EVERY Wednesday and Thursday, John White arrives at the Taskforce office in Swan Hill’s industrial area at 9am sharp.
He is greeted by one or more of three support workers, and drops off his bag ready for a day’s work.
The 27-year-old Swan Hill resident is one of many in the district working with a disability, under the Taskforce program run by Murray Human Services.
Taskforce currently has 21 supported employees on the books, each with their own skill sets and disabilities.
Mr White’s skills are in gardening and mowing lawns, a job that would not be normally be possible due to impaired movement in one leg.
So he can operate it himself, support workers have modified a ride-on lawn mower to be completely hand operated.
“I do a lot of mowing and gardening,” Mr White said.
“I’m a bit bored with nothing to do at home ((otherwise)).”
As well as gardening and site maintenance, Taskforce specialises in the production of pallets for Swan Hill District growers, and relies on local packaging, manufacturing, gardening and cleaning contracts to provide work for adults with special needs.
This reliance on the community has served them well, but support worker Jayson Cuddy admits it can sometimes be difficult to find work for Taskforce employees.
About two years ago there were a lot of time when we were struggling to find work,” he said.
“This is the quietest time of the year.”
For more on this story see Friday’s edition of The Guardian (June 14, 2013).
