(KINGSFORD, MI.)–Through 50 years of service to the Dickinson, Iron and Florence County areas, TRICO Opportunities, Inc.’s Mission has been unchanged to remove barriers to employment for persons with disabilities by maximizing abilities so individuals become as self-reliant and self supporting as possible. TRICO will celebrate that history and ongoing commitment with a week-long series of events both here and in Iron County tis week, September 10th through the 14th. The public is invited to attend an Open House at TRICO’s Kingsford location on Thursday, September 13th, from 11am to 2pm and enjoy tours of the facility and learn directly from Job Coaches and Staff about how they work with employers and Program Participants to prepare them for employment. Later that evening, TRICO is also co-sponsoring an Iron County “Business After Hours” event at the Paint River Landing in Crystal Falls from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, (ticket required) and will acknowledge the success of 2 businesses and 2 persons who, with TRICO assistance, have achieved competitive, integrated employment. On Friday, September 14th, TRICO closes their 0th Anniversary celebration by coordinating a “Take your Legislator to Work day event at McDonald’s in Iron Mountain beginning at 1pm. Working closely with sponsoring agencies, community employers, schools and other community partners, TRICO delivers vocational rehabilitation and support services to approximately 200 individuals each year. Primary programming consists of skill-building for employment, job training on-site and as part of enclaves and mobile work crews in community-based locations, “Hands-On” training and job placements for area high school and Dickinson-Iron Intermediate School District students and with customized Job Development activities designed to move Program Participants into competitive, integrated community based employment. In September of 1968, TRICO was established as a not-for-profit organization by a group of local parents and concerned citizens working to offer meaningful work activities and employment for disabled persons in the Dickinson-Iron and Florence tri county area. TRICO later expanded services into northern Marinette County in Wisconsin. Governed then and now by a volunteer Board of Directors, TRICO has grown from its humble beginnings in the basement of a church on Brown Street to its current 76,000 square foot Administrative, Recycling and Manufacturing facilities on Hooper Street in Kingsford and a thriving satellite operation in Iron County. Work at and through placement with TRICO includes facility based employment doing Recycling. Confidential Document Destruction, TRI-Compost bagging and sales and assembly/knitting projects for local manufacturers. Long-time TRICO products like painted and stained routed wooden signs are still produced, as are the wooden pallets, stakes and shipping containers manufactured in our commercial Wood Products Manufacturing facility. TRICO is a Prime Contractor of wooden smoke grenade boxes for the US Military for over 30-years. Community based work through TRICO includes general cleaning services for local businesses and agencies, lawn care and horticultural services and production work for regional manufacturers. TRICO if a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Donations are tax deductible. For further information about TRICO, referrals to their programming, or, about any of the 50th Anniversary celebration events planned for September 10th-14th, contact Christine Krupppstadt, TRICO Exececutive Director at (906).774.5718.
(Aaron Harper,WJNR,WOBE,WHTO)
aaronharper22@gmail.com