Opportunity Connections

Hood River Sheltered Workshop, Inc: Opportunity Connections is incorporated as the "Hood River Sheltered Workshop, Incorporated" by directors Roy Webster, George Lamphier, and W.W. Hawkins as a non-profit organization. Their goal is to provide employment and training for citizens of the Mid-Columbia area with disabilities. Money is raised by a grou... p of local business people who make donations, hold rummage sales, music programs, and solicit donations from civic and social clubs, churches, and eventually the United Fund. Judith M. Drescher volunteers for the unpaid position of Executive Director, and the organization begins to take off. The workshop opens for business in the Tonn Building at 2940 Thomsen Road in Pine Grove. Columbia Gorge Rehabilitation Center: Hood River Sheltered Workshop begins doing business as 'Columbia Gorge Rehabilitation Center.' A down payment is made on the Tonn Building. Eleven people from Hood River and The Dalles are employed in the work program. A year later, CGRC expands the mission to include needed residential services and, in 1976, buys a house on 1306 Taylor Street in Hood River, where training and support services are still being provided for seven individuals in a residential setting. Columbia Gorge Center: Supported employment begins. Many people served begin working in supported work sites in the community. A year later, CGRC changes its name to 'Columbia Gorge Center.' Over the years, the Center receives grants from the Murdock Foundation for various building projects and the inception of a commercial sewing program, from the Union Pacific Railroad, and Oregon Public Transit. Hood River United Way and MidColumbia United Way also provides funds for various projects and operating expenses. In 1990, the Center receives an establishment grant from the Oregon Vocational Rehabilitation Division for expansion of its janitorial and grounds maintenance crews in Hood River and The Dalles. Quality Residential Services, Inc. Merger: The Columbia Gorge Center merges with Quality ...Read More