Empower holds grand-opening for new facility

Press Release

Empower, a nonprofit human services agency supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, held a grand opening ceremony Friday for its new day habilitation, job placement and workforce development facility at 7500 Porter Road, Niagara Falls.

“When I took over as CEO, I made it my mission to expand our agency and the amount of services that we are able to provide to the community,” Diane Baehre said. “Today, with the opening of this facility, we are accomplishing that goal and impactfully expanding our vocational division to provide more support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In this new building, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities will be able to receive day habilitation services, find gainful employment in the community, and learn valuable job and life skills. This facility, and the dedicated staff who work inside, are ready to hit the ground running!”

The new Empower facility will primarily house Empties for Empower Bottle and Can Redemption Center and Empower’s document shredding business – both of which are operated by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A press release stated, “These individuals help with all operations of the facility, and interact directly with customers to complete transactions and process their drop-offs. Additionally, Empower’s job placement department will operate out of this new facility – this department is tasked with aiding individuals in finding employment throughout the community with our various business partners.

“Finally, our day habilitation, or ‘day hab’ programming, will operate here. These services provide a variety of opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to get out into community, go on outings, volunteer, and engage in interactive activities depending on their level of capability, as well as individual behavioral and medical needs.

Baehre said, “This is a very exciting day for Empower, and a culmination of months of hard work from our entire staff. I want to thank each and every member of Empower, as well as the individuals we support, for showing up each day to make this vision a reality. This facility expands our ability to help more individuals live the life they choose, and we could not be prouder to be able to continue to support individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families throughout Niagara County.”

The bottle and can redemption center is open 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and is open to anyone who would like to support Empower. Customers can choose to receive the cash for their redeemed empties or donate the money to the program. Curbside service is also available. Any questions about the Empties for Empower program can be directed to 716-545-0023.

Empower was founded in 1954 and has served Western New York, specifically Niagara County, for over 65 years “ensuring that individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their loved ones, have access to the highest quality support and services.” Empower employs more than 300 individuals and provides community programming, job and workforce development, and educational services. For more information, visit www.empower-wny.org.