By Casey Neill
Gateway Industries’ workers couldn’t speak more highly of the disability enterprise.
“Everyone is treated with love and respect,” Krystal Bradshaw told the Gateway AGM at Dandenong Club on Wednesday 21 September.
The 30-year-old Berwick resident has worked at Gateway for two and a half years.
“I have made new friends and met my partner Mark there, too,” she said.
She said her supervisor listened to her needs and helped everyone come out of their shells.
Ms Bradshaw spent some time working in a “mainstream job”.
“I felt uncomfortable and I struggled in the maths,” she said.
She said her co-workers gave her sideways glances.
“It made me feel intimidated and uncomfortable,” she said.
Ms Bradshaw said she was bullied at school and in other workplaces, but that wasn’t the case at Gateway.
The registered charity offers employment, training and support for adults with disabilities in Greater Dandenong and Casey, and started more than 30 years ago as a Rotary Club of Dandenong initiative.
The Australian Disability Enterprise, through 55 workers, offers processing and packaging, woodwork, litter pick-up, garden maintenance, and more.
Gateway Industries has provided street furniture cleaning and litter pick-up services to Greater Dandenong Council for 25 years, and garden maintenance to Greenways Retirement Village in Seaford for 15 years.
CEO Alan Warwick said he hadn’t been well during the past 18 months and Gateway founding CEO Margaret Cleary had been a huge help.
He said a break-in and robbery in April left staff and employees stressed and physically shaken but they had rallied to support each other and bounced back.
President Russell Smith also commented on the break-in.
“Everyone just put their shoulder to the wheel,” he said.
“We had insurance, of course, but insurance doesn’t cover everything.”
Mr Smith attended a National Disability Services (NDS) conference in Canberra, which largely focused on the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and its effect on service providers.
“It was characterised by one of the speakers as a bit like an aeroplane flying in the air and someone’s trying to work out whether the wings are on properly,” he said.
“For many people with a disability, funding from the NDIS scheme will be allocated on a personal basis, in that they will be able to choose what support services they require and what facility will best suit their needs, rather than the funding going direct to a service or facility.
“This will also be the case for people at Gateway in the future.”
Mr Smith said Gateway had a very good year financially.
“The supervisors have engaged in further professional development during the year and the employees have continued their education with the new Skills Program,” he said.
Treasurer Geoff Johnson said Gateway had turned a loss last year into a profit this year, and that the current financial year was progressing in line with the budget.
