PSP Party Celebrates Employment Partnerships

In honor of October being Disability Employment Awareness Month, Puget Sound Personnel hosted a party at their Bellevue headquarters to celebrate the partnerships that make community-based employment possible for people with disabilities.

Held on Thursday, October 25, 2012, the gathering of 178 people brought PSP supported employees, parents, family members, employers and other stakeholders together to recognize employment success and advocacy. Attendees were able to mingle and get re-acquainted over light refreshments and beverages while a slideshow highlighted supported employees at work throughout the greater Puget Sound.

The evening's recognition program was opened with a moment of praise and reflection followed by the introduction of PSP's executive staff, business group coordinators and employment consultants. The first order of business was to honor the amazing history of employment realized by PSP's program participants.

The supported employees in attendance were each wearing a name tag that identified their respective employers and the number of years they had been gainfully employed in the community. PSP staff members called out employment milestones starting from 25 to 29 years and going down to 5 years or less. Participants were asked to raise their hands appropriately when their term of employment was recognized. Each employment range was celebrated in a loud and sustained burst of applause. Big smiles on the faces of those honored that evening reflected the personal pride and hard work that underscored their achievements.

In continuing its partnership theme, PSP next announced the recipients of their Supported Employment Champion awards for 2012. These awards were given in recognition of individuals and companies who made an exemplary commitment to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

An award to Chateau Retirement Communities was presented to Lynette Hatscher, Director of Human Resources, in recognition of the organization's hiring expansion to all three of their retirement communities.

ChemPoint.com and its Vice President of Human Resources, Cheryl Winter, received the next award. Winter was singled out for her continued advocacy for people with disabilities at her new employer. Prior to moving to ChemPoint, she was instrumental in partnering with PSP in developing jobs at Eurest throughout the Microsoft campus in 2010.

The next employer recognition award was given to Microsoft's Real Estate and Facilities group. Because of deliberate advocacy efforts over the last 28 years, PSP currently supports 25 individuals employed across Compass/Eurest, Pitney Bowes, Xerox and Northwest Landscaping. PSP also supports 4 employees who work directly for Microsoft.

Rob Towne, Senior Manager for Puget Sound Services of Microsoft's Worldwide RE&F Group, was on hand to accept the award for Chris Owens, the General Manager of the group. In his remarks, Towne underscored Microsoft's commitment to doing more to develop jobs for people with disabilities throughout the company—a partnership plan that won an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

Another Microsoft group, the Apex Team, received the next Supported Employment Champion award.
Lead by Eric Wilfred, General Manager, Macintosh Business Unit, the group was recognized for their resourcefulness in helping a PSP supported employee come on board as a Microsoft employee with full benefits. His supervisor, Kevin Ostrom, accepted the award on behalf of the entire team.

Also honored, but unable to attend the PSP event, was Fernando Hernandez, the Director of Supplier Diversity in Microsoft's Global Procurement Group. Hernandez was cited as a Supported Employment Champion for his ongoing dedication to seeking out employment opportunities for people with development disabilities across the Microsoft campus.

After the employer awards were presented, former Washington state Senator, Dino Rossi, was introduced. A long-time advocate of supported employment services and disability rights, Rossi urged the audience to make their voices and stories heard in Olympia. He stressed the importance of getting to know their legislative officials personally—regardless of their political party—because that will make a positive difference when government spending cuts threaten employment services.

Following Rossi's remarks, PSP thanked everyone for coming to celebrate the partnerships that keep people with disabilities gainfully employed in the community. For the remainder of the party, people continued to mingle and congratulate supported employees on their job success and employers for their commitment to diversity hires. It was a night of true celebration for all.



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