CAMDEN — By PATRIC FLANNIGAN
Staff writer
Ouachita Industries is abruptly stopping its lawn care in an effort to redesign its program.
OI Operations Director Gary Huddleston explained that a group of OI clients are in the process of fulfilling its last customer commitments so the yard servicing program can take its time to rebuild. Huddleston said that the OI clients that have provided yard services have done a great job of managing an average of 40 accounts in the area for almost 10 years. However, the group providing those services has dropped down to only two members due to aging factors and relocation.
That, coupled with the fact that the OI clients can only work about four hours per day, led to the stoppage. Huddleston added that none of the OI clients are interested in doing the yard services because of the physical requirements.
Huddleston shared that the work load was simply too much to continue and that the yard servicing group had gotten away from the purpose it was created.
“It started as in idea from some of the clients at Ouachita Industries,” Huddleston explained.
“They were wanting an opportunity to learn a trade. So they put their heads together and a group of them wanted to learn how to do yard services to where they could transition to a private company out in the community. That worked for a long time, they normally worked with a supervisor and six to seven guys on the yard crew. They added as many as 60 customers at one time and were actually running two crews because they had so many jobs to do. We kinda got away from it being a training program and it turned into a commercial business. What people don’t realize and understand is that all of these guys are adults with developmental disabilities and they have a stopping point.”
Huddleston said that he hates to limit his customer base but said that he hopes it is only temporary.
Four non-profit clients and four residential clients will still have its yards serviced by the OI workers and he has been in contact with another yard service about addressing the needs of some of the elderly clients.
“Some of the elderly clients have relied on us for so long,” Huddleston said.
“I don’t want another company to come in and take advantage of them. So I’ve been talking to another lawn service to see if they can help with our elderly clients’ needs… We’re going to continue but I’m going to redesign the whole program to where it goes back to a training program and we want have the pressure of getting out and doing 6 or 7 clients a day.”
Huddleston stated that he is in the process of informing all of OI’s yard customers of the developments and said that it is a long term goal of his to “build the workforce back up and maybe get back into doing it again.”