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It's Your Money: Training Rehabilitation and Development Institute
Posted: Feb 13, 2013 4:16 PM by Jessica Holley - jholley@kristv.com
Updated: Feb 13, 2013 5:43 PM
CORPUS CHRISTI - Through the San Antonio based company, Training Rehabilitation and Development Institute, people with disabilities are provided the opportunity to work at the Naval Air Station. Paid for by the department of defense these 10 employees are helping to keep the Station look beautiful inside and out. They play and important role at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, and sometimes it's dirty work.
"I vacuum and take out trash and do the restrooms and go to different buildings," says custodian Simon Hernandez.
And it's with your tax money that employees, like Simon Hernandez, are employed with competitive jobs right here in the Coastal Bend. He's worked at NAS for the past two years cleaning buildings through a contract the Training Rehabilitation and Development Institute has with the Department of Defense. In fact, according to the company's president and CEO, the federal government paid them $3 million during the 2012 fiscal year.
"The program minimizes the impact that the government the federal government has to shell out additional tax dollars for things such as insurance," says TRDI President and CEO, Juan Rangel.
And that's because TRDI provides medical insurance for it's employees so they are not having to rely on government funded insurance programs. This job has helped Hernandez grow tremendously, he suffers from a learning and reading disability, and through his job training and day to day work his reading skills have improved.
Not only are these employees keeping more than 100 buildings looking clean, but they are also are making sure their grounds are looking beautiful. And that's what Charles Mills has done for NAS for the last five years.
"I have been loving every minute of it . My biggest dream was to fly one of these bad boys but since I can't fly working around them has been a dream come true," says Mills.
Mills says working here gives him a sense of normal, since he suffers from hyperactivity disorder and has problems controlling his emotions.
"It's make me a better man. Makes me a hard go getter, get everything done and try to be normal," says Mills.
Funding for these positions is made possible through the federal ABILITYONE program . And it's because of these jobs at the Naval Air Station employees like Charles Mills and Simon Hernandez are able to be more self sufficient and have a sense of purpose.
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