Wheeling Area Training Center for the Handicapped
Challenge – Increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities
Solution – GrowSpan Series 1000 Commercial Greenhouse
Size – 30′ wide x 60′ long
Application – Growing plants, vegetables and flowers
Location – Wheeling, WV.
The Civitan Sheltered Workshop was founded in 1967 in Wheeling, West Virginia and later changed its name to the Wheeling Area Training Center for the Handicapped (WATCH). Now a division of Russell Nesbitt Services, the organization is dedicated to providing training and employment opportunities to individuals with disabilities.
As the manager of WATCH, Lynn Wallace Dick always had her sights set on increasing the business’ employment possibilities. In search of a solution, the organization decided a greenhouse would provide just the answer they were looking for. “The greenhouse is another employment opportunity for individuals with disabilities to work with the community,” said Wallace Dick. “They can learn to plant, care and sell flowers and plants to the public.”
The addition of a greenhouse accomplished exactly what Lynn hoped, creating a new chance for employment that offers valuable learning experience. “We did not have a program like this before the greenhouse,” she said. “With a lot of research and grant writing, we were able to purchase our greenhouse.”
WATCH opted to purchase a 30′ wide by 60′ long Series 1000 greenhouse; a structure capable of supporting all the business’s growing needs. Throughout their community, WATCH has received recognition for the crops they’ve been able to grow in the new greenhouse, as well as for the relationships they’ve fostered with the public. Wallace Dick noted, “The clients love working with the public. They take pride in helping customers and in the plants and flowers they have grown.”
For the time being, WATCH is only open seasonally, but with the capabilities of their GrowSpan greenhouse, there’s hopes of offering year-round opportunities to their clients. Wallace Dick appreciated the assistance she received in working with GrowSpan. “The staff was knowledgeable and had the willingness to help with equipment and greenhouse purchases,” she said. “There was great customer service and knowledge about different equipment to meet the needs of the individual greenhouse.”
For more on WATCH and their GrowSpan Greenhouse, visit rns-watch.org/ or www.facebook.com/RussellNesbittServicesInc.
