It was 1966 when Herbert James donated his family ranch on Cork Road to be used by the MacDonald Training Center, a Tampa-based organization dedicated to helping and training handicapped children.
The founder of the MacDonald Training Center, J. Clifford MacDonald, decided to open the center after his only son was born with special needs.
Fifty years later, Plant City’s James Ranch is still fulfilling MacDonald’s original goals through job training. The Plant City location celebrated its major milestone on Wednesday, April 13, with a Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce breakfast sponsored by Sunshine Bank.
“We have high expectations for the people we serve,” Jim Freyvogel, president and CEO of the MacDonald Training Center, said. “And they do extraordinary things.”
Opening Doors
When Herbert James and his family first donated the ranch, located at 2902 Cork Road, they continued living on the land. For years, the 19-acre ranch served as a campus where the mentally disabled lived and never left.
“Back then, everything was designed to keep people with disabilities safe in the community,” Freyvogel said. “Special education was always separate from everything else. They were not expected to have a job, a family or even a higher education. Those are barriers we’re trying to break down. We’re moving aggressively to full employment and hard skills and soft skills.”
Now, serving the mentally disabled has become less about separating them from the rest of the world and more about giving them skills to succeed on and off the ranch with job training classes.
Whether they realize it or not, Florida residents have likely benefitted from a job performed by someone trained at the MacDonald Training Center. The center’s trainees are responsible for the specialized packing and shipping of SunPass transponders. Others sew safety vests and aprons, recycle electronics and do data destruction.
Today, James Ranch has about 75 people come through its doors on a day-to-day basis.
Shattering Barriers
The campus is also a place where people can pursue their passions, despite handicaps. Art classes are offered, and some show their work at the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts. One artist’s work was even featured in the Gasparilla patron’s party, an exclusive event for the festival’s major donors.
“That was probably my happiest moment since I’ve been involved,” Director of Development Rita Hattab said. She was the first art teacher at the ranch. “It’s a gradual growth of confidence, and that’s so important.”
Music is another popular hobby. Jonathan Davis is blind and autistic. It doesn’t stop him from playing keyboard, much to the delight of his peers, who often sway back and forth to his tunes.
Trainees gain community skills as they are encouraged to volunteer in the community.
“They volunteer at the Pet Resource Center and at the United Food Bank of Plant City,” Hattab, who has been with the MacDonald Training Center for 11 years, said. “Some of them adopted pets for the first time in their lives.”
Besides extracurriculars, softer skills, like interviewing techniques, are taught to trainees.
“We’re shattering barriers, Freyvogel said. “Those barriers usually create a misrepresentation of what people can and can’t do. There is independence for the people we serve from misconceptions that have followed them their entire life.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.