Vera Perlin Society celebrates 70 years of helping others | CBC News

The Vera Perlin Society marked a major milestone this month, celebrating the non-profit’s work over the past seven decades to serve people with intellectual disabilities.

Based in St. John’s, the Perlin Centre is home to a day program that teaches clients and offers a “challenging, safe, and fun environment,” according to the society’s website.

The Vera Perlin Society also offers employment services that match employers with potential employees enrolled in the program, as well as career education and exploration. 

Plenty of fun is to be had at the Vera Perlin Society, too. That was showcased in anniversary celebrations this week, with crafts, games and of course, music. 

The Perlin Players have been around since 1987. The group of performers — all clients of the society — are expert lip-syncers who know how to put on a good show. CBC caught a glimpse of a captivating rehearsal of Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

All of those programs, and the centre, exist thanks to Vera Perlin herself. 

It all started with her work in an orphanage, when she saw children with intellectual disabilities fall behind.

“She went to the board meeting and said ‘what’s going on with those children?’ and the board people that day said basically, ‘well, they’re intellectually challenged. They can’t learn, so we’re not sending them to school,'” explained Roger Downer, the society’s executive director.

WATCH | This organization offers life skills and a place to have fun: 

After 70 years of helping others, the Vera Perlin Society still has spirit — and new ideas

The St. John’s-based non-profit organization — started by Vera Perlin in 1954 — has been helping people with intellectual disabilities for decades, matching potential employees with employers. But as the CBC’s Heather Gillis reports, it isn’t all business.

So Perlin started her own classroom in 1954, just for children like the six she took care of in the orphanage. 

She didn’t stop there.

“Mrs. Perlin in 1957 said ‘well, I’m gonna buy a house. I’m gonna open a school,'” said Downer. “She bought a house on Patrick Street.”

The Patrick Street house functioned as a school for disabled children until another building was constructed in 1966. That was the Vera Perlin School, now known as the Perlin Centre, on Pennywell Road.

Finally, in 1971, the government of Newfoundland and Labrador accepted responsibility to provide education to all children in the province, whether they had a disability or not. That decision came to fruition because of Vera Perlin.

The Vera Perlin Society provides lifelong programming and services to this day. The centre is a thriving hub of education and is an essential source of community, according to the people who use it.

Katie Brien, a client, met her best friend Stephen Brocklehurst there. Seeing him every day is her favourite part of being at the Vera Perlin Centre.

“We laugh and joke all the time,” said Brocklehurst. “We laugh at each other every day.”

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