Our Mission
OSI will assist individuals with disabilities or other barriers to employment to lead more productive and meaningful lives by maximizing their abilities to achieve their highest potential through vocational programs and employment services.
Our Vision
Occupational Services Inc. will strive to create purposeful experiences and opportunities that will enhance and embrace the abilities of individuals. Through partnerships and participation in the community, we will responsibly and creatively seek solutions to develop a quality workforce and the resources necessary to enhance services that benefit individual achievement and organizational success. In doing so, OSI will strive to be the provider of choice for these services and a model for other providers to follow.
Core Values
- Teamwork : Working together as a united group of individuals to accomplish common goals
- Excellence : Giving nothing but our best to continually serve our clients and customers
- Integrity : Commitment to professionalism and adherence to high ethical standards
- Client-Centered : Helping individuals maximize their abilities to reach their highest potential
- Relationships : Enhancing the intersections of the life stories of individuals
Our History
Occupational Services, Incorporated (OSI) was conceived in 1956 when Mrs. W. R. Brown, President of the Franklin County Chapter of the ARC, appointed a committee to establish a sheltered workshop in Chambersburg, PA. The committe was formed in May 1956 that included among its members representatives from the Chambersburg Civitan Club, Franklin Fulton ARC, and the Franklin/Adams Easter Seal Society. A Board of Directors was selected with Mr. Stanley L. Whitehill serving as President. The name Occupational Services, Inc. was selected and the organization was chartered under Pennsylvania law as a non-profit corporation to operate as a "sheltered workshop" in Chambersburg, PA for individuals with disabilities such as mental health, mental retardation, and the physcially handicapped. In May of 1957, Mr. Richard Nye was chosen to serve as the first Executive Director.
On September 19, 1957, OSI began activities in a small room of an unused school building in Chambersburg, PA. Total assets of $5,000 donated by the local ARC provided the financial support for OSI to begin MH/MR Job Support Services. Five individuals started their program on opening day. Under the direction of two staff persons, these individuals performed jobs such as packaging screws for Hess Manufacturing and septic tank conditioners for Max West.
The main location of OSI is 17 Redwood Street in Chambersburg, PA. This began as a 3,400 square foot building on 1.9 acres donated to OSI by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in January 1958 with the only stipulation was that OSI was to provide supported employment to at least four people every year. Additions to the building were made in 1962, 1971, and 1981 bringing the facility to its current size of 37,000 square feet. These additions were primarily funded through State and Federal grants, and funds received through the Edwin B. Huber Estate.
In 2014, OSI added a second location at 49 Industrial Drive to accomodate the growing need for space as well as to expand opportunities to clients in areas of recycling and Secure Document Destruction.
Today, Occupational Services, Inc. serves about two hundred individuals a year who perform subcontracting and other services to a wide range of local companies.