THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701150165
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 116 lines
MANY OF THE EMPLOYEES at the Chesapeake Vocational Center cannot read or telltime, but they meet their work deadlines. They would rather be busy than idle, and they always know when it's lunch time and when it's payday.
The 75 employees, from 22 to 58 years old, have another common link. They were born mentally retarded or have suffered permanent brain injury.
Under the auspice of Chesapeake's Community Services Board, the Chesapeake Vocational Center was started to provide job skills, support and resources for many of the city's mentally disabled.
``We are not a school or a charity group,'' said Thomas J. Swanston, the center's coordinator. ``We are a work force and one of the best task forces in Chesapeake.''
The goals are to train the disabled to be self-sufficient in work programs and to get them involved in community activities, such as bowling, basketball and trips to the mall and the movies.
``And we want people to know about our abilities not our disabilities,'' said Warren D. Mills of Chesapeake Service Systems, which was founded also by the Community Services Board to locate work for the center's employees.
Mills negotiates bids and contracts with local businesses for entry-level jobs. Some work is brought in-house, and the center also provides transportation to outside jobs.
Some contracts are one-time projects. For example, the workers have assembled 500,000 promotional packets for Lifetouch National Studios, delivered 1,300 coupons in one day and assembled 100,000 trash cans for the City of Chesapeake.
Other jobs are for continued service. They have a contract to do the laundry service for Norfolk State University and for the Navy's Fleet Combat Training Center Dam Neck in Virginia Beach. The center also provides several crews for roadside trash pick-up for the city.
``We have a winning situation for the disabled, for their families and for businesses,'' Swanston said as he explained the program.
The Chesapeake Public School System provides special-education classes for the disabled until age 22. Then families are on their own to make arrangements for their adult children.
To be eligible for the center, the applicants must be diagnosed as mentally retarded and not be a danger to themselves or to others. There is always a waiting list, and sometimes the wait can be several years.
Training and work assignments are based on an individual's abilities, skills, motivation and personal interest. Some will always need the workshop environment. But the goal is to prepare those that are able to advance out of the program to work independently in a community job.
So far, about 30 disabled men and women have moved out of the program and into jobs at local stores such as Roses, Lowe's, Farm Fresh and Food Lion and McDonald's, Burger King and Pizza Hut restaurants.
Besides job training, crew supervisors like Sherry Stone, Florentine Evans and Emma Woods supply support, personal hygiene tips, advice on appropriate social behavior and lots of praise.
Sandra S. Wall supervises the Community Options Program, which is for the more profoundly disabled adults at the center. But they still accomplish simple work tasks.
In the past, they have picked-up trash at the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Their current project is to take stickers off of computer discs, and they have plans for a spring food garden at the Virginia Zoo.
``Everyone must have a reason to get up in the morning,'' Wall said. ``And we do, too. We have work, and we have fun.''
Along with work skills, job trainers and coaches help the employees learn about public transportation, banking, shopping and budgeting. Several employees have been able to move into group homes or supervised apartment living. And two couples, who worked at the center, have married.
Every worker receives a paycheck based on individual production and the job assignment. Employees receive frequent reviews, merit raises and promotions.
Mills said employees from the center also save businesses money. Because of a special certification from the Department of Labor, businesses who contract with the center do not have to pay minimum wage or provide benefits.
Alyson Rogers, the daughter of Pasty and Dean Rogers of Chesapeake, waited for more than two years for her turn to attend the center. Patsy said if it were not for the program she would have to quit her job or make day-care arrangements for her daughter.
Recently at the center, Alyson put together small brackets that will be used in diesel engines. Now at 25, she has her own job, and she's purchased a VCR and a television for her room with her own money.
``The center has given all of us some independence,'' Patsy said.
In the center's professional laundry facility, Stephanie Swanson, 22, and Jerry Gordon, 27, are part of the crew who keep the busy place humming. Towels, sheets and military uniforms are washed, ironed, folded and stacked for delivery. The workers turn out more than 2.2 million pounds of clean sheets and towels a year.
More advanced crews travel to job sites like Mitsubishi Chemical America, Inc. where they do boxing and packaging when needed. A work force of 10 from the center once assembled more than 4,000 boxes in one day.
The Navy's Fleet Combat Training Dam Neck is one of the largest long-term contracts. Besides doing the base's laundry, workers are trained and employed as cafeteria attendants and dishwashers for all meal shifts.
John Cannon, 25, and Thomas Sherrill, 29, and others on the Dam Neck team have to meet the Navy's own tough standards and performance demands.
``We have impressed the Navy personnel by exceeding their expectations,'' said John C. Wilson, the project manager, who often rounds up his crew to drink coffee together or slip away to go bowling.
Most employers are pleased with using men and women from the vocational center because as workers they are motivated, anxious to please, and revel in a sense of accomplishment, Swanston said.
But Cannon and Sherrill had their own reasons for working.
``I like to be with my friends, save money and be my own man,'' Cannon said.
Sherrill was too busy with his pots and pans to talk. He had a schedule to keep. But he had one word for what he liked best.
``Payday.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color cover photo by MORT FRYMAN
Alyson Rogers puts together pieces that make up hose braces for
autos. These parts are used for diesel engines.
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Jeff Gordon, left, George Martin and Debra Moore work in the
Chesapeake Vocational Center's laundry facility, which churns out
2.2 million pounds of clean sheets and towels a year.