2009 AgrAbility
National Training Workshop

• Overview
• Off-Site
• Schedule
• Hotel
• Registration
• Travel
• Scholarships

Off-site Events: Thursday, October 8, 2009

In addition to breakout sessions at the hotel, this year’s NTW offers a variety of off-site experiences. Tours will be conducted at the same time, and you may only choose one tour or the other. Signup sheets will be available at registration. Note that the "Rehabilitation Tour" will be limited to the first 45 to sign up.

Rehabilitation Tour (Tentative)*

8:30am-9:00am	Depart Amway for Goodwill Training Centers
9:00am-11:30am	Tour Goodwill Industries
11:30am-12:00pm	Travel to Meijer Gardens
12:00pm-2:30pm	Meijer Gardens (Lunch & Tour)
2:30pm-3:00pm	Travel to Mary Free Bed
3:00pm-4:00pm	Tour Mary Free Bed
4:00pm-4:30pm	Return to Amway Grand Plaza

* Limited to the first 45 to sign up

 

Agriculture Tour (Tentative)

8:00am-9:00am	Depart Amway for Dave Munjoy Farm
9:00am-10:30am	Tour Dave Munjoy Farm
10:30am-11:30am	Travel to Meijer Gardens
11:30am-1:30pm	Meijer Gardens (Lunch & Tour)
1:30pm-2:15pm	Travel to Walters Gardens
2:15pm-4:15pm	Tour Walters Gardens
4:15pm-5:00pm	Return to Amway Grand Plaza

 

Mary Free Bed is a 100 year old regional rehab hospital. Inside the facility is a prosthetics and orthotics lab, a city simulation, and a patient family hotel. They have sub specialty programs include brain injury, amputee, spine rehabilitation and Return to work programs, to name a few. www.maryfreebed.com

Walters Gardens is a large wholesale perennial plant grower with over 200 employees. They ship 15 million perennials annually out of their facility which consists of 1500 acres and 500,000 sq feet of greenhouse space. www.waltersgardens.com

Meijer Gardens is a park with outdoor nature trails and boardwalk, a world-class outdoor Sculpture Park, and a Children's Garden. Indoor areas including a special sculpture exhibitions in the lovely indoor galleries, the largest tropical conservatory in the state of Michigan, and arid and carnivorous plants in the Arid Garden and Carnivorous Plant House. www.meijergardens.org

Client Visit: Dave Munjoy is a blueberry farmer in SW Michigan who has Parkinson’s Disease. He has many different modifications to his farm equipment, shop, and home. He is opening up his home and farm to look at the different modifications he has made.

Goodwill: Participants will have an opportunity to see the concept of the Goodwill "triple bottom line" in action. Many people think of donations and thrift stores when they think of Goodwill. However, as a social enterprise, Goodwill leverages the material donations provided by the community and creates community value in the form of workforce development services.  Tour the Harley Job Training Center (High School Transition and Youth Program; Better Life Initiative—Self-governance/Life-skills; Resource Room/AmeriCorps Program), followed by the Granville Center (Goodwill Overview;Transitional Work Experience and Recycling Center; Certified Nursing Assistant Program; Rural Services). Participants will get an in-depth view of Goodwill's strategic variety and how it engages the community. www.goodwillgr.org

Note: For those needing to return to the hotel by 1pm, there will be a carryout option available for you to take your lunch with you back to the hotel. Once both busses arrive at Meijer Gardens, and all have gathered a lunch, the bus/van will return to the hotel, leaving Meijer Gardens approximately 12:30pm.

*All photos courtesy of the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Last updated: 22-Sep-2009 5:46 PM

For more info...

Paul Jones, Manager
National AgrAbility Project
225 South University St.
West Lafayette IN 47907-2093

(800) 825-4264
jonesp@purdue.edu

Off-site events

Several exciting offsite events are planned for the workshop this year