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Swans players Jared Crouch, Jude Bolton and Jason Saddington during their visit to Direct
Contractors. They are pictured with, front from left, Garry Hawkins, Michael Nesbitt, Joanne Bond (behind Bolton), Doug Beattie and Norma Milton.
By Kathleen Carmody
Sydney Swans players Jared Crouch, Jason Saddington and Jude Bolton thrilled the 36 workers at Centacare Direct Contractors at Belmore by paying them a visit
last Thursday as a reward for their hard work in March and April.
Direct Contractors is a business service (sheltered workshop in the old-fashioned parlance) under the umbrella of Centacare.
It
provides the opportunity for people with an intellectual disability to have paid work under close supervision, as well as to be trained in new skills with the chance of securing a job in mainstream employment
through a supported individual employment plan.
The manager of Direct Contractors, Michael Nesbitt, said that the 36 workers had performed to an extremely high standard of productivity in the past two months
and that they had “really earned” the visit by the Swans players.
They had put in a special request to meet the Swans because they are fanatical supporters.
The visit was a great success. Saddington,
Crouch and Bolton were completely overwhelmed by the welcome they received and were surprised to find a thriving business service providing outsource services to a range of companies.
Saddington noted that the employees all seemed to enjoy their work.
Jude Bolton, who asked about the problems for workers with severe disabilities, was interested to learn that even the most challenged
employees could be given productive, rewarding tasks.
It was an atmosphere of euphoria in which all three players promised the workers that they would try extra hard to win for them in future matches –
admitting that the rousing applause they received at the workshop made a change from recent weeks.
In keeping with the Centacare ethos and mission statement, Direct Contractors is a totally inclusive business
service that accepts individuals with disabilities irrespective of their level of disability, or cultural/religious background.
All workers receive the Disability Support Pension as well as being paid
assessed award wages by Direct Contractors.
As a result of this inclusive policy, Direct Contractors has been operating at a loss, requiring substantial funding through the Catholic Church’s Charitable Works
Fund.
The Department of Family and Community Services, which co-funds the program, has been pressing Direct Contractors to become more commercially viable or, at the very least, to break even.
Mr
Nesbitt admitted that meeting the department’s criteria would prove difficult as the financial outcome of Direct Contractors’ commitment to low functioning, high support individuals meant that it was unable to
recoup the high support costs by job earnings and funding alone.
The immediate goal of Direct Contractors, he said, was to increase the profile and awareness of the program so people with intellectual
disabilities would know they had somewhere they could go to get a job.
“It is a sad fact that there would be many people sitting at home with an intellectual disability who don’t even know we exist for their
benefit,” he said.
Mr Nesbitt added that it was imperative that Direct Contractors attract more work from outside companies to keep its workers busy and the service commercially viable.
It could
provide cost effective outsource solutions in a variety of areas including packaging and assembling, garden/lawn care and paper and packaging shredding and recycling.
“Companies can make substantial savings
by outsourcing work (to Direct Contractors) and, at the same time, help improve the quality of life for people with a disability,” he said.
The good news for the company was the recent hiring of three workers
by Lush Handmade Cosmetics.
The repetitive nature of the work in Lush’s factory in Mascot is ideally suited to intellectually disabled workers, Mr Nesbitt said. Lush has committed itself to taking on three
more workers full time by the end of June, and a possible total of 12 by the year’s end.
Centacare will be nominating the company for the Prime Minister’s Award for business later in the year.
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