As we head into the new year, we are also heading into our 75th year in operation!

What began in 1949 as the “Help-Self School” with two women and two kids, eventually grew into a full fledged “special education” facility known as the Child Development Center, and a few years later became what we are now: the Occupational Development Center.

For most of those years we have been in this same building, doing the work of providing individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) with vocational skills training and the ability to earn a paycheck. And the ability to work AND earn an income, helps put our Program Participants on a path toward independence.

And this just happens to be our slogan for our 75th anniversary: “75 Years on the road to independence.”

In order to celebrate, we have a number of events planned for 2024, on top of the events we already do every year, like our Annual ODC Food Truck Fest.

First up, is ODC Founders Day. This will be held on February 1, 2024, exactly 75 years from the day we opened our doors, with just those 2 adults and 2 kids. We will be hosting an open-house event at the ODC that day, including proclamations from elected officials, a brief ceremony, some tours, light refreshments, and perhaps a few surprises. Stay tune for more information on this, including a start time.

Second, our biggest event of the year will be our 75th Anniversary Banquet. This will be held at The Willows at Historic Strasburg, on Friday, April 5, 2024 at 6 p.m. And we want you all to attend!

Our goal is to have 30 sponsored tables, and 240 people in attendance. This will include all of our Program Participants and staff, as we truly celebrate 75 wonderful years that have brought us to where we are now, while looking forward to the next 75 years!

If you or your business is interested in sponsoring a table or one of our other sponsorship opportunities, now is your chance. Or you can just purchase tickets to attend this event. You can view the sponsorship opportunities and tickets on our online banquet portal. We really hope that you will join us for this, and some of the other events that we are still working on. So stay tuned!

Let us know if you’ll be there!

75 Years on the Road to Independence is certainly something worth celebrating.

Annual Appeal 2023

A Message from Our Executive Director

Dear Friends of the ODC,

2023 has been a good year for us here at the ODC. We have been able to welcome back more of our Program Participants and continue the job of providing them with vocational training and opportunities to find competitive, integrated employment in the community. Thanks to your generosity last year, we were able to make the ODC a safer place by fully replacing our aging and dilapidated hydraulic scissor lift, as well as upgrade our fire safety system.

But now it’s time to focus more on the people we serve. You may remember a few years ago you helped us raise money to purchase three Kia Souls, which we use every day to take our Participants out on Community Participation Supports (CPS) trips. They get to visit all sorts of businesses and learn about the potential jobs they might one day want to pursue.

Many of these CPS locations involve actual hands-on work that help our Participants experience a variety of vocational opportunities. From helping pack meals for Meals on Wheels and the St. Anne’s Church brown bag program, to some good ol’ farm work at Homefields and Woerth It Hollow, these CPS visits are invaluable. They help our Participants discover their interests and develop skills that prospective employers might find attractive. For instance:

• Through CPS, Jim learned that he enjoyed sorting vegetables at Homefields Farm, as well as cleaning at some of our other locations. He also says he would love to try his hand at waiting tables at a restaurant, or even get into painting houses.
• While cleaning at LCBC Lancaster City and the North Museum, Maria discovered that she, too, really enjoys cleaning and would love a job doing just that, perhaps at a restaurant.
• Randy loves the jobs we do that involve working with his hands, such as sorting and packing items for shipping. He’d love to find a job at a local manufacturer doing what he has learned here.
• And Kristen also loves light assembly tasks found in manufacturing jobs but also wouldn’t mind being in customer service position at a retail store.
  

As we continue to expand our CPS offerings, it’s also time to take the next step and reignite our Small Group Employment program. This is a program where we collaborate with area businesses to provide an opportunity for our Participants to work alongside their employees, learn the business, and earn bigger paychecks. This is generally a group of four to six participants with a certified supervisor.

But to do this AND expand our CPS program, we need yet another vehicle; one that can transport a larger group of individuals from our facility to a variety of work locations.

Therefore, this year’s Annual Appeal will go toward purchasing a larger minivan that can hold 5 to 7 passengers and get more of our Participants out into the community on a more regular basis.

Our Appeal goal this year is: $40,000

We are amazed at how you have supported us over the past few years, even during uncertain economic times, and we are grateful for all that you have done and continue to do for the ODC.

You can help us meet this goal by donating online with your tax-deductible contribution.

You’ve supported us in huge ways in the past, and we know that you will once again help us provide our Program Participants with services that help put them on a path toward independence in their lives.

On behalf of our program participants, their families, our staff, and the ODC Board of Directors, we thank you for your continued support of our mission.

P.S. One other way you can help us is by connecting us to local businesses that might be interested in hosting a group of our participants for either our Community Participation Supports or Small Group Employment programs. Let us know if your business, or any other business you know, would like to learn more about these programs.

*Also, don’t forget to join us online at the Extraordinary Give at ExtraGive.com on Friday, November 17th.

And stay tuned: 2024 is our 75th Anniversary, and we have so much planned!

Here at the Occupational Development Center we are in the business of providing independence.

We do this by providing vocational training and employment services to Lancaster County adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). When one of our Program Participants learns a new skill, while at the same time earning a paycheck, they get not only a measure of independence in their lives, but a greater sense of self worth. Time and again we see someone come to the ODC with some level of hesitations, fears, and perhaps a lack of confidence. And nearly every time that person begins to grow and flourish.

Ultimately, we would love to see all of our participants out working in the community in an integrated employment situation. But this takes time, and sometimes a level of creativity to help them find the right job for them. Not just any job, but one that they love and matches their unique skill set.

One of the difficulties in this is that getting a job usually requires having a resume: a printed document stating your educational and work background. Many of our Program Participants lack any sort of meaningful work history, at least in terms of what businesses are usually looking for. In order to remedy that, we decided to start preparing a different kind of resume for them: a video resume.

This way, we can SHOW our Participants at work, highlighting their skills, and also talk to them and their supervisors about their work ethic and what they like to do.

To achieve this, we secured a capacity building grant from the Lancaster County Community Foundation which allowed us to purchase the necessary video equipment and software.

And, here is our very first video resume! This resume is for Kristen A. who has been a Program Participant at the ODC since December of 2010.

If you’re interested in having Kristen work for your business, or would like to discuss hiring any of our Participants, please contact us at 717-397-4261, or email us at Hello@odcenter.org