Meet Jaymie!

Posted on by Zach Opalko

About Jaymie

Life’s Work is much more than providing clients a place for assembly, kitting, and mailing jobs. It is about finding your inner passion, jump-starting your ambition, and ultimately finding yourself within society. One extraordinary Life’sWork client, Jaymie, demonstrates a great example of what our mission is all about. Beginning with our youth program, Jaymie molded herself through perseverance and eventually found the confidence to move into an apartment on her own. Enthusiastic and willing to try different opportunities through the various Life’sWork programs, Jaymie was able to experience different job opportunities through business partners such as Gamma Sports, Little Earth Productions, the University of Pittsburgh, and Coen Oil. Jaymie explains that through all of her different involvements, Gamma Sports was her favorite, and is eager to go back. Life’sWork of Western PA’s Coordinator of Adult Services, Ed O’Rourke mentions that “empowerment” would be a perfect word to describe Jaymie as she enabled herself to take public transportation & move into an apartment all by herself. Whenever an opportunity arises, she will find the ambition and seize control of it.

Continue reading “Meet Jaymie!” →

Project Spotlight: A helping hand when it’s needed most

Posted on by Babs Sefiane

Life’sWork recently partnered with Allegheny County Department of Human Services to fulfill a large project benefitting senior citizens in our community. During these trying and unprecedented times, our most vulnerable neighbors have been affected disproportionately. The Senior Care Kitting Project sought to address those needs. Over two weeks of non-stop work, we assembled and delivered nearly 9,000 care packages to seniors citizens across Allegheny County. The care kits included a range of supplies (such as hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, toilet paper, and more) as well as informational resources that will help enable our community members to stay safe and access services they may need during this challenging period.

The Impact

Many seniors citizens have been safely following COVID-19 guidelines by staying socially distanced, but have had difficulty finding ways to get essential groceries – especially at a time when many community and local stores have closed or reduced hours due to the pandemic. Allegheny County DHS sought to ease some of the burden for our local seniors by delivering these vital and necessary products right to their homes. The care packages arrived at a much-needed time to individuals involved in services and programs throughout Allegheny County. And the response we got made it clear: these essential items brought joy and hope to those who needed it most!

A Shared Mission

We were fortunate to partner with Global Links to procure all of the essential items for these kits. Global Links works to support health improvement initiatives in resource-poor communities and promoting environmental stewardship in the US healthcare system.

Since 1989, Global Links has been working to redirect still-useful materials away from US landfills to support public health programs in targeted communities throughout the Western Hemisphere – a natural partner for the Life’sWork mission to improve the quality of life of individuals in our community. Both organizations have the same vision: respect for all people, resulting in compassionate, inclusive and equitable communities where all individuals have an opportunity to thrive.

Interested in becoming a partner with Life’sWork? Read more about our Business Services here!

 

Announcing the 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees

Posted on by Babs Sefiane

Honoring the 2020 Business Partners of the Year: Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, Panera Bread - BkSq, and Little Earth Productions.

We are thrilled to announce the 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees! This year, we are recognizing Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, Panera Bread – BkSq, and Little Earth Productions. These area organizations have made a commitment to diversity and inclusion by supporting our clients and our mission in many ways.

The Honorees

At Pitt Logistics and Printing Services, clients work in the Pitt Surplus Property warehouse on e-Waste and technology recycling projects. As a part of the recycling program there, Life’sWork clients completely disassemble and remove old hard drives so they can be destroyed as the last line of defense for data security. Pitt hired clients in the Small Group Staffing program to work at the warehouse three days a week, and they have been an immense help on the project!

Over in Bakery Square, another one of our clients has been busy at work as a front-of house associate at Panera Bread. Ronald was placed at the Bakery Square location as a part of our Supported Employment program and has been in his position for nearly a year, with great success! Supervisors were eager to take Ronald on to the team, and the staff who work alongside him have quickly become friends and enjoy the shifts they spend together.

Little Earth Productions hosts small groups of clients as a part of the Community Participation Initiatives program, which aims to get clients out and involved in organizations throughout the community. They provide packaging and quality control projects for clients to take on alongside the regular warehouse staff. Little Earth designs and produces sports fashion apparel and accessories for professional and college teams across the country – including the Pittsburgh Steelers’ own Terrible Towel, a favorite of our clients!

Join us!

The 2020 Business Partner of the Year Honorees will be recognized at the 2020 Growing Dreams Gala, taking place on March 26th at Phipps Conservatory. Tickets are available for purchase here.

Project Spotlight: Black Locust Lumber

Posted on by Babs Sefiane

In the past few weeks at Life’sWork, we’ve been very busy working with Black Locust Lumber to create over 135 Proflow pavers that will be used as earth-friendly walkways in parks around the world. It’s one of the many ways that we are working to develop a thriving community!

Community Impact

Today’s buildings account for 18% of global emissions, and that could double by the year 2030 if new earth-friendly technologies are not implemented. That’s where Black Locust Lumber comes in: they specialize in green building materials – products that have low environmental impact in production, installation, and maintenance. Black Locust Lumber has a strong desire and passion for sustainability and creating a healthier planet.

By working with Black Locust Lumber, Life’sWork contributes to the Pittsburgh 2030 District’s mission and leads our community in sustainability. The 2030 District strives toward 50% reductions in energy use, water consumption, and transportation emissions by 2030, while improving indoor air quality. We are supporting Black Locust Lumber’s cause to create a better planet by manufacturing their wooden pavers right here in Pittsburgh! Our partnership can help make the earth a greener and healthier place.

Process

Our journey with Black Locust Lumber began when we met co-founders Stubby and Maria Warmbold through a Green Building Alliance (GBA) partnership here in the Pittsburgh 2030 District Project. They told us that they wanted to give back to the community, so Stubby coordinated a visit from their headquarters in Hungary for a tour of our facility to gain a better understanding of all the services that we provide at Life’sWork. They were touched by our clients, our mission, and the work that we do, and wanted to provide our clients with work that would make a difference in their community by being earth-friendly and sustainable. From there, a partnership was created, and Stubby and Maria came back to Life’sWork for a training session to teach our clients how to assemble the wooden pavers.

According to our clients in the Direct Facilities Based Employment program, putting together the wooden pavers is a very smooth process. First, blocks sent to us by Black Locust Lumber are separated into two different boxes by size. The blocks are then set down in jigs that format the pattern of the pavers – some blocks have red X’s, which indicates that they go in the jigs with the marked side facing upward. Wire mesh is placed on top and stapled onto the corners of each block. Once the paver is assembled, it is stacked on a pallet and shipped out to Allentown to be part of Black Locust’s next project in sustainability!

Partnering with Life’sWork

At Life’sWork, we take pride in our innovation and high quality of services for persons with disabilities or other barriers to employment. Projects like this tie back to our vision of being one of the foremost business resources in Western PA, and we are always looking for more ways to partner with businesses to positively impact the community.

If you are interested in a business partnership like this one or would like to learn more about our services, please contact Babs Sefiane at bsefiane@lifesworkwpa.org.