OSKALOOSA —
If you need some assistance with tasks around your business, but don’t have the manpower you need, the Christian Opportunity Center in Oskaloosa can give you a hand.
The Christian Opportunity Center has served the Oskaloosa community for 23 years. They provide vocational training for people with disabilities and help them find jobs. The COC staff had an open house Thursday morning to showcase their facility to members of the business community.
The Christian Opportunity Center has locations in Oskaloosa, Pella, Knoxville, Indianola and Des Moines and serves more than 300 persons with disabilities.
The Oskaloosa office focuses on vocational training. The staff offers in-house jobs and places workers in businesses around the community.
“I see people who are incredibly glad to work,” COC Public Information Director Patty Zylstra told the audience. “Their job is meaningful to them. They take their job seriously.”
Zylstra said COC can provide cost-effective services to local businesses.
“We specialize in hand labor,” she said. “We have an awesome staff.”
COC Program Manager Kim Koellner told the audience about some of the services COC offers.
“We do a variety of different jobs,” she said.
The COC has a postal meter so employees can do postal-related tasks. The facility also has a document scanner that can store about 14,000 sheets of paper on a compact disc. The building also features a Saw Room Department for woodworking tasks.
For community-based employment, COC employees can do tasks such as deliveries or clean businesses. The COC has job coaches who work one-on-one with employees to teach job skills, she said. COC also has single-placement jobs where a single employee works at a business, accompanied by a job coach, she added.
Saw Room Supervisor Mark McMains also discussed some of the things his department does.
The Saw Room has table saws and bandsaws — “all the woodworking equipment you can think of,” he said.
Employees can do many woodworking tasks such as making pallets or jigs for tasks or assembling mouse traps for an Albia company, he said.
Some local employers talked about their experiences with COC services.
Oskaloosa Area Chamber and Development Group Executive Director Jon Sullivan said COC employees clean the Chamber offices and they also do volunteer tasks during events such as the Main Street Lighted Christmas Parade.
“We appreciate them being in the community,” Sullivan said.
Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached by email at oskynews@oskyherald.com
Local News
Related Photos
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COC Saw Room Supervisor Mark McMains discusses some of the items made at the COC during an open house Thursday morning. Herald photo by Duane Nollen
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