Epic/Smile of St Malo celebrating 50 years with fundraiser

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This article was published 18/04/2024 (384 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Epic/Smile of St Malo is celebrating 50 years of providing people with intellectual disabilities with employment.

“It’s a very big accomplishment and we’re thrilled that we were able to celebrate with everybody and involve the community as much as we can,” said support services manager Danyka Hunnie.

“We support individuals with disabilities in both of our programs. We have a day program which is a place where they get supportive employment opportunities. The other way we support our clients is through our residential homes. In the day program, we have 52 program participants, which include the 20 residents that live in (our) care home(s).”

To celebrate 50 years in the community, the organization will hold a supper with the aim of fundraising to support its programing and to build more residential homes.

“(We’re looking) to expand all of our programing. Both the day program and the residential program there’s a need for it in the community and we want to be able to meet those needs,” said Hunnie.

“We encourage everybody to come support and come see what we’re all about. There are a lot of locals that come and they don’t realize exactly what we have established here. They’re always shocked to hear one fact about us whether it’s about our recycling program or the work we do in our production department,” she added later.

The 52 participants that are employed at Epic/Smile work in the woodworking workshop learning carpentry skills, the production department learning how to assemble parts, and the recycling department learning to sort waste.

Contracts from organizations such as Manitoba Hydro, Bell MTS, and Reliance keep the 52 members employed and socializing.

“They love the routine aspect of coming to work every day. The ones who come from surrounding communities look forward to coming in the van coming to work. It gives them a sense of pride the work that they accomplish throughout the day and, as well as, the social aspect of being able to visit with their friends. We get breaks that we take together so everybody really looks forward to spending time together during breaks,” said Hunnie.

For resident Dean Catellier, who has been working at Epic/Smile for 10 years, the work is fun and he’s made some good friends. He works in the woodworking shop making picnic tables, as well as, crates and stakes for Manitoba Hydro.

“I feel good about (the 50th anniversary). It’s good to have a place like this here. (The best thing about Epic/Smile is) people to work, people to get a chance to work elsewhere, and a chance to make more money,” he said.

On June 14, Epic/Smile of St Malo will hold a hot dog lunch that is open to the community followed by the fundraising supper at their location at 112 St Malo Street. Tickets for the event are $50 per plate or $25 for a support ticket for those who can’t make it to the supper. The Grunthal Boiler’s Association and the Grunthal Lion’s Club have donated their time and resources to the supper. Tickets can be purchased by calling Hunnie at 204-347-5418 ext. 7.