Since 1977, Preston County Workshop has trained, employed and supported people who might have difficulty getting a job through traditional means.
“The biggest stigmatism is whenever you have a business like ours, I think the public’s perception is, and probably businesses too, is that these individuals cannot do the same quality work as they do at a regular business. But that’s furthest from the truth,” CEO and executive director John Hyre said.
The individuals Hyre is speaking of are people with anything from learning disabilities to high blood pressure, diabetes or limited use of their extremities, he said. Many of the workshop’s clients are referred by the West Virginia Division of Rehabilitation Services, which is a partner of PCW.
Preston County is extremely blessed to have the workshop and Hyre, said Janette Lewis, community impact director for United Way of Mon and Preston Counties, a partner of the workshop.
There isn’t a lot of industry in Preston County and the workshop has had to greatly diversify the types of jobs it offers, Hyre said.
“We do manufacturing here of fiberglass for Superior Fibers. We cut and package all their furnace and air condition filters; send them out all over the United States and into other countries,” Hyre said. “We fabricate pallets for several businesses in Morgantown and Preston County and we have several custodian contracts.”
PCW also has at least 40 lawn care contracts.
Several years ago, PCW started a greenhouse. Hyre said it generally opens the Monday after Easter. It runs for a month or two and sells plants, vegetable plants, flowers and hanging baskets.
Employees of PCW, 34 of them as of last week, might work different jobs depending on the season.
“They might be mowing grass in the summer. In the winter, they’re working inside building pallets,” Hyre said. “Or, if we have to repair equipment, they help work on repairing equipment, they get training from (operations manager Jeremy Hyre).”
All employees get paid at least minimum wage.
“We used to have a certificate, I forget what it was called, where you can pay less than minimum wage. And when I came, we did away with it,” Hyre said. “Because when you’re writing checks for $10, for an employee that worked for two weeks, it was just horrible, because they were paying them such low wages. So now, for the past probably 14 years at least or more, we have paid everybody minimum wage or above.”
The diversification at the workshop is a constant process.
When COVID-19 hit, in March 2020, United Way was concerned how it would feed people who were food insecure, Lewis said. She was talking about some of the problems getting food and next thing she knew, Hyre — who had a relationship with a Virginia nonprofit called Appalachian Sustainable Development — was driving there and bringing back free produce.
A grant from the Hazel Ruby McQuain Charitable Trust to purchase food to feed people in Mon and Preston Counties was the start of the Helpful Harvest Food Program and the two organizations partnered to run it – creating more jobs for PCW.
A grant allowed the workshop to start a small commercial kitchen, but Hyre said it will soon be almost double the size.
Then people, those with disabilities and those who just want to learn, will be brought in to learn how to process, cook and can foods. They will also have the ability to flash freeze vegetables.
The ability to process, freeze and store food will help with food security all winter and is a big win, Lewis said.
“We’re open to work with any business to see if there’s something that we can do to make them more profitable, and be able to, for us to employ more individuals with disabilities,” Hyre said.
Interested parties should reach out to the workshop at 304-864-6446.
