Published: March 15, 2008 06:55 pm         

Crawfish and fun:

PICAYUNE — Picayune Industries and River Country Enterprises, both divisions of South Mississippi Regional Center, held a crawfish boil on Friday to celebrate Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

The event was held at Picayune Industries in Picayune, and was open to the general public. There was also a continental breakfast held Friday morning as part of the same awareness effort.

Picayune Industries Director Mary Ann Robinson said that although the facility tries to do something special each month for their clients, they wanted to do something extra special for March.

“We decided since it is Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, we wanted to do this to get the word out about our programs,” Robinson said.

Picayune Industries and its sister program, River Country Enterprises in Poplarville, are sheltered workshops that provide employment opportunities and training for the developmentally disabled in the county. Clients come to the workshops to perform contract work for local businesses on site, and also are sometimes hired by businesses within the county.

Beth Zoeller, director of River Country Enterprises, says people would be surprised at the high quality of work and the abilities of her clients.

“They can do anything anyone else can do as long as they are trained properly to do it. We have good quality workers at both sites, and they do high quality work,” Zoeller said.

Jill Smith, Director of the Pearl River County Communities Program for SMRC, said the sheltered workshops are run like any other business or place of employment.

“Our clients’ disabilities do not affect the quality of their work at all. They take so much pride in what they do and are so appreciative of their jobs… Our programs give our clients the opportunity to earn money and be contributing members of society,” Smith said.

Robinson said at her estimation, at least 75 people had showed up for the event at the time the Item was there, with the possibility of many more coming before the day was over.

Picayune Industries and River Country Enterprises wish to thank all the businesses, civic organizations, individuals and others who donated items and money to the event, making it possible to make the event free to the public.

For more information about Picayune Industries, call (601) 798-8859. For more information about River Country Enterprises, call (601) 795-4099.