News

Program supports crucial services for base

  • Published
  • By Jenny Gordon
  • Robins Public Affairs
A contract was awarded May 22 to Good Vocations of Macon to cover the next five years of custodial service for a maximum value of $24.5 million.

At Robins, custodial services are performed by individuals with disabilities who have trained for the job skills needed to successfully do their work inside buildings across the installation.

"We look forward to continuing a successful partnership with them in the future," said Scott Hastings, 78th Civil Engineer Squadron director.

According to Chris Finley, Good Vocations director of contract services, 80 percent of its employees have some type of disability, whether it be physical or mental.

It's all about providing meaningful work for individuals and having the satisfaction of a job and paycheck.

"This program takes these employees off of government subsidies in a lot of cases and gives them self-worth. It helps financially and emotionally, and enables them to become tax-paying members of our community," Finley said.

Good Vocations is a not-for-profit organization managed by Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the Central Savannah River Area. The Goodwill subsidiary currently employs about 130 people across the base with 10 supervisors.

Various contracts have been awarded throughout the years, dating to 1987 when the first was awarded for custodial services in eight buildings. Employees currently provide services in about 300 buildings, working three different shifts of Mondays through Fridays; weekends and holidays; and night shifts performing floor maintenance duties.

With the new contract, employees will now be able to respond to emergency calls around the clock in the case of flooding, water remediation, building cleanup and more.

"This will be a big benefit to us and also for the base to have a one-stop call," said Finley. Good Vocations and Goodwill, in conjunction with SourceAmerica and the AbilityOne Program, provide individuals with disabilities access to employment through training and placement with jobs through contracts at Robins as well as at Fort Gordon, Ga., according to a Goodwill 2013 annual report. Both bases also employ personnel who stock shelves at its commissaries.