ARC Plans to Expand Workshop Program : Simi Valley: For more than 60 workers at the Assn. of Retarded Citizens, the routine of a task is a welcome job.

Many people would consider it tedious and menial labor, but 27-year-old Erinn Breen spends her days packing first aid kits with a smile on her face.

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For Breen and the more than 60 workers at the Assn. of Retarded Citizens of Ventura County workshop in Simi Valley, the routine of preparing medical supplies or stuffing envelopes everyday is a chance to contribute to society.

“I love it,” Breen said as she loaded handfuls of wrapped bandages into small boxes.

Counselors and other staffers who oversee the work say the habit of coming to a job helps fulfill a need that most people take for granted.

“Everyone needs a purpose,” said Georgia Dennehey, development director for the association. “These people are focused on their work. They just want to do the job that is assigned to them, and they are proud of what they do.”

Now ARC hopes to expand its program, moving into a larger space and eventually allowing more workers to participate. But the move will cost money--at least $88,000 in renovations to new warehouse space. The group launched a fund-raising campaign last week to pay for the project.

The Simi Valley workshop and another in Camarillo have commercial contracts with businesses throughout Southern California. The workers Xerox documents for the Simi Valley school district and stuff envelopes for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

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Some of the money from the contracts goes back into the association, and some goes into the pockets of the workers. Most of the money in the organization’s $7-million budget comes from state grants and fund-raising. ARC, a chapter of a national organization, also runs a thrift shop, a bakery and several homes for developmentally disabled in Ventura County.

The new workshop, planned for a warehouse on Cochran Street, will be twice the size of its current facility, said Wayne Morris, the program manager in Simi Valley. The existing workshop is divided between a warehouse and a trailer, making it difficult to transport finished products between the two.

When the workers move to the new building at the end of June, the old workshop will be used to expand the rehabilitation programs the group already conducts for about 70 severely disabled adults in Simi Valley, Morris said.

Current estimates show that there are about 1,000 mentally disabled adults in Simi Valley who do not receive any special care or instruction, Morris said.

“With the existing facility we cannot even begin to absorb all the people out there that we should be helping,” he said.

The jobs performed in the workshop are part therapy and part training--meant to help integrate people with mental disabilities into mainstream society.

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The work also helps them improve their motor skills, Dennehey said. Many of those that participate in the program are able to move on to jobs in the private sector after a few years, she said.

Using “job coaches,” the group helps mentally disabled residents keep jobs outside the umbrella of the ARC organization. Its group homes help train the severely disabled for more independent living.

Ed Nainoa, 38, lives in one of ARC’s group homes in Simi Valley and has a job on the assembly line in the workshop--loading bandages into boxes. He clocks in every morning at 8:30, works until 3:30 p.m. and then heads home. It’s a routine that has him focused and interested, ARC officials said.

“I do this everyday now,” he said, smiling. “I get paid.”

Nainoa, along with Breen and others at the Simi Valley workshop, are ready for the big move.

“We’ve all already been there, you know,” Breen said. “We’re gonna be working there soon. It’s all new. It’s got a new candy machine, a pop machine, a jukebox. And we’ll all be in the one big room working together.”