WALBRIDGE, Ohio - In a move that furthers decades-long efforts toward community integration for people with developmental disabilities, Maumee, Ohio-based Sunshine Communities has opened a new vocational site in Walbridge, Ohio.

It is Sunshine’s first vocational day programming site in Wood County for the nonprofit that since 1950 has supported people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Sunshine offers residential, vocational, recreational, clinical, spiritual and other services, primarily in Lucas and Fulton counties.

Participants at the new Walbridge weekday program learn skills to help them with more independent living or whose goal is to play a larger role in the surrounding community through volunteering. Independent living skills also may help individuals in finding jobs, including jobs for people with developmental disabilities that are supported by job coaches and other staff. Everyday activities also offer a variety of recreational ways to explore and engage through music, art, gym time and social interactions at the site.

Participants at the new site may live in their own homes, in supported living sites, or at Sunshine’s family care homes. In fact, Sunshine’s newest 8-bedroom family care home is now under construction nearby and is expected to open in 2019. The venture is a result of support from nearby St. Jerome Catholic Church, which invited Sunshine also to open the new vocational site in its former school building.

Applications for participants are being accepted.

Contact Jane Austermiller at 419-865-0251 or [email protected] for more information.