|
|
|
Jan. 1 brought more than the start of another year. At the Northeast Missouri Sheltered Workshop (NMSW) in Hannibal it officially marked the start of a new director - Pollyann Nicholson.
Nicholson, who resides in Hannibal, is anything but a greenhorn when it comes to overseeing the operations of a sheltered workshop. She served as director of Monroe City’s sheltered workshop for approximately 18 years before retiring in 2003. It was a decision Nicholson quickly came to regret.
“Thirty days after I retired, I thought, ‘You made the biggest mistake of your life.’ It’s taken me a while to get back into it. I don’t regret some of the other things that I did,” said Nicholson, who after leaving her Monroe City post worked as a social worker at two area nursing homes and for 2 1/2 years as director of NorthEast Independent Living Services.
Before joining the NMSW in a paid position, Nicholson worked there as a volunteer beginning in October.
“John Yancey (former volunteer interim manager) asked if I would be interested in helping them out here at the workshop, knowing my past experience in Monroe city,” she said.
Thanks to grant revenue, the NMSW was able to bring Nicholson on board in a paid capacity.
Nicholson views as productive her time as a volunteer.
“It really wasn’t new to me. It was just refreshing my memory,” she said. “It was good to let them be more comfortable with me and see if I could do what they wanted me to do. It also let me see how we needed to progress and make it a more profitable organization.”
Since Nicholson joined the NMSW, she estimates that around a dozen additional employees have been hired, hiking the work roster to 43 employees. The daily average is from 30 to 32 people a day.
“The snow and holidays put us behind a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t have very good attendance, but now because the weather is breaking people are getting back to work.”
A big challenge for Nicholson will be finding an ample amount of work. Currently the workshop’s focus is recycling. That’s something Nicholson wants to change.
“I want to be diversified. I want to be able to do things so when one thing is slow we’ve got something else to pick up,” she said.
Nicholson knows she faces a challenge.
“With the economy being the way it is that’s tough to do because the factories want to keep their people working too,” she said.
To land more work, Nicholson will be marketing the sheltered workshop.
“I want to make sure it’s known that we can do other types of work besides recycling,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll have to go outside of Hannibal to find a lot of work and that means traveling. But sometimes that’s what you have to do to get things. I’ll never turn down work.”
Nicholson intends to forge a strong relationship with the city’s residents.
“Hopefully the community can give us some ideas. What they want I want to try to make sure they get,” she said. “I hope I can be a positive person here to work with the community. I like people. I like working with people and helping people.”
Nicholson is particularly interested in helping the sheltered workshop’s employees feel good about what they’re doing.
“This is a place where they can come, feel valued, offer something back to the community and also receive a paycheck,” she said. “Anything I can do to make people’s lives a little easier, then that’s what I’m here to do, and give them a fun place to work.”
Jan. 1 brought more than the start of another year. At the Northeast Missouri Sheltered Workshop (NMSW) in Hannibal it officially marked the start of a new director - Pollyann Nicholson.
Nicholson, who resides in Hannibal, is anything but a greenhorn when it comes to overseeing the operations of a sheltered workshop. She served as director of Monroe City’s sheltered workshop for approximately 18 years before retiring in 2003. It was a decision Nicholson quickly came to regret.
“Thirty days after I retired, I thought, ‘You made the biggest mistake of your life.’ It’s taken me a while to get back into it. I don’t regret some of the other things that I did,” said Nicholson, who after leaving her Monroe City post worked as a social worker at two area nursing homes and for 2 1/2 years as director of NorthEast Independent Living Services.
Before joining the NMSW in a paid position, Nicholson worked there as a volunteer beginning in October.
“John Yancey (former volunteer interim manager) asked if I would be interested in helping them out here at the workshop, knowing my past experience in Monroe city,” she said.
Thanks to grant revenue, the NMSW was able to bring Nicholson on board in a paid capacity.
Nicholson views as productive her time as a volunteer.
“It really wasn’t new to me. It was just refreshing my memory,” she said. “It was good to let them be more comfortable with me and see if I could do what they wanted me to do. It also let me see how we needed to progress and make it a more profitable organization.”
Since Nicholson joined the NMSW, she estimates that around a dozen additional employees have been hired, hiking the work roster to 43 employees. The daily average is from 30 to 32 people a day.
“The snow and holidays put us behind a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t have very good attendance, but now because the weather is breaking people are getting back to work.”
A big challenge for Nicholson will be finding an ample amount of work. Currently the workshop’s focus is recycling. That’s something Nicholson wants to change.
“I want to be diversified. I want to be able to do things so when one thing is slow we’ve got something else to pick up,” she said.
Nicholson knows she faces a challenge.
“With the economy being the way it is that’s tough to do because the factories want to keep their people working too,” she said.
To land more work, Nicholson will be marketing the sheltered workshop.
“I want to make sure it’s known that we can do other types of work besides recycling,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll have to go outside of Hannibal to find a lot of work and that means traveling. But sometimes that’s what you have to do to get things. I’ll never turn down work.”
Nicholson intends to forge a strong relationship with the city’s residents.
“Hopefully the community can give us some ideas. What they want I want to try to make sure they get,” she said. “I hope I can be a positive person here to work with the community. I like people. I like working with people and helping people.”
Nicholson is particularly interested in helping the sheltered workshop’s employees feel good about what they’re doing.
“This is a place where they can come, feel valued, offer something back to the community and also receive a paycheck,” she said. “Anything I can do to make people’s lives a little easier, then that’s what I’m here to do, and give them a fun place to work.”
