About Seguin Gardens & Gifts
On Friday, May 1, 2009, Seguin Services completed a dream that had been four years in the making with the Grand Opening of SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS. Building on the success of the Seguin Auto Center, Seguin moved forward in a new and innovative direction. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS develops, markets, and sells lawn, garden, horticultural, and gift products and services, while providing jobs for individuals with disabilities and other special needs. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS was inspired by Seguin’s existing Horticultural Therapy program. Horticultural Therapy is the use of professionally directed plant, gardening, and nature activities, for purposes of enhancing the physical and mental health of its participants. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS will expand and provide state-of-the-art environments for this Horticultural Therapy program, which was designed for people with severe developmental disabilities, including those with multiple sensory and physical impairments as well as medical conditions. The GARDENS & GIFTS business initiative will offer additional opportunities for vocational training and create jobs for hard-to-employ adults with severe developmental disabilities. This project functions as a complementary venture to the Seguin Auto Center, bringing in additional revenues for Seguin through its sales and service fees. Additional benefits to participants include improved physical mobility, enhanced social skills, increased levels of relaxation and reduction of stress—and ultimately increased self-esteem and sense of self-worth from their involvement in this Garden Center project. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS operates as a retail garden center, selling both indoor and outdoor plants, as well as other products (such as pots, mulch, small garden implements, potting soil) used in outdoor gardens and indoor plant maintenance. The store will focus on do-it-yourself home gardeners. The plants for sale range from annuals to perennials, seasonal vegetables to porch plants, from herbs to hanging plants. In addition SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS markets seasonally based product lines that capitalize on special holidays and seasonal events. This new initiative offers a wide range of gift-giving merchandise, as well as providing hands-on garden-related classes to the community. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS has a large greenhouse area to house its wide-ranging garden products. A special area – The Coleman Foundation Horticultural Therapy Center – has been set aside in the main retail facility for provision of horticultural therapy services for Seguin participants. Seguin Services has long been recognized in Illinois as the pacesetter among its peers in the area of job creation and economic development, and as an innovative leader in providing work opportunities for the adults with disabilities they serve. Through the vision of the Board of Directors, volunteers, and staff, Seguin Services has successfully created jobs for people with disabilities, becoming an economic force for the local community as well as earning discretionary income for the organization. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS and other SEGUINWORKS initiatives offer a variety of gainful jobs and supportive tasks that provide adults with disabilities for employment in their communities while generating income that is reinvested into other Seguin programs. SEGUIN GARDENS & GIFTS, with a professional greenhouse and retail center, serves as a specialized setting for horticultural therapy as well as providing employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities. |
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