Sunshine Industries growing, progressing well, director says

Scott Swanson

Sunshine Industries has weathered some significant changes in state policies governing services to disabled individuals and it’s working our well, Executive Director Brittany Donnell told some 30 local supporters who gathered for a breakfast hosted by the organization Thursday, Aug. 31.

Donnell provided a report on the organization’s progress and and board members and staffers gave tours of the new maintenance shop that was completed last month.

“We’ve had a lot of change over the course of the last year,” Sunshine board member Keith Hartley told the attendees.

Donnell said Sunshine has spent the last year implementing a new state mandate imposed on organizations that provide employment, education and social opportunities for developmentally disabled persons, requiring them to mainstream disabled clients.

The 2015 mandate is based on the premise that “everyone can work.” As a result, Sunshine can no longer provide work in “sheltered workshops” and is trying to place clients in jobs independent of its own programs.

“It was a difficult change,” she said, adding that she believes the end result has been “a pretty positive paradigm shift.”

Sunshine staff and clients have spent the last year talking about how the organization could make changes in response to the new requirements and setting goals, she said. That process has resulted in structural reorganization and new job descriptions for some of Sunshine’s nearly 30 staff members.

The new emphasis is on small group working teams who do groundskeeping and janitorial work as far away as Albany, she said, noting that Sunshine teams now provide janitorial services at the Albany Boys & Girls Club and Samaritan Albany General Hospital.

Program Manager Bruce Hobbs said Sunshine currently has three landscaping crews doing work four days a week in the community on long-term contracts, outfitted with flatbed trailers carrying riding and push lawnmowers, edgers and other equipment.

The need to store that equipment led to the construction of a 36-by-48-foot shop in back of the main building. A spaghetti dinner and silent auction fund-raiser in April raised $14,000 toward the $28,000 cost of that building, Donnell said.

Donnell said Sunshine’s clientele has spread, with individuals coming from Albany, Scio and Lebanon in addition to Sweet Home, bringing the total number of clients to 82.

According to Hobbs, the amount of time clients spend in the community has risen to about 250 hours a week, up from about 120 hours a week at the beginning of this year. Many clients spend 2½ hours a day in the community.

Donnell said the changes mean clients are spending less time inside the Sunshine headquarters building.

“We blew our goals out of the water,” she said. “I couldn’t have anticipated that.”

Clients are “more engaged and happier,” she said. “It’s a different atmosphere than we have seen before.”

Sunshine is looking to sell woodworking equipment that is no longer needed, since clients can’t work on-site any more, board member Chuck Thompson said. Power saws, drill presses and other equipment will be sold at a garage sale, probably in October, he said.

Also, the organization is in the process of selling its former headquarters, at 3714 Long St. Donnell and Hartley said Sunshine is actively trying to assist the current occupant of that facility, Fair Share Gleaners, to find a new location. Anyone with leads on available properties is asked to contact Donnell at (541) 367-2765.

One challenge for organizations such as Sunshine is the ability to pay adequate wages and provide benefits, she said. Sunshine has made progress on the latter this year, providing improved health coverage and a retirement plan.

“We plan to address the wages,” Donnell said, adding that the state has recognized that poor pay in the industry has increased instability in the field and has provided increased funding that will be passed down to employees.

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