Empower WNY, which provides job placement opportunities for the developmentally disabled, opened its new Empties for Empower bottle return facility on Friday.
It had outgrown its former space on Military Road so Empower purchased the former Trinity Medical Cardiology at 7500 Porter Road to better serve customers.
“When I took over as CEO, I made it my mission to expand our agency and the amount of services that we are able to provide to the community,” said CEO and Executive Director Diane Baehre. “Today, with the opening of this facility, we are accomplishing that goal and impact fully expanding our vocational division to provide more support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”
Originally set to open back in October, Baehre said the delays were due to making sure the building was up to code and to complete renovations like fixing plumbing and adding security.
Empower operates three other services out of Porter Road. Like the bottle return service, the document-shredding business is also operated by its clients, helping in all operations and interacting with customers.
The job placement department finds jobs for their clients through Empower’s business partners. The day habilitation center operates programming for clients to go on recreational outings or volunteer work.
All of Empower’s clients come from Niagara County with between 10 and 20 working at the bottle return business every day.
“Our guys are learning independence skills so they can take them into the actual workforce,” said Amanda Rogers, the lead community worksite supervisor. “They learn soft job training skills and on-job applications, things that they can align themselves with real jobs in the community.”
Marshaun Walton, who worked at Empties for Empower for the past six years, has learned how to sort bottles by brand and how to count to higher numbers while on the job.
“He enjoys going on the truck and getting supplies with our driver,” Rogers said.
Empties for Empower is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.