By DAVID GUNTER

Feature correspondent

SANDPOINT — When it comes to Panhandle Special Needs, Inc., the question is not so much “What has the organization done for the community?” as “What hasn’t it done?”

Over the past 40 years, PSNI has been on the cutting edge of work training, job placement and providing vocational skills for people with either physical or developmental disabilities. Beyond that, it also offers independent living services for developmentally disabled adults.

The mission has changed since the doors opened in the late-1970s, according to Jean Post, an employment services specialist who has been with PSNI for more than 25 years.

“When I first came here, it was a full-on cut shop with all the tools and we had a contract partnership with P&E Woodworking to make wooden blocks for Toys R Us,” she said. “Then the bottom fell out of the timber industry and everything changed.”

Rather than being caught flat-footed by the economic shift, PSNI diversified, adding a greenhouse operation at its North Boyer location and opening a thrift store in the former residence next door. Today, all of its operations combine to fill a need that serves employers and employees alike.

There are numerous success stories PSNI can point to, but one of the most noticeable is in the area of job placement. On any given day, you’re likely to encounter someone they trained working at a local grocery store, restaurant, retail store or production facility.

“It’s a little bit of everything — the business community has been very supportive,” Post said. “We pride ourselves in good matches, so we really get to know the individuals’ skills and abilities, as well as the employers’ needs.”

For developmentally disabled workers, job opportunities once were sorely limited, she explained. Thankfully, those days are in the past. When a person’s interests are aligned with the workplace, the administrator said, magic happens.

“It’s just a matter of knowing what their interests are,” said Post. “When you get them in an environment that matches those interests, the learning curve goes way up.”

And while the organization’s impact has spiraled deep into the community it serves, PSNI continues to provide work on-site through contracts with area businesses. Those contracts include packing fire-starter kits for Lignetics, preparing bulk mailings for a variety of clients and offering shredding services for both individual and commercial customers at 50 cents-a-pound.

“These things are the vehicle for us to provide training that is real work,” Post said. “And we’re always looking for more.”

Training also comes into play through two other PSNI programs — its School-to-Work Transition and its alliance with referrals from vocational rehabilitation. The School-to-Work Transition — not unlike apprenticeship programs in other countries — provides work experience for juniors and seniors in high school who don’t plan to go on to college, but have a strong interest in certain segments of the workplace. Since part of the training involves experience with an actual employer, bonds are formed and jobs are created.

“We had one young man who just loved welding and, after he did his 60 hours of work experience training, they hired him on-call,” said Post. “The School-to-Work Transition program created that ongoing employer-employee relationship.”

In its partnership with vocational rehabilitation, the group works with all manner of disabilities, including helping individuals rebound from life-changing physical injuries through job training and placement services.

“It could be any reason that a disabled person needs a new career,” the employment services administrator said.

PSNI serves more than 100 people — Post doesn’t much care for the term “clients” — in Bonner County, stretching from its Sandpoint base to Clark Fork, Priest River “and all points in between,” she said. Some of those people work in the greenhouse leading up to gardening season, while others work to prepare items for sale at the Cottage thrift store.

“A lot of our work is tied to the Cottage,” said Post, adding that revenues from the thrift store are plowed directly into work training programs. “When donations come in, they sort, clean, paint and sparkle them up before they go into the shop for sale.”

The thrift store itself is run by an all-volunteer staff, she noted, and PSNI is always on the lookout for additional volunteers at the shop.

As fall draws nigh, the community has an easy way to support the work of Panhandle Special Needs, Inc., though its annual firewood raffle. Once again this year, Cloudsledge Conservation has donated 2.5 cords of premium red fir firewood, harvested from blow-downs on its managed acreage near Hope.

“They cut it to 16 inches, split it and deliver it to us each year so we can make money through the raffle,” Post said. “This year, we’re putting our biggest effort yet into it.”

Firewood raffle tickets are $5 each or four for $15, with the drawing taking place on Nov. 17. Tickets can be purchased at PSNI’s main building, located at 1424 N. Boyer Ave., or at the Cottage thrift store next door. Tickets also are available at numerous local merchants displaying the PSNI Firewood Raffle jars at their cash registers. No wood stove? No worries, Post said. Buy a ticket or two as a gift for friends who do burn wood as their primary heat source.

For more information on Panhandle Special Needs, Inc., to volunteer or inquire about its services, call 208-263-7022, or visit online at panhandlespecialneeds.org.