Open house held in Buckhannon for organizations that employ people with disabilities

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (WBOY) — An open house was held in Buckhannon on Wednesday to showcase the importance of Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRP) and their role in helping people with disabilities find employment.

The event was hosted by the Buckhannon Upshur Work Adjustment Center who showed off how CRPs assist with employment opportunities through contract work. An example that was shown is how the center employs people with disabilities in a woodshop that makes stakes the state uses on highways.

During the open house, 12 News spoke with one employee who suffers from seizures and works for a CRP in Fairmont called the Op Shop. The Op Shop employs people with disabilities in their printing and janitorial services, and they help people with disabilities find their place in the community.

Op Shop Rehabilitation Coordinator Josephine Alicia told 12 News that the Op Shop understands that their employees “want to be a productive member of our community.” She said that the Op Shop gives people that feeling and that they “give me that range and that extra push that I need to live to live life.”

The West Virginia Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, which helps distribute the state subcontracts to the CRPs, helped organize the event and invited local and state legislators to come and learn about them.

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