MRCI Rosemount

Bill Schwartz, MRCI’s new Vice President of Metro Programs, will oversee the Chaska, Rosemount and Shakopee locations; Schwartz worked for 25 years in St. Paul at an organization similar to MRCI.

In his new position, Schwartz will super-vise MRCI locations in Chaska, Shakopee, and Rosemount. He is also charged with helping to grow the programs, build business relationships, and increase community awareness about MRCI. Schwartz comes to MRCI after working 25 years for Midway Training Services (MTS) in St. Paul.

Schwartz’s new office is located at MRCI-Rosemount, approximately three miles from his home. He’s been active in the Rosemount and Apple Valley communities for years, serving on the Dakota County Community Transition Interagency Committee, coaching the Eastview Youth Track Team, and volunteering with the Heart Safe Community Initiative – a program about which Schwartz is passionate. “In May of 2009, I was pulling out of my driveway with my kids, and I went into cardiac arrest – my heart stopped beating and I just slumped over,” said Schwartz, who then crashed his car into a neighbor’s home. “One of my kids took the phone out of my pocket and dialed 911, the others ran and got a neighbor who is a nurse.” The nurse was able to start CPR on Schwartz – saving his life. Now, Schwartz has been fitted for a device that monitors his heartbeat, providing electric shocks when necessary. The Heart Safe Community Initiative’s goal is to train 1/3 of the residents in Dakota County in hands-only CPR to help save the lives of people who go into cardiac arrest. In recent months, Schwartz has appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and on local television stations, telling his story and promoting the initiative.

Last week, Schwartz said his goal was to meet with as many MRCI staff members as possible. He said he’s excited about his new position. “Working in this field has been more than a career for me,” said Swartz, who graduated from Hamline University and worked for the State of Minnesota as a behavioral analyst before joining MTS in 1986. “I’ve been working with people with disabilities for 40 years – I started out pushing wheelchairs at the State Regional Center in Faribault as a kid. I love helping people succeed.”

Back to the grindstone….

I cannot believe how much snow we have had and seem to keep getting!  We have only actually been in winter for about 3 weeks – crazy!  Gotta love Minnesota though right?!

Winter is tough time for our  clients.  The cold makes breathing and moving difficult, the snow makes moving difficult and provides an extra difficulty for our drivers.  I have such great staff and drivers that they make sure all of our clients and buses are safe!

We continue to have a lot of work and clients are enjoying trying so many different jobs.  We are getting into our busy season for tours as students start to think about graduation and the next step.  Please feel free to come on over for a tour!  We always like visitors!!

We are excited about our short week here at MRCI Rosemount. The holidays can be a very rough time for a lot of our clients – some don’t have families, some don’t like the change in their routine. So we are trying hard to make these times as easy and fun as possible. We are closed on Thursday and Friday of this week and Monday and Friday of next week. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!!

For the longest time our work has consisted of packaging cans of chicken, keys and medicine bottles. MRCI has recently ventured into our own candy business. Currently we are offering our clients many different jobs. They can decide to work on packaging cans of chicken, labeling bags of candy, assembling display box kits, assembling display boxes, stuffing envelopes, placing keys on a rod, assembling and packaging various greeting cards and packaging bait worms in a bag. We are so grateful to all of our work contracts!

We have been busy over these last number of weeks – working, doing classes, going out and having great community experiences. We now get to have a few days off to relax and enjoy our family and friends.

From all the clients and staff at MRCI Rosemount – Happy Thanksgiving and travel safe!!

We had our annual Halloween party on Friday and it was a big hit!!  We got some great pictures of the variety of costumes we had people in.  We played games and had a haunted house with sensory activities.  I am fortunate to have really creative staff!!

I am loving this weather!!  We have been busy getting outside trying to experience as much of the sun as we can before it snows……

We enjoyed our annual trip to Emma Krumbees – they are always so nice to us!  We are planning our Halloween Party also – cannot believe that is right around the corner.  We are planning on having a haunted area with lots of sensory activities.  It should be fun.  It is always great to see the creative costumes that clients come in with.

Happy Trick or Treating!!

I cannot believe that September is ending! The month has flown by. MRCI clients have been busy working, enjoying the nice weather and having fun with the new classes. MRCI clients participate in classes such as Spanish, sign language, healthy living, cooking, art, music, current events, etc. We are always looking for volunteers to help lead the classes – anyone with talents in the areas of music, art, speaking a foreign language, etc. should contact me and come on over!! Donations of art supplies, musical instruments, kitchenware is greatly appreciated and welcomed!!

We have had a very busy week of work at MRCI Rosemount. We are looking for more work to complete. We currently do a lot of packaging and assembly with cans of chicken, candy, medicine bottles and keys. We have worked on assembling mailers, done various clerical and food service jobs as well. If you are in need of a part or full time, temporary or permanent work force – give me a call! Our staff serve as job coaches and help with quality control.

Happy Monday! I am new to the blogging world but am really excited to share the events and happenings of MRCI Rosemount. We are a work source center for adults with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. We provide work in our center and in the community for these individuals. We have been in Rosemount for a little over 3 years now and have been very fortunate to have received the warm welcome from this community that we did. We are always looking for ways to volunteer and give back!!