Enrich+ gives those with disability the chance to live a “life like any other”
Disablities Minister Tariana Turia has ushered in an era as well-known Waikato organisation Gracelands is renamed as Enrich+.
Minister for Disability Issues and Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has helped celebrate the launch of a Waikato organisation helping people with disabilities.
She was in Cambridge on Friday to mark the launch of Enrich+, formerly known as Gracelands.
Minister Turia congratulated Enrich+ for the role it is playing in its clients’ lives.
“Over time we lose our own self-reliance and forget how to make our own decisions… but that’s what [Enrich+] does, it allows these people to be their own decision makers,” Turia said.
Enrich+ focuses on giving people with disabilities the opportunity to have a “life like any other”.
By working with the individual they help provide the training and empowerment needed to find employment and become a respected part of the community.
After operating under the name Gracelands for 23 years, Enrich+ chief executive Wendy Becker felt it was time for a change.
“Our staff got sick of being asked what we had to do with Elvis or if we were a rest home,” Becker laughed.
Becker is confident that the change in branding will be a positive move for the organisation and will encourage more partnerships such as their pre-existing one with Manuka Health.
Manuka Health runs a work experience programme alongside Enrich+, sometimes offering participants permanent employment.
Enrich+ client Jason Hupchins is employed at both Manuka Health and a Z service station in Te Awamutu and couldn’t speak more highly of the Enrich+ team.
“They helped me get the job[s], I do the packaging at Manuka… and clean up around Z,” Jason says.
Despite his disability Jason says he just feels like “part of the team” and has found both places a lot of fun to work at.
Enrich+ assists their clients in finding their “niche” and developing their talents.
