By CASEY NEILL
GRASS Busters will soon be tackling unruly lawns and trees in gardens throughout Greater Dandenong.
Wallara has established the garden maintenance business to give its clients skills and confidence to pursue a career.
Wallara is a support service for adults with a disability with a mission to empower its service users to lead the life that they choose.
Community lifestyle facilitator Lindsay Hamer said the plan was for the business to be self-funded, and there were currently nine workers tending Wallara facilities.
“The guys are all on work experience at the moment,” he said.
“We’ll end up putting them through Certificate I in Horticulture at the start of next year.”
They take on mowing, light tree pruning, weeding and more – and even torrential rain couldn’t dampen their first day on the tools.
“They still wanted to get out there,” Mr Hamer said.
“They’re absolutely loving it.
“It’s getting them ready for the future.”
Mr Hamer said the men had mild intellectual disabilities that made it difficult for them to find work elsewhere, but this would boost their skills and confidence.
“I think this will open a lot of doors for them,” he said.
“Fingers crossed some won’t end up working with us, they’ll be working with other people.”
He’s proud of their enthusiasm and dedication. They currently work three days a week but will soon be working five days.
“By the end of next school term we’ll hopefully have expanded enough and they have enough experience to work for the public,” Mr Hamer said.
“We’ve already had people inquiring about us mowing their private lawns.”
Visit www.wallara.com.au or call 9792 2985 for more information.
