Alliance Industries Plans Expansion
Article by KPC News | April 19, 2021
GARRETT — Reflecting on what Alliance Industries in Garrett means to her, Lynda McGlothlin does not hesitate.
“Alliance is like a second family. It saved me when I was giving up hope on myself — that I wouldn’t be able to work. They’re just my family,” said McGlothlin, who has been employed at the workshop on East Quincy Street for almost 12 years.
The agency’s mission is "to provide employment for people with various abilities in a supportive environment.”
“We employee people with various disabilities,” said Alliance Industries Director Lili Hand.
The organization originally was established in 1954 as Wee Haven by parents as a school for their children with special needs.
As public schools began to mainstream special-needs children, the special-needs adults who remained needed something to do, so a workshop was developed, Hand explained. Known as the DeKalb Association for the Developmentally Disabled, the workshop now goes by the name Alliance Industries.
Currently employing 38 people, Alliance Industries performs assembly and packaging work for area companies Rieke Corp., Dekko, Eaton and SCP Ltd.
Employees can begin working at Alliance from as young as age 16. The workshop’s oldest employee is 72-year-old James Greer, who joined Wee Haven as a young child and has remained with the organization ever since. The organization also works with the Northeast Indiana Special Education Cooperative to employ students who are part of the special education program.
"We have employees from all parts of DeKalb County. We have board members from all parts of DeKalb County. We want to serve this community – all of the community. … We want to be able to serve the community to the best of our ability, and that doesn’t leave anybody out,” said board President Don Chaffin.
While the agency, like many others, has struggled this past year due to COVID-19, it now is looking to the future, Hand said.
Soon, Alliance Industries plans to launch a capital campaign to fund a building project that will double the space of its workshop and allow it to take on additional work and employees.
Chaffin explained the organization was offered other job opportunities, but did not have room to accommodate the extra equipment that was necessary to perform the work.
The expansion will add about 4,600 square feet of space and allow Alliance Industries to expand its workforce to about 60 employees, Chaffin said.
Hand noted that with the addition, Alliance Industries will be able to provide different life-skill programs, as well as employment, to those it serves.
The building addition will be located on an empty lot directly behind the current facility. The lot was donated to Alliance by Mossberg Industries, Hand said.
The cost of the addition is expected to be around $500,000, and Alliance already has received $100,000 from an anonymous donor, Chaffin said.
“We hope to break ground here soon,” Hand added.
She noted that the organization does not receive any state or federal funds, and relies on grants, donations and fundraising. The organization receives funding from United Way and the DeKalb County Commissioners. It also has an endowment fund with the Community Foundation of DeKalb County.
“We definitely try to run Alliance Industries for the employees as a regular business so they can feel like they’re mainstreamed, and if we can teach them and help them to develop to go on to mainstreamed jobs outside of this workplace, that’s great,” Chaffin said.
“But there’s some that never will … they don’t have the capacity to do that. And we have filled a role for a long time for some people. This is the only place they’ve ever been.”
“And they choose to be here. We encourage them to go out and find other job opportunities, and some do … but when something doesn’t work out, we’re always here for them. That gives them a kind if security that if something goes wrong with the job outside here, they can always come back here,” Hand added.
“It’s amazing the change you see. Everybody has their own talent. We try to bring that out. Whatever they’re good at, we try to bring that out and build on that so that in the future it will help them.”
“While there’s the work aspect, the social aspect is just as big, if not greater, for some people, because these are their friends,” Chaffin said.
Amy Brown has been at Alliance for two years and said she enjoys the friends and the calm atmosphere she experiences while at the workshop.
“What I like to think is we have physically able and mentally capable employees that can do the work that we can get to provide for them,” Chaffin said. “They’re very good at their work. They pride themselves on what they do.”
Chaffin said above all, he hopes Alliance Industries allows its employees to live and enjoy life.
“We still have expectations of them, but it’s live and enjoy life. We want them to realize they’re a part of the community and ‘you mean something, and you are valuable.’”
: “We’re abut DeKALb County. We have employees from all parts of DeKalb County. We have board members from all parts of DeKAlb County. We want to serve this community – all of the community … we want to be able to serve the community to the best of our ability and that doesn’t leave anybody out.”
Article source : https://www.kpcnews.com/garrettclipper/article_3ef5fc89-25f0-5747-9471-207a1ef99799.html