News

30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act

The month of July commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act signed on July 26, 1990. TradeWinds Services has provided opportunities for employment for over 30 years at our facilities in our Sewing Manufacturing, Packaging & Assembly, and Sign Shop departments. TradeWinds Employment Services department also prepares clients with diverse abilities to obtain and maintain employment in the Northwest Indiana community. Your support of TradeWinds Services CAN make a life-changing difference. Click the "Read More" link for a recent article on how the ADA continues to improve the lives of people with diverse abilities, published by our partner, SourceAmerica on the Yahoo Finance page.

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Strack & Van Til CheckOut Challenge

Thank You for Supporting TradeWinds Services

Thank you Strack & Van Til Food Markets and residents of Lake County - from June 8 to 21, your compassion and generous support of the “Round-Up for TradeWinds” campaign raised over $27,000. These funds will help support so many programs at TradeWinds. Programs such as Childcare and Summer & Winter Camps for children of all abilities; and for our adults with developmental & physical disabilities programs that include Adult Day Activity & Training Program; Pre-Vocational Training including our Sign Shop; Employment Services for community employment; Respite services for families; and Deaf Services advocacy & Sign Language classes. Pictured with the "BIG" check are Jeff Strack, President & CEO of Strack & Van Til Food Markets and Lisa Tatina, Director of Development & Marketing of TradeWinds Services. And a “VERY BIG” THANK YOU to all the hardworking cashiers who helped make this possible, your support in this campaign will make a life-changing difference for TradeWinds children and adults with disabilities.

TradeWinds Childcare Receives Grant

Thanks to @earlylearningindiana and Lilly Endowment.

TradeWinds Services is proud to be coming back stronger from COVID-19, thanks to a generous grant from @earlylearningindiana and Lilly Endowment! Our grant will help us maintain a safe & social distancing environment with PPE, increased lunch & snack protocols, increased sanitizing protocols, provide personalized learning supplies, and more to safely serve our children, families, and staff and help Northwest Indiana come back stronger!

First Merchants Corporation Donation Match

Helping provide COVID relief to TradeWinds

Thank you to First Merchants Corporation for the generous donation match of $10,000 to TradeWinds Services to help with our COVID relief efforts. This philanthropic support will help TradeWinds provide a safe transition for our participants as they begin to return to our center in a social distancing environment while they get back to a daily routine of earning a paycheck, learning new functional skills, and seeing their friends. Receiving the donation while social distancing is Jon Gold, CEO, TradeWinds Services (left) along with First Merchants Bank representatives: kneeling in front, Troy Rose, Vice President-Wealth Advisor, center is Stephanie Madison, Community Market Director, and on the right is Dale Clapp, President for First Merchants Corp. lakeshore region.

TradeWinds Sewing Industries Helps Fight COVID-19

Read how TradeWinds Sewing Industries is helping to protect local healthcare workers and first responders. Click the "Read More" link to read the complete article published by our partner, SourceAmerica.

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Target Volunteers help with Arts & Crafts

5 volunteers from the Target Merrillville store visited TradeWinds for a few hours on Friday, February 21st to work with our adult participants on arts & crafts projects. Everyone had a great time making colorful paintings. Thank you Target volunteers for donating your time and talent.

Bowling Fun with TradeWinds

Thank You to all the participating teams

Monday, February 10th was our annual bowling event. This was our best year yet with over 300 bowlers! We hope you had a ball with our TradeWinds bowlers!! We know they did and as always are looking forward to next year!! Thank you to all of our participating bowling teams. And thank you to Stardust II for another great event! Click the link to read more about this fundraising event in an article written in the NW Indiana Times.

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Angel Tree Wish List

Fulfilled by St. Matthias Church

The families of St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church in Crown Point were very generous this holiday season fulfilling the Angel Tree wish list of our Group Homes. Our Director of Programs & Pre-Vocation, Lynn Strohl, and Maintenance Supervisor, Nate Rouse needed our box truck to pick up the tremendous donation of items. Some of the items on the wish list included kitchenware & appliances, games, sports equipment, art supplies, personal items, movie gift cards, patio & yard furniture – so many things that make a house “your home”. Thank you to all the families of St. Matthias for your generous holiday spirit.

Living Hope Church

Donates Shoebox Craft Kits

The blessings of this holiday season have been generous to TradeWinds Children’s department. Living Hope Church of Merrillville collected and created “Shoe Box” craft kits for each child to take home over the holiday break. This shoebox will provide the whole family the gift of exploring, designing, and creating art projects together. Such a unique and thoughtful idea – Thank you Living Hope Church.

Winter Boots & Gloves Donated

Nancy & Greg Repasky of Crown Point provided TradeWinds with winter boots and gloves for some of our adult participants. Your generosity to help our adults with special needs is truly appreciated.