Community prevocational program members prepare for senior citizen luncheon, doubles as preparation for future endeavors.

Kristina at work in Key Industries

By Nicole Mauro

Kristina and Joe are picked up from their homes each day and are bused to Key Industries where Kristina has worked for nine years and Joe, for 30. Key Industries production workers spend their days packaging items such as CO2 cartridges (“bullets” as the employees call them), golf balls, or tees, but some days they can choose to spend their time in the community volunteering, and Joe and Kristina often jump at those opportunities.  

Each month, two members of The Arc Wayne’s community prevocational program help prepare for and serve food at the Lyons Senior Citizen Luncheon. For the January 2019 luncheon, Joe and Kristina worked alongside their job coaches to prepare a homemade beef stew to serve at the luncheon.

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Lyons Community Center hosts a free monthly luncheon for senior citizens in the area. The Arc Wayne Prevocational Program helps prepare and serve the meal each month.

“I like to keep busy,” said Kristina, and being involved in The Arc Wayne community prevocational program helps her and Joe do just that. 

Key Industries and Community Prevocational Services are both programs of The Arc Wayne and often work together being in such close proximity to each other and sharing a mission of preparing individuals with disabilities for competitive employment.

“If someone, lets say, would really like to work in a deli, going to observe deli workers at Sauders would be something we could go and do,” said Sharon Engle, a job coach at The Arc Wayne.

Members of the program sometimes volunteer at the local Humane Societies to help make animals adoption-ready, help at the Emmanuel Church Food Pantry, stock shelves or practice budgeting at the grocery store, go on environmental clean-up walks, or deliver for Meals on Wheels. The program assists those who want to work, but need extra help developing the skills to be successful in their future workplace. 

“I would like to do something where I am helping people,” said Kristina when asked if she would like to work somewhere else aside from Key Industries in the future. Through the program, she hopes to volunteer at a local nursing home to prepare herself for a job in that area. 

Joe grew up on a farm and would love to be a farmer if he ever decided to leave Key Industries.