! The ODC employees are always happy to assist with any tasks we need, such as assembling boxes, packaging a variety of different products, applying labels, etc. and they take great pride in a job well done.

Kinsey’s would highly recommend ODC to any local companies that want to help their business while also helping the community!”

And recently Deb singled out one of our participants, Kristen.

Positive, Helpful and Encouraging are the words I would use to describe Kristen A.!

Kristen is part of the ODC Mobile Work Crew and as you can tell by her picture she’s always smiling when she’s working at Kinsey’s! She not only makes boxes but can package everything from Shooting Gloves to Brands items – bagging, labeling and attaching header cards. She’s always willing to learn new things by volunteering to try jobs she hasn’t done before.

When Kristen is working beside someone who is maybe struggling with getting items in bags she’s quick to give them an encouraging word…”You can do it” or “You got this Buddy”! And if one of her co-workers doesn’t like the job they were assigned to do, she is happy to switch places with them.

Kinsey’s is not alone. All of the companies we work with love our participants and the work they do.

So what do you have for us? If you own a business, what job can we do for you?

Also, what area businesses do you know that would be interested in hiring one of our participants?

We’d love to hear from you!

If you look at our website and signage, you’ll notice the phrase “Creating Opportunity Through Community” surrounding our new logo.

This was a phrase developed by our web and logo design team from the Curio Collective after they sat down and chatted with us at our first discovery session with them. They heard us using the words “opportunity” and “community” over and over again, and felt that this was at the core of who we are.

And they were right. They get it.

In our official by-laws and documents, and on our “About Us” page, we have a rather lengthy mission statement that talks about what we do and how we seek to accomplish that.

But if you really want to, you can boil it down to just four words:

Creating Opportunity Through Community

Quite simply, we want nothing more than to create opportunities for the participants we work with day in and day out here at the Occupational Development Center.

Each of them has a very specific set of skills, and we work to help them develop those skills.

They also have their own individual passions and dreams for the type of work they would like to do.

By putting those skill sets and passions together, we hope to find opportunities for them in the workplace. We want to see them fully included and integrated into competitive employment situations, just like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter that they have developmental/intellectual disabilities. We work with them every day and we know they can succeed and flourish as employees of local businesses and organizations.

That’s where the “community” part comes in.

And that’s you!

You are our community. This includes our staff, volunteers, donors, and more importantly, the businesses and organizations of Lancaster County.

We need businesses like yours to come alongside the ODC and our participants, and find ways to employ them.

You might not think that it would work for you, but I bet if you give us the chance, we could sit down with you and help you discover ways that we can work together.

This could be in the form of contracting out to us to do some work for you here at our facility. Or, it might be having one of our Mobile Work Crews come out to do some work at your place of business.

Or, it might even be that you are ready to hire one of our participants to be a regular part of your staff.

Still not sure?

Don’t take it from us, take it from our current business partners.

Some of the companies and organizations that already understand the value of what we do, and love working with our participants, include:

• Kinsey’s, Inc.
• Amerimax
• Fabral
• Alert-All
• Meals on Wheels of Lancaster
• DentalEZ
• Electron Energy Corporation

So, go ahead. Challenge us. Give us a call (717-397-4269), e-mail us (hello@odcenter.org), or stop on by for a tour, and we’ll work with you to make this happen.

We love our community and we would love you to be a part of it!