Just over a year ago, Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop Inc. announced plans to create a new facility for its day programs and administration. Executive Director for the Wor-Kin Shop Andria Brady and her team began a fundraising campaign in January of 2011 with a goal of $500,000.
A new Day Program Building is a must in order for the Wor-Kin Shop to be equipped to accommodate the more than 30 people on its waiting list in addition to the 32 current clients being served. Many of the waitlisted clients are unable to be served in the current location due to their very specialized, intensive support requirements.
For more than 40 years, the Wor-Kin Shop has been providing programs and services that enhance the quality of life and promote independence and community inclusion for adults with development and intellectual disabilities. As the needs of Wor-Kin's clients change, so must its facility.
The agency is a fifth of the way to its $500,000 goal, having harnessed so far about $100,000 committed dollars.
The original plan was to break ground in early 2012, but it is now looking more like the action will take place this summer.
"Our land purchase has not yet been finalized," said Andria Brady. "We're waiting on environmental okay and we expect to get that soon."
Brady said that once they are ready to move forward with construction, they'll tender the work locally because they want whoever builds the facility to be a local business.
"We've asked for community support, so we are in turn going to support the community," she said.
With faith in a supportive community, the Wor-Kin Shop representatives have been posing for donation photos with a giant sign that reads, 'Future Home of The Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop,' which will go up on the property as soon as the land is secured.
For now, Brady is focusing on the process of getting everything organized for the next phase. Once she is able to announce land acquisition, which is likely to happen within the next month, Brady hopes that fundraising will then begin to build even more momentum in addition to the recent donations that have been making local headlines, including a substantial one of $25,000 from the Weyburn Young Fellows in January.
"For the Young Fellows to recognize the value in our project tells us that we're doing something right," said Brady, who has been busy applying for corporate sponsorships from local, provincial, even national foundations. "I've probably sent out 70 sponsorship packages."
Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop will be keeping its current building as well, which facilitates its businesses including a wood-working shop as well as Weyburn's SARCAN franchise. So, the first official fundraiser they implemented last winter was a bin for collecting refundable recycling, located in front of the SARCAN doors, with all proceeds going to the Wor-Kin Shop.
Brady said the bin is always full, because anyone in the community to contribute to the cause.
"People used to get mad if they had to wait in line so long, so it's almost kind of a service too," Brady said. Indeed, it doesn't get much easier to give than to drop recycling into a bin and drive away.
Brady said that she is open to other ideas and suggestions for fundraisers that would work and welcomes any creative ways to bring the funds into the organization.
Where there is a will, there is a way.
"We are working on a catalogue," said Brady, who has been doing presentations to numerous groups and organizations describing what the plans are and why, what the needs are, what the building will accomplish and what the facility will mean to the people in the community who are on the waitlist.
The purpose of the catalogue would be to include this information as well as to offer options for those who'd rather purchase and donate specific items than to write a cheque. The catalogue of items would be to furnish the building, with each item being sponsored by businesses or individuals. Brady even said that any larger donations toward the facility could be acknowledged with naming rights. The catalogue will soon be available on the organization's web site, wor-kin.com.
"One of the big benefits of this whole process so far has just been the relationships that we've built in the community," said Brady. "There are a lot of really generous people in the community, not just with money but with time and supporting our cause, speaking well of it and that sort of thing. The support is what matters."
Currently, all of the Wor-Kin Shop's services are located in an aged and decaying cement warehouse with high ceilings, fluorescent lighting and inadequate heating and cooling. The offices and Day Program rooms are shared with the recycling facility so it is very noisy, dirty and smelly.
"There are some people that can't come here because they would, within five minutes, have a seizure from the noise or the fluorescent lights, so they can't physically even come into the building," said Brady. "Some with physical disabilities can't access the washroom because they're not up to date."
The new facility will include extra wide hallways, special lighting, sound barriers, fully-accessible washrooms with stalls large enough for several people, a therapy tub, as well as an in-ceiling lift.
The new facility will also have a Snoezelen Room, which is designed for those with intellectual disabilities, autism and other developmental disabilities, dementia, or brain injury. This room will serve to reduce violent, aggressive and self-injurious behaviour and will be available to the community. Those with Complex Needs will have an environmentally appropriate and safe space.
"It's our clients' needs that determine what we do," said Brady. "That's part of why this new building is coming into play, because our participants' needs are changing and we need to be able to meet their needs."
