The SSCOPE

New Board Members at SSCOPE

SSCOPE welcomes new board members, Erne Tashe, a retired Winnipeg business educator, and Philip Giles, sales executive, to our Board of Directors. We continue to welcome interest from members of the community who want to assist SSCOPE's mission through leadership and service on our Board of Directors. Contact the Executive Director at ed_sscope@mts.net via email for more details.

Assiniboine Credit Union donation received

SSCOPE is pleased to announce we have received a significant donation from the Assiniboine Credit Union on December 29th. A very welcome post Christmas present. The Assiniboine Credit Union will become the major sponsor of SSCOPE's January 2009 Christmas tree pickup fundraising program and our SSCOPE Cleans Up...Winnipeg ongoing campaign. The Assiniboine Credit Union joins the WRHA, Manitoba Community Services Council, Winnipeg Foundation and the Thomas Sill Foundation as major funders and donors of SSCOPE's mission to support mental illness and related recovery in Winnipeg through gainful employment.

SSCOPE in the News: December 18th Story in CanStar Newsl Weeklies

Here's the link to the December 18th story by Trevor Suffield in the CanStar Weeklies in Winnipeg, headlined, "SSCOPE Set Sights On Helping Those With Mental Illness" View Story at Canstar website The text of the article is below in the event the link becomes inactive in the future. "SSCOPE sets sights on helping those with mental illness By Trevor Suffield Dec. 18, 2008 Five years ago, all of Kumaran’s possessions were in a pawnshop, he had no car or phone and was homeless. Having just been accepted into Manitoba Housing, he heard about Self-Starting Creative Opportunities for People in Employment. SSCOPE, located at 1000 Notre Dame Ave., is a non-profit organization that assists in the rehabilitation of individuals requiring mental health services by providing them with casual employment. Kumaran, who requested that his last name not be used, spent 20 years touring the country as a musician. The rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle eventually caught up to him and began to affect his mental health. “Gradually, over the years the toll of making very minor, small amounts of money with huge amounts of energy output just took its toll,” said Kumaran, who was a member of Winnipeg-based reggae band Inna Riddim. “I’m sort of a success story in terms of I came here as a client of the mental health industry, just off the street. After four years of just working myself up, I’m actually a salaried employee now,” added Kumaran, who is now a support worker with SSCOPE. “SSCOPE actually was the perfect job for me and it brought me right out of the dumps.” SSCOPE offers a variety of services to clients including snow removal, housecleaning and moving. It recently added a Christmas tree delivery and removal service. The tree removal service wasn’t offered until this year because the agency didn’t have enough staff. “We feel that Christmas is a great time to be thinking of others. It’s obviously when the heart and wallets are open a little bit more,” said Bob Rempel, executive director of SSCOPE. SSCOPE workers will remove the trees after Christmas and deliver them to one of the City of Winnipeg’s recycling locations or to the Festival du Voyageur, for a donation. The non-profit organization was established in 1991 with the aim of helping individuals with mental illness get back into the workforce. Although SSCOPE workers are recovering from depression and anxiety, they are still capable of being productive, Rempel said. “It’s a pretty good workforce and they’re capable of doing almost anything,” he said, adding that a support worker joins workers on every job and individuals are free to choose when they want to work. SSCOPE currently employs about 50 workers at any given time. Rempel hopes to see that number double in the next couple of years. Workers are paid minimum wage, which Rempel said is a reasonable return for their time. The agency currently has an annual budget of nearly $200,000, with the majority of funding coming from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. “We certainly appreciate the help we get from the WRHA but we want to be at least 50% self-funded,” Rempel said. Kumaran says one of the biggest challenges for the agency is meeting the needs of both workers and customers. “We try to be sensitive to both sides,” he said. “People are calling us knowing who we are, and on the other end people might be calling us because we have the best rate in town.” Kumaran has begun playing music again and is proud of having been able to turn his life around. “For myself, this has brought me economic stability. It’s brought me structure, form and now I feel like I’m a member of society,” he said. For more information on SSCOPE’s tree delivery and removal service, call 987-6300, or visit www.sscope.org."

New Board of Directors Member

SSCOPE welcomes Alvin Murdock to our 2008-2009 Board of Directors. Alvin, 30, is a student at the Asper School of Business, and of aboriginal background. He has considerable experience working in community development projects in his hometown of Norway House. SSCOPE also has two other openings on its Board to fill over the next few months. Here is a link to the Volunteer Manitoba site where the SSCOPE Board position is posted.

SSCOPE Supporting Christmas Tree Recycling

SSCOPE and our Worker-Members will be proudly supporting the use of real Christmas Trees again this season by offering our Christmas Tree Recycling service. SSCOPE will pick up your tree at your residence and ensure it gets recycled at the various City of Winnipeg locations. This program benefits the environment and assists SSCOPE in fundraising to assist our mental illness recovery services. To book your Christmas tree pickup now for January, call 987-6300 or email us at sscope@mts.net

Employment with SSCOPE

SSCOPE is currently recruiting for additional Employment Coach/Support Worker positions both full and part time, as we expand our services. You can view the full text of the Employment Ad or download it Here. Please apply as indicated in the Ad. As well, there are several opening for Volunteers at SSCOPE if you need experience in a non-profit environment or just want to "give back". Please contact the Executive Director directly if you would like to help us.

SSCOPE Worker Opportunity and Form

Here's the text for a SSCOPE flier currently being circulated to referral agencies around Winnipeg. We are expanding our programs and enhancing current ones creating additional opportunities here at SSCOPE. Download the initial Worker Profile form as a .pdf document here. You can print out and return to us. We will then schedule an interview at our offices. The flier in .pdf form can be downloaded here for viewing or printing. Here is the text of the flier: ARE YOU LOOKING FOR CASUAL BUT CONSISTENT EMPLOYMENT? WANT TO GET BACK INTO THE WORKFORCE AT A PACE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH? SSCOPE has opportunities for workers, men and women, beginning this fall. SSCOPE Inc. (Self Starting Creative Opportunities for People in Employment) was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1991. We provide gainful casual employment and support for consumers of mental health and related services. We offer ongoing services to the community and have some new programs (indoor and outdoor) beginning later this year. Workers will be able to develop their own employment development plan and work with us throughout to follow through. You can work with a crew, or primarily on your own, with the help of a Support Worker. As part of our enhanced supported employment activities, we will also offer assistance and training and opportunities to work with employers in the community or assistance with self employment. SSCOPE operates primarily Monday to Friday, with the possibility of some work on weekends from time-to-time. You can participate with as little as 1.5 hours per week of work. If you'd like more information, we 'd be pleased to talk to you further. You can call our office at 987-6300 or contact the Exec. Director at 987-6302. Email: sscope@mts.net The first step to becoming a SSCOPE member and worker, is to provide us with a completed application form. You can pick one up at our office, have one faxed or emailed to you or you can download it from our website: http://www.sscope.org/news After we receive your application form, we will contact you and set up a face-to-face interview at our office. We look forward to hearing from you

What do you think?

This is a test mock up of our new 3 ton delivery truck with signage. We're currently talking with various companies and hoping to find a firm that can donate all or most of the work. What do you think of the look?

SSCOPE Lawn Program Assessing Demand For Expanded Services

SSCOPE's lawn and yard maintenance service is one our core programs, serving over 50 customers weekly. Here we see Chris Dale, SSCOPE's operation's supervisor and Dan Desnoyers, in west Winnipeg, a SSCOPE customer for over 5 years, discussing the job after we did Dan's lawn on July 24th. Generally a crew of four works alongside the operations supervisor. SSCOPE is presently assessing the potential demand for expanding our services with a second crew or additional hours. If you are interested in our utilizing our weekly lawn maintenance services in 2009, please contact us now at 987-6300 or email us to be placed on a potential wait list. Thank you.

SSCOPE Has a New Deliveries and Moving Vehicle

SSCOPE has recently begun promoting our new 3 Ton Delivery and Moving truck with the following emphasis: "New 3 Ton Truck-Social Purpose-Great Rates-www.sscope.org/news/ Our program and this new truck is ideal for contract deliveries, pickup or moving services for business, government and organizations, or even to help serve the overflow requirements of existing companies in the moving and hauling business. We will also schedule one-time work and would be pleased to quote on any job. SSCOPE's services benefit our workers, in addition to providing excellent rates and great service to our customers. Please contact us at 987-6300 for a rate quote or email: sscope@mts.net