Arborg’s Riverdale Place Workshop will be celebrating 50 years of providing outstanding care and employment opportunities to adults with intellectual challenges with an anniversary party this Friday.
The workshop opened on May 14, 1975, and continues its legacy of care, compassion and the provision of meaningful activities for adults from Arborg and surrounding communities.
Workshop manager Alex Janower has been with the not-for-profit organization for 38 years and is proud of the work the staff and the board have achieved.
“I feel proud of the staff and our board and the services we provide to participants with disabilities,” said Janower. “The participants, the staff and the workshop is like a second family to me.”
The workshop provides vocational training, employment and socialization to adults with intellectual challenges. Participants live in the Arborg area and in neighbouring communities such as Fisher Branch and Poplarfield. They take part in workforce activities and earn a small monthly income. They can also take part in music, dancing, craft-making and community activities.
Some participants are employed in the workshop’s recycling program, which serves Arborg, Riverton and parts of the Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton. Its environmental stewardship efforts earned the workshop a Sustainability in Pollution Prevention Award from the provincial government in 2017. In 2023, the workshop diverted over 235,000 kilograms of recyclables from the landfill.
Janower shared a brief history of the workshop with the Express. Its primary founders were the Johnston and Tergesen families from Arborg and the Andrieshyn family from Fisher Branch whose sons benefited from social activities and employment. Lorne Johnson had named the workshop Riverdale.
“The Smolinski and Melnychuk families also were importantly involved to help their daughters attend the workshop and have a routine, socializing and care provided,” said Janower.
The workshop’s board is made up of chair Norma Smolinski, vice chair Lorne Gislason, secretary Sylvia Gislason, and members Susan Hudson, Val Klym, Allan Sigurdson and Larry Speiss, all of whom Janower calls “caring volunteers.” And the staff at the workshop are integral to its success.
“The board has been very helpful when sometimes very difficult decisions need to be made,” said Janower. “The workshop appreciates the caring and good work of the staff that help the organization operate efficiently.”
In addition to Janower, staff members are Sara Reimer (bookkeeper), Susie Johnson, Willma Memoracion, Marla Gislason, Jody Markham, Rob Truthwaite, Jeff Fuz and Shirley Jonasson.
Janower said the workshop can accommodate more adult participants in its program and encourages people to reach out with questions.
Currently there are 13 people participating in the program.
The anniversary party is not only an opportunity to celebrate 50 years of helping those with intellectual challenges, but also an opportunity for people to view the operations of the workshop and find out if their loved one could benefit from taking part in the program.
“The workshop would like to invite parents to come to the [anniversary event] with their son or daughter with intellectual disabilities to celebrate this occasion and to view the workshop,” said Janower. “The workshop would like to increase their participants attending.”
The anniversary event will include remarks from dignitaries such as Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson. Other dignitaries and representatives from the provincial department of families have also been invited. Refreshments will be served.
The workshop’s 50th Anniversary celebration takes place on Friday, May 16 starting at noon until 2 p.m.
