A social integration through work program

L'Équipe Entreprise
750 Dawson Avenue
Dorval, Qc  H9S 1X1
Telephone:  (514) 636-1081
Fax: (514) 636-5103
Email:  equipeentreprise@bellnet.ca
 

President's Report

As I reflect on earlier years of L’Equipe Entreprise I realize that this twelfth year of operation was probably our most rewarding. Recurring financing improved substantially which took a lot of pressure off the Board of Directors and the agreement with Volunteer West Island for frozen meals guaranteed a satisfactory level of participant hours.

Providing work for our participants remains our main objective. During our first year of operation we recorded 1,840 participant hours. Year after year the number of hours increased. This past year (2007-08) we recorded 12,800 participant hours. What an accomplishment. I attribute this year’s success in large part to the efforts made by Marie Claude in finding new opportunities for our participants.

The Board of Directors is grateful to the Cite de Dorval for their ongoing support and the major projects undertaken to improve our work space. We also appreciate the support of our MNA, Mr Francois Ouimet, for his efforts and attention to our financial situation.

We are grateful to our dedicated staff led by Marie Claude who is totally committed to the success of our mission. Line, our Chef and Food Services Manager, has taken on the additional workload with her usual smile and good nature. Ruth, our Program Coordinator, has handled a very full workload with her usual patience and commitment to helping the participants. Accounting functions have been handled by Nancy in a very professional manner. Her efforts have been invaluable and she has proven to be an asset to our management team.

The Maison Donalda Boyer program continues to be very successful. The participants who are involved tell us it is an enjoyable experience. The tenants at la Maison Donalda Boyer are delighted with the participants.

We continue to be dependent on our many benefactors for their contributions and we express our sincere gratitude for their generosity.

In conclusion, I wish to thank our dedicated volunteer Board of Directors for their commitment to our mission.

Respectfully submitted.

Emile LaCoste

Acknowledgements

The Board of Directors as spokesperson for L’Équipe Entreprise wish to acknowledge and express their gratitude to the following organizations, foundations and individuals:

- L’Agence de développement de réseaux locaux de services de santé et deservices sociaux de Montréal

 - L’A.C.S.M. - Filiale de Montréal

- Beaconhill Community Organization

- Caisse populaire Desjardins Dorval-Pointe-Claire

- City of Pointe-Claire

- Fondation EJLB

- Fondation J.A. DeSève

- Fondation Pathonic

- John Spinelli

- La Fondation Berthiaume-du-Tremblay

- Marvin A Drimer Foundation

- Saint Luke’s Parish

- The Dorval Oldtimers

- The following deputies: Geoffrey Kelley, Yolande James, Pierre Marsan and François Ouimet

- Ville de Montréal

- West Island Community Shares

- Which Craft Club

- Zeller Family Foundation

- Geneviève Boileau, John D’Avirro, Claus DeJongh, Ray Johnston, Emile Lacoste, Neil Longlade, Cory McAdam, David Nickson, Peter Olliver, Andrée Ricard, Mimi St-Aubin, Carole Trudel, Roger Tyrell, Françoise B. Vien.

We greatly appreciate the support of the City of Dorval.

Auditor

External Representations

L’Équipe Entreprise is a member of:

• The "Table de concertation en santé mentale de l’Ouest-de-l’Île ", regrouping representatives of the CSSS serving the West Island and various mental health organisations in the West Island;

• W.I.T.P.A.R.: West Island Table for Psychiatric Alternative Resources;

• Comité occupation of the "Table de concertation en santé mentale de l’Ouest-de l’Île Montréal ";

• AQRP: Quebec Association for Psychosocial Readaptation;

• RACOR: Réseau alternatif et communautaire des organismes en santé mentale;

• Continuity of Care Committee;

• CMHA: Canadian Mental Health Association - Montreal Chapter
  
   

Board members at L’Équipe Entreprise are from the public, private and community sectors.
Seven monthly board meetings were held in the last fiscal year.
Our last Annual General Meeting was held on June 6th, 2007. Forty-three persons were present.

Director's Report

Program development at L’Équipe Entreprise

Another excellent year at l’Équipe Entreprise!

Staff members Ruth McLellan, Line Rainville, Nancy Miraglia, Ginette Lapointe and Debbie St-Martin did a fantastic job and continue to show their creativity, abilities and professionalism.

Many participants at L’Equipe Entreprise have undertaken new challenges. Howard in his new role of assistant to our chef has demonstrated great abilities; Linda has put together a self-help group called “Making it work”; Sylvie has accepted the coordination of the participants’ newsletter.

Following the excellent work done by our summer student Catrinel Girbovan we have implemented a “Work Buddy Program” to assist new participants in their early months with us.

This year, Emploi Quebec, through their Assistance and Social Support Program allowed some of our participants to experience a more intense social integration process by allocating us 10 contracts. In the next year we will be able to assess this process.

A Business Development Committee composed of staff, board members and members of the community was formed to establish goals relating to short, medium and long-term issues facing our food service department. Recommendations will be clearly defined in the coming year to improve both services to the community and to our participants.

A Personnel Committee composed of staff and board members was formed to update our personnel policies.
The updating of job descriptions was also undertaken.
In the coming year we plan to hire new employees to continue our progress.

The community contributes to the realisation of the mission of L’Equipe Entreprise.

We want to acknowledge the collaboration of our volunteers Andrée Ricard and Louisette Gitkow and extend a warm welcome to our new volunteers Gwen Wilkins and Sylvie Labossière. Our volunteers are invaluable in helping the team to operate more effectively. In the coming year we would like to recruit more volunteers to help with the marketing of our products.

The City of Dorval greatly contributed to our organization by renovating the kitchen with the installation of a professional stainless steel counter and sink. During the renovations the kitchen of Sarto

Desnoyers Community Center was put at our disposal. This change of location represented additional work but showed the great adaptability of our team.
A new kitchen stainless steel island is our next dream project.

With the help of The City of Dorval we received a “Contrat de ville” which allowed the hiring of Joelle Jobin as Community Agent for the period of October to December 2007. Her mandate as a Community Agent was to build bridges with West Island organizations that could send us referrals, and also present our program to their client with mental illness. Producing a brochure and doing many presentations accomplished this project.
We will continue our collaboration with other organizations to maximize services offered to participants.

On October 18, 2007 a press conference was held to promote the partnership of L’ÉquipeEntreprise as a supplier of frozen meals for Volunteer West Island’s Meals on Wheels program.
In the next year we will continue to develop this market to
maintain a maximum of hours of work activities for our participants.

L’Équipe Entreprise contributes to the network of mental health services.

L’Équipe Entreprise is an active member of many groups and committees.  In April 2007, the Occupation Committee of the “Table de concertation en santé mentale de l’Ouest de l’ile” organized a Focus Group to ask individuals with mental health problems their opinions and suggestions concerning work integration. The results of this Focus Group were highly informative and gave the committee directions to improve services for the participants.  Thank you to all the participants who took part in the different focus groups and those who sat on various committees and shared their ideas with the different organizations that are striving to make a difference.  In the next year we intend to use Focus Groups to provide our participants with a forum where they can be heard.

In October 2007, L’Équipe Entreprise was well represented at the “Partage Action Walk”.  This event raises awareness of the community for all non-for profit organizations working to improve the lives of people in the West Island.

In December 2007, several organizations teamed-up to host a collective Christmas party for all participants; the event took place at the Pierrefonds Community Center and was a great success.

For the coming year we are committing ourselves to actualizing and improving our program to better serve the needs of our participants and our community.

Marie-Claude Wilkins

Director

Income Distribution

PSOC Grant (Programme de soutien aux organismes communautaires)
The Agency granted us an amount of $138.756; this amount covers a sizable portion of our operating cost of approximately $200,000.

Other grants
The grants from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, in the program "Canada Summer Jobs-2007", and Emploi Québec in their programs “Integration contract to work” and “Assistance and Social Support” allows us to employ temporary staff and subsidise the allocations and salaries of some of our participants.

Self-financing
The self-financing of L’Equipe Entreprise comes from the sale of frozen meals and catering contracts. Our sales have reached $87 510, which represents a substantial percentage of our income permitting the purchase of ingredients and contributing in part to the allocations of our participants. Our products which are sold remain low priced for the community.

Donations
The donations to l’Equipe Entreprise from various foundations and individuals represent a large part of our income and have kept the organisation alive and thriving. This generous contribution allows us to offer work activities to our participants in all our programs which help the seniors in the community. The donations are also used to maintain our equipment in good order for the optimal use of our kitchen.

Statistics

83% of the participants at L'Equipe Entreprise work a maximum of 4 hours a week and receive a bi-weekly allocation for their work activities.

Others who participate in the Assistance and Social Support Program through Emploi et solidarite sociale Quebec (Interagir Program), receive a monthly allocation.

L'Equipe Entreprise also receives a subsidy for salaried participants through Contracts of Employement Integration from Emploi-Quebec (C.I.T.).
 

Participants

Since October 2007, we have been preparing frozen meals for West Island Meals on Wheels. This enabled participants to work more hours in varied work and prepare more orders.

What we particularly enjoyed this year was the Work Buddy Program, the teaming up of a person who needed to be trained at the reception, for example, with someone who has more experience.

Like good coaches we rejoiced when our buddy succeeded and did well. They showed us the will to learn, and the motivation to move forward. It was an enriching experience for both parties that learned a lot from each other.

One participant who was a buddy commented that it was a good experience that the approach was good and the training went well.

The Christmas Party which united 150 people from many community organizations was a success. From the supper to the music, all agreed that it was a success.

L’Équipe Entreprise has its first News Bulletin and Sylvie will be the coordinator. The bulletin will be named Horizon. You will find among the articlesa cinema critic, literary revue, upcoming meetings, poetry, divergent opinions, the thought of the month  s well as other articles proposed by participants. The News Bulletin will be published with participants’ contribution; each person doing their part.

Linda and Joëlle from l’Équipe Entreprise in collaboration with Shadia Wahbeh from l’Arrimage organized a self-help group dealing with work (Making it Work). The group will meet on the first Saturday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Pointe-Claire YMCA. This group is intended for people on the workforce, or that are contemplating on going to work or who volunteer. The group is complete.

Participants’ Committee

Presentation of L’Équipe Entreprise

L’Équipe Entreprise is a non-profit charitable organization, which obtained its patent letters in 1996.

Mission
To provide work to people with mental health problems in a supportive milieu with the goals of improving work habits and improving self confidence while allowing them to acquire enriching work experience and contributing to the well-being of the society.

Goals
This program has two goals: first, to create work activities for people who have a mental illness and second, to offer to the community quality goods and services at a reasonable cost.

Services offered to the participants

• A supportive and caring environment

• A flexible schedule that respects each individual’s needs

• Promotion of positive work habits and attitudes

• An opportunity to train under the guidance of a professional chef

• An orientation to the program by experienced participants through the Work Buddy Program

• A continuous process of assessment beginning with the initial interview and evaluation period

• Individualized goal setting focused on helping each participant explore and achieve their potential

• The opportunity to experience meaningful connections to the community

• The chance to become actively involved in the organization through representation on the Board of Directors and various committees.

L’Equipe Entreprise contributes to the community in three areas of service:

• Production of healthy frozen meals 16 000 meals were prepared and sold by L’Equipe Entreprise in the last year. This represents 66% of our self-financing income. Through a new association with Volunteer West Island and their Meals on Wheels Frozen Meal Program many seniors experiencing loss of autonomy receive delivery of our meals.
   

• Catering service
  Our catering contracts represent 34% of our self-financing income
   

• Services to seniors

  • Six senior’s luncheons were organized in collaboration with the seniors of the community. Each event was attended by an average of fifty seniors.

  • Three times a week a team of four participants and a supervisor carry out the lunch service at Maison Donalda Boyer a residence for seniors in Dorval.

  • Our participants served tea and participated in activities at Stewart Hall Seniors Club of Pointe Claire sixteen times this year reaching a total of about 900 seniors.