Flowercart Facts
We've collected some facts about Flowercart that will, hopefully, help you understand our service better.
As of the fiscal year 2010-2011 Flowercart has existed for 40 years.
Flowercart owns its two locations. The original Flowercart houses the Prevocational and Vocational programs and is located at 9412 Commercial St., New Minas. The Community Employment Services program is located at 8736 Commercial St., New Minas.
Flowercart is a registered non-profit, charitable society governed by a 15-member, vounteer Board of Directors.
Clients
| Prevocational aka Developmental Services Area |
25 |
| Vocational |
31 |
| Broadened Day Options |
4 |
Community Employment Services, inclusive of
Partners In Employment Outreach, Transition to
Work, Hodge Podge Arts and Crafts Studio, Literacy,
and Workplace Education |
194 |
Of the total number of clients in Prevocational, Vocational, and Broadened Day Options slightly more than 1/3 live at home with their family and slightly more than 1/2 live in a group home or other community residence option.
Number of staff as of September 2010.
| Front-line instructors and counsellors |
20 |
| Supervisors |
9 |
| Administrative staff |
5 |
| Michelin Contract Workers |
46 |
Fifty percent of Flowercart clients travel via Kings Transit. Our local public bus service. A small, but increasing number of clients, travel to and from Flowercart on Kings Paratransit.
Thirty percent of Community Employment Services clients own their own vehicles.
As of October 2010 we have provided labour and other services to Michelin Tire Canada, Waterville, for 12 years.
Transition to work is a project of Community Employment Services and serves a total of 13 clients at any given time.
During the 2009 - 2010 fiscal year, i.e. Apr. 01, 2009 - March 31, 2010:
- Partners In Employment Outreach clients found a total of 92 jobs during this 12 month period – 40 full-time and 52 part-time. PIE Job Developers made a total of 132 first-time contacts with employers in Kings Co. and surrounding area to introduce them to the project.
- Used Clothing / Woodworking Department sales were:
- Clothing $ 24,679
- Woodworking $ 28,236
- Kindling $ 11,850
- Baker’s Choice Fine Foods sales were record breaking. The $103,880 in sales recorded during the year were the highest recorded sales ever: an increase of $10,000 over the previous year.
- Flowercart employees attended a number of training sessions including, but not limited to:
- Safe Food Handler certification
- Respectful Relationships
- Grief and Loss
- Gender and Sexual Identity in Youth
- Eleven vocational program clients in supported work placements. These placements are a valuable way for clients to demonstrate that the skills they have learned in our on-site program are transferable to other places. These placements were supported by the Career Resource Centre, the Flower Market at the New Minas Super Store, Flowercart’s Community Employment Services office, New Minas Civic Centre, Evergreen Nursing Home, Valley Community Learning Associations’s Adult Learning Centre, Racer’s Rec Room and the library at the Nova Scotia Community College, Kingstec campus
-
This year our Literacy Instructor worked with 12 learners, i.e., clients, on a regular basis, and provided literacy services to other clients, as needed. Two groups of learners had an opportunity to create their own books as part of a community literacy project. Three learners’ studies were to prepare them to write the GED tests.
We are often asked why we don't change our name. We've thought about it: and even did market research to see if it is a good idea. We continue to be called Flowercart.
Community Survey Results
In the late fall and early winter of 2001, 303 personal interviews were conducted in Kings County by staff and volunteers of Flowercart under the guidance of Knightsbridge Marketing Consulting. The interviewers utilized a mall intercept approach, and led the respondent through a 21-question questionnaire developed by Knightsbridge Marketing Consulting.
Survey highlights:
- Flowercart enjoys widespread community support - 70% of respondents claim to have supported Flowercart in some manner - mainly through financial donations and fundraising efforts (24%), clothing donations (20%) or purchasing Flowercart products (20%)
- 95% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that intellectually disabled individuals in Kings County deserved the community's help in finding gainful employment.
- Flowercart is mainly known for providing employment, training and help for individuals with an intellectual disability - (62% of respondents)
