WEYBURN – The Weyburn Wor-Kin Shop leadership team and staff are doing a good job in running the non-profit organization, with a number of important goals set each year, the annual meeting for the group heard on Monday evening.
Board chair Lloyd Montgomery shared a number of goals that the board and staff have aimed for, some of them met and others needing a little more work to achieve.
“I appreciate serving on a board of very committed people,” he said. “We keep track of our progress throughout the year with a balanced scorecard.”
One of the goals has been to fully use the funds provided by the ministry for program funding, so as not to leave any dollars on the table that have to be returned. Montgomery noted they actually used 101 per cent of the funding provided by the ministry.
A goal aims for 100 per cent of their participants to set and achieve goals, and they are at 90 per cent, which Montgomery acknowledged means more work is needed in this area.
As for participants attending programs, their goal was for 90 per cent attendance, and they hit 79 per cent.
“It’s getting there, but we have more work to do there as well,” he said, adding another goal for the board is to continue doing a policy review, which they achieved at 100 per cent in the past year.
The last goal is for the SARCAN depot to retain its status as an extra-large depot, for which they need to recycle at least eight million containers. The Weyburn SARCAN met and exceeded this goal, as they recycled 8,460,000 beverage containers, which is a new record for the depot.
In addition, SARCAN took in 506 televisions for recycling, and over 6,000 kg of paint was taken in for recycling.
Executive director Jeff Richards noted the Wor-Kin Shop currently has a full complement of staff at 40 people, and admitted prior to starting work there, he didn’t realize how big of an organization it is.
One of his top goals is to focus on people, and to get a handle on the rate of turnover of staff.
“One of the things the board emphasizes with me, with the leadership team, is investment in people,” he said, noting they have been sending staff to conferences and for professional development courses as they are able.
“An organization that leads from the top that way is destined for great things,” said Richards.
He added that he is consistently “wowed” by the people of thecommunity and their strong support of the Wor-Kin Shop and their participants.
“When our folks are out in the community, there’s no weirdness, there’s no barriers. Folks are accepting of our participants and our staff, and they’re accepting of the fun and the work we want to do,” said Richards, noting organizations like the Red Wings, the Beavers and the Wheatland Seniors Centre embrace them and support them, and the business community is also very supportive.
In the financial report, brought by Taylor Marcotte of Grant Thornton LLP, there was an overall deficiency of revenues of $148,000, as the expenses were higher than the revenues that they received. She noted accounts receivables were nearly double from last year, but this was due to a wage reconciliation for SARCAN that didn’t come through when the books were done.
Other expenses to the Wor-Kin Shop’s assets included shingles being replaced, and an upgrade to the multi-purpose room.
Another factor is the long-term debt is tied to the prime rate, so as the interest rates fluctuate, this affects how much of it can be paid down in a given year.
Richards noted that the Harvest Pie Company was down in sales, and retailers are telling them that people have not been buying pies as they used to, plus the cost of ingredients are way up.
“Financially we are sound,” he added, noting the numbers are not as bad as they first seemed, as there are mitigating factors to take into account.
